Disney Memories with Dad: A Father's Day Special | Ep 12

In this special Father's Day episode of Rope Drop and Run, we sit down with our dad to reminisce about the Disney memories that started it all. From his first visit to Walt Disney World in the early 1970s to unforgettable family vacations, favorite attractions, beloved resorts, and the magical moments that turned our family into lifelong Disney fans, Dad shares stories that are funny, heartwarming, and full of nostalgia. Along the way, we reflect on the family traditions, Disney adventures, and even the running lessons that helped shape who we are today. Join us for a conversation about memories, magic, and the dad who introduced us to both Disney and running.

Happy Father's Day!

Transcript

Jenny 0:00

Hey Disney friends, welcome back to our podcast. I'm Jenny, and I'm Emily. Today we thought it would be fun to do a special Father's Day episode. A tribute to all the dads, and especially to ours. So who better to be our first guest than the man who is responsible for getting us booked on Disney in the first place? We are two Canadian sisters who love every Disney adventure from travel with family to running marathons. On today's show, we're celebrating Father's Day by sitting down with our dad to uncover the Disney memories that started it all. From his earliest Disney adventures to the magical moments he still remembers today. Today we're chatting with Dad about some of his earliest Disney memories, which included the first family vacation and some of the amazing things that he was impressed by, those family vacations that started it all. And of course, now it has become, because we've all love it, a family tradition. So mom and dad really taught us about Disney, basically indoctrinating us into it. Dad also taught us how to run. Do you remember when we were kids? Yeah, absolutely. He taught us how to run when I was like eight years old. I think I did the first Terry Fox run with him when 10K, like cold turkey. Yes. I remember just going out and running 10K with him. Sarah and I didn't run. We did it, we were on bikes, but we would always do those three kilometer loops or even a 5K loop. And and dad was probably going so slow because my little legs anyway, trying to keep up. And yeah, those were good. Those were good. But I remember him teaching us like go slow, make sure you can talk while you're running. And he didn't do the run-walk method or anything. We learned that later in life, but that was those are foundational lessons. No, we actually didn't we do the opposite because we would jog on the spot. Like if we came to a stoplight, we would jog on the spot. Yes. Well, fast forward a few decades, and here we are running long distances and signing up for and running Disney races. I think that's the perfect blend of lessons from dad. Disney and running. Yeah, absolutely. I wanted to talk a little bit about the Princess Race Weekend, which just had the sign-up happen last week. The registration for it was a little bit of a fiasco. And I was super excited to sign up for the Princess Race Weekend because I've done you and I have done the marathon weekend a few times now. Over the last 15 years, we've done it a few times. And this will be the first time I'm doing a race weekend that's different. So super exciting. The race registration was on a Tuesday. We all, me and like 100,000 other people, at least a billion other devices. Everybody with every device they have and their friends and their neighbors. Yeah. Basically broke the internet and broke the website crashed. And luckily, kind of, luckily, I guess, the Run Disney IT people recognized that this was happening and not prolonging it. Like I've I've been following a lot of the comments on social media and reading people's experiences from other registrations and how I think this happened a few years ago, three years ago or something for another race weekend, and it got dragged out for a whole day. People sat at their computers for eight hours or something like that. But this time, you know what? Thankfully, Rent Disney went after a couple of hours, even less than that. Like, hey, this isn't happening. We're gonna post something by 10:30 in the morning or we're gonna post something by 11 o'clock. Like it was all very quick that they started recognizing that nope, this isn't happening. We're gonna let you know when it's gonna happen. So then the following Monday, we got to actually do the registration. So the registration part was stressful, and I did have two devices open. And I don't know, I have so much to say about it. My mind is going in a every different direction. I guess my takeaways from it were to try not to stress out. Like if I'm going to do this again, try not to stress out. It was really, really stressful to the point where when I finally got accepted to the registration, which by the way, obviously I was one of the very lucky people to actually get registered for this race. I didn't get the fairy tale challenge, which I wanted. I saw the 10K sellout, I saw the fairy tale sellout. But when it finally came my turn, my hands were shaking so badly. I kept making mistakes and I couldn't stop shaking. Like it was crazy. Because I knew based on history last year, somehow I had seen somewhere how long it took for the races to sell out for the fairy tale or sorry, Princess Weekend. And it was all around the one hour mark, things started selling out. And that's when I got in to register, was at the one hour and five minute mark. And I was like, I don't have a lot of time because I know that you're not registered until you have paid. And you can, even if you're in the registration, it's not like Ticketmaster that gives you five to ten minutes or something like that. Like they're holding your ticket for you until so I was my hands were shaking so badly and I kept making mistakes. So I just registered and I got I did it. I got into the half marathon. I was super happy. And then in hindsight, I went, I wish I could have gone back and registered Mia and Charlie for the 5K, but I also know that I was at the limit, like that race was gonna sell out any minute, and I didn't really have time to go back and register for another race or register Charlie. Like it, I just my mind was like going crazy. Okay, so what's the whole takeaway? Because you you did, you got in. So what's the takeaway? My takeaways are to in the future when I try to register for another one for anybody to try not to stress out. Like there's not much you can do. You're in a randomized queue. I read somebody who was an IT person that made a comment on one of the Run Disney Posts, and there have been so many, and I have read so much of it, because I just get sucked into that rabbit hole of like, what were people's experiences? They said that you get like basically randomized into different queues. So when you have a bunch of different devices open, they aren't all going into the same queue. Like so that's why one device might have a less of a wait time, even though you registered into the queue. Like maybe I maybe I put myself in the queue on my laptop at 9.30, and I didn't put myself into the queue on my phone until 9.45. That was my experience doing this. But the one on my phone was the one that got me in, even though I it it puts you into a totally randomized queue system until 10 o'clock. And then at 10 o'clock when the registration starts, if you sign up to get into the queue at that point, it just puts you at the back, apparently. But everybody that's in there beforehand just gets put into these randomized things. So I would just say to play the game because it's like a lottery in a way, that the more devices you have open, the more chances you have to get into a queue that is gonna be you know earlier on in the process and getting in. And I know that clogs up the system and it slows everything down, but that's the game you have to play. Or you have one device and you just take your chances that it's gonna be the one that gets in before everything sells out. But really, I think you have to have all the devices to try to get in. And I would also say that you know what, try not to stress out because if you don't get in, a really good thing you can do is sign up with a charity. If you're really h h bent on doing this race, do it with a charity. Your money and your fundraising goes to a good cause. And if you really, really want to do the race and you don't want to risk not being able to get in on the registration, then just sign up with a charity anyway, ahead of time. Then you don't even have to worry about charities, charity bibs selling out. You don't have to worry about the stress. Yeah you're doing you're helping a good cause. And those I think those charity groups have a really great we we haven't done one before, but they have such a great like group dynamic and they're really supporting the whole that whole team of that charity. So yeah, just go that route. Well, you did it, you got in, and here we are. The reason, the reason we're talking about Disney and Run Disney events in the first place is thanks to our dad, anyway, who introduced us to the whole thing. So just kind of bringing it all back to the person who introduced us to Walt Disney World and getting us out running when we're kids and you know, having those two worlds collide together into the Run Disney races. We have a lot to be thankful for for not just for the love of Disney that our dad introduced us to, but just for being a great dad. So let's hear how it all started, the love of Disney, and here's our conversation with dad. Hi, Dad. Welcome to our podcast. You're our first, your first guest. Thanks.

