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It’s hard to imagine a time when someone would mention “Michael Jackson” and hear that reply. However that’s what I said to my mom, when I opened a special boxed album for my 9th birthday in 1982. That box set was a storybook version of the movie E.T. along with a song he recorded and a poster of him hugging E.T. I had no idea who Michael Jackson was at that point. My mom tried to explain who he was, talking about the Jackson 5 and the Wiz. I’m sure I must’ve seen the Jackson 5, but the boy in the poster I didn’t recognize. Well…then came Thriller.

By the next year, I got the “Thriller” album from a friend at my birthday party in 1983. I had already been into him by then, MTV had been around for a bit, and we’d all been blown away by his dancing in videos and on the award shows. Who *wasn’t* glued to the tv that night he performed the Moon Walk for the very first time? It was surreal. From that point on, he was my new obsession. As obsessed as a 10 year old in the suburbs of Boston could be anyway (it’s not like I went to any of his concerts or anything). I had the poster of him in the yellow vest up above my desk. I had a painter’s cap (they were SO in back then, trust me) and it was COVERED in Michael Jackson buttons. I wonder where that is…it might’ve been in the bag of stuff we lost on a move when I was 14. Anyway…it was my childhood – and many of my friends too. Quite a few people had “Michael Jackson zipper jackets” and wore one glove for a while. He affected so many.

After that came “We Are the World”, but by that time I had moved on to Prince (wasn’t there a Prince/MJ rivalry for a while?), and had always preferred Band-Aid to Live Aid because I was branching out into Duran Duran and other British pop acts. Just when I thought he was in the past, he recorded those two singles with Paul McCartney (”Say, Say, Say” and “The Girl is Mine”) which introduced a girl that was too young for the Beatles invasion to a whole ‘new’ band. I never really owned any other albums after that time, but always sang along to his songs and was mesmerized by his videos. You never knew how he could better his last video, but he always did (of course none of them could top Thriller).

In addition, after I moved to Ocala and went to EPCOT so often, the release of Captain EO part 1 of 2 and Captain EO part 2 of 2

At some point the rumors started and the tabloids took their stranglehold on his life. Can you imagine, even for a moment, what that was like? Can you imagine not taking a step without being tracked by cameras and endless people shouting? I’m not sure why, but I always, always felt like he was just a lonely, lonely boy. Yes, boy. He never got a childhood. He never got to grow up like any other child his age did. Did that lack of a childhood get taken too far with his obsessions and neuroses? I’m certain it did. Was he guilty of illegal actions? We simply may never know…I’m not going to get into any legal discussions here…but I think he was a very troubled soul that was forever a lost boy, forever looking for that childhood best friend…all the while creating amazing music, dance and performances to be remembered throughout history. I honestly cannot think of a song of his I *don’t* like. And that’s what I’ll remember. I’ll remember the amazing genius and art he chose to share with us all…Thank you, Michael. From a fan that still remembers being 9 and being in awe.

Rest in Peace.

I figured the best way to jump into adding Disney-blogging to my site was to start at the beginning, and share how I became Disney-obsessed to begin with. Most people have a definite and strong opinion regarding the Disney Company itself, both the parks and the entertainment/film division. I, have always been a fan it seems. Although I have met many people over the years that do not share my love, I have never really understood how that is possible.

My dad’s family lived outside of Ocala, FL, and I guess I visited when I was less than a year old, but obviously don’t remember that. My first memory of Walt Disney World was when I was about 6 or 7. We went to visit my dad’s family, and Disney World at the same time. I really don’t recall too much from that visit though. I remember chocolate-covered frozen bananas, orange drinks in a plastic orange from The Orange Bird stand outside the Tiki Room, the Wedway People Mover and Small World. However, it was after that visit that my family’s love for Disney really started to grow.

I was always talking about how much I loved Mickey, while  my dad’s favorite was Donald Duck. Over our many visits and later when I worked at Disney World, I would always get him Donald-themed gifts. It wasn’t until I was in my mid-20’s that he admitted to me that he was never overly fond of Donald in particular, but he just wanted to back me up because my siblings gave me such a hard time over my love of Disney. Yeah, I was a Daddy’s girl.

