What Got You Hooked?

I was raised on Sunday nights, Mary Poppins, and DLR. My first trip to DLR was 1966. Disney has always been a part of my family since I can remember

Like most of you, I grew up on Disney shows and movies. Heck, I had the old “Mousercise” record! (it’s still in my room, collecting dust)

My first time going to a Disney park was in 1982 or 1983, so I was either six or seven (depending on the year). Can’t recall what year, but it was three months before Epcot officially opened. The “Spaceship Earth” was visible, but you couldn’t go in.

I was hooked. I loved it.

I was a lucky child in that I got to go every year from age 5 to 17. Most of the trips were off property (I remember the budget motel) and not much experience with resorts or dining except in the parks. I went a couple of times as an adult, however, a couple of years after my wife and I got married we took a trip to WDW with our kids, my parents, my brother and my sister. We had a great time even though we stayed at a time share just off property. I was hooked because of my childhood and relished in the memories that were made with my brother (sister came along much later) but even still …I wanted more. I would say that I became fully hooked when my wife and I took a trip in 2011 sanz kiddos. I was heading off for military language school and leaving the kiddos and my wife with family while I concentrated on my studies (visited them every month which was a plus). We decided to take a trip somewhere together before I left. I found extremely cheap airfare to Orlando and it didn’t take any persuasion for either of us to go back to WDW.

We utilized my FIL’s timeshare again and stayed just off property, however, we were having the time of our lives leisurely strolling through the parks without the kids in tow. Now, don’t get me wrong here, I love our family vacations to WDW with the kids! This is where things took an enormous turn…..we were in MGM when we came across a stand for DVC. After the promise of free ice cream, fast pass tickets and the thought of being a part of something Disney I convinced my wife to go on the tour and look into joining. She didn’t really want to go on the tour because she is very frugal and the thought of spending more money than we already have on Disney trips was not to her liking.

After we viewed some of the resorts and sat down with our guide we were given all the information to mull over. I was not quite convinced as the sticker shock was enough to sway my interest, although not completely. It was my wife who made the 180 and was sold on the deal. I knew that it had benefits and the payoff in the long run would be worth it but I was still hesitant. She was not hesitant at all and wanted to join very badly. So…….we joined! We were officially DVC members owning our little slice of heaven at SSR. We moved out of our condo off property in the middle of our trip and stayed a couple nights at BLT and BCV. We have both been hooked like no one has ever been hooked since and have made a few trips back since! We have also become DVC owners at the Poly as well as this has been my favorite resort property since I was a child. Looking forward to our next trip in May

This is a photo of us right after checking into our room at BLT after becoming DVC members!

Lots of great memories.
Fun to read.

So Nicely written @DisneyJean! Thanks for sharing your story!