Myself:
Turning 35 on the first day of this trip. I am a bit of an extreme interdisciplinarian and have been everything from a language teacher to a computer technician. At the moment I'm a high school science teacher, but, I still use lines like "in my other life" when describing things to students. As a teacher I can't normally travel to disney at the "best" times and since I hate crowds and heat it's challenging to fulfill my disney cravings.
I like planning and I like understanding systems and using my knowledge to gain an advantage. Thus, the complications of touring plans and the obsession with which people plan wdw vacations is likely what drew me in. I don't like "thrill rides", I get motion sickness easily (i.e. Carousel of Progress always leaves me queasy), I am terrified of heights and I enjoy the fact that wdw is set up such that I can have a good time and experience attractions despite these afflictions.
I have fibromyalgia and last year I tore a bunch of things in my knee. During a typical wdw trip I end up pushing myself through a bunch of pain. But, my fibro is such that pushing through the pain to the point of true exercise usually makes me feel better a couple of days later as compared to stopping when I'm in pain. However, standing or sitting still is fairly excruciating, so, I really hate waiting in lines for attractions and am very motivated to understand what to do when. I have some odd food allergies. (Odd in the sense that they are uncommon and people often express confusion that it's even possible to be allergic to these things.) Disney is generally good, but, I've had some weird conversations with chefs through the years. (More on this when I discuss food in a later post.)
DW:
(Has been feeling old this year, so, I figure it's not my right to share her exact age, but, we're not that far apart even though she's older.) Used to be a lawyer and is currently a policy consultant. She has an unusual genetic disorder that means her skin layers aren't properly attached and she blisters from things normal people wouldn't even notice as rubbing. So, a vacation on disney's concrete where normal people worry (and complain) about blisters leaves her unable to walk. (Seriously, we've had more than one trip where she thought she could walk this time and by the end of the first afternoon -- you know, the short afternoon where all you do is wander around DTD for an hour or so -- she was limping badly and wincing with each step.) So, a typical wdw vacation, for us, includes her accepting that she can't hide her disability as easily as she wishes and that she needs to use a wheelchair. (More on this when I discuss mobility plans in a later post.)
DW loves thrill rides, but, loves the story aspects of wdw attractions and designs even more than the thrills. She's forever convincing me to ride something because I "just have to see the story details". Loves good food and loves to let herself eat junk food on vacation that she won't eat at home. Loves the various night-time spectaculars.
Us Together:
We're an odd combination of very cheap and what I consider to be financially comfortable. I think what happens is that we always make our decisions (about life) with an eye to cost and cost effectiveness and the result is that it feels like we have enough money for all the things that really matter to us. My DW worries about money more than I do because she's more conscious of the fact that our actual income has been sporadic and our costs have been high. We've been trying to become parents for the past 6 years and have spent a FORTUNE on associated medical bills. But, somehow, we've always payed off every procedure before starting the next one. So, from a disney perspective, we gravitate towards value resorts because we're too cheap to pay for anything else. But, we got convinced (relatively easily when we did the math) to buy into DVC because we actually like the amenities of the nicer places. And, we recently purchased a 2nd DVC contract because we wanted to take advantage of the collapsed real estate market and we aren't paying for another IVF round until at least the spring.
We don't eat ANY of the same food. So, in our daily lives we rarely eat together and one of the things we like about vacation is eating out. Wdw is a place where we get to do this in restaurants where both of us enjoy our meals at the same time -- it's an impressive feat!
We are capable of getting up early and both like to swim, so, if we're going to the parks we usually hit rope drop and we have been known to swim lengths at the resort after walking for 12 hours in a park. Despite our best intentions, we have trouble staying through the night-time events and have been known to skip dessert (even when on the dining plan) because we were too tired to stay up long enough to eat it. We're also some of the odd people who've been known to use the exercise rooms in the resorts and we really appreciate the DVC pool/gym hopping perks.
We're Canadian and tend to think that Florida doesn't really get cold. So, we'll likely talk about how hot it is. Though we did, once, have the experience of getting really cold when the temperature dropped from about 20C to 4C while we were at the MK and we proceeded to stand around in the cold wind for several hours after getting wet in a mini rain. (Oh yeah, as a Canadian, you'll find that I'm likely to speak in Celsius instead of Fahrenheit.) Where being Canadian really comes into play for a December trip is that we once spent the day at Typhoon Lagoon with only around 20 other people and we thought that it was a really nice pleasant day to hang around a water park. (Granted, the other 20 people seemed to share our opinion since they came from Canada, Minnesota and the UK.)
Okay, hopefully, that's enough of a teaser to keep some of you reading and I'll try to add another post tomorrow.
