I am a Disney fanatic, and almost everyone that knows me can verify this.  I have collections of movies, Disney World collectibles, and things around the house.  The wife is a Eeyore fanatic, and also loves Disney things.  She has a nice collection of Disney salt and pepper shakers, and a lot of Eeyore things.  The little one enjoys Disney things, and 1/2 of her playroom is filled with Disney toys.

I would ask for nothing more than to have Disney put a spa in my backyard, and I would want it similar to this photo that I found.

This would be the top of the mountain for me.  I just have one problem… Where do you get a spa cover for something like that?

This past October we were surprised to find that my brother-in-law (M), his wife (R), and his daughter (O) had gone to Disney World.  They called me, and found out that we were there.  We thought that it would be a bad move to do Disney World with M, but strangely enough we actually had a good time.  He has made comments in the past that it would be miserable.  He was rather shocked to see we are very nice people when we are on vacation.

I feel bad for his wife because she was pregnant when they went, and I am sure it was rough.  She didn’t smoke during her pregnancy, while in Disney she stayed off the rough rides, and I am sure that she had to be on some of the best prenatal vitamins because M wants the best.  I don’t know how she did it, but quitting smoking is very hard to do.  We are going to be testing electronic cigarettes while we are in Disney this trip.

Each day they met us at our room in The Disney Animal Kingdom Villas.  They thought that the view from our room was nice.  We wanted to go swimming, but there was a slight chill, and we didn’t want the kids to get sick.  We love the pools in Disney because they are nicely designed, and they have a lot of things for kids to do.

We made the comment to R that we were going to go on a Disney Cruise in 2011, and she seems interested, but I don’t think that M will let it happen.  I can understand because the baby will still be a bit young, and how can you really enjoy yourself on a cruise when you have a little one to care for.  Once they get older it is easier.

Last time we were supposed to go on a cruise with M there was a small mishap, and caused O to be in a cast.  They didn’t think she would enjoy it much, so they had to cancel.  Disney cruises are great no matter what is all I have to say.  We enjoy them so much we are going to be taking 2 cruises back to back in 2011.  (A 3 night, and a 4 night)

I just got a call from a long time friend, and she was telling me that she was going to be leaving her job at Disney.  She was telling me that she is worried that she might be cut because of the economic issues that are going on, and jobs are continually in jeopardy.  I didn’t understand that being Disney World is probably one of the biggest vacation destinations that you could go to.  She explained that the tourism rates have been low, thus causing some employers in Florida to have to tighten their belts.

I know she was there for quite some time, but I guess that if she leaves on good terms she can always go back if she wants.  She told me that she was going to move to the Carolinas.  I asked why, and I was told that everything is a bit cheaper there, and on top of that the North Carolina health insurance, auto insurance, and most insurances are very reasonible.  I thought of moving to the Carolinas at one point in time, but realized that I didn’t want to move my family, or my business.

This will make 2 friends that have left their job at Disney.  Others I know have left Florida in general, but leaving Disney is the amazing thing.

I was listening to a local radio station today, and heard about a family that was subject to what I would say was “The worst, and most insensitive handling of a situation.”  A family was taking a vacation to Walt Disney World.  The son of 4 years old has enough challenges due to being born @16 weeks early.  The boys ankles are malformed, and his legs have low muscle tone.  He had just begun walking in March.  Once the family had gotten to the TSA checkpoint the father took the boys stroller and put it on the conveyor so it could be scanned.  The family went through the detectors, and after the detector sounded on the boy the TSA screener instructed the family that the boys leg braces must come off, and he must walk through.  What kind of person would do this, and how long have they been at their job?  I would hope they were new because if a experienced person did that, then I would be questioning “How could this have happened?”

In the end the boy walked through, and the family went on their way.  The spokeswoman for the TSA stated that the boys braces should not have come off.  The director for that airports TSA apologized for this happening.  Being a Camden police officer maybe the father has seen his share of people getting one over on the system because he isn’t asking for any lawsuits, etc.  He only wanted to make sure that this wouldn’t happen to anyone else.

I wouldn’t personally go after anyone financially for this, but I know some people that would have.  In the end one of the things that would have happened if those people pushed would have been the worker doing a job search.

Recently the wife, and I started cleaning out sections of the house.  We do this roughly once a year in the hopes to get rid of things so we don’t become packrats when we get old.  We ran into a lot of my Disney collection which has monorail trains, board games, and more.  Then we found a few textbooks from when my brother in law was in school.  The most interesting find of the Disney stuff was a full set of Disney’s Wonderful World of Knowledge books.  Being that most were in some pretty bad shape we decided that they had done their job, and we would relieve them of duty.  They probably would have had some collector value, but they weren’t in any shape to be saved.

I am continually collecting Star Wars memorabalia, and getting some of it back from my parents from when I was a child.  I have a very extensive collection, and it will continue to sit until we can find a place to show it.  The same goes for the Disney stuff.  The monorail is the one thing that I want to have going around my back porch.  I just have to get some money together to buy more track, and then my plans will be complete.