Our next visit to Disney World was in 1983. This stands out in my mind, because I still have souvenirs from that trip, and I proudly wrote “1983″ all over them in metallic paint pen. Ahh, the 80’s. I wrote the date on everything because I had planned to discuss our trip (which was a car trip from Boston to Orlando and back, stopping at many historical places along the way – Baltimore, Delaware, Philadelphia, DC, Williamsburg, Charleston and Savannah if I recall correctly) at length when I got back to school that Fall. So my original EPCOT guide books with the little wheel on them would probably be worth something if it weren’t for my well-intentioned attempt at date-keeping.

When we returned from that trip, my parents made the decision to leave the cold winters of Boston and move to Ocala, FL. There they opened a home made ice cream shop (named after me) and of course, we got annual passes to Walt Disney World. I’m pretty sure that was the first year (1984) that they came out with the Florida 3 Season Salute as it was called then, now a Seasonal Annual Pass. Back then, you got an actual ID card, with your picture on it. I remember it was January, and we were unprepared for the freezing weather. We had to buy sweatshirts, but for some reason, I refused to get a regular one, and instead got a thin cotton sleeveless hoodie, because it had Figment (my favorite character from my favorite ride at that time) on it. Silly me.

While we lived in Ocala for the next two years, we visited Disney World quite often. The ice cream shop was closed on Mondays, so I was known to be ’sick’ every few Mondays so that we could enjoy a less-crowded visit to the 2 parks. We loved EPCOT and it quickly became our favorite park. We rarely even visited Magic Kingdom in that time, because EPCOT had so many wonderful things for us to explore and enjoy. I have so many wonderful memories from that time period – getting completely soaked when the skies would open for the daily Central Florida rain showers and running into a country to stay dry while it passed…getting completely soaked *on purpose* at the jumping fountains outside of Imagination to stay cool…playing in the Image Works…smelling the orange blossoms on Horizons…getting stuck in front of the scary bull when the ride would stop on World of Motion…exploring all the ‘futuristic’ things in the Communicores…getting cast members to write my name in their home language…I could go on and on. It was a wonderful two years.

Then my parents decided to move to Virginia for a couple of years, and after that my mom and I ended up back in Massachusetts. We visited Disney a few times in that period, but not nearly as often of course. By that time I was in high school and as fate would have it, happened to get lucky enough to have a boyfriend that also liked Disney. I don’t think he was quite as obsessed as we were, but he soon was joined us in our love for visiting The World.

After floundering at college for a couple of years, it finally dawned on me what I wanted to do with my life. I explained to my mom and boyfriend that I wanted to move to Orlando and work at Disney World, as a cast member in the Travel Company. What would be more fun than planning vacations for people wanting to visit Disney World?? I found a college with a Bachelors program in Travel & Tourism Management and transferred there. Very soon after making that announcement, my mom decided that was a great idea and wanted to move down too. My boyfriend was slower to convince, having no desire to work at Disney and only ever living in Massachusetts all his life. But…somehow I convinced him and we all moved in May of 1995.

We all decided to get jobs at Disney World. Unfortunately, there were no openings at the Travel Co. at that time. I decided to just ‘get a job’ and then transfer in six months if something opened up. I took a position as a Merchandise Hostess on Main Street, USA. I was pretty excited, even though I’d never worked in retail before. My mom took a position at the All-Star Sports resort in the food court there, since she had a background in restaurants. My boyfriend got a coveted position in attractions, hosting the “Inside the Magic” tour at the then Disney-MGM Studios. He got to host the water effects tour outside, and the special effects tour inside (remember the bee and the blue screen?).  I used to love watching him to his speil, it was so cool knowing someone that was helping to run Disney!

