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Saddest Disneyland Memory
Posted: Apr Wed 11, 2007 2:51 pm
by soccermouse
I hate to bring everyone down, but maybe it will help all of us to refocus.
On my first trip to Disneyland in 1972, the only ride that my little brother (age 4) really wanted to go on was Dumbo. My Grandmother, who lived in California and who was guiding us through the park, thought it was a waste of time to go on a ride that was like those at any carnival. By brother was heart broken. We went to a lot of shows and things that Grandma thought were best. We still remember that.
Moral: When you take kids to Disneyland, it should be all about the kids!
Re: Saddest Disneyland Memory
Posted: Apr Wed 11, 2007 10:50 pm
by AlexLoup
soccermouse wrote:I hate to bring everyone down, but maybe it will help all of us to refocus.
On my first trip to Disneyland in 1972, the only ride that my little brother (age 4) really wanted to go on was Dumbo. My Grandmother, who lived in California and who was guiding us through the park, thought it was a waste of time to go on a ride that was like those at any carnival. By brother was heart broken. We went to a lot of shows and things that Grandma thought were best. We still remember that.
Moral: When you take kids to Disneyland, it should be all about the kids!
Wow.. wow.
I had something similar to that. My parents thought I was too old to go on most of the Fantasyland rides when I was about seven.
But I think the saddest was when I had waited in line for about an hour for Space Mountain when it first reopened. I was inside when they blocked us off. No explanation, nothing. What was sad was I had only ridden it once before in '02.
Posted: Apr Thu 12, 2007 11:38 am
by spaulo
My soon-to-be-parents-in-law (wedding's one month from today! ack!) wanted to take Heather and I to Disneyland. They used to live down in the Garden Grove area decades ago, and would go just the two of them a lot. My parents used to take me all the time, and Heather and I had already been there with them, so her folks wanted in on the action (we're a pretty fun couple

)
Anyway, what Jerry, my father-in-law-(to-be) wanted to ride more than anything was the Tower of Terror. The second morning we were there, we had breakfast, headed over to DCA, but started with Soarin'. I went ahead to check on the wait, grab us FPs if need be, etc, and when I got back to the three of them, they were sitting on one of the benches in front of the Animation building. Jerry was feeling just awful.
For the next two days, until we left, he stayed in his room at the DLH. with the flu. We tried to make the best of the rest of the trip but everything we did it was like "man, Jerry would like this!"
I know it's not the MOST horrible/awful story, but we're still looking forward to our "first" trip down there with her folks...
Posted: Apr Thu 12, 2007 12:14 pm
by casrin
Mine is probably going to seem "off the wall" but I've only been to D-land twice (living in Michigan makes it harder to get there :rolleyes). What was sad for me were two events...
* When the Festival of Fools closed because I just adored that show when I saw it in 1996
And ...
* When the Eeyore part of the parking lot was gone because Cali Adventure was constructed.
Posted: Apr Thu 12, 2007 11:20 pm
by AlexLoup
casrin wrote:Mine is probably going to seem "off the wall" but I've only been to D-land twice (living in Michigan makes it harder to get there :rolleyes). What was sad for me were two events...
* When the Eeyore part of the parking lot was gone because Cali Adventure was constructed.
Eeyore parking lot was for Indy.
The Entire Parking lot was for DCA.
Posted: Apr Fri 13, 2007 10:24 am
by casrin
Well, there was still an Eeyore in the parking lot when I was there in 1997 and Indy was there...
Posted: Apr Fri 13, 2007 1:29 pm
by broncoflyer8912
My saddest Disneyland memory is whenever I have to leave the park!
Posted: Apr Tue 17, 2007 10:33 am
by realcal
Stick with this one, it has a happy ending...
In 1979 my family drove from Indiana to California to visit family (big station wagon, lots of fighting, you get the picture). We visited Disneyland for the first time on that trip. My father developed an impacted tooth and needed a root canal. He went to a dentist the day before DL and had the root canal and they packed his tooth with gauze and a mild pain killer. Mid-morning at Disneyland the painkiller wore off and my dad was in excruciating pain. Our family lived in San Diego and we all traveled in one car. The "first aid station" at DL would not even give him an aspirin for the pain. They asked him to lay down on a park bench outside the office because they were fearful that park visitors would think his moaning was caused by care he received at the park's first aid office.
My mom borrowed a bobby pin from some lady with a big bouffant hairdo so she could pick the packing out of the tooth and relieve the pressure. We (five kids) sat with my dad and held his hand (no other adult to supervise 5 kids under 12 years old) as he had "tooth surgery" on a park bench. By afternoon he was able to ride a few rides without terrible pain.
We made the best of the day, but it was terrible for him and we all felt so bad about his day.
Fast forward to Nov. 2002. On a flight to Anaheim to meet my wife and kids and I at DL for my daughter's 2nd birthday, my father had a heart attack on the airplane and spent 5 days at the Fountain Valley Hospital recouping. On day six the doctors let him go to the park (in a wheelchair) to celebrate the birthday. Rumors were all over the hospital that he had died at Disneyland and a cast member had resuscitated him.
Here's the Disney happy ending: Finally this past Oct. he was able to enjoy a pain free visit to DL for Mickey's Halloween Party. What was his costume you ask? He went as the tin man from Wizard of Oz with his "NEW HEART"!