SPEAKER_01 10:35

Thank you for inviting me.

SPEAKER_06 10:37

We just want to ask you a few questions about Disney. So, and get your memories and point of view perspective. So, can I start?

unknown 10:48

Yeah, you go.

SPEAKER_06 10:48

My first question is what is your first memory of Disney?

SPEAKER_01 10:53

I thought you might ask me that. My first memory of Disney goes back to 1974. Mom and I had you, Jenny, you were about two and a bit, and Sarah was just a b a baby. We were staying over on the Gulf side of the or the Atlantic side rather of Florida at Daytona Beach, and we decided one morning we would drive across to Disney. And it was an interesting drive because back in those days the highways were being constructed for the Disney complex. And so much of what we drove over were gravel roads. And I just remember our first uh visit into Disney was quite awe-inspiring because even though it was in large measure just being opened, I think it had I think it opened in 1973 for the first time.

SPEAKER_06 11:53

Yeah, it opened in October 1973, so it had only been open a few.

SPEAKER_01 11:57

Several months before we got we were there in March of 74. And it was still a there was still a lot of construction taking place. And I remember going onto the site thinking, well, this would be much like what we would refer to as an exhibition in Canada, like the Ottawa exhibition or the Toronto exhibition, where they would have rides that you would go on. And I was taken a little bit aback by the fact that they were referring to these as adventures rather than rides. And so as we went onto the property and we went through the uh down the the main street and through the castle and onto uh the um magic kingdoms, I th as I remember the first ride we saw was the carousel, you know, the and so we had to put you on the carousel, Jenny, because you were old enough that we could sit there or stand there beside you and hold you on it while you went up and down on the horse going around. And then I remember that they had the teacup ride, which I tried, and Mom tried.

Jenny 13:18

I can just imagine.

SPEAKER_01 13:20

But we were sick. Oh goodness me, we spun around and spun around.

SPEAKER_06 13:24

Did you take did you take us on it on the teacup?

SPEAKER_01 13:27

Well, I don't know how we managed that actually. I think we took you on, but I someone I think offered to look after Sarah in the squ in the stroller. The stroller. While we were on the ride. And of course we were trying to keep our eye on that and keep our eye on you, Jenny.

Jenny 13:49

Those are the days of just leaving your kid with a friendly face.

SPEAKER_01 13:53

That's the you could do, and you trusted the folks, and you could trust them in those days. So then I remember walking into the uh magic the kingdom, and I think the very first adventure that we went on was Small World. And I remember getting uh down into the boat because we just simply walked onto it and went down and got into the boat to go around. And Mum and I were both just absolutely blown away by the detail and the costumes and the song, and it was just magical. And I thought this is wow, this is way beyond any expectation I ever had or any experience I'd ever had. And so the small world became my first and still one of my favorite places at uh Disney. And then as I remember, we just went across the the street to uh it was the Peter Pan ride and Mum loved it. And it was I I still remember getting on the thing and flying up and flying over Nana the dog and it barking and all of the things that we saw. It was just it was all very new and magical, you know. And then I can't remember the name of the ride, the the f there was a frog.

SPEAKER_06 15:33

Oh yeah. Mr. Toad's Wild Right.

SPEAKER_01 15:35

Mr. Toad's Wild Right, thank you, Jenny. And I think that was the third one that we went on. And by then we were both sort of hooked on on uh the magic of Disney. It was really way beyond our anything that we had experienced at the local uh exhibitions in uh in Ontario.

SPEAKER_06 15:59

Do you remember that they used to have different ticket levels? Yeah like an A, B, C, D, E tickets that would get you onto certain rides.

SPEAKER_01 16:08

Yeah. And then we when we left the Magic Kingdom, because there was a lot of construction still taking place, we went to the Ma the Carousella Progress. And that became over the years, that became Mum's favorite. It was mine too, I guess, in many ways. But it was just it was a place where you could be seated and just look at the the various stages of how society had changed over several decades, you know. And but much of what we saw in the very first stage of the carousella progress, both mum and I could relate to because we had seen some of the instruments that they were still y that they had put up in there, like the telephones and the furniture was all familiar to us and and the way they depicted life was familiar to us. So but then as we we we moved around the carousel, it was it was interesting to watch how it had society had changed over the decades.

Jenny 17:16

Aaron Ross Powell What was your thought on the last scene, like the Christmas scene that's supposed to predict the future? What did you think of that one back then?

SPEAKER_01 17:27

Honestly, Emily, I don't have much memory of it. Quite frankly, I don't. Uh the one that stands out the most in my mind was the very first one. And then as we moved through the various stages, I tended to sort of observe the the new you know, acquisitions and furnishings like television sets and and then the monitored screens and things of that nature where we're showing films in our home and stuff like that. I don't remember much about the Christmas uh scene, uh Emily, to be honest.

