A Plea for Help...
Why I am the way I am.... and proud of it!!!
February 5th, 2010
A plea for help
Posted by Bill Burke at 9:39 am
So just what is a Mousejunkie?
For one thing they’re all around you. It’s a little like a zombie apocalypse, I guess, but instead of trying to chase you around, they just want to buy you a Dole Whip at the Magic Kingdom. A Mousejunkie is someone who is hopelessly addicted to Walt Disney World.
And obviously, I’m a Mousejunkie. It happened completely unexpectedly. I traveled to Walt Disney World with my wife in 1997 with absolutely no expectations, looking for a few days off in the sun. I came back with a full-blown addiction.
I’m about as unlikely a candidate for this preoccupation as you’ll find. My wife and I have a 7-year-old daughter, I live in a decent house, I’m a hockey fanatic, and I’d much rather watch MMA than Disney on ice. In all other aspects, I have a pretty regular life. As of this writing, I’m much more focused on the Super Bowl than I am about getting on a south-bound plane early Monday morning. And yet as soon as we are in the air, a numbing haze will settle in, and I’ll be in my element. I love Walt Disney World, and I’ll spend as much time vacationing there as I can without going broke. Actually, that’s a lie. I don’t really care about debt. I just need my fix.
That’s why I wrote the book “Mousejunkies” (Travelers’ Tales 2009). It was my way of trying to explain why I can’t get enough of the place.
When the first edition of “Mousejunkies” was released, I hoped it would strike a chord with small pockets of Disney fanatics. I thought it might find its way into the hands of people like me who can’t get enough of Walt Disney World.
I had no idea that there was such a vast Mousejunkie army - a fifth column of enthusiasts, ready to mobilize the minute Annual Passholder room rates are released. What I learned is that we are legion. Geeky, maybe, and strangely obsessed, but we’ve got numbers. With the release of “Mousejunkies” came a torrent of encouragement, shared experiences and stories about spending way too much time in central Florida.
It may sound crazy to the uninitiated, but there are others out there with a habit much worse than mine. And while I feel better knowing that I’m not alone, it doesn’t completely kill the inkling that I’m somehow seen as a social oddity since my love of all things Disney has been outed. I don’t mind. For every person who thinks I’ve been blinded by Disney’s skilled marketing gurus, there’s someone else calculating how an order of Figaro Fries from Pinnochio’s Village Haus at the Magic Kingdom fits into his Dining Plan allotment. That person understands.
Our paths cross on Main Street USA - he’s wearing an inexplicably stupid souvenir Goofy hat, I’m wearing a hopelessly outdated fanny pack and proudly sporting a lanyard with unnecessarily expensive collectible pins on it. We make eye contact and think nothing of our otherwise regrettable fashion choices. These things are part of the dress code at Walt Disney World, and we revel in it.
I’ll be blogging live from Walt Disney World next week. Check back often to see some of the new recreational opportunities being offered, the newest resort news, and maybe even a few announcements. Also, you can enter to win your own trip to Walt Disney World.
Just excuse the befuddled look on my face. I’ll be in the grips of a four day Disney bender.
February 5th, 2010
A plea for help
Posted by Bill Burke at 9:39 am
So just what is a Mousejunkie?
For one thing they’re all around you. It’s a little like a zombie apocalypse, I guess, but instead of trying to chase you around, they just want to buy you a Dole Whip at the Magic Kingdom. A Mousejunkie is someone who is hopelessly addicted to Walt Disney World.
And obviously, I’m a Mousejunkie. It happened completely unexpectedly. I traveled to Walt Disney World with my wife in 1997 with absolutely no expectations, looking for a few days off in the sun. I came back with a full-blown addiction.
I’m about as unlikely a candidate for this preoccupation as you’ll find. My wife and I have a 7-year-old daughter, I live in a decent house, I’m a hockey fanatic, and I’d much rather watch MMA than Disney on ice. In all other aspects, I have a pretty regular life. As of this writing, I’m much more focused on the Super Bowl than I am about getting on a south-bound plane early Monday morning. And yet as soon as we are in the air, a numbing haze will settle in, and I’ll be in my element. I love Walt Disney World, and I’ll spend as much time vacationing there as I can without going broke. Actually, that’s a lie. I don’t really care about debt. I just need my fix.
That’s why I wrote the book “Mousejunkies” (Travelers’ Tales 2009). It was my way of trying to explain why I can’t get enough of the place.
When the first edition of “Mousejunkies” was released, I hoped it would strike a chord with small pockets of Disney fanatics. I thought it might find its way into the hands of people like me who can’t get enough of Walt Disney World.
I had no idea that there was such a vast Mousejunkie army - a fifth column of enthusiasts, ready to mobilize the minute Annual Passholder room rates are released. What I learned is that we are legion. Geeky, maybe, and strangely obsessed, but we’ve got numbers. With the release of “Mousejunkies” came a torrent of encouragement, shared experiences and stories about spending way too much time in central Florida.
It may sound crazy to the uninitiated, but there are others out there with a habit much worse than mine. And while I feel better knowing that I’m not alone, it doesn’t completely kill the inkling that I’m somehow seen as a social oddity since my love of all things Disney has been outed. I don’t mind. For every person who thinks I’ve been blinded by Disney’s skilled marketing gurus, there’s someone else calculating how an order of Figaro Fries from Pinnochio’s Village Haus at the Magic Kingdom fits into his Dining Plan allotment. That person understands.
Our paths cross on Main Street USA - he’s wearing an inexplicably stupid souvenir Goofy hat, I’m wearing a hopelessly outdated fanny pack and proudly sporting a lanyard with unnecessarily expensive collectible pins on it. We make eye contact and think nothing of our otherwise regrettable fashion choices. These things are part of the dress code at Walt Disney World, and we revel in it.
I’ll be blogging live from Walt Disney World next week. Check back often to see some of the new recreational opportunities being offered, the newest resort news, and maybe even a few announcements. Also, you can enter to win your own trip to Walt Disney World.
Just excuse the befuddled look on my face. I’ll be in the grips of a four day Disney bender.