Posted: Apr Fri 20, 2007 11:43 am
by Halvogirl
broncoflyer8912 wrote:My saddest Disneyland memory is whenever I have to leave the park!
i am sure if i really thought about it i could bring up others but this one always breaks my heart.
Posted: Apr Tue 24, 2007 10:30 pm
by borjoyzee
I remember the day that one guy died from Big Thunder Mountain RR. Horrible day that way.
I even saw the crew cry over it. I didn't know what happen. All I heard was screaming and crying. I was, "What's going on"? Then I found out rather the hard way. Someone told me and I kind of looked over saw a bunch of people over at the derailed train. Later on that day I found out what really happen and I felt bad for everyone who had to go through with that.
Posted: Jul Tue 24, 2007 2:20 pm
by Slimmer Kimmers
My saddest memory was our last trip to Disneyland in September 2005. It was our first day at the park and we hadn't been there more than a couple of hours. The first thing we had done was gone to Toon Town to have our 2 1/2 year old daughter meet Mickey Mouse for the first time. We took a picture of the memorable moment.
Sometime later we were waiting in line for the Astro Orbitor. We must have unintentionally left our camera in the pocket of our stroller. We noticed on our way to ride Pirates that our camera was gone. We were sooo bummed to have lost our camera and that picture of our daughter. It still makes me mad that someone would steal another person's camera at Disneyland, the Happiest Place on Earth. We had to buy a disposable camera and deal with poor quality pictures of our much anticipated vacation.

We filed a report at lost and found but never got our camera (or the pictures) back.
Posted: Aug Mon 20, 2007 6:48 pm
by chefbuns
My saddest Disneyland memory is that I was there the day that JFK Jr's plane went missing, I found out about it from a cast member running the Rocket Rods.
Posted: Sep Fri 14, 2007 8:54 pm
by DisneyChris
My saddest Disenyland memory was when I got lost on Tom Sawyers Island when I was about six, and one of the Calvary unifomed security guards found me in tears. He found my sister and all was well in the end. It was also a very sad day the first time I went to Disneyland and America Sings was closed forever.
Posted: Dec Wed 05, 2007 5:34 pm
by vintif
I use to Love the Disneyland Hotel at the holidays....
They had a Ice Rink over the lake for skating....and there was a great italian resturuant...i think villa verde...does anyone remember....I think it then became stromboli....
The year we went back it was all gone....now it is the Peter Pan pool & a buffet...
Posted: Dec Mon 17, 2007 4:45 am
by Undertow007
I miss being able to visit Fort Wilderness and being able to shoot the guns in the towers.