SPEAKER_06 18:05

I remember the scene I think it's like the 1940s decade. Because the carousel is set up right now. It has the first scene you see is I think it's the 1900s, and then it goes 1920s, and then it goes 1940s, and then it goes 1960s, but that's the last scene that keeps kind of evolving as the future evolves. And I think it's the 1940s one that would say that that's what Nana's kitchen looked like. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:38

Yes, well, Mom was very observant in that in that respect. She uh it was her one of her very favorite things at Disney. She uh always insisted that we go there and at least once to the carousella progress while we were there.

Jenny 18:54

I'm glad she did because it's it's um one of the ones that I always want to do too. I mean, if I didn't do it, I don't know if I would feel like gypped or anything, but I do. Yeah, I guess you know what? Because if I don't go, it's all the cla it's all the classics. I think that I care more about the classics than I do about the new ones.

SPEAKER_03 19:14

Yeah.

Jenny 19:15

I also wondered if you've if it left an impression on you at all. Because it always did with me when I was when I was little, just the engineering of the whole thing and how the audience moved, or like when the different rooms light up and and then all of a sudden they like somehow behind the scenes, like as you know, when I was young, I was like, whoa, that's so cool.

SPEAKER_06 19:37

Yeah, there's a revolve back there, but you don't see it happen. It's all of a sudden it's a new scene back there.

SPEAKER_01 19:41

Right, that's right. Yeah. No, it's very interesting. The carousel was always very, very interesting and and relaxing too, because you'd be when you got there, you were often quite tired, you know, either carrying small kids on my shoulders or carrying them in my arms. It was nice to be able to get in and sit down for a few minutes and just observe the the the magic of the whole pro the whole thing.

Jenny 20:10

Okay, be honest now. Have you ever had a nap at Carousel of Progress? Have you ever had an extra long blink?

SPEAKER_01 20:19

No, I don't believe so. I don't think I've not that I can recall.

SPEAKER_06 20:22

I have.

SPEAKER_01 20:24

No, I haven't. I I because I was always fascinated by the carousel and interested to see what the next uh like what they'd done. And every time we went, they'd done something to sort of modernize it a little bit more, you know, or upgrade it a little bit more. But no, I don't believe I ever had a nap that I don't believe I ever had a nap at Disney. The other first memory that I do have of Disney was after that first day, we decided we would stay over. And the contemporary hotel had just opened. Well, the I don't know whether it had opened just that weekend or whatever, but we went in and had no difficulty at all getting a room. And so we got a room and I I think we were up on the seventh or eighth floor, and overlooking Lake Buena Vista, and we were exhausted because the Sarah was tired, and Mum Mum had been attending to Sarah and getting her tucked in and ready for bed. And we got up to our room and got you and Sarah settled in for the night. And the pair of you just died, and just you were both tired and you you fell asleep. And Mum and I got into bed and we were just tucked in nicely and very comfortable, and all of a sudden, boom, there was this enormous sound out in the lake, and it was just music blaring, and I jumped out of bed out of just uh startled and jumped out of bed and ran to the window. And here was this parade on the lake going by, and and we mom and I got up. And looked and it was just amazing. We thought, does it never end here? Like this was at nine o'clock at night, and we were exhausted. But it was it was so exciting to see this parade for the first time with all the lights and the big screens and everything that went by in the boats and everything. So that was my first the end of the first day of our very first visit at uh Disney. It was exciting to start in the morning and it was exciting to finish at night. And then Morris Mo and I went back to bed and thought, my goodness, what'll happen next? You know, we can we go to sleep safely or not. But it was over once the parade was passed. That was the end of the of the stuff to see that night. And so then the next morning we got up and the to the to our great again surprise because we really didn't know very much about Disney. Well, there wasn't much to know about it at that time, I guess, or at least what there was to know we didn't know.

SPEAKER_06 22:56

Well, it was brand new.

SPEAKER_01 22:57

But it was brand new. And when we went down for breakfast in the in the hotel, we were surrounded by Disney characters. You know, we had Mickey Mouse and we had uh Minnie and Donald Duck and Daisy all running around and Goofy running around. And that was very exciting for you, Jenny, as a little toddler at the time. And it was just you wouldn't, you wouldn't, you couldn't, we couldn't have forced you to eat anything. You were so excited to see all these characters. And then we took our ride on the monorail and you know, went around and for the first time we were doing things like that. And it was just a very exciting 24-36 hours for us.

Jenny 23:43

And so started the Disney addiction of the family.

SPEAKER_06 23:50

It's your fault. Your fault.

SPEAKER_01 23:52

Yeah, Mom and I. We went back many times, and you know, I we were all at various stages in life when we once started as a family, and and I can remember walking around the grounds with you, Emily, on my shoulders, and and one or the other of you in my arms, and and then as times were both of you in my arms as we would walk around. And then we'd get the big strollers and put all of you in there and push you all around. And, you know, it was but you know, it was in the it was the time too when you had if you had a stroller, that reminds me that you could go to one of the you could go to one of the adventures and push your stroller up to the gate and take your children out of it and get in line and go into the into see the adventure and not worry about the the bag of maybe diapers or whatever it was you were carrying with you for your family, not worrying that it would be taken. You know? When you came out, your stroller was still there, all of your belongings were still in it. There wasn't any fuss.

SPEAKER_06 24:54

I feel that actually Disney is still like that though, overall.

SPEAKER_01 24:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 24:58

I don't think many people I say this really not knowing, but I see a lot of strollers with bags and things in them and on them, just left in the strolling stroller parking. Like uh who's gonna go steal something off a stroller, really? There's nothing valuable there.

