Any other Disney Dads out there...?

[WDWDad]

44 yr old Disney nut, husband of a Disney lover, and father of three Disney fanatics. Been to Disney twentysomething times.

It's an obsession, but who's gonna complain? It's fun.

 

[goofyernmost]

When I was a kid I used to watch and was a member of the Mickey Mouse Club. After that we sort of went our separate ways.

At 34 years old, my wife and I took our daughters (6 & 8) to WDW. I didn't know what to expect, I wasn't much for research in those day. Due to financial considerations we stayed off site. The year was 1983, EPCOT had been open just a few months. I knew nothing at all about it.

Back in those days when you entered World Drive you could tune into a Disney Radio signal. They gave you directions and information. I was hooked. I was pretty easy to please back in those days.

I was fascinated by how it all operated and the minds that thought up the whole system of rides and shows. The first few years trips were pretty widely spaced, but after a few years, my trips to WDW got to be pretty regular. I took my family, escorted disabled folks and went by myself after my divorce. My ex was not much of a fan, but, that wasn't the reason for the parting of the waves.

Three weeks ago I managed to fulfill a long term desire to bring my entire family down from Vermont to the "World". I rented a 6 bedroom villa (off site), bought everyone airfare, rented cars, provided Disney Tickets for my grown children, their husbands and my grandkids. We all had a wonderful time and it was honestly the best money that I have ever spent.

My office at work has pieces parts of Disney in it. I'm in the public busing business so my desktop is a picture of Disney Buses. I have a 3d plastic picture of Mickey and friends and a faux window (complete with curtains) overlooking Cinderella's Castle. No one has ever made fun of me for it at least to my face. They just know that this is what I do instead of drink.

In just a few months I will turn 60 and my enjoyment of Disney has never declined. I was lucky enough to be able to visit Disneyland during its 50th anniversary. As luck would have it, I visited on the day that they had a large group of X-Mouseketeers in a special parade. My era Mouseketeers. I suspect that as long as my health remains good, I will continue to make my yearly pilgrimage to sunny Florida.

 

[kevw67]

Another Disney Dad (40) obsessed with Disney. I do not get into collectibles but I do buy almost every book that has to do with Disney. We are DVC members since 2006. We took our boys(then 8 & 6) and had the time of our lives. While the boys were on the Pirate Cruise, my wife and I saw the DVC kiosk and set up an appointment and we were hooked! We have been "Home" once and are going back again in April. We are staying at AKV. My wife loves Disney but doesn't browse the message boards and leaves all the planning to me. I go over trip plans ad nauseum until the day we leave. Every park is planned with EMH in mind and ADR's are made based on the parks we are in that day. It really is a coordinated to get everything right. If you weren't as crazy for Disney as everyone on this thread is, then plans wouldn't go smooth. My wife tells me I am crazy, but no one complains after the vacation is over! I dont care what other say about me obsession because these are some of the best vacations we spend as a family.

 

[goofy14]

hey. i'm bob (41), another disney dad. my 2 boys are 18 and 12. my wife and youngest son like disney but they aren't obsessed. my oldest son and I are the fanatics. the whole family visited wdw last spring break in march. since then, we have planned our next wdw trip for this may. to build the excitment, we started watching all of the disney canons, 1 a week, from snow white to meet the robinsons so that we end the weekend before we leave in may. other than that, anything disney is fair game: cell phone and computer wallpapers, music, disney channel, radio disney, these boards, but especially movies and the parks. the lion king/scar/andreas deja are our very favorites. i know that everyone around me gets sick of hearing about it all of the time. i am a school teacher and band director, so i am around kids all the time, so i guess in some ways i never really "grew up". and i don't intend to either!! but seriously i love all things disney. it's good to know i'm not alone.

 

[digskat]

Proud disney dad (Digs) of 2. Had been to WDW as a teenager (drove over from Daytona during Springbreak), but really became a fanatic 4 years ago when I took my kids for the first time. Fortunately, DW was a bigger fan than me, so it was easy to plan a yearly trip. I think I get the most excited about the trip, starting the countdown about 6 months before we go. I just love the idea of 2 weeks of fun at the happiest place on earth, and 2 weeks of my kids undivided attention (I guess it goes both ways). Planning usually starts about 3 days after we get home from the previous trip.

