Here's My Story

Back in the summer of '70, my family left Miami for a vacation with my mom's high school friend in central Florida. I was five and have a clear memory of seeing signs of Walt Disney World while it was being built. That's the first memory of Disney sparking my imagination. What would a giant Disney park be like? I'd heard about Disneyland, but California was on the moon or something.

As a family, we made a day trip one Saturday in the summer of '72 and returned every summer after that with cub scouts. I think it was '76 that I got to spend 4 days at WDW with my friend Scott and his family. We stayed at the Contemporary Resort North Garden Tower and I have recollections of playing on the beach.

Two years later, for some reason that I cannot recall, I was spending three weeks with my dad's parents touring Florida. My grandparents were very proper people and to my eyes at the time, very old. Three weeks: just them and I. A huge difference in energy levels, attention span, and attitudes.

On this trip, something changed. While at the Magic Kingdom ('cause back in my day, that's all we had and we were happy for it!), I would go off on my own for bits of time. I remember spending a lot of time at the Walt Disney Story, looking at every exhibit closely. Specifically I had a long talk with the cast member in the lobby. I asked her tons of questions about working at Disney: what it was like, what they did, where could I get a nametag, why only some nametags had gold Mickey's on them, and a gazillion other questions. Only in retrospect can I see that this is quite common for a geek just starting an obsession.

I didn't stop with her. I started talking with every cast member I'd run into. Some were quite tolerant, while others seemed to sense my earnestness. For a thirteen-year-old, I was quite serious about some matters.

I became enamored with the concept of Imagineering. The placement of the Crystal Palace as a transition from Main Street to Adventureland was a epiphany of design to me! I could actually see how and why it was done.

In the years since, I can honestly pinpoint this trip as the single event that opened my brain to design, layout, and the concept of storytelling (as opposed to just telling a story).

At this point I became obsessed about WDW. I kept at least one of each ticket (A-E), and studied them - finding ways to duplicate the process out of colored pencils and typing paper. My treasured possession became a copy of "The Art of Walt Disney: From Mickey Mouse to the Magic Kingdoms." Over and over I pored through the WDW section in search of any nugget of new information, something I may have missed the last ten times I read that chapter.

While I lived in Florida, I went at least once a year. We managed a trip to EPCOT in mid October '82 for my birthday and a return the following year once I'd graduated high school. Speaking of, I made sure I was at Grad Night '83 with Night Ranger and the Dazz Band ;)

But that's when my dad was transferred to Atlanta and I hit my twenties. I think I only made one more trip to WDW in the mid-eighties. The last time I made it to the parks was in June of 2001 and due to some travel issues, it just wasn't the best memory. (This was the year of the False Awakening: I managed to hit Disneyland in January, WDW in June, and Disneyland Paris in October.)

But in 2002, I moved to Southern California. Disneyland, while cool, just never sparked the same intense passion that the World did. In the 8 years I've lived here, I've been maybe five times.

But all that changed this past April. The actual Awakening from my Disney Coma will be covered next time.