SPEAKER_01 25:14

That's very, very true. But I just remember uh thinking, well, you know, we just push it up and off we'd we'd gather you all up and get you into a line and go into the into the adventure and you know not even think about it really. So and then you know, as time progressed and years passed, each of you of course got older and much, much more excitable about going to Disney and much more excitable about going into the adventures in the various lands uh at Disney. And I remember for the first time going into the moon, what do they call it? Space Mountain. Space Mountain. Thank you, Jenny. Having a senior moment here. And uh one of our neighbors who had gone and came back, we were friends of Mom and I, told us that we shouldn't go on it because it was too scary. And so I can't rem I don't I think you were probably about eight or so, Jenny, at the time. I don't remember. But we got to the Space Mountain and Mom wasn't going to go on it. There was no way because Barbara had said, no, it's too scary, we're not gonna go on that, it'll frighten the children and so on and so forth. So anyway, you and I went on, and then Mom came on in the car right behind us. And if you remember going up the first track, because it's just a roller coaster, it an indoor roller coaster, and we as we were going up and the lights are flashing past us, you think of the as you were uh going into outer space, you know, the with all the sounds and the lighting and everything that it took. And I thought, this is really very impressive. And I just remember at the point that we got to the top where Barbara had said to us, she was crying, get me off this thing, get me off this thing. And then it went around in the dark, and it was exciting the first time we went around it for sure, you know, because it was just another new experience. We had never experienced anything like that in the past. And it was a new experience. I could hear mom screaming behind me, but um, you, Jenny, were in front and you were just having the time of your life. You were not at all spooked out.

SPEAKER_06 27:43

Well, and in those days, the ride vehicle would seat two people in one seat. So remember, you sat down and then I sat between your legs. That's right. And then the strap went across both of us. That's right.

SPEAKER_01 27:55

And then and you were not, you were just you were so excited because it just you thought it was wonderful, you know. And I was worried because of everything that had been said, I had my arms wrapped around you and trying to make sure that nothing would happen. And then of course we got to the end of it, and I thought, well, what was that all about? You know, I mean, it was a great ride. It was an exciting ride, but I didn't see the need to cry out, well, get me off this thing, get me off this thing, you know.

SPEAKER_06 28:21

Well, people have different tolerance levels for roller coasters.

SPEAKER_01 28:25

Yeah.

Jenny 28:26

That's true, but also there've been times that I've gone on a ride, like Mission Space, for example. And I can't even like the first time I think we went on mission space, I came off that and you guys had to like basically carry me off. And that was inevitable. But we did the orange level. Yeah, I know. But like, and I've been on it since, and it wasn't nearly as bad. So I don't know if there was just something like about me that day, or the ride just felt that much more intense. Like, I just feel like sometimes the rides are more intense than others, but they could be in my head. Anyway, all that to say, Space Mountain is pretty much fun, and it still is fun.

SPEAKER_01 29:02

Yeah, yeah. I yeah, I've been on it several times, and I always enjoyed the ride every time I was on it. I've enjoyed everything they've ever gone on on Disney. The only thing that I didn't go on more than twice, I think, is the uh teacup ride because I got it made me ill spinning around.

Jenny 29:21

Did you go on it with Sarah? Because that would make you ill. Or George. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:26

I may have done I may have done with George. My memories of George were that he was very shy.

SPEAKER_06 29:30

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:31

And I remember going to the uh water ride that Oh yeah, Splash Mountain. Splash Mountain. And George did not want to go on Splas Mountain. And so I stayed off and stood at the gate with him, and I kept reassuring him that mommy was going to be okay and everybody was going to be fine, and we stood we stood waiting and watching you come down the slide at the end when you all got splashed, and he enjoyed watching that. And then ultimately, as he got a little older and more bold, he wanted to go on these rides that he had missed when he was younger because he was so shy and timid. But and now I expect that he'd want to challenge any of the rides that are there. But back in the day, he there were several that he wouldn't go on, so I would stand and watch with him and reassure him that everybody was going to be fine.

Jenny 30:27

So I have a question for you, Dad. You've stayed at a bunch of different resorts on property, including you mentioned the contemporary. Uh you've stayed at the Polynesian.

SPEAKER_01 30:38

Yeah. We stayed at we've stayed at the Polynesian and at the contemporary. We only stayed one night in my memory at the the Wilderness Lodge? No, the one across from the Magic Kingdom.

Jenny 30:56

Oh, Grand Floridian.

SPEAKER_01 30:58

The Grand Floridian, thank you very much. We only stayed that I can recall one night there. And we had uh we had a guest with us. And so we had two two rooms there, and the guest somehow managed to plug the toilet in the in the room and flooded the flooded the uh bathroom and they were not pleased. The administration was not pleased with us and so it put a sour note on the experience that we had at the at that particular hotel. But apart from that, everywhere we've stayed, we've we've enjoyed on the main hotels. We stayed at the the uh contemporary, the Polynesian, the yacht club, the the beach club several times, which we considered home. Because we'd get us we'd get villas there for the family, two or three villas, and and everybody would enjoy their stay there when we went to the villas. It was handy because it was just a few steps away from the entrance of of the Apcot. And uh you could walk out the front door of the beach club and go 150 yards and you were into into Apcot grounds. The yacht club was the same. We've had different experiences in both those two inst institutions. They the yacht club we ended up on the on the the f what did they call it?

SPEAKER_06 32:40

The f the Oh the club level.

SPEAKER_01 32:42

The club level floor, yeah. And so we had access to the the the that special room where they had sandwiches and food and everything that was all free to the people that were on on that floor. So that was quite an interesting stay. Because we were feeding at the time there would be five or six of us and and we'd be feeding.

SPEAKER_06 33:03

Yeah, there were ten of us.

SPEAKER_01 33:04

Ten of us, yeah. Yeah. So we would be feeding a a crowd of people and uh I had to go back early that time.

Jenny 33:13

I was I was there for only half a day while you guys were at the yacht club, really? Yes. Okay, but other times you had to go back to school, so true. I did go back. All right, fine. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:25

And the other part of the seeing in either of those places is you could walk around on the boardwalk and go across over to the restaurants and things on the other side, where there were bake bake shops or bakeries, and and you could get delicious croissants and dinner rolls and sandwiches. Sandwiches were exceptional, and and you know, that was interesting, good fun as well. And the one time you guys rented the bicycle, we got everybody on the bicycle, and and and my life flashed before my eyes with Sarah and Mark driving that thing.

Jenny 34:02

That was interesting.

SPEAKER_01 34:03

Maybe with ten of you on a bike or something, and that was fun. But no, we have very good memories of of the beach club. The the facilities were very comfortable.

