The Little Things In Life

Tags

Dining, Disney, food, friendship boats

Last week I did something that I haven’t done in a really long time, I visited a book store.  Now personally I am not and have never been a really strong reader, but as I was driving past the local mall I was drawn to a Barnes and Noble.  My ever growing collection of Disney based books has mostly come from Amazon for the reasoning that the B&N in Dayton, Ohio doesn’t have a dedicated Disney section.  So I wandered around and found myself in the travel section and all at once a blast from my childhood caught my eye.

There it was, the rectangular wonder that is the Birnbaum’s 2015 Official Guide to Walt Disney World.  I still remember the day that my parents told me about our first trip to WDW and gave me the 1997 version which I read over and over again both before and after our trip.  I memorized every word of that guide from the letter from the editor to the coupons in the back.  That guide was marked, highlighted, and eventually started to deteriorate under the wear and tear it went through.  At that time it was my only known source or pictures and descriptions of everything at WDW.  Sure the Disney Channel would play some specials that would briefly give you glimpses of Pirates of the Caribbean or Spaceship Earth but nothing about all the other shops, rides, attractions, accommodations, or restaurants that you’d encounter while visiting.  I also tried to do some research on the internet before the 1997 trip but my two older sisters often tied up the phone lines which made the Birnbaum’s Guide my best choice.

Today, I have a firm grasp on what’s going on at WDW and where things are located thanks to previous experiences, websites, podcasts (shameless plug for Enchanted Tiki Talk), and the unending social media outposts dedicated to Walt Disney World however seeing the 2015 version on the stand was too much for me and I just had to buy it.  Upon leaving the store I found it funny that I traded $15.95 for 355 pages of information I already know.  The real draw though isn’t the words on the pages but as a remembrance of the happiness that my 1997 copy brought me.  Maybe I’m just a sentimental person but I find a lot of enjoyment reading the 2015 copy and seeing a lot of the same factoids and descriptions that were in my 1997 copy.

At this point in my Disney obsession most of the information in this guide is basic knowledge but I do recommend it for the first time trip taker because it is an innocent guide that is free of the preformed opinions of the masses that the internet offers.  Right now for me it serves as a nice reminder that I will get back to Orlando as soon as my daughter is out of diapers (my wife has been very strict about this policy).

If you want any of the coupons from the back of my guide follow me on Twitter at TerriblePirate7 and I’ll be happy to mail them out to you.

A Salesman’s Vacation Plan

Tags

epcot, food, friendship boats, magic kingdom, spaceship earth, trip planning, Walt Disney World

Professionally I’ve held the titles of Account Executive, Business Development Manager, Relationship Manager, Key Accounts Manager, and Sales Engineer.   All those titles are just fancy words on a business card that mean I’m going to try to sell you something.  I spend all day going from place to place trying to convince people to use our product/service instead of our competitors.  Every day I meet with clients that I know so well that I invited them to my wedding and complete strangers who want nothing to do with me.  I log hours each day behind the wheel of my car to get to meetings, presentations, and cold calls.   I’ve experience the highest high of closing million dollar deals and the lowest low of being fired for lack of production.  At the end of every month no matter if I’m toasting success with champagne or failure with cheap beer I always find a way to put money aside for a Walt Disney World vacation.  Because I believe once you make the determination that a Walt Disney World vacation isn’t a once in a lifetime event you can plan it around getting relief from the things that drain you.  So I listed the three things that I’m not wild about in my profession and how I use my time in Orlando to escape.

Transportation –As I mentioned I spend a majority of my day behind the wheel of my car going from stop to stop day after day.  One of the great appeals of going to Walt Disney World for me is that I don’t have to drive.  We actually planned our last trip around being on roads as little as possible.  The only time we used transportation that involved roads was the Magical Express to and from the airport and bus trips to Downtown Disney and Animal Kingdom.  By staying at the Boardwalk Villas we used Friendships as much as possible and would walk through Epcot to get to the Monorail to visit Magic Kingdom.   I even refused to go on Tomorrowland Speedway because I was not going to do any driving all week.  I’m sure there are plenty of advantages to having a car on your WDW vacation, but I prefer to leave all the driving to Disney.

Communication – When I give out my business card to someone it has all of my information on it and I openly tell people to call, text, or email me at will.  My hours are no longer 8-5 but rather anytime the little light in the upper left hand corner of my phone is blinking.  If I don’t answer that email at 3AM I run the risk of my client finding someone that will.  I guess that is why my favorite part of Spaceship Earth are the scenes before mass communication was invented.   This is why once I board my flight to Orlando my phone gets put on airplane mode and stays on airplane mode I arrive safely at my house.  It’s my favorite function because it turns my phone into my camera and nothing more.  My wife handles all the communication with family, friends, and Disney and it’s a beautiful thing.

