Resources: Books Read

This post--which will hopefully be updated frequently--will detail a surely-incomplete, continually evolving list of the books I've read in my obsessive quest for Disney Parks knowledge. At some point, I hope to include more complete, alphabetically-correct citations. Some of these are books I own, some are from the local library.

Latest Update: October 25 2015

 Currently Reading:  When We Were In Disney World, by Noah Witcowicz

501 Ways to Make the Most of Your Walt Disney World Vacation, by Krish Fredericks, 2015 (Kindle book)

Birnbaum Guides 2013 Walt Disney World Dining Guide

Mousetrapped: A Year and a Bit in Orlando, Florida, by Catherine Ryan Howard, 5th Kindle Edition September 2011

2013 Pass Porter's Walt Disney World

Sara Earns Her Ears: My Secret Walt Disney World Cast Member Diary, by Sara Lopes, 2014 (Kindle book)

Stories from a Theme Park Insider, by Robert Niles

Strategies for Paying for Disney, Natalie Hinley

The Dark Side of Disney, by Leonard Kinsey

The Disney Diaries, vol 1: 1999-2008/

The Gospel According to Disney: Faith, Trust, and Pixie Dust, by Mark T. Pinsky

The Hidden Magic of Walt Disney World

 

The Imagineering Field Guide to Disney's Animal Kingdom

The Key to the Kingdom, by Jeff Dixon  (Fiction)

The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World, 2014

Today In History: Disney, by Eve Zibart

Traveling to WDW via Amtrak, by Bruce Sherman (Kindle book)

Walt Disney Resort Guide to the Magic for Kids, by Tim Foster

The beginning...a very good place to start

Hello! I'm Willie, and you've found my second attempt at building a Disney trip-planning blog. The first one, also built here at Blogger, has disappeared into the ether...

I'm primarily using this blog as a planning tool for my trips to Disney parks and as a place to track my Disney obsessions. If someone else should happen to stumble upon it and find the information I've compiled helpful in planning their own Disney vacation, it would make me very happy! I'll be writing about plans for my next Disney vacation, compiling lists of resources I've found along the way, and doing some random babbling about All. Things. Disney.

For anyone who finds this blog, I'm Willie. I'm a 53 year-old single woman who lives in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, DC. I graduated from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh in 1984 with a BS degree in Music Therapy. I work with idividuals who have intellectual and developmental disabilities. I have two jobs: a full-time position that I LOVE; and a part-time job that vexes me on a regular basis, but I have good reasons for staying. I read. A lot. And when it comes to reading Disney travel guides, I take notes. A lot of them. :) I have an unnatural attraction to office supplies. I love to play with paper, scissors, glue, etc., and have made a hobby of scrapbooking and card-making. I am a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism, and like to go camping in late July-early August with 10,000 of my closest friends while pretending I'm a 10th-century Irish woman named Grainne. I'm a geek for learning, and am constantly exploring new-to-me topics. And last, but certainly not least, I came into full communion with the Roman Catholic Church during this year's Easter Vigil. I'm a lifelong Christian, but in joining the Catholic Church, I truly feel I've found my home.

Like many people my age, I suppose, I grew up surrounded by Disney. I went to Disney movies, my family watched The Wonderful World of Disney on television every week, I had Disney story books, I dreamed of visiting Disneyland, and when Walt Disney World opened in Florida--on the same side of the United States as my native Pennsylvania--well, I wanted to go! My first visit was when I was in the 6th grade. Mom and I went on a 3-day trip offered by the local AAA office. (My father stayed home because the trip involved flying. Pop was a tail-gunner during WWII, and once he got home from the Army, he refused to fly again.) We had one glorious day at the Magic Kingdom--the only park at WDW at that time--and I was hooked. We also visited Kennedy Space Center, Cypress Gardens, and an orange grove during that trip. It was my first time on an airplane. I was so excited, I threw up on the bus ride to the airport! :) My mom, who had experience not only as a mother, but as a field-trip chaperone as well, was prepared for such an eventuality, although she was expecting it to happen on the plane. ;)

I visited the Magic Kingdom again during a band trip my junior year of high school, and during my senior class trip my final year of high school. We attended one of WDW's Grad Nights, and saw KC and the Sunshine Band and Kool and the Gang. I brought home a pair of MIckey ears decked out with felt morterboard and a golden tassel, and a Winnie--the-Pooh who also sported a morterboard and tassel.

My fourth visit to WDW was with my best friends, Judy and Tammy, in 1989. In addition to Magic Kingdom, we visited Epcot, and the relatively new Disney-MGM studios.

My last visit was in 2013. This was a BIG. DEAL. for me, as I hadn't visited in over 20 years. I stayed on property for the first time (Pop Century), and visited a completely new-to-me park (Animal Kingdom). I spent a LOT of time and energy planning this trip. (Did I mention I like planning my vacations almost as much as I like actually taking them? Yeah, I'm weird like that.) It was a BLAST. It had its moments, and of course, I didn't get to do everything I wanted to do, but I loved it. I hated to leave. But I knew it wouldn't be long before I was planning my next adventure.

And here we are... :)