You never outgrow a visit to Disney World! If you have, maybe you’ve out-grown humanity. Douglas believes the beauty of Disney theme parks is the “orchestration of humanity.” We both have fond memories of enjoying Disney World as children and then teenagers and Magic Kingdom visits with my own children when they were really too young to enjoy the Disney bubble. Bubble? Everything is a bubble. Work…a bubble, the upwardly middle class enclave you live in…a bubble. The college campus that you lived on…a bubble. Anything manufactured by humans for the orchestration of humans, is a bubble.
Lisa’s story:
My first visit to Disney World was the year after Fort Wilderness campground opened…I think it may have been 1972. My Dad had purchased a pop-up camper and my two brothers and I camped out in the Bonne Carre Spillway to test it out. Everything worked fine so the entire family (that would be 7 of us) drove from New Orleans in our station wagon and the pop-up for our first visit to Disney World. It would be the first time my Mom had camped in her entire life. We got to Fort Wilderness and the campground was very primitive in ’72. Back then there were no boats to the Magic Kingdom and I remember that you had to take a little train to the park- which was still better than driving your car and parking in a lot like everyone else. We thought it strange that the bathrooms & showers were called ‘ comfort stations ‘….
Here is a pic of my younger sister Sue at our campsite. You can see the comfort station on the right.
Not quite sure how 7 people slept in that pop-up but I remember the 2nd night it rained. Not a soft gentle rain, but more like a raging monsoon. We woke in the middle of the night with rain pouring into our camper which quickly soaked into the thick yellow foam mattresses we were sleeping on. I will never forget the look on my Mom’s face as the entire camper top caved in on us. We all slept in the car that night and then had to go to a hotel for the remainder of our trip. Our family never went on another camping trip together again.
Douglas’ story:
Even before Disney opened in Orlando, they had already learned how things got out of their control in the areas surrounding Disney Land, so they started buying up as much cheap land in central Florida without showing their cards to anyone. Once they had all the land sowed up, they opened a Teaser Preview center that you could go to and see and learn about all the great things they were working on at the future Disney World. I think my family went to the preview twice – just in case anything had been updated after the first visit.
A few years later, it finally opened and it was the biggest thing to ever happen to central Florida since citrus trees. Shortly after opening, my dad had the family of 7 in our station wagon and hopping onto I-4. I think we were still 20 miles out when I-4 became an extended Disney Parking Lot. After many furrowed brows and deep exhales, my dad declared waterloo and turned us around for home. Although I can’t remember them, I’m sure tears fell like rain.
The second time we went we actually made it to the park and got to see some of the attractions we wanted, but the ones my dad really wanted to see…Hall of Presidents and Country Bear Jamboree were in such high demand and the lines so long, they had to be rain checked. Our third time, my engineer dad had everything worked out to a ‘T’ and had us link hands as we dashed during the morning dew thru the streets of the kingdom with cleaning crews still trying to turn off their hoses and hit the Hall of Presidents for the first show! Lisa and I hit the Hall of Presidents this trip. And to me, not Lisa, it kind of seems like the Hall of Presidents has merged with Country Bear Jamboree with the Donald now being the head liner.
Dad’s favorite attraction…the Hall of Presidents
In 2018, Fort Wilderness is more like a planned community than a campground. Some folks even refer to it as ‘resort’ style camping. It was fun riding our bikes to catch the boat to the Magic Kingdom and enjoying the sunsets on our way back.
The last time we were at Disney World together was over 10 years ago at Microsoft MGX. MGX is our big sales meeting…which is another bubble.
Now days Disney has gone even higher tech with Wrist bands to check you into rides, purchase food & drink, track your kids and apps that tell you how long the wait is for each ride.
Douglas was disappointed that some of his favorite rides, “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” and “Mr. Toad’s Ride” were no longer in existence (unless you travel to Disney in Japan!). We stilled enjoyed Space Mountain and Lisa’s fav, the whimsical “It’s a Small World” which is a ride that first inspired her to want to travel.
We noticed a curious thing happening when we had to stand in line for awhile. Random people would airdrop photos of themselves to us…maybe it was a game to see if we could find them in the long line ahead or behind us.
It is never too late to enjoy a visit to Disney World!