I soon discovered that as fun as it was at times to work at Magic Kingdom (the walk through the tunnel and picking up my costume never ceased to amaze me), I made a much better guest than cast member. I guess I had a lower tolerance for crowds and crowds of tour groups than I expected. Plus working till 2am some summer nights got old kind of quick. I still made some great friends there and had wonderful times. The perks were wonderful as well. I loved the Cast Member holiday parties and the special stores we had to buy things too. It was a fun time and I recommend it for anyone in their 20’s that wants something fun to call ‘work’.

After that I became an actual travel agent. The boyfriend and I got married in 1996, having our reception at the Walt Disney World Dolphin resort. The Wedding Pavillion had just opened the year before, and we would’ve LOVED to have gotten married there, but with so many room nights and other expenses required, it was just not feasible on a Cast Member’s budget! It is my dream to get our vows renewed there for our 15th or 20th wedding anniversary.

We then had our first of two children in two years, and began moving around a bit. We thought we wanted to be back ‘home’ in New England, yet the mouse kept calling us back to Orlando. We moved back in 2003 to a town north of Orlando, and two years later my husband’s job transferred him to Tampa. We’ve been here ever since and I think we’ve finally decided to stay in Florida. We had our third child last October, and now get to show him the magic all over again, like we did with our first two.

We’ve had annual passes many times over our years here and they let us just drive over for the day and have lunch in a country, or park and not worry about ‘wasting’ a day’s ticket. We’ve gotten to show The World to many friends over the years that have come to visit for the first time, always leaving wanting more. My friends and family all know I’m the Disney-obsessed ‘expert’ of the family and will ask me any questions they have about an upcoming trip, or a specific ride or bit of trivia. I just love Disney World so much, and love learning new things about it and remembering all the old things that used to be here as well.

I miss the days of the Communicores and the real Journey into Imagination, and Horizons of course…and there are times I am disheartened with the changes Disney has chosen to make…but I have to remember that the way things are now are the memories *my* children will have and be able to share…it’s all still magical and full of wonder. There are times (okay, pretty much every time), when I walk down Main Street, look at that Castle standing before me, and tears well up in my eyes. It happens with fireworks and parades too. I remember the wonderful carefree times spent there with my mom and dad, with my husband, and with my big kids when they were little kids…and I cry silent tears of joy for the gift of memories that Disney has given me. And *that* is why I don’t understand people that don’t love it at Disney World…the magic is there…everywhere…you simply have to open your eyes to it.

Thank you for letting me share some of my Disney history with you…I’m sure there will be many stories and new memories to come. I’d love to hear some of your favorite memories too!

And so with that fine motivational quote, I return to my blog yet again after a month plus of neglecting it. Here was my problem: I was waiting and waiting for something “interesting” to happen that I would be motivated to write about. I thought about all the *potential* audience members out there and wanted to make sure I entertained them all with my witty outlook and commentary on life. The thing with that is, you spend so much time waiting for the perfect topic that will appeal to everyone, that you end up forgetting the cardinal rule in writing: “Write what you know”. So I decided to deny my knowledge and love no more, and write what I know – Disney.

I came to this decision after somehow stumbling upon a Disneyphile on Twitter…and in turn discovering a whole brier patch full of more Disney fans, all tweeting and blogging and chatting and creating radio shows and videos all about the Disney we knew and loved. Of course I went through the ‘well if there are already 500 people doing this (actually 1000’s is more like it) why should I bother? But I kept returning to that one line: “Write what you know”…and I somehow knew this was the right thing to do.

Now not everything I write will be about Disney…but I will no longer be afraid to share my thoughts and memories and love of that place for fear of alienating anyone reading this. I will also write about other things that interest me that I want to pass along, and hope my worry about appealing to the masses has passed.

Another reason I’ve been avoiding writing is my addiction to Twitter and Facebook. It is so much easier to type in cute little 140 character updates than taking the time (which with a 7 month old tottering around everywhere is at a premium) to write out an entire blog. I kept having these great blog entry ideas in the shower – entire entries, not just topics…and was all set to write them, until I actually got back downstairs and the real world took over and it was the easiest thing to put off. However, today was the day, I decided. To start over, both here and in my life at home, and work toward accomplishing the goals I set for myself. So here I am!