Jenny 34:12

The swimming pool.

SPEAKER_01 34:14

The swimming pool, the ducks, yeah, and the baby all the baby ducks. I remember our very first night at the beach club came at a time when Jenny, you had just had surgery, abdominal surgery, and George was three three. And we had Sarah and Mark and and and you and Emily and Mum and I and George and Molly, yeah. There was been Molly and the yes, Abby. Oh, yes, and Abby or Lillian.

SPEAKER_06 34:50

Yeah. And Abby would have only been two years old.

SPEAKER_01 34:54

Abby was just two. And Abby said her very first word when we were at uh watching the parade that the first morning we were there, and Abby was sitting in her stroller and she said duck. That's her very first word. It was Donald Duck coming down in the parade. She just from the stroller and shocked all of us because she said it as clearly as she could be, duck. What did she just say? You haven't said mama yet or daddy yet, but it said duck. Anyway. But and then Lily cried so hard because she saw Peter Penn for the first time and she loved Peter Penn, and she was a little girl of about four, I guess, at the time. And she cried. She was with Auntie M. I think it made you cry as well, Emily, to watch her crying.

Jenny 35:43

Yeah, it was the parade through Magic Kingdom and watching Lily and and they must know those the cast members know, the characters know who to look out for because Peter Pan was waving at Lillian, and and even as the float kept going, he was, you know, eye contact with Lillian. And then yeah, it would think definitely choked me up because it was pretty special. Anyway.

SPEAKER_01 36:13

So yeah, there were many, many, many, many good memories of Disney that as a family that we have. I I just like the first time we stayed at the beach club, we had booked rooms and y you girls were teaching at Jenny, you were still on sick leave from the surgery, but Emily was teaching. And we could have left in the afternoon and got into Florida right away, but a storm rolled in and Emily was not going to le take off time to which was I mean, I admired her for that. But as the evening came on, an enormous winter storm came in.

Jenny 36:58

I think it was a hundred-year storm.

SPEAKER_01 37:00

And it was something like that. And in the morning, our flights, we had the first flights out from Ottawa to to Florida, and at five o'clock in the morning we were all gathered at our house, going to go in tandem down to the airport. And it was a challenge trying to drive over the highways to get to the airport, only to find out when we got there that nothing was flying. Everything was closed down, all the airlines had shut down, they couldn't get out of the out of the Ottawa airport. And we were flying on WestJet at the time. It was our first trip with WestJet. And we went to the WestJet counter, and I just remember how helpful the people were behind the counter. They said, well, we we we haven't canceled our flights yet, but we're not we're not certain what to expect. And then shortly we went and had a we everybody went into the seated area to have a coffee and some breakfast, and and Sarah, who was the she was out running around making sure, and she came running back to me and said, Dad, they've just closed the airline, so we better go speak to them. So we went out to speak, and he said, We're still flying out of Montreal, and we'll do our best to get you to Montreal. And what they did was they organized a limousine service to come pick us up at the airport and take us to the train station in Ottawa, because the only way you could get to Montreal was on the train. And Westjett said, Are you prepared, are you prepared, sir, to buy the tickets on the train for your family? And I said, Yes. He told me how much it would cost, and I said, Yes, that we would. And so they packed us all, all of us in, all our luggage and everything into these limousines, and we off we go to to the downtown train station in Ottawa, and we get there, and as we buy the tickets, we get the very last tickets purchaseable for the train because everybody, the place was just chalk a block with people that got had been stuck and couldn't go their for whatever reason their transportation had been uh closed down. And so we uh we got to uh Montreal and we we get to the uh the hotel in Montreal, uh holiday inn, I think it was, if I remember correctly. And we're supposed to the flight is supposed to take us out later the next morning. I think by the time we got to Montreal and got to the hotel, got everybody in and settled. It was m it was nine o'clock at night or something of that nature as I remember. And I can just recall going into the hotel. Oh, by the way, the uh WestJet had given us passes for taxi services or bus services in Montreal. They'd given us upgraded tickets for the flight from Montreal to Florida, and they gave us some passes for rooms at the Holiday Inn. And they told us that there were rooms there for us. So I remember going in to the lobby, all of us going into the main lobby, and our luggage coming in, and uh we get to the uh counter where the clerk is uh receiving people, and he's telling a gentleman and his 14-year-old son, as I remember, because the man kept telling him, This is my 14-year-old, and we're going. And he was he was being really quite aggressive with the clerk behind the counter. And the clerk kept saying, But I'm sorry, sir, we people who were supposed to vacate the rooms have not vacated them, and we're doing our best to accommodate everybody. But the foyer was filled with people, I just remember that. And mothers nursing babies and babies crying, and it was just it was real chaos. And ultimately the clerk behind the counter went away and came back and said to this man, There is a room for you at the holiday inn somewhere else. If you can get there, I have it in your name. So the man was gone. And I step up and I said to him, I got this package of of uh things that the WestJet people had given to us. And we I I said to him that we were rooms have been put aside in our names, and he said, I'm really sorry, sir, but we we we have nothing. We've absolutely nothing. And we're just booked solid. And so I told him that West Jet had previously booked and cleared it and everything. And so he went in, and I remember watching, he went in behind a glass, and there was a woman in there on a microphone, and so on, and he came back out and he said, Yes, we do have two rooms for you. And so they took us down the corridor on the main floor, and we had two adjoining rooms. And we thought, oh my goodness, me, this is great, you know. So I get into bed and I'm lying there and I'm thinking, well, wait a minute. We still have to get to the airport. So I got up and got dressed and went back out to the man and I said to him, Could I order a taxi to come and pick up my family? And he said, Sir, the taxi services have been shut down now for hours. They're not they're not taking calls. It was just the storm, the city had been snowed in. And so I thought, oh my goodness. He said, There are some that are out there, but if you're lucky, you might be able to flag one down. But so I don't remember the exact hour. It was it was probably four or five o'clock in the morning. And so I put on my coat and I went outside, and Mark got up and he came outside with me. And we were standing out there at one entrance of the of the driveway going in, which was a horseshoe drive. And as we were standing there, I see over at the other end at the exit, but it would have been the exit side, there was a group of people covered in snow, and their luggage was out there at the with them, and it was covered in snow. And I thought, oh dear, this is not a good sign. They've been here a while. And just then a car came swooping in and picked those people up. And I ran down to the car and I said to the man, Is there any chance that you could come back and get my family for me? And he said, I'm sorry. Sorry, he said the roads are so bad. And my wife is afraid that we'll miss our flights into into Florida. So anyway, we I said to him, Well, thank you very much. And and I I gave him my card and said, if you come back, we'd just call for us, we'll be in the foyer. And so I c I got Mark to wait in the foyer. I said, watch for this gentleman, he may come back, he may not, but watch for him. In the meantime, I got on the phone and I'm I'm speaking to the Westjet people in Calgary, I think it was. And they said, We're still flying, we haven't closed down the Montreal airport. We're still flying out of there. And as I had her on the line, Mark came running in saying, the gentleman came back. And so I thanked the lady on the phone and I ran out to greet this gentleman. And he was in a bit of he was he was a bit excited because it was pretty frightening, the roads. And but he had an SUV. And so I said, please take my family, took everybody but Mum and I, because our flight was later in the morning, and you folks were going off at like at 7 o'clock or 7.30 or something like that. And I gave Emily some money to give to this man to say thank you, and this would pay for his parking. And he didn't want to take it. Remember that, Em? Mm-hmm. He was very, very kind. Didn't want to take it, but I got his name anyway. And he got you guys out to the airport in time, and you got on your airplane. And in the meantime, Mom and I, I went back to our room and I called Sarah's friend.

