...But, Im really questioning things when someone who has visited a handful of times, is seriously being considered or worse chosen as a panelist. Yes, you can fall in love on sight. You can be best friends with someone you just met. But to truly know someone (or, parks in this case), you need to spend quality time learning all the ins and outs of what makes them tick. I am NOT doubting someone's love of Disney - I am doubting how much expertise can be gained in such a short time. As someone who has stayed at 15 of the resorts, eaten at probably, most of the restaurants/counter service, I'm just confused.
Hey there. It's a coincidence that you brought this topic up because today I was *just* going over this in my head. I did not come to the same conclusions as you did, that someone with years and years of experience should be on the panel, in fact, I had a lightbulb moment as to exactly why Disney might want someone withOUT years of visits under their belt.
This goes back to my comment about a guest asking me where the Castle was, and how as cast members we were trained to treat every guest asking you a question as if it was their first visit to the parks (ie, rolling your eyes and pointing to my left would NOT have been the appropriate response).
Just as you yourself stated above, "
Yes, you can fall in love on site. Yes, you can be best friends with someone you just met". Exactly my point. And when you fall in love, when you meet that person who fulfills your dreams and exceeds your expectations, what do you want to do? Shout it from the rooftops! You want to stop everyone you know and say, "
you HAVE to meet my new friend!" How is that person's excitement any less valid than someone who comes back from visit number 125 and says, "Oh, you HAVE to see this new attraction!" If anything, the person with less experience is seeing things through new eyes, eager to learn as much as possible and share those discoveries with others. What a GREAT choice that would be to have on the Disney Moms Panel!
The hard part for Disney isn't finding passionate OR knowledgeable people. It's finding whatever it is they are looking for - and quite frankly, we simply do not know what that is. As I've said before, if we did know, this process would be completely different because everyone's application would probably be almost identical. What Disney is looking for (I think) is a whole set of factors that may vary for each application they read. That is why they look for 10 or more people, rather than 1 - each person brings something different to the table. What would be the point of the panel if each person had exactly the same qualifications? Disney is looking for the people *
behind* the applications and whatever that ever-changing magical equation is, that's what stands out in some way.
Anyway, that's just how I see it, obviously I have no more knowledge of how Disney picks who moves on than anyone else, but speaking as someone that *does* have a lot of the same expertise you described, I think it'd be a wonderful idea to have someone with new eyes and fresh excitement for a place we ALL love, on a panel where they can share their experiences with others. I hope you are able to see things in a different way, and see how it might not be a bad thing at all.
I can only hope that I am given this amazing blessing and the chance of a lifetime. 
This has been a blast!
Even when I'm in meetings... hey, I may even have to bring a cell phone to yoga. I bet that's frowned upon! 