Rejection – In my line of work I get up every morning with the understanding that I’m going to be told no a lot more than I’m going to be told yes.  I understand I’m going to be told no through body language, via text, via email, and worst of all to my face.  The absolute best part of a trip to Walt Disney World is that you can go interact with thousands of cast members during your trip without hearing the word no.  They all go the extra mile to make sure that I’m having the best time possible.   When I’m at Walt Disney World I feel like I am the most important client that they have and that feeling is what keeps me coming back.

Once I was able to highlight the things I dealt with on a daily basis that I wanted to avoid I put together a great vacation plan.  I was able to return from vacation actually feeling refreshed and ready to get back to work.  It doesn’t hurt that going to Walt Disney World is like going to a sales clinic because no one is a better salesman than Mickey Mouse!

My favorite Disney memory

I have been a lifelong Disney fan but my interest peeked in 1997 when my family took a vacation to Walt Disney World.  We were mainly an amusement park family and this was our first venture to a theme park and I specifically remember my Dad saying, “Disney isn’t about roller coasters, they’re about more than speed and heights.”  Boy was my Dad right, I was mesmerized at the detail, service, and options WDW offered.  When we came home all I wanted to do was go back so I became obsessed with reading anything I could get my hands on about Walt Disney World planning my triumphant return trip.  However for the rest of high school, college, and the the first couple of post college years never returned to Orlando.  

Then in 2010 my then girlfriend and I were taking a trip to South Carolina.  We left in the middle of the night and by sunrise we were in the middle of the Smokey Mountains and she was fast asleep.  I figured it would be the perfect time to secretly slip in the the Disneyland 50th Anniversary CD I had borrowed from my sister because I had not mentioned to her yet that I was a Disney nerd.  I tried to contain myself but as each song played I turned up the volume a little bit more and started singing under my breath just a little bit louder until my girlfriend woke up and said, “Why are you singing It’s a Small World?”  Which is always an odd question to answer but she eventually joined in as we snaked through the mountains.  She had known I had a soft spot for Disney but had no idea I was totally obsessed and that all I’ve wanted to do since I was 13 was to go back to Disney World.  It was a big deal to get this off my chest because 3 days later I was going to propose and I had to know that she would be okay with my obsession.

Then in 2011 as we were getting ready our wedding my fiance called and said her friends were selling some of their DVC points and that she thought we should go as a honeymoon after our real honeymoon.  I booked us at the Boardwalk Villas and had all of our ADR’s lined up in advance of our trip to the restaurants we wanted.  Now all I had left was the difficult task of devising a touring plan that got my wife (who is terrified of heights) on my favorite ride, Splash Mountain.  I knew that I would have to spend the first day spoiling her to ensure that the following day would go to plan.  A pedicure at the Yacht Club, lunch at Beaches and Cream, dinner at Le Cellier, and lastly dessert in front of Illuminations.  The next day we left for the Magic Kingdom early and after enjoying the ambiance of Main Street USA we headed toward Adventureland and boarded Pirates of the Caribbean.  She was not thrilled that I had not mentioned the first drop as she does not do drops but the ride is so great that she overlooked it.  Next we rode the Haunted Mansion which quickly became her favorite ride.  Our next stop took us in front of Splash Mountain and she wanted nothing to do with it.  I reminded her that throughout the next couple days I would ride almost all the other thrill rides with total strangers (I rode Space Mountain with members of a French Canadian Motorcycle Club) but I wanted to share my favorite ride with her.  After 20 minutes of begging, pleading, and a little bit of a guilt trip she finally decided she would give it a try.

As we boarded the ride I was able to soak in the detail and sing along with the music but my wife was terrified of the big drop.  The entire time she had a vice grip around me and with each passing mini drop it got tighter and tighter.  Which leads to my favorite Disney memory because as we started up the final conveyor belt and the vultures stared us down  I was in my favorite place on earth with the woman I love. Of course in that same moment my wife had one of the worst moments of her life as she swears she dropped 500 feet at 500 miles per hour and barely avoided death on that terrible, terrible ride.  She survived and never went on anything more daring than the Teacups.  The rest of the visit was amazing and now we have a combined passion for Walt Disney World which only grows as we begin to plan our first trip with our 1 year old daughter.