SPEAKER_03 45:59

Chantel.

SPEAKER_01 46:00

Chantal. And her husband Pierre. And Pierre was ill with the flu. But Chantal said, Pierre says he'll get up and take you for your flight at 9.30. Because they lived in Montreal. So Pierre came and picked us up and took Mom and I out to the airport, and we got out there in time. But when we got to the airport, we discovered that you guys were still sitting there. Your airplane hadn't gone anywhere. And so we sat down and waited for uh because your plane had to go and come back to get us. And I think it was around 2.30 or no, it was later than that. It was in the evening because we didn't get into Florida until about 11 o'clock or 11 30 at night.

SPEAKER_06 46:47

But our plane took us to Fort Lauderdale.

SPEAKER_01 46:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 46:51

And then we had a van from Fort Lauderdale to Orlando.

SPEAKER_01 46:55

Which I just thanks, Jenny. I'd forgotten that detail. And one other that was quite important. They WestJet had given us the tags to give to these people and they'd arranged for that service to pick you up at Fort Lauderdale. And that man drove you right to the Disney site.

Jenny 47:13

Yeah. If you remember, which was really And we stopped for roadside oranges.

SPEAKER_01 47:17

Yeah, and and and and yeah, and and uh anyway for bathroom breaks and things, I think, as well. But I you I couldn't say enough about the people at WestJet at that time. They were just m marvelous and ensuring that every step of our holiday was was taken care of. And and so then when Mum and I get in, it's late at night. And when we get to the Disney bus was going to take us to our to the beach club. When we finally get there, again there was a family in front of us who were overtired and very upset with the arrangements that had been made in the D in the in the time. I don't know. Anyway, we went in. I just said I told them my family was here, and they said, Oh, yes, well, we've got you into the conf conference room or something, where there's two bedrooms off to each either side of it, and you, Jenny, and Emily and George were in one side, and and Mom and I went into the other, and I think it was about two o'clock in the morning when we finally got tucked in for the night. And we were starving hungry because we hadn't eaten anything in 24 hours, so we called and they said we can bring you some soup, so they brought us some soup. And we had the soup and got down under the covers, and I don't think we were under the covers a half an hour, and George comes bouncing in on top of us, he's all excited about going to the to the Disney parks. And so that was our beginning of that holiday. But when we got into the train station in Toronto in Montreal that night from Ottawa, it was just a circus in the in the foyer. It was just literally jam-packed because people couldn't get out. There were no taxi service, no bus service, nothing. They were stuck. And I remember going to the counter and saying to the two gentlemen behind the counter, you've got to do something about this because people are very upset. And they said, There's nothing we can do about it, and they walked away and closed the door and went into a room and closed the door. So I went outside and again I had Mark with me. And an older SUV came screaming up the thing and sliding back and forth. I remember trying to make its way up. And there was a family of four who got in there, and and I ran up to the man and I asked him, I said, Sir, I've got my family here. Can you please just take us down to the hotel? We could practically see the hotel, but we couldn't get to it. Could you please take us to the hotel? He said, No, it's too dangerous. I can't do it. And so I offered him, you know, some money and gave him my card. I was speaking to him in French, and lo and behold, he came back. And we got everybody packed into it. It was dangerous.

SPEAKER_06 50:11

Oh, I remember that van.

Jenny 50:13

The door didn't close. There were no seatbelts. Like we had children and suitcases stacked on top of us while holding the dooring the door while drifting between legs.

SPEAKER_01 50:24

And I just remember there was a brand new Cadillac stuck in the side of the snow, and I obviously the driver couldn't get his car out of the drifts. And we came so close to just sideswiping that whole thing. It's when I thought, oh my goodness, this isn't going well. But when we got there, we got everybody in and we got you all tucked in, and we got to the beach club, and and it was pretty exciting times after that. We had a pretty exciting holiday after that.

SPEAKER_06 50:50

I remember they gave away our villas because we didn't arrive on the day we were supposed to arrive. And mom let them have it, I guess.

Jenny 51:00

Mum had I don't know. Mum had spent a better portion of the year planning this trip of a lifetime. Trip of a lifetime because it was the entire family, grandkids, the whole thing, and you know, had planned so much and had it planned perfectly with two villas beside each other. And uh she was pretty heartbroken, but it worked out.

SPEAKER_06 51:22

She gave them a little sob story and and um and I remember her saying, like she she said to the concierge or whoever, this is you know, this is our dream trip of a lifetime. And he said to her, ma'am, this is everybody's dream trip of a lifetime, to be fair.