 

[Goofy'slady]

I'm another wife signing in for my husband. He's a 30yr old dad of two little girls ages 9 1/2 and 2 1/2. He's orginally from Holland and had been to Disneyland Paris a few times but had never been to Disney World until after we married and we visited in 2002. We've been twice since then and we're going in May of this year. He owns to many Donald Duck t-shirts, (Donald being his fave character) drinking glasses and mugs. He loves Disney so much he often jokes that if he were to ever win the lotery he'd move us to Celebration to be closer to "home".

T.

 

[cman]

Another Disney nut here. I'm a 41 year old dad of DS15 and DD16. DW doesn't quite understand my obsession with Disney but will admit that the best family vacations we've ever had have been at WDW. My DD shares my love and understands me the best. I keep telling her that she needs to prepare properly so I can pass the torch to her once I too old to plan our trips but still young enough to take them. It wouldn't surprise me at all if my DD someday gets married at WDW.

My first trip to Disney was on our honeymoon when I was 23 in '89. We took a few more short trips to WDW between then and '98. That's when we bought into DVC. Best decision we've ever made and the start of my love of Disney. Since then we have made 5 trips - taking our whole family with us (15+ people) to share Disney with them. The last of which was a Christmas trip this past December which was the best trip ever. I planned it for 2 years and I'm still a bit depressed it's over.

I think my love of Disney grows with each trip. The joy of being there with my wife and kids (and all the others) for the sole purpose of putting all the crap aside and just being kids again. I look forward to the day that I can spend time at WDW with my kids and my grandchildren.

At work I used to get teased but now who's office does everyone stop by when there's a trip in there future? Mine. I make each of them apologize before I will help them.

It's nice to be part of this group.

 

[MOmousefan]

I am a 58 year old disney dad. My three grown kids are disney kids who still love to go. My wife refuses to go, so I have taken my two daughters, their husbands, and my youngest, my 21 YO son. We are going the first week in December and can hardly wait.

 

[photobob]

I am the Disney enthusiast (sounds better than nut or nerd) in the family. I plan the trips etc..

 

[°O°Joe]

Wow someone dug this one out from way back... It's always good to see there are others out there like me. I started this thread two years ago - and I'm as obsessed as ever. And now, as you can see by my signature, I'm obsessed about Disney photography as well. I just keep getting deeper... the girls now 4 and 7 love it the same and keep asking when we're going back to Disney World. Bridget still doesn't care for it and always asks why all our trips have to be to Disney World, Disneyland or Disney Cruises. I just can't seem to get her hooked...

Thanks for all the new replies, Disney dads!

 

[AndyMcV]

Hey Gents

Just thought I'd add some more comments...

I have a buddy at work that made the comment "Disney is just another amusement park"... and yes he was there last year with the FW cabins. I asked him if he had any recent head injuries that he forgot about.

What do you actually say back to a comment like that?????

Andy

 

[Kitzer]

Hey Gents

Just thought I'd add some more comments...

I have a buddy at work that made the comment "Disney is just another amusement park"... and yes he was there last year with the FW cabins. I asked him if he had any recent head injuries that he forgot about.

What do you actually say back to a comment like that?????

Andy

Wow, I thought about it for a minute and I'm stumped. I don't get how someone can go to WDW and if not fall in love, at least have a great deal of enthusiasm upon returning. We go to our Six Flags every year also. Albeit a great amusement park, it doesn't hold a candle to WDW. We've also taken a vacation to Cedar Point which is a fantastic amusement park, yet I didn't have a yearning to get back to it year after year after year.

 

[Max Rebo]

Another Disney dad checking in.

I'm a 35-year-old father of two.

Made my first trip to WDW in in 1988 with my high school band. Got to march in the old Electric Light Parade. I've been in love with Disney World ever since, though I didn't get to take the "dream family vacation" until last June. It was a blast, and we can't wait to go back, though our next trip likely won't be until at least 2010. Yet here I am on a Disney World Internet fan board.

Cheers to all.

