My All-Encompassing Disney Side

Welcome to the first stop aboard Magical Blogorail Red. Enjoy the ride as we share our Disney side.

Since the dawn of the #DisneySide contest, I have thought about my Disney Side. Believe it or not it's a topic I've struggled with. After really thinking about it, I realized that the reason I can't pinpoint my Disney Side is because it is ingrained in me, in every fiber of my being, in everything I do.

My first trip to Walt Disney World was when I was one year old. My parents packed me in a car with my grandparents and they brought me to the Place Where Magic Lives. I was never frightened of the characters, I embraced them. My parents say I loved every minute of it, rarely cried and was about as good as a baby can be in the hot Orlando sun.

It would be almost a decade before I'd return to Walt Disney World. During that time I fell in love with Disney movies and cartoons. I slept with an Eeyore plaque that I took off the wall and put in my crib each and every night.

Then in 1994 my family started to visit the Walt Disney World Resort yearly. We regularly (and luckily) stayed at the Grand Floridian Resort & Spa. On our first trip we purchased our stone which will be 20 (TWENTY!) years old this year.

We went to Disneyland, we sailed on the Disney Cruise Line. To say I drank the Disney Kool Aid would be an understatement.

When I was in high school, while everyone else went on Spring Break to Cancun, my best friend and I planned a post-graduate trip to WDW. One day I picked up a teen magazine and read an article about a girl who got fired from the Disney College Program because she called out to go to the beach. I was both outraged that she would squander such an amazing opportunity and excited to hear that such a program existed.

I did my research, and in my junior year of college at St. John's University, I packed my bags and headed to sunny Orlando for a semester at Walt Disney World. I had the pleasure of living, learning and earning at the greatest place on earth. I worked at Space Mountain and became even more interested and obsessed in Disney history and thinking.

It was during my Walt Disney World College Program I learned about the Disney Point." We were not to point with one finger because it is rude. We are either supposed to point with two fingers, or gesture with our full hand. Walt Disney always did it - many rumors say that it was because he always had a cigarette in his hand and Disney PR photoshopped it out. Either way, it's something I still do to this day.

I went back home to finish my degree. In graduate school I had the Disney "itch" again. I applied to the Disney Professional Internship Program and was accepted to work in the Disney Public Relations office. Again, this only increased my interest in Disney Parks and I loved every minute of it.

Disney has become a part of who I am. My husband and I danced to a Disney song as our first dance as husband and wife. We are Disney Vacation Club members. It is truly my happy place. It has given me a second family (including Cast Member friends and fellow Magical Blogorailers) and memories that will last a lifetime.

My Disney Side is All-Encompassing!

Thank you for joining me today. Your next stop on the Magical Blogorail Loop is Magical Mouse Schoolhouse.

Here is the map of our Magical Blogorail should you happen to have to make a stop along the way and want to reboard:

1st Stop ~ The Disney Point (You are here!)
2nd Stop ~ Magical Mouse Schoolhouse
3rd Stop ~ Disney Donna Kay
4th Stop ~ 400 Miles to Disneyland
Final Stop ~ Home is Where the Mouse is