SPEAKER_03 51:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 51:41

Yeah, yeah, very true.

SPEAKER_06 51:44

But then we came into the villa and they had left little gifts for all the kids.

Jenny 51:49

Remember, they all had a little plushie or a photo book, or they all got like a little, yeah, little Mickey Mouse and an autograph book as a little souvenir. And that was nice. A little little way to pixie dust the day. And it that helped. Yeah, it did help. Yeah. And then began round two of the addiction. This the third generation. Yeah. It's still going strong.

SPEAKER_01 52:24

So yeah, so that's sort of scattered memories of some of the uh trips we've had. I wrote to the WestJet people after we got home and set out in a letter some of the detail and some of the names of the people who have there in their employee who had who have been so kind. And I got a letter back from the from the president of saying that thanking me for the and that they'd pass the kudos on to all the people involved. And I thought, wow, you know, it's uh pretty impressive when you get a letter back like that.

Jenny 53:02

Yeah. I think that's great too, like to send a letter saying thank you for your exemplary work, because so many people are quick to write negative letters when they're upset. And not as many people write letters uh uh maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think as many people write letters to say thank you. So I don't think people do. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 53:24

People will jump to the pen when they have a complaint to make, but not often a compliment.

SPEAKER_01 53:29

We were we were all very grateful because they had basically saved our holiday. In our own shortcomings, we had failed to buy the insurance necessary for to get you know to be recompensed for for our flights and all of that for ten people.

Jenny 53:48

I remember saying to mom, go without me, because I I couldn't I couldn't leave early. I couldn't go the day early, even though we knew the storm was coming. I said, Everybody else should go without me and I'll meet you there once the storm passes. And Mum said we can't do that because we were over ten people, we had a group, I guess, package and at least that's what she told me.

SPEAKER_01 54:11

Yeah, I don't remember how we did that, but yeah, I did. I just don't remember how we did that.

Jenny 54:15

But only take in the day. Just take the day. Just take the day. That is how dedicated I am, everybody.

SPEAKER_01 54:24

Anyway. So we had quite an interesting time then because we went back the next year and had villas at the beach club, and that's the year I think the ducks arrived. And uh Sarah and Mark and the family, their family had a a villa that came out on the ground floor, and when they opened their doors, they're sliding Florida doors onto to into the garden at the back. The ducks would walk into the room. And the girls learned that if you fed them something, the ducks would come in and get them, and so they had all these this mother duck with all her little babies following her into the room and back out, which was very exciting for all of them.

Jenny 55:01

No wonder it was Abby's first word.

SPEAKER_01 55:06

Yeah, that was the year following. But anyway, no, she was she she was quite excited at that time when she just blurted out duck. Yeah. As clearly as could be. Anyway, shocked all of us. So yeah, there there are many memories. You get them mixed up over the years, at least I do at my age now.

Jenny 55:26

No, I get them too.

SPEAKER_01 55:27

I guess you get them mixed up and things that I just remember that old man who came back to get us at the train station in Montreal, or Dorval, actually, and to take us down to the to take us down to the hotel, and what an exciting ride that was. Woo-hoo.

Jenny 55:44

There were a few heroes. A few heroes that day.

SPEAKER_01 55:48

Well then it turned out that the chap that came back and actually took the whole family except Mum and I to the airport. That chap it was he was a f an Ottawa firefighter and he was in charge of the Ottawa Christmas parade that they put on. Very, very, very kind man and just a man with an enormous heart and a spirit that wanted to to do whatever he could to help, you know, and he too was responsible for uh saving our holiday, coming back to get us out of that hotel. Because we never would have got out of there with a with a taxicab. And when he came back and got us out, and then Pierre and uh Chantal came over to pick up Mum and I a couple of hours later, that's what really all those kind people really saved that holiday for us. And I j I just when I came back to Ottawa, the man who had picked us up, the firefighter, his father worked at the courthouse where I was working, and I happened to find out that he was the father of this and I called him in and s spoke to him. I said, Your son is a remarkable person, and I wrote I wrote a letter to his the his son as well. And his wife wrote back and thanked me for the for the letter and said that they were delighted to have been able to help a family and just wonderful people, you know. And his father said, That's just my boy. He he's like that, and he'll do that for anyone, you know. Very kind, very, very kind, very helpful person. So there were a lot of people that came together that particular time to see to it that for some reason all of Mum's great planning and detailed planning, the one thing we missed on was the in buying insurance for everybody, you know?

Jenny 58:08

So Well, it was a great trip. We got there and we were a little bit extra tired when we started it off, but it didn't hurt the fun.

SPEAKER_01 58:19

No, we had a lot of fun. It was a memorable trip, actually. We had so much fun.

Jenny 58:30

What's the next question? Okay, Dad. Next question. Where is your favorite place to eat or what's your favorite like food item at Walt Disney World?

SPEAKER_01 58:45

That's another question I can answer because uh w we so rarely ate we so rarely ate at a at a sit-down dinner place in Disney with the whole family. That for two reasons. One was the cost, and two is just that nobody wanted to take the time to go in and sit down in there for a couple of hours. You know, they all wanted to be on the run all of the time. But no, I okay.

Jenny 59:18

Next question. Would you rather watch the fireworks show at either Magic Kingdom or Apcot or a character breakfast with the kids?

SPEAKER_01 59:32

Well, both are very exciting in very different ways. The fire show we once watched it from a boat on out on the Lake Buena Vista, and that was really exciting because we were right out over that was quite quite an exciting evening. But having the duck the uh all the uh characters come in to breakfast when you children were all small and have them I don't know why we would bother ordering food because none of you would eat anything you were so excited. And you know, I remember Goofy coming in or Pluto coming in, putting his ears over your eyes and things like that and playing with you, and there wasn't any chance that you were going to eat anything after that, you know. It was just too exciting.

Jenny 1:00:20

I remember one of the characters, I can't remember if it was Pluto or if it was uh chip, but one of them broke off a piece of my muffin and to try to encourage me to eat. He was trying to feed it to me like you know, like coming in like an airplane or something.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:38

Yeah. No, they were they were all very personable and and lots of fun. Just very exciting for small children because the children couldn't couldn't take in what they were seeing in the these characters coming to in real life coming to them and then expect being expected to eat something, you know? But that's all part of the fun. That was family fun, you know.