 

[seadd67]

Living on the west coast I ve been to DL a hand full of times growing up,and took my DS there when he was 8,It was fun and my son started his obsession with Disney there. Then Three years back I took my son to DW for a so called once and a life time trip .Well, both me and my son fell In love with DW,Its the only place we want to goto now on vacation.We went back the following year ,and we will be back In 14 days .We just have to go!!,his mom Is totaly not Into It ,may be Its the flying part, she does not fly or the fact we stay for 7 to 10 days ( Next year It will be for two weeks,I have not told her that one yet ).She and the rest of our Family and Friends can understand my sons enjoyment,but mine ,they think I lost my mind or just being to Inmature,Well thats ok,lts to bad for them they are missing out on the most Incredable places In the world. But I have to admit sometmes I have to wonder , I will smell something,or see a place that reminds me Of DW and I will start to miss It,and Oh boy when me and my son start talking about It,It can go and on and on. Well thats It sorry If I rambeled on

 

[Mike_M]

I've come to find out that there are two kinds of people. Amusement Park fans, and Theme Park fans. You can enjoy both, but you usually prefer one or the other. As a Theme Park fan, Disney Parks offer more then just rides for me, they offer a full immersive experience where you feel like you are in another world while you are there. When I see Donald Duck walking by me in the park, It's not just a guy in a suit, it's Donald Duck. When I ride PotC, I still get the urge to duck below the cannon fire. I've been going to Disney Parks since I was 4 years old and every time I return, it's a bit of a homecoming for me.

Last year, we took my DS to DL for his 1st trip (and Birthday). My in-laws joined us one of the days. Near the end of the night, all the kids had passed out in their strollers and my DW and her sister wanted to enjoy some rides together so I volunteered to watch the sleeping kids so they could have fun. I found a bench near HM and just relaxed, enjoying the ambiance and the Rivers of America. It didn't matter that I wasn't on the rides with them; I was in DL and enjoying it.

 

[Kitzer]

When I see Donald Duck walking by me in the park, It's not just a guy in a suit, it's Donald Duck. When I ride PotC, I still get the urge to duck below the cannon fire. .

Wait a minute, are you trying to tell me the characters are really just people in costumes!!! and that we aren't really in mortal danger from real cannon fire on POTC:


Nice Going, I don't know how I'm gonna break this news to the wife and kids!

 

[csarenz]

Gotta say, I love this thread. My wife says I'm weird, being a 29y/o male who loves all things Disney, but she's the same way. We came several times on our own since we've been married, now we're making our third Disney trip (2 WDW/1DL) with DD2, who loves hugging Disney characters more than anything in the world.

Isn't it good to know you're not alone?

 

[madthemouse]

I'm sorry about posting twice on this thread. But being that this thread is about us (Dad's). I wanted to add this piece of information.

Someone had a thread, asking about autographs they have of Disney characters.

I was going through the autographs I had collected over my lifetime, from sports hero's to the famous and in some cases the infamous. Anyway, I came across an autograph from the person who had a hand in starting this, Mickey Mouse himself. I know that a lot of people have one of Mickey, but the one I have was when he was a younger mouse, just 37 years old.

 

[bear22]

I'm a 39 year old with 2 boys and I love sports and Disney. My wife doesnt get my passion for Disney and I also have turned my kids into Disney freaks. They always have a map of the parks in the car and we are always quizzing each other. My wife just looks at us and rolls her eyes. My son (7yr old) gets mad and calls her a non-disney person. I sure won't give up my Disney passion!

 

[AndyMcV]

I've come to find out that there are two kinds of people. Amusement Park fans, and Theme Park fans. You can enjoy both, but you usually prefer one or the other. As a Theme Park fan, Disney Parks offer more then just rides for me, they offer a full immersive experience where you feel like you are in another world while you are there. When I see Donald Duck walking by me in the park, It's not just a guy in a suit, it's Donald Duck. When I ride PotC, I still get the urge to duck below the cannon fire. I've been going to Disney Parks since I was 4 years old and every time I return, it's a bit of a homecoming for me.

Last year, we took my DS to DL for his 1st trip (and Birthday). My in-laws joined us one of the days. Near the end of the night, all the kids had passed out in their strollers and my DW and her sister wanted to enjoy some rides together so I volunteered to watch the sleeping kids so they could have fun. I found a bench near HM and just relaxed, enjoying the ambiance and the Rivers of America. It didn't matter that I wasn't on the rides with them; I was in DL and enjoying it.

Mike

Very, very well stated. I totally feel the same way.

Andy