My First Trip To Disney World – 1987 (Part One of Two)

One of the coolest sentimental things I own is a photo album.  When I was just barely six years old, my grandmother and her roommate took me on a trip to Florida.  As far as I know, it was my first overnight trip away from home without my parents.  It was definitely my first trip out of state for more than a day or two.  I left June 18th and returned July 10th.  That’s 23 days!  When we got back, my grandmother developed her photos and made me this photo album, in which she included typed descriptions of what we did, my reactions, etc.  It’s an awesome keepsake, and I’ve loved it ever since I was a kid.  It made my brother so jealous that he didn’t get to go, that when we went as a family a few years later, he insisted on getting his own photo album from his trip.  (The subject of a future blog.)

One odd detail I don’t know, and my grandmother doesn’t recall, is why we went to Disney World twice on this trip – once on our way down to Florida, and then again at the end of the trip.  I have a strong suspicion that I probably talked her into it because I had such a good time the first time.  Grandparents are good at that sort of thing.  Back in those days, only the Magic Kingdom and Epcot were open – but we just went to the Magic Kingdom both times.  Anyway, I’ve scanned the photos and typed and edited the text (lightly, just to fix grammar and clean up the prose a bit).  The photos appear approximately where they did in the book.  The photos were not originally captioned – the captions are my own addition.  So I present to you, my first trip to Disney World – the Magic Kingdom specifically.  My comments will be sprinkled throughout, formatted like this.

<June 18th>

Dan’s Trip

Dan, his Grandma McGillen, friend Dot, and Fluffy (her dog) left Indianapolis early the morning of June 18, 1987 for our trip to Disney World and Fort Myers. We first stopped at Bob Evans for breakfast, then headed east on I-74 to the outskirts of Cincinatti, headed through the tip of Ohio, and then south on I-75 through all of Kentucky, Tennessee and Georgia. The first night we stopped in McDonough, Georgia and stayed all night at the Davis Bros. Lodge.

As I recall, and as we regularly repeated during my multiple trips to Florida over the years, we’d always stop either shortly before or shortly after Atlanta.  Atlanta is just past the halfway point between Indianapolis and Orlando, when heading south.  In this case, McDonough, Georgia is south of Atlanta, so my grandmother was clearly trying to make good time.  The entire trip is about a 14.5 hour drive, which can be done in one day – not easily, but it can be done.  But probably not so much with a 6-year-old with a tiny but active bladder.  In my own plans to drive down to Disney in 2018, I’m currently assuming that we’ll do the drive over two days – possibly making some additional stops to see cool stuff on the way.  I’ve flirted with the possibility of driving it all in one day, either on the way there or back.  A lot will depend on what the others in our group want to do – and whether they want to caravan down or not.  With a bunch of kids under 10, I imagine we’d have to stop overnight if we caravan.

<June 19th>

We left early again the next day and drove thru the rest of Georgia, to Howard Johnson’s at Kissimmee, Florida where we had our reservations. We got there early enough to take a dip in their pool. Then we went for supper at Friendly’s and had a special desert. Dan had a Peanutty Sundae, and Grandma had ice cream that looked like a slice of watermelon. Dan ate all of his and the lemon part of Grandma’s.

I vividly remember the watermelon ice cream, even though we didn’t get a picture.  I remember it having chocolate chips in the watermelon part – they looked sorta like seeds.  Out of curiosity, I just looked up Friendly’s and apparently it not only still exists, but they sell a watermelon roll in grocery stores!  It’s just not a local restaurant chain.  Here’s the Watermelon Roll she had a slice of.

<June 20th>

The next morning, we are off to Disney World. We parked the Van at Pluto 24. All four of us caught the tram at the end of our aisle which took us to the transportation center. We walked Fluffy to the Walt Disney World Pet Care Kennel by Gaines Dog Food, and after checking her in we caught the Ferryboat to the Magic Kingdom. It is a large Ferry that holds lots of people and takes you from Parking to the Magic Kingdom. We did not win a 15th birthday prize as we went through the gate!

As you enter the grounds, you first see the big Mickey Mouse Birthday clock spinning around and at various times there is a band playing in front of it. Also on the hill in front of the entrance is a picture of Mickey in flowers.

We first rode the Walt Disney World old fashioned steam-train for the grand circle tour 1 1/2 times around. We saw Indians (Political Correctness was not a thing yet…) along the way, and Alligator Joe and his dog, and a burning cabin. We then went for the boat ride Pirates of the Caribbean. Dan did not like this ride, with the guns firing and the pirates being so rowdy. This is Adventureland and we told him it was all make believe.