You might see some more Disney-related items as I hopefully get some people interested in sharing their blogs and sites here as well…and I’m also going to be implementing some other fun things here. So stay tuned!

Is everybody neat and pretty? Then on with the show!

Heeey, so yeah, I was supposed to be blogging wasn’t I? Well, Easter happened, the baby decided laying around in one spot was for chumps (aka he’s crawling and nothing is safe in this place anymore) AND, everyone in the house except the dog got the plague at the same time. Luckily, we missed Swine Flu by about a week, we just aren’t that trendy.

I figured Mother’s Day Eve was an appropriate time to remember to write again, so here I am jumping right in here with a rant. First, our local outdoor mall had the main road where we like to park closed down because it was full of “Classic Cars”. Now, I have no problem with classic cars, or the appreciation thereof, but this group usually meets at the Dairy Queen on Wednesdays. How do I know this? Because I forget it every single time the family wants to go to Dairy Queen, which magically happens to always be on a Wednesday. So it’s annoying enough to maneuver through the old folks with their camp chairs and PA system enjoying the views under the hoods in a DQ parking lot…but to have them take over the entire thru-way of an outdoor mall is a little overwhelming. We usually park there in the metered spots because with a 6 month-old it’s just easier to pull out the mega-stroller and/or carseat-carrier and hop right on the sidewalk vs. parking in one of the always-full lots and schlepping over to the actual stores. Yes, I pay for my laziness.

Laziness aside, the other issue I have is with what’s considered ‘classic’ at this venue. There were at least 10 Corvettes there…from the 80’s-00’s. There were several more pick-up trucks, including an Eddie Bauer edition Ford F-150 that I guess was supposed to be impressive?! There were a handful of actual classic cars there as well, but I’m not sure what the rest of those people were trying to prove. I mean, my husband drives a Mustang from WAY back in the 90’s…maybe he should sign up?? Do you get a hat or something?

After much eye-rolling on the way to our destination – Bath & Body Works, my annoyance mulitplied ten-fold. My mom is a simple woman, and after denying interest in ANY Mother’s Day gifts we might bestow upon her (the children are gifts enough!) she finally decided she needed a new B&BW body spray. This is fine, since they are always having some sort of “buy 12 get 4 free” deals going on. However, the biggest problem I have is not with the products or prices, but whoever in corporate has decided that requiring Every.Single.Employee. to accost Every.Single.Occupant of the store is the best way to generate more sales.

Maybe normal people appreciate the “service” and “attention to detail” this might seem to imply, however I just want to be left alone, smell the things I want to smell, and buy what I decide will give me the lowest-grade headache possible. I can, in fact, read the 43 signs indicating the “Special Deals!” you are currently offering. I can also miraculously see the bags available to me to put my myriad plastic bottles of odoriferous liquids in. If, by chance, I could not, having one or two employees stationed by the front door to explain how the world works to me would be acceptable. In reality, I was approached by *7* employees asking me the same questions, or some variation. By #5, I smiled and said, “thanks but you’re the 5th person to ask me that.” And really, it takes a LOT for me to actually speak to other humans, so that should be noted. I suggested to my husband that each customer should be given a sticker to wear so other employees can BACK OFF find someone else to approach. I guess if that were the case I would probably have to steal a case of those stickers and put one on before I even entered the store. At the end, I picked out two sprays for my mom and let my 8 year-old pick the ‘get one free’ bottle, but we were hurrying her as if we were under attack and spotted by the enemy. “Hurry up and decide!!! There’s more coming at us!!!” Poor girl…she’s going to have a complex about smelling things now. We did make it out alive, and headed to our next destination – Target. The day before Mother’s Day. Oh, yes.

I only needed to get some cards and a nice flowering plant, but knew it wouldn’t be as easy as all that. I’ve been in the Target card section the day before a holiday before. I knew the risks.

