How Military Disney Tips Grew From an Idea to a Website that has served Over 6.8 Million US Military Members, Veterans, and Their Families

17 May 2020 by Steve Bell 4 Comments

Hi, I’m Steve Bell, and welcome to Military Disney Tips!

I have had a long association with both the U. S. Military and Disney Theme Parks.

My mission is to offer you the best advice that I can specific to the U.S. military community to plan for, save money on, and enjoy their Disney vacation!

What makes Military Disney Tips different than all the other Disney sites?

• I’m a Retired Air Force Chief Master Sergeant (E-9 with 31 Years of service)
• I’m a former Walt Disney World Cast Member (3 years in the Magic Kingdom)
• I’m a Retired DoD Civilian (22+ years, most concurrent with my military time)
• I’m now a DoD Defense Contractor
• I’ve been touring Disney Parks since 1971
• I use all the same military discounts that you do
• I’ve made too many trips to count and stayed in all Disney Resort Hotels
• I’ve been featured in dozens of Disney and Military websites, military magazines and newspapers, radio and TV, presented at Blog Conventions, been awarded Best Travel Blog, and been part of the Inc. 500/5000 Military Entrepreneur Program.

I started Military Disney Tips in 2008 to share my Disney knowledge with my community. When I started there was no other Disney Military information on the internet! Shades of Green) Disney World’s military resort) at the time had an awful 6 page website hosted on an Army URL. Over the years, many sites that do not actually work in this niche have posted a page or two about Disney Military Discounts (mostly copied info, with our first hand knowledge). Stay clear of these sites, as I say, “Don’t get your Disney Military Discount Advice from  Civilians!”

Steve’s LinkedIn 

Featured in other Media

The History of Military Disney Tips

My fascination with Walt Disney World started at a young age. In grade school, my family started taking annual spring vacations to Florida to visit family. That first year (1971) we visited the Walt Disney World Welcome Center. WDW wouldn’t open until that fall, but they had lots of info about the soon-to-open theme park, plus lots of souvenirs. Each year afterward, until I graduated high school, we’d spend a day at WDW during our spring vacation.

Walt Disney World Welcome Center – Lake Buena Vista, FL, 1971. My sister, mom, me, and my great uncle.

After high school, I enlisted in the Air Force and spent four years on active duty. After four years stationed in Texas, I became a single parent. Having a one-year-old and being a Strategic Air Command, Aircraft Crew Chief pulling nuclear alert (living on base in the alert facility 24 hours a day for 2 or 3 days at a time (2 on, 2 off, 3 on, 3 off)) did not work well as you can imagine. So I chose to get out and relocate to Orlando, FL where my parents had moved. Not wanting to end my relationship with the Air Force I switched to the Air Force Reserve. I was a reservist for the remainder of my career in various capacities, some part-time (while I worked at WDW) but all the rest was in various full-time capacities.

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 Theme Park (the Tomorrowland Terrace, now called Cosmic Rays Starlight Cafe). That was a very interesting and fun time!

In 1989 I left Disney to pursue a great opportunity to fly with the Reserves, which eventually led to full time Reserve duty in Ohio. All through the nineties my family and I would visit our 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 fun, efficient, and memorable.

Steve inflight at “the office”

This was before the explosion of the internet (and Disney sites) and the only people who knew secrets and little-known facts were Disney cast members and their friends. These were our golden years of touring the parks!

In 2000 we decided that we’d never really had a true “family vacation.” We had always visited relatives on our vacations and squeezed in a 1-day WDW day trip. 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 on that trip! Since then we’ve been so lucky to have returned for many multi-day trips. We’ve stayed at all of the resorts (Disney and others) and tried very many of the wonderful restaurants on property.

After the 2000 vacation, people at the squadron and around the base started asking for my advice on their Disney vacations. I had become the local pro. I always enjoyed helping them plan their vacations.

In 2007 we transferred back to Florida (just five and a quarter hours from Disney) but I still had people in Ohio calling to ask 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 on the web with the community that I’ve been a part of for so long, the Military/DoD community.

I started this site in early 2008 and it has been a huge success. I work on it part-time and really enjoy doing so.

In 2012 I retired from military service having spent 31 years in uniform. I then continued to serve as an Air Force civil servant.

Steve’s Retirement Photo

In 2016, we actually moved back to Ohio for a great civil service job and to be near our kids and now granddaughters. So now I get to commute to WDW via plane instead of car.

In 2021, I also retired from civil service and switched over to being a contractor for the Air Force.

Steve “working” at Disney’s Animal Kingdom

My goal for this site is to help you!

I thoroughly enjoy creating all of the content on this site. And I hope that it helps you as you learn about and plan for your Disney vacation. You can always reach out with questions via the site contact form (in the menu)!

How You Can Help Me

The good news is there are simple ways you can support MDT (and the other independent websites that you love).

1. Bookmark your favorite independent sites and visit them often. Think of us regularly, save our link in your bookmarks/shortcuts and drop by for a visit often. Did you know that we publish posts 2, 3 , or more times a week? And most posts are general, interesting Disney content, not just about military discounts. Visit the home page to see lists of new posts and pages (near the top after the intro info).
2. Comment on our posts here on the site.
3. Subscribe to our newsletter. If you have not yet subscribed to our newsletter, you can do so right here. It’s free, it goes out about twice a week. It contains links to some of our best content and our latest posts. We don’t sell or give away your information to anybody. And if you are already a subscriber: thank you! Most important, when you get the newsletter open it and click on the links to go to the site and enjoy our content.
4. We do accept tips. I know in today’s world we see too many “add a tip” screens when checking out, but a little bit from you can help keep this site going. Tip Here.
5. Do all of your Amazon shopping from our link. If you click this Amazon Link and then save it as the shortcut that you use all the time we will get a very small percentage of your purchases. It won’t change the price that you would normally pay, it’s just a finder’s fee.
6. Use our sponsors for your Disney vacation, we partner with the Ears of Experience Travel Agency and Amusement Park Rentals for stroller and scooter rentals. We’ll get a finder’s fee at no cost to you.
7. Recommend us to your friends. Word of mouth, and helpful recommendations from a trusted friend are the very best type of recommendation!
8. Feel free to share our content in groups or message boards when appropriate. If you see a social media thread or message board thread about a topic that we’ve covered, you can give us some love by linking to our pieces in the comments of those groups. If it’s not relevant, don’t — we aren’t looking to spam people, but instead to spread the word about the work we do in authentic ways.
9. Follow me on Facebook. Then click on like or make a comment on every post that you see from us!

Contact Info & Press/Advertiser Info

• Brands and Advertisers
• Webmasters and Bloggers
• Reader Questions

Not Just Disney anymore!

In 2021 I branched out to Universal Orlando, which I’d covered only peripherally here:

• Universal Orlando For Military
• Universal Orlando Guide

You can find me online here

My Military Content:

• Facebook
• X
• Steve’s LinkedIn 
• Universal Orlando for Military
• Universal Orlando Guide

There is more in-depth info on my Author Page.

My Family’s That Disney Family Content @ThatDisFam

• Youtube
• Instagram
• TicTok

• Back to Basics Posts - A great place to start, offering basic topics!
• Disney Veteran & Military Discount Eligibility Guide
• The Military Family’s Walt Disney World Comprehensive Vacation Planning and Preparation Guide 
• Military Disney Tips Disney Packing Checklist 
• Disney Military Tickets – Your Start-to-Finish Guide

• Resorts/Hotel Overview Page
• Dining Overview Page
• Transportation Overview Page
• Technology Overview Page
• Shades of Green, WDW’s Military-Only Resort

The Mouse Experts is a