Originally Posted By Lisann22 November 29, 2005 - Question of the day: What person had the biggest influence for your love of Disney/Disneyland?
Originally Posted By Minnie1955 My husband. It's funny cause when people find out we're disney fanatics, for some reason, they all think it was me who turned *him* into a fan.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan For Disneyland, my aunt Barbara. She brought me from the bay area to Disneyland every year or so. Back then, we usually would drive down late Friday night, spend open to close in the park on Saturday and drive home Sunday. When other people would roll their eyes and say "Are you going there AGAIN?" (as many LPers are used to hearing, no doubt) she'd just smile. On her 50th birthday, I took her to Disneyland for a couple of days. We had a great time obsessing over the little details throughout the park. She'd never seen all of the concept art on display throughout the Disneyland Hotel, so we spent our first afternoon exploring that. It was a total Disney geek weekend, just great fun. Her 60th is coming up in a couple of years, hopefully we'll celebrate it at Disneyland again. As far as Disney movies, my grandma would only take my brother and I to Disney movies. The animated features were her favorites, but even some of the lesser 1970s live action Disney movies cracked her up. If some silly little slapstick thing struck her as funny, she'd laugh about it for quite awhile, which of course made my brother and I laugh. She had a very contagious laugh, and pretty soon people around us in the theater would be laughing, too.
Originally Posted By Labuda Honestly? I think that would be me, myself, and I. Nobody else that I'm close to really is into Disney much at all, truth be told.
Originally Posted By pacomama I've always been "into" Disneyland since I was a kid. I got a lot more intense when I married my husband because his family loves Disney and he spent his early childhood in Anaheim. Now, we just kind of feed off eachother.
Originally Posted By -em My sister Destiny was the one that started it My girls were the one to keep it a glow My friends are the ones who keep it magical -em
Originally Posted By Ursula I blame my parents. Every summer we'd drive the 45 minutes to DL to finish off a day or so of dad's vacation days from work. Sometimes, we'd do a crazy KBF, then DL, then Universal all in the same week even though we live in L.A. My grandad told me he drove some of the trucks that helped to deliver materials to build DL. My dad literally ran into Walt Disney in front of the Emporium when he was a kid/teenager. The story goes that Walt told my dad to stop running. My dad also worked for a company that either built or had something to do with the Subs. (They also had something to do with the Minetrain at KBF). My mom LOVED DL and KBF and she also took me on my first coaster when I was 7. (The Revolution at Magic Mountain). I've been hooked on coasters ever since. So, you see, it's just in my blood.
Originally Posted By smedley I'm with Labuda too. I've dragged DH into it with me. Kicking and screaming at first. But now he's a huge fan too!
Originally Posted By vbdad55 I also feel it would be me--- unless you count the fact thast my mother stuck me in front of the old RCA console to watch the Mickey Mouse Club so she could do something else. That show started me downthe path -- no other Disney real fans in the family at that point.
Originally Posted By wahooskipper My folks took me on my first trip to Disneyland in the 70's and on the way out I bought a book all about the park. They told me to get one souvenir and I was so taken by the place that I decided I needed to know more. Of course, the number of books on Disney that I have now could fill a small library so I guess I was most influential in my love of Disney.
Originally Posted By MissCandice Was it just my imagination or were the tickles missing for a bit? Anyhoo, it's Lp'ers who have reintroduced me to the magic of Disney. I liked it well enough when I was younger, then a former roomate was talking about Laughing Place and I started to come here and it was here that I fell in love with Disneyland again. So thanks!
Originally Posted By MissCandice No worries. I haven't had the time to come to LP as much as I did in the past so I just thought I was not seeing them.
Originally Posted By wahooskipper A little hurricane disrupted my tickles and trust me...I wasn't laughing there for a while. It is good to be back.
Originally Posted By Big Thunder I guess I'm gunna go with "myself" too. I'm more into DisneyLAND than anything else, I like Disney, some movies, cartoons, etc, but it's DL that I love. I suppose you could say it's my parents who introduced me to it. We lived in So CA and went to Disneyland when I was a kid. It was a big treat back then, something I'd look forward to in anticipation few weeks if I knew I was going. We did not go every year back then, we'd go maybe once every few years. However one summer before my parents split up, my mom & dad went on a vacation without me. I stayed at friends in Anaheim and that summer I would go out in the back yard at night to watch fireworks and wish that I was in the park. The older kids took me to the DL hotel 2 or 3 times, I remember they just hung out, met their friends, played miniature golf, even that was fun. I also remember watching the Wonderful World of Disney every Sunday. I loved that show as a kid. That influenced me. When I got older, I went to DL with friends as a teenager, I loved it. Even then I felt nostalgic for the days when I went as a kid. When I met my wife, we dated there a few times, and once took her nephew who later became my Godson. That was one of my most memorable DL visits. Mrs Thunder and I spent our first anniversary at DL Hotel and a few days at the park, we loved it, from then on we'd go a few times each year. When we had Lil Thunder, we waited till she was 2 to take her to DL, she has been to DL on her birthday ever since [except maybe once if I remember correctly] In the 90's we finally got APs, then we went weekly, sometimes daily. It got to the point that Lil Thunder and her friend [sorta foster sister] Sandra, who was her partner in mischief at the park, came to despise Disneyland. They would beg me every weekend to go somewhere else instead, but I never understood that and said "you're nutz, a kid not wanting to go to Disneyland? are you insane?" and I'd drag them there anyway. In the last few years we dont go as often, and now they crave Disneyland and miss it, today they appreciate it and love it. I'm sure if my daughter was answering this question, she'd say for sure that her dad influenced her. Disneyland was her playground. She has been to special events with me, met imagineers and other Disney mucky mucks. They live with a Disneyland memorabilia collector, met some of my Disney friends, know every inch of the park, they watched DCA being built from various vantage points every week until it was done. I hope that someday, she'll be explaining to her kids how she remembers Disneyland when she was a kid, cuzz they are some of my fondest memories.
Originally Posted By Pixie Glitter Like some others here, I am solely responsible for my own love of Disney. It was just always kind of a distant childhood dream of mine to go to Disneyland or Disney World someday. But I am happy to report that I have managed to get my husband, both children, and my mom completely hooked, too. ;-)
Originally Posted By TALL Disney Guy Grandmommy, our maternal grandmother. In her dark bookshelf by the fireplace she had the classic '60sish set of 4 Disney books ("Fantasyland", "America", "Stories From Other Lands", "Worlds of Nature") that each have a differenc colored spine and green cover that were SOOO much fun to read and get lost in, and she also had the EXTREMELY RARE songbook "101 Walt Disney Favorites", which has basically EVERY song from EVERY Disney film up until The Aristocats---plus live-action songs, too. CLASSIC. I've never seen another one like it, and I was so touched when she gave it to me last year. She has always appreciated Disney, and would sing Disney songs in the car with my sister and me and encourage us to watch the old classic animated films when we stayed at their house. A great Disney grandma.
