Weekend Contest in honor of dear old dad ended

[kristenrice]

I am pretty sure that I am in the running for the person with the "World's Greatest Dad".

My parents took us (me, my younger brother and sister) to WDW four times as children. When I grew up, I rekindled my love of Disney and wanted to plan my own trip as an adult. I started saving for it and finally saved up enough to take myself and my boyfriend. Well, we decided that it would be fun to drive so we invited my mom and dad to come along. We ended up spending 7 nights in a 2BR at OKW (at RACK RATE, because I didn't know any better back then) and had a ball. In fact, my "boyfriend" and I got engaged on that trip and returned a year later (2002) for our honeymoon.

Ok, back to the part about my dad...

He enjoyed himself so much on his first stay at OKW, that right then and there, he decided that he wanted to come back and share it with the WHOLE family. So, he said that in 2012, he is taking our entire family (3 kids, 3 kids-in-law and 6, maybe 7, grandkids) to WDW for a week. Yup, count 'em....14 people! He told us that he is paying for our airfare, a week at OKW, our park passes and our food.

We were never spoiled as children. In fact, mom and dad led a very simple, frugal lifestyle. We ate out once a month as a special treat. We participated in a lot of sports and dad even coached a few of our teams. As kids, we always thought that we were being "deprived" because we didn't get the latest clothing or the coolest gadgets. We were brought up in a very budget-minded family. Which is why this whole Disney trip is SO generous of my dad. He NEVER would have spent this kind of money on "just a vacation" in the past. He is 62 years old so he still had a lot of living left to do. He told us that he wants to enjoy his retirement and treat us to this trip while he is still physically and financially in a position to enjoy it. So, it really isn't a great "memory" of my dad, but it still shows what a great dad I have. I can't wait until June 2012!

[lswheatly]

I have many wonderful memories of my day. To be honest, we are more like brother and sister. We joke together, we laugh together. My fondest memery of my dad would have to be when I moved 2 hours away from him. We figured out a way to still stay in touch. So every Monday we would "speakerphone" each other and watch our favorite show, 24, together.
Now that they show is now over, we are going to re-watch the season all over again and will do it on Mondays as we had done in the past.

[shmily1]

When I was little, I won a lot of contests. I would win everything from gift certificates to gallons of paint to clothes, etc. They built a McDonald's here when I was about 10 and they had a grand opening (in November) with a 1-seater go cart right in front of the cash registers. It was shiny red and pretty. I registered for it and told my parents I was going to have that go cart. Well, little did I know that when they drew the name for the go cart about 5 days before Christmas and called that house, they got my dad on the phone. He was a little torn on what to do at that point. He was so proud that I had won a go cart!! That was a big ticket item way back then!! Then again, he had been having to work a lot in the evenings in the last couple months, which wasn't unusual except that it was alot and usually his working over was a little more sporatic.

On Christmas morning, we got up to find two shiny red go carts under the Christmas tree! One was a shiny red 1-seater and one was a shiny red 2-seater. Later, I would find out that the 1-seater was the one I had won from McDonald's (they had to tell me 'cause MCD wanted promo pictures!) and the other one was a used one my Dad had bought used and had been going over to his friends house at night to redo it. He hadn't had enough money to buy a new one but wanted us to have one. You could not tell it was ever used!! He had done such a good job on it!! It was a 2-seater so we could share. He made us a race track on part of the land and we had a blast! We would race around on those go carts and had that track dug out about a foot deep! I always liked driving the 2-seater best because it was not as fast and crazy, but DB 5 years younger couldn't drive the 1-seater much because he got caught missing the end of the track and went across the highway on it! Almost gave DDad a heart attack!! We rode those things for years out there, well into my teens. Lots of good memories there!

[Hedy]

There are may stories I could share about my dad. However, this being a board of Disney fans, I might as well share this story:
While I was studying abroad in Mexico, my dad had begun snowbirding it up in St. Petersburg, FL. So when my brother and DSIL said they were going to be at Universal Orlando, he decided to get a FL resident pass and head over to join them.

My dad was pretty excited about this-he greatly enjoyed theme parks, and Universal held special meaning for him as he’d been to the one in California with his late brother several years earlier (it was at his insistence that we took the da there in 1996). Now, as soon as he joined up with my brother, DSIL, her sister and her DH with an Express Pass, he was ready to get going.

They started off at the Mummy, where my brother learned the humor of a trip through a queue with Dad-he would loudly announce that he had every disease the safety signs warned about (He did!). He ended up riding the Mummy four times, and he got soaked on the Jurassic Park ride (My DSIL was able to convince him not to go on Dr. Doom’s Fear Fall, a picture of him is on a test seat was on the Christmas tree we put at his grave every year). Even the mobility issues he was having due to an inner ear infection did not stop him.

