I didn't really become interested in going to Disney World until I was in my late 30's. How my interest in Disney began is a long and involved story that I won't go into in this post. Let's just say that in 1997, when I began thinking about taking my first trip to "The Happiest Place On Earth"; it came out of wanting to surprise and impress someone important to me at the time.
My interest in Disney was sidetrack by a more intense desire to buy my first PC. For 6 months I put aside my plans to save for a Disney trip to finance the purchase of my first home computer. After I had my new portal to the Internet set up in my living room, I planned on getting back to my Disney planning. But before I could do that a series of drastic changes in my life brought me to Kentucky. Once I was here my reason for wanting to go to Disney World was no longer important or relevant.
Just let me pause to say that even though I wasn't determined to go to Disney World above everything else it was still on my radar. I kept it in the back of my mind. Disney World had caught my attention and a degree of fascination about going to "see the mouse" stayed with me even though it wasn't a top priority.
In 2001 with Paula's encouragement I decided to go to a dentist and get my teeth fixed. Nearly 1/3 of them were missing including my two front teeth. In addition the teeth that I still had were loaded with cavities. Getting my teeth fixed or replace was going to be a major long term proposition.
Because I was new to the area and did not have a dentist of my own, Paula sent me to hers. His name was Dr. Timothy Whitaker. Over the next 8 months he would give me back my smile. While his professional work would make a drastic improvement in the quality of my life, his personal interests would have a life changing effect on me as well.
At that very first appointment while sitting in the waiting room I decided to read a magazine. The only one I was even vaguely interested in was a copy of Disney Magazine. It was a quarterly publication that featured articles about Disney World. An example of one of the Disney Magazine covers is at the top of this post.
I paged through the magazine and skimmed some of the articles. They focused on the most recently released Disney movies or spotlighted a popular Disney World resort, restaurant, or attraction. I read some of the letters to the editor. They were written by Disney fans who shared their magical experiences they had in the Florida parks or with something Disney at home. Reading these things sparked something deep inside of me that I had forgotten about. It reignited my Disney flame.
Soon I learned that the reason the copies of Disney Magazine were in the waiting room was because Dr. Whitaker was a big Disney fan. Almost as soon as I sat down in the examination chair we started talking about Walt Disney World and for the last 10 years we haven't stopped.
Although I'd had a peripheral on going interest in Disney ever since August 1997 I can pinpoint the start of my current period interest (you could very easily call it a "period of obsession") in my life to the day I picked up that copy of Disney Magazine and met my new dentist.
Over the last decade everytime I go to see Dr. Whitaker, usually about 3 or 4 times a year, we share something about Disney. It could be a conversation about the latest Disney World news, plans for an up coming trip to Orlando, a book, magazine article, a referal to a newly discovered Disney website, or podcast. Whether my interest in Disney was "hot" or "cold" (there was a time around 2007/2008 that I was upset with Disney World for it's wedding policy but I'll save that for a different post) my dentist and I always connected through our common bond.
So there you have it some of the backstory about how I came to be as crazy about Disney as I am. Since that day in 2001 in the dentist's office I have visited Disney World twice and spend countless hours studying and learning about it's history, magic and more. Whenever I come across something I think Dr. Whitaker would be interested I make a note of it or put it aside to make sure the next time I go to get my teeth cleaned I'll be able to share it with my Disney Dentist.