My exposure to Disney movies, or indeed much of any movies and tv beyond Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers at this point in my childhood was limited.  I understood the difference between fiction and reality, but it’s one thing to be able to look at something on a TV and say “that isn’t real”, and quite another when you are presented with a life-sized pirate brandishing a sword at you and yelling.  Plus, I was a sensitive child, and also not thrilled with darkness.  So the dark rides were not my favorite, at least not this time around.  I’ve had to give serious consideration to how that might be when my own kids go – Jasper definitely takes after me, and is a sensitive child.

Next we went on the Jungle Cruise, we saw elephants bathing in a pool and alligators and warriors with spears. While Dot rested a bit, Dan and Grandma climbed up the Swiss Family Treehouse, the water wheel to get their water to various levels was amazing. We then decided to have lunch at Refreshment Corner on Main Street USA. We then strolled thru Cinderalla’s Castle to Fantasyland.

Dan and Grandma stood in line – it seemed like forever – to ride Dumbo the Flying Elephant. Then we all went on the Mad Tea Party, which is a giant tea cup and saucer. Dot and Dan spun the wheel so fast that Grandma was very dizzy when it was time to get off. We then found a bench to sit upon to wait for the 3:00 PM 15th Birthday Parade at the circle. A juggler entertained us before the parade got to our circle. We saw most of the Disney characters, Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy, Chip & Dale, and Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs. After the parade, we sailed on a submarine to 20,000 Leagues under the sea. Evidently Captain Nemo made it seem too real, because Dan wanted off when he called out ‘Red Alert’, dive. He thought we were never coming up. But we told him this was only make believe too. Then we walked over to Tomorrowland. Dan and Grandma rode the Grand Prix race cars. Next was the Star Jets. You ride an elevator to your own spacecraft. Dan pushed the lever and we went higher and higher. You sit on the floor with your feet straight out in front of you – and this is a very small car. By the time the ride was over, Grandma thought they were going to have to get a derrick to pull her out!

Then we ate supper at Tomorrowland Terrace. They had singers and a nice band with lots of lights and smoke to entertain us while we ate. It began to rain so we stayed put for a while and when it stopped Dan and Dot rode a beautiful carousel of 90 horses.

Strangely, of all the details, I remember that as well – it was a band playing hair band tunes.  Tomorrowland Terrace was eventually renamed to Cosmic Ray’s, and I’m pretty sure the stage is the same one that has the Sonny Eclipse audio-animatronic that entertains people there now today.

Next up was It’s A Small World – we rode another boat and it cruised through every land in miniature. It was by far the prettiest of the exhibits. Next on to Liberty Square and a journey on Mike Fink’s keel boat. Finally it was getting close to the time of the Electrical Parade, so we had some popcorn and cokes and watched the splendor of it all. Even the trees had twinkling lights on them. Each float was prettier than the last. The first was the fairy godmother, her gown of flowing lights and the footmen to carry her train. There were little beetles that twirled around, mushrooms with butterflies, a train with a big drum that’s sign changed as it went along with ‘Main Street Electrical Parade’ and ‘Walt Disney World 15th Birthday’.  There was also a circus with an elephant dancing on a drum, clowns, Cinderella’s pumpkin coach with mice footmen, the magic dragon that made a scary sound and blew smoke out of its nostrils, and last but not least the biggest of them all, the American flag draped all along about four floats with a big eagle perched at the rear with a sign ‘To Honor America’. We had a short break and then at 10:00 PM Tinkerbell came flying out of the top of Cinderella’s castle sliding all the way down a cable to Tomorrowland with beautiful fireworks going off above the castle.

I vividly remember the Main Street Electrical Parade – for me, it’s the iconic Disney World experience.  Which is why I was sad to hear that it is being retired again, so won’t be there when we go in 2018.  Hopefully the replacement (and hopefully there will be a replacement) nighttime parade in the Magic Kingdom will be awesome too, but I’m sad that such a big part of Disney World history is going away.  Apparently my fear of the dark didn’t apply to this, as I have extremely happy memories of this parade.

So our long day being over, we took the Ferryboat back to parking, and picked up Fluffy at the kennel. She was so glad to see us she jumped up and down and wagged her tail. If only she realized how good she had it, an air-conditioned kennel, all the gainesburgers she could eat, and could lay around and nap, while we walked around in 95 degree heat, sweating, getting soaked, and with aching feet. We rode the tram back to Pluto 24 and drove back to Ho Jo’s for the night.

Continued in Part Two…