About one week after the weekend, he returned to Massachusetts (he and my mother were coming to visit me). However, it was discovered that the “inner ear infection” was a brain tumor. He passed away less than two months later.

I learned a lot from my dad, and I miss him when at Disney and Universal. If nothing else, I want you to consider the idea of going to Universal less than two months after you’d pass away as your lesson for today, or your point to ponder.

[tarheelpat]

My dad was a country farmer who seldom traveled out of North Carolina. He ran a dairy farm for a man old enough to be his father. That man's only child and five grand children moved to Florida, he went to visit and everyone went to Disney World the first year it opened. When he came back, he told my dad that it was the most wonderful place -- fun, clean, safe. My dad decided we should go. He went to a travel agent and got a package for the three of us. I was a freshman in college. We stayed offsite and went to MK two days. I mostly remember the dark rides. Even my mother, who is a nervous ninnie enjoyed them. Everyone was talking about Space Mountain, though, which had just opened. My dad decided we should ride that, too. My mother read the warnings and decided against it, but my dad was ready to go. He had never been on a roller coaster before and expected Pirates of the Carribean with a space theme. It was not what he expected. When he got off, he said that he decided if he got off of there alive he would never do anything like that again! It's been 35 years, but he still asks anyone whose been to WDW if they rode Space Mountain and proudly tells them he did.

[PSL1013]

I can still picture my grandfather sitting in his backyard with his red plaid wool coat on smoking those stinky cigars and listening to the RedSox game on the radio. He loved the RedSox and listened to all the games. He was my paternal grandfather and lost his only child, a son (my father) to an auto accident when my father was in his twenties and I was only 4 years old...He walked me down the isle at my wedding 40 years ago this coming September, he was so proud and I miss him so much .....so many memories of both him and my grandmother.

[DarcyDog]

My best memory was participating in an annual play put on by the alumni association of my dad’s high school. The play was “The Sound of Music” and my father having 5 children at the time was a natural to play Captain Von Trapp and my 2 brothers and my sister and I were cast as Von Trapp children. We live in Pittsburgh and it happens Don Brockett (Chef Brockett from Mister Rogers) was an alumni from the same school and was the musical conductor that evening. I remember thinking that the slip I was wearing under my dress was so beautiful. During the performance, I kept lifting my dress so everyone in the audience could see this great slip and I remember Chef Brockett desperately waving his hands for me to drop my dress. But most of all, I could see my dad laughing. Afterwards, although I was warned to never do that again, I still remember my dad’s laugh.

My father died suddenly at age 37 from a brain aneurysm. I was 11 years old with 3 older siblings and 2 younger siblings. Although we only had him a short time, my dad was great! He had the best sense of humor, and I remember laughing a great deal. My dad did not graduate from college until my younger brother was born so my parents were very creative in providing in all ways for 6 kids. I’m just very glad that I remember so much laughter during a time that had to be very stressful for my parents. My dad was taken from us too soon. I wish my nieces and nephews could have known him.

[lorisnuts]

This will be my first father's day without my father. He died of a ruptured aneurysm 8 days after father's day last year. I have so memories of him. My daughter giving him the nick name Papa Claus when she was 2, because of his full white beard.

But my favorite memory is also my last memory I have of him. Monday, June 22, the day after Father’s Day, my daughter had spent several days with her Papa Claus and Nana. I went to pick up my daughter. I met dad and my daughter in the parking lot of a restaurant. When they arrived dad parked his car in the space right next to mine. We got out of our cars. He leaned against his, I leaned against mine and we talked. I gave him a hard time for letting my daughter ride in the front seat of his car. He then went on about being concerned about his retirement and the future. He wanted to retire and move to Texas but didn’t know when. Then the topic changed. He wanted to tell me what a good kid my daughter was. He told me how she liked to push her limits like every other kid. He said, “don’t be so hard on her.” He was giving me advice for the future about how to raise my daughter. It was the kind of conversation we had never had before. We talked much longer that day then we normally would have. My daughter gave him a hug and brushed his beard only to get a reaction from her “papa claus.” I reached over, opened my arms, and wrapped them around him; instantly there was that voice . “Enjoy it, he may be gone soon.” I knew the voice that spoke. It was the same voice that you hear when you are in your quiet place with God. That hug was extra long as I studied the deep-set wrinkles at the corner of his eyes and his leathery sun worn skin. When I released his embrace the words I wanted to say would not come out. In my head was I trying to say…Dad go to the doctor, something is wrong. Why wouldn’t those words come out of my mouth? In my head I was screaming those words but they wouldn’t come out of my mouth. Instead I kissed his cheek, got into my car and we waved goodbye. This was the last conversation I had with my dad. He died exactly 7 days later.

[cuppycakemom]

Congrats!