Hi, my name is Tom, and I have a Disney problem
I think for me, it started when my uncle took me to Disney just a couple of years after the park opened. I was pretty young, perhaps 7 or so, and I really looked up to my uncle, so I guess the fact that the really enjoyed being there made it more special to me.
I didn't get to go many times during my childhood, but I did return with my uncle shortly after Epcot opened, and again his enjoyment of the parks really left an impression on me. Just two years later, I returned for my senior class trip, and with the parks fairly fresh in my memory from my earlier trip, I pretty well knew where to go, and what to do.
That was 1988, and my next trip was 20 years later, in 2008, with my DW, DD13, DS4, DD19, DMom, and my cousin. Since I was doing all the planning for that trip, naturally I started on the internet, and soon after came across the DIS, where I learned everything I need to know to plan a fantastic trip. Seeing my kids faces light up brought back all the fantastic memories I had from my childhood visits. In 2008, for the first time, we stayed on site, and being surrounded by Disney 24 hours a day probably sealed the deal.
What was going to be a once in a lifetime, we'll never be able to do it again trip, wound up being a return trip in 2009 with free dining, which then turned into booking the bounceback for free dining in 2010, and so the monster was created
I am on the DIS pretty much every day, get email updates from Friends of Figment, and have Steve Soares site bookmarked. I have a spread sheet for planning our ADR's, and for keeping track of park hours / parades / shows. I have a notebook to keep all of our trip information in. I print up 3x5 cards with our park touring plans.
I have a number of Mickey Antenna Toppers that I periodically change on my car. I have too many Disney shirts, and some Disney socks. My kids have more Disney clothes than I do. I have a pair of 22" wide screen monitors on my home computer, and a custom made wallpaper that has pictures of Cinderella's Castle, and the World Showcase Lagoon looking at Spaceship Earth, both taken at night, with a series of pictures of DW over top of it, and Tink sprinkling Pixie Dust around Spaceship Earth. I spent countless hours creating the wallpaper!
I make Mickey shaped eggs, and pancakes for my kids. We have a Mickey ice cube tray, Mickey Halloween lights, and a Mickey Halloween Lantern. My cell phone plays the Pirates of the Caribbean song as my morning wake up alarm. I have over 100 different Disney MP3's loaded onto my GPS to listen to in my car.
I am THE go to guy for Disney info among friends and family. We have a vast collection of Disney moves on both DVD, and VHS, and several Disney books too. It really is an addiction, bordering on a sickness, but I like being this way! I absolutely hate the Florida heat, but I think I could be happy retiring to Florida if I could work part time at Disney World!