Jenny 1:01:02

Can you give a tip, your best tip for other fathers taking their family, going on a family vacation to Walt Disney World? That's a tough question.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:17

Well, there's so many different ways to answer that. Depends on r the method of transportation that you choose to to get to Disney in the first place. Then the question is, uh many of you are there in your family? There's the issues of cost. There's the issues of convenience, the staying in the d in the on the Disney site hotels, which are more expensive, but you get certain perks with them that tend to offset a little bit the cost of them. And then there's the issue of staying at some of the further outreach hotels that are still Disney hotels that offer you the convenience of easy transportation back to the main sites of Disney. But they're out of the way, and when you're tired at night, it's a little bit exhausting if you've got a family that you want to get off back and into bed as quickly as possible. Sometimes the delays waiting for the buses or the transportation to get out there is is uh tiresome. So you need to think of those things. I think for every family it's different. It's what can they afford, what are their expectations, how many of them are there, what age levels are the children, you know, what are any are there any disabilities in the family? You know, there are all sorts of things that are personal to their family that they need to consider and and research. I still sort of feel I've mentioned it several times now, about our first trip. I didn't think of buying insurance because I thought it was too expensive to. And at the end of the day, had I bought insurance, we probably wouldn't have gone because we would have just relied on the insurance then to cover the costs of the air tickets and so forth. But I don't know what else I can say. They the ordering meals and things of that nature as a family that were difficult. They're hard to get, first of all, you've got to plan months in advance to get into some of the major places to eat. I think you girls have already touched on that in your previous podcasts. And yeah, it's uh it it it depends. There's so many individual factors that that are personal to each family and each father uh that it would be hard to offer any advice other than just to say make sure your family is safe and do everything that you can to uh to take part of the holiday with them and share the experience that they're experiencing experiencing.

SPEAKER_06 1:04:13

That's very good advice. I think that will wrap it up there. Thanks, Dad. Those are some good memories.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:22

Yes, they are, yeah. Yeah. I hope the WestJet people don't mind me mentioning them. I should have just said an airline, I suppose.

Jenny 1:04:32

No, you should absolutely mention them. You were mentioning them in a positive way. Yeah, so they didn't make the storm.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:39

No, they dare they sure didn't. But they certainly saved us. They put our holiday together for us.

unknown 1:04:45

Okay.

Jenny 1:04:46

Thank you for all the memories in creating a family of Disney fanatics.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:52

Well, we appreciate it. Very fortunate that got such a lovely family, and everybody has such a lovely time when they go to Disney, and they're so well intended, and they look forward with great excitement still when they when they go to Disney.

Jenny 1:05:15

Well, that's just the tip of the iceberg of memories, of experiences with dad and Disney. There are so many more stories that could be told. I was listening back and realizing, and I think he realized too, that he got the date wrong, that the first trip we took to Disney was actually 1973. Yeah, we can't do math apparently. Because Sarah was a baby and she was born November 19 in November of 1972. So she would have been a baby in in the spring of 1973. So it was 1973. Yeah, tip of the iceberg. There's so many stories. And I'm kicking myself because I forgot to ask him an important like important question that he's done one of the Run Disney events. He's done one of the 5Ks and I wanted to ask him just about his experience and how he liked it. So I guess we'll have to have another conversation. We'd have to have him as a repeat in guest and interview him again. Yeah. About his Run Disney experience. Right. I remember that was the year that I gave everybody a 5K registration for Christmas. Well I think everybody but me I got my own but everybody I already I already wanted to do it. And imagine that like that was back in the day when everything didn't sell out in an hour. Like I had you know just bought them for Christmas. That was a lot of fun and we all wore our incredible shirts and but you guys went ahead and we brought up we brought up the rear it was great. It was fun yeah we should do it again sometime. Yeah I agree.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:03

Now it's time for a great big beautiful update there's a great big beautiful tomorrow shining at the end of every day. There's a great big beautiful tomorrow and tomorrow's just a dream away.

Jenny 1:07:20

I'll tell you um something I am really looking forward to I mean I think everybody knows now I'm a teacher you're a retired teacher and it is the end of the school year. There's only a few days of classes left. So I'm looking forward to the fact that it's the end of the school year. There's still lots to happen there's still a review in classes there's still exams there's commencement ceremonies all good things and you know saying goodbye to your classes for the year or for the semester it's always like I've had some good classes and they've been lots of fun but I'm not that sad because I'm going to see them again next year for the most part there's only a few that I won't and even if they're not in my class next year I'll see them in the hallways. Like we're a small school so so that part's okay but I am really looking forward to just having a little summer vacation. So the fact that I have to say goodbye to great classes is outshined by the fact that I've got summer vacation two more days we can do it. School's out for summer yeah definitely okay now let's hear though okay my my news is like yes that's that is exciting and I'm fortunate to have summers off but what are you looking forward to I'm looking forward to running the princess half marathon in February because I just got in yay but I'm also looking forward to going to Disney in February never done that before going to try out a new resort which is exciting so I'm taking Charlie with me and we're going to stay at the Wilderness Lodge and yeah that's my what am I looking forward to that's a that's a pretty solid one. That's pretty good. I don't know I get to run a Disney race yeah princess new race and the time of year is going to be so good because it's February so it's not super hot. Mm-hmm. Good time of year for Canadians to go down to somewhere a little bit warmer too because February is definitely wintry. You're in the heart of winter here. Yeah so I'm going to book our flights so that we're going down well I booked our accommodation already but I booked it so that we have lots of days ahead of time so if there's any weird winter storms that get in the way of getting there we've got time planes, trains and automobiles. We've been there done that learned it from experiences that's good. Okay well that's it for this episode of Rope Drop and Run. Join us next time and if you liked what you heard share this episode with a friend and follow us on Instagram at Rope Drop and Run. Please follow, subscribe, leave us a review and send us all your Disney questions. We can't wait to chat with you next time. We'll see you at the castle or the start line