I've heard a lot of stories about how monumental people's first lucid dreams are -- mostly when people are explaining the concept of lucid dreams to people who haven't heard of them before. Like Stephen Laberge has related instances of people's first lucid dreams, people who felt like they had never been awake until their first lucid dreams, people who felt like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, stepping into technicolour etc. That all sounds very grand and I'm sure it is that way for some but I think that's extreme.
For me, it's a practiced skill as much as anything else. It's like learning the violin. At first I was crap and then I got better, but even now that I'm "good" I only get glimpses of it's true magic now and then. Even when I have it, I don't alway "feel" it, if that makes any sense. I still have a lot of improving to do with LDs and it has been slow but I'm dedicated again and seeing results.
Also, if you anticipate your LDs to feel real and magical, they are more likely to be so.