Hi,
I'm Jim and I'm a Disneyholic. (I am also a milkaholic and a chocoholic.) My addiction began with "Wonderful World of Disney" on Sunday nights, but at the time I didn't think I would get to actually go. It really took hold a couple decades later, but my first trips to WDW in April, 1982 (with my high school class) and to
Disneyland in 1998 (with my mom, aunt, uncle, two teenage cousins, and a severely infected ingrown toenail) were introductions to the Mouse.
My mother died 22 months and six days after our return from Disneyland. I spent most of 2000 adjusting to life alone, without a woman who basically did everything for me. I am still not much of a cook, preferring to eat out, microwave frozen dinners, or grill meats on my George Foreman Grill.
My brother and sister-in-law made their annual or every-two-years trip to the World in March, 2000, and I was inspired. In May of 2000 I made my first solo trip anywhere, deciding that I wanted to see the Atlantic City Surf (independent minor-league baseball) in their home Sandcastle Stadium against the Long Island Ducks on May 19. I booked a room online at a Comfort Inn on Route 30 outside the city, and a friend who lived in Pomona took us to the game. It was a windy, chilly night as the Surf won, 5-1 (my friend Etsu had gotten cold and told me to call him to pick me up after the game). I did, he gave me a ride to my hotel and we said our goodbyes. The next morning I checked out, got a ride on the hotel shuttle to the Atlantic City Hilton, had breakfast at a Country Kitchen on the boardwalk, took a jitney to the train station and took the train home.
So ended my first ever solo trip anywhere. But Disney stayed in the back of my mind. I was 36 and hadn't been to WDW for half my lifetime, so I think I was game to try it. My first trip to the World in 18 years was solo from Friday, October 13 to Friday, October 20, 2000 while I was on furlough from my employer, Internal Revenue Service. I stayed in All Star Sports, visited all the parks, rode most of the rides, and basically had the kind of blast that you can't approach with dynamite.
The next year, I discovered Disney forums. I had become hooked on WDW, and I couldn't believe it when I discovered that there are people all around the world more fanatical about Disney than I am. My next trip, however, would be postponed.
By the end of 2000 I had found my first girlfriend from America Online's "NJ BBW" chatroom. Though she is, if you'll pardon the expression, "blest in the chest", she was also unable to keep a job and was always out of money. I wound up paying for her rent and food as well as some of her bills, on top of mine, and couldn't afford to go anywhere for the better part of three years.
When I finally paid off a huge credit card bill that she helped run up, after we had broken up in 2002 due to money problems, I took an overnight Starr Tours bus trip to Cooperstown, NY (Baseball Hall of Fame Museum) on June 15-16, 2003. After getting home from that, I set my sights on WDW.
I'd gotten friendly with people from several boards, and was looking forward to meeting many of them in December, 2003 for the first Mousefest. It was great, even as I eventually got a little homesick from my longest Disney trip (12 days/11 nights in All Star Music, December 3-14, 2003).
I went in December, 2004; November/December, 2005; May, 2006; December, 2006; and December, 2007. It has been hard knowing that I won't be there this year (I am still paying off last year's cruise/land Mousefest).
My name is Jim, and I'm a Disneyholic.
Jim