My Disney Story

Every Disney fan has a story of how it all started for them. I grew up watching the Disney classics on VHS and went to Walt Disney World for the first time when I was four and my family would go back every two years or so as I got older. But I didn’t really appreciate Disney or become a full-on fan until later.

My obsession with Disney started when I was in 8th grade when I watched a documentary on the technology and engineering behind Walt Disney World. I watched it four times before my parents made me send it back to Netflix (this was back when mail Netflix was the big thing). This was the first time I realized all that went into creating this place and how incredible it is. That was my spark that soon caught fire as my curiosity to learn more lead me to books about the details and hidden magic of Walt Disney World and to books about Walt Disney Imagineering. As my book collection grew, so did my interest in being a part of that group of individuals who dedicate themselves to making magic real. Then I came across Imagineering: A Behind the Dreams Look at Making Magic Real. The last two pages of the book were titled “Why We Do What We Do” and to sum it up it said they do it all to bring smiles to people’s faces. They work hard every day for the enjoyment of those who visit the parks and make them feel like they really are in magical place and they never have to grow up. After reading those pages, I knew that I wanted to be part of creating the magic and my dream of being an Imagineer began.

While planning the next trip to Walt Disney World, I wanted to bring all that I'd learned with me to make sure I didn't miss any hidden magic. But bringing a stack of books was out of the question so I decided to condense it all into my own guide. I went through each book and wrote down the most interesting facts on a pad of paper and then hand wrote my two pads worth of notes into a small notebook to carry with me through the parks. My family was traveling with two other families for this trip and as we waited in line of would often share some of the facts out of my book, whether they found them interesting or not. I think they got sick of it by the end of the week, but I was enjoying it.

The first day of that trip we went to Magic Kingdom and it was my first time being there as a Disney fanatic and I saw everything in a new way. I remember the first thing we did was run to Tomorrowland and as we crossed the bridge it hit me for the first time that I really felt like I belonged there and that I was home. That week I also discovered that I run on Disney magic. When everyone else was crashing at the end of the day, I had the same amount of energy I had when I left the room in the morning and was ready to run laps around the park.


Every time I have visited since, I still have that feeling of belonging in the parks and I still run on Disney magic. I continue to learn all I can about the Disney Parks and the Walt Disney Company in general. That notebook I created was the predecessor to this blog in a way. I realized that I loved sharing my knowledge of the parks with others and more recently I started to notice that some people don't know how to make the most of a visit. So this blog is partially something fun for me to do and partially to help others figure out how to do Disney. I truly love the Disney Parks and want more people to see them in the same light I do, so I hope this helps.

My first trip to Walt Disney World

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