Hi I’m Steve, welcome to Military Disney Tips dot com! I have a long association with both the U. S. military and Walt Disney World. My goal is to offer the best advice I can for the military community to plan, save money, and enjoy their vacation at WDW!
My fascination with Disney World started at a young age. In fourth grade my family started taking annual spring vacations to Florida. That first year (1971) we visited the Walt Disney World Welcome Center, WDW wouldn’t open till that fall. They had lots of info about the soon to open theme park, plus lots of souvenirs. Each year afterwards, until I graduated high school, we’d spend a day at WDW during our vacation.
After high school I enlisted in the Air Force and spent four years on active duty. After four years stationed in Texas some personal issues caused me to get out and relocate to Orlando, FL. Not wanting to end my relationship with the Air Force I entered the Air Force Reserve. I’ve been a reservist ever since in various capacities, some part time but mostly full time.
During the three years I spent in Orlando (85-88) I actually worked full time at Walt Disney World! I ordered food for one of the restaurants in the Magic Kingdom Park. That was a very interesting and fun time!
In 1989 I left Disney to pursue a great opportunity in the Reserves, which eventually lead to full time Reserve duty in Ohio. All through the nineties my family and I’d would visit relatives in Florida and we’d always make time for a one-day visit to WDW. With the knowledge I had gained while working there I was very good at making our visits efficient and memorable.
In 2000 we decided that we’d never really had a “family vacation” we’d always visited family on our vacations. So we decided to live it up. A whole week at Disney World! I did a huge amount of research and the vacation was a great success. We had lots of special experiences that trip! Since then we’ve been spoiled and have returned for many multi-day trips. We’ve stayed at many of the resorts and tried many of the wonderful restaurants on property.
After the 2000 vacation people at the squadron and around base started asking for my advice on their Disney vacations. I became the local pro. I always enjoyed helping them plan their vacation.
I’ve since moved back to Florida (just five and a half hours from Disney) but I still have people in Ohio asking for help with their vacations. I thought that if I’m still getting calls and e-mails for advice I must have found my calling.
I decided that it was time for me to start sharing my passion for Disney World on the web with the community that I’ve been a part of for so long, the military/DoD community.