I stayed clear of the cards that all the kids were standing in front of, opening, and making horrible sounds come out of. Despite the commercials implying otherwise, your mom does not want to open a card and listen to a loud, tinny version of some overplayed song that contains an appropriate pun or elicits sympathy smile regarding the holiday at hand.

I was trying to stay in one section, so I didn’t have to meander my way around various carts and people that were everywhere. That is when I saw a lady that obviously needed to make her way down to the Starbucks at the opposite end of the store and relieve some of her stress with a nice shot of espresso or five.

There were three of us standing together looking at the ‘from Daughter’ cards. The woman on the far left made a loud announcement to the woman in the middle, “just let me know if I GET IN YOUR WAY HERE AS I PUT THIS CARD BACK.” (Because obviously none of us saw the flag alerting us to her staked claim in that area of the store.) The lady in the middle sort of took a step back and said, “um…okay…I’m sorry if I got in your way.” (I just ran to the snack area, got some popcorn and came back to watch.) The first woman just huffed and rolled her eyes. The shocked-and-awed lady wisely decided to make a retreat back to another section. Crazy lady then huffed some more, moved over closer to me and muttered under her breath about hating stupid people. I back away slowly so as not to draw attention, making my way to the garden center. I didn’t look back. I’m sure her mom will appreciate HER card way more than anyone else’s mom will appreciate theirs, because of all the stupid people she had to endure to get it. I mean, srsly, lady – you’re at a super-discount-store the day before a national holiday, not in the middle of Tiffany’s. Your $2.99 card matters just as much as everyone else’s.

Yes, I realize the irony in my ranting about stupid people ranting about stupid people…but I have the decency to blog about it, where very few people will actually read it, rather than confirming my anti-social-craziness issues for all of SuperTarget to witness. I do have some standards. I’m just grateful I didn’t need to venture out to Wal-mart for anything. Someone might not have made it out alive.

…

The finer points of humanity aside, I am very grateful for my wonderful husband and children this weekend. My husband has declared it “Mother’s Day Weekend” and has made every effort to make sure I do as little as possible with the baby, cleaning and general parenting. In addition, he just made a fabulous dinner of chicken Marsala and pasta, one of my favorite dishes. Ben & Jerry are waiting for me later. The man knows me. Iced coffee, lack of responsibility and ice cream = one happy momma.

Tomorrow we will be spending the day at Epcot’s France pavilion, enjoying overpriced escargot and waiters who try to live up to their stereotypical reputations, but are rendered powerless by the forced friendliness that comes with working at Disney. Ahh, I love it! However, it will also be in the high 90’s by the time we are there, so we’ll probably eat and get the heck out. We know our limits.

I wish any mommas reading this a wonderfully happy Mother’s Day…tell your mom you love her and cut her some slack – cleaning off your face with her spit means she loves you. I’ll try not to wait until the next national holiday to write again.

Well, minus a few tweaks and an ‘about me’ page I still need to write, I think the site is finally ready to go. Of course I could’ve been writing fabulously entertaining blogs this whole time to keep you on the edge of your seat with my charming wit and panache, but instead I decided to keep you mired in suspense and riddled with anticipation. (read: too lazy to sit down and actually write something) But now here I am and here we are together, on Zombie Jesus Day, to celebrate the new beginning that is my shiny new blog.

So many times over the course of the past month or so while I procrastinated finishing this project, I thought of wonderful blog ideas that I felt could entertain the masses. However now that it’s time to release myself upon the world, where are those ideas I ask? Probably somewhere trapped in a Diaper Genie or maybe at the bottom of one of my many iced lattes. No matter though, I’ll find them all at some point. This is just me saying hello, waving to the interwebs and telling you all to stay tuned. We’ll be right back after this short break brought to you by the letters: Chocolate and Bunny.

I am currently in the process of creating and tweaking the site to become blog-centric. Bear with me as I get everything set up! Insane amounts of thank yous to my husband for doing all the technical poop require to make it pretty. I’m sort of demanding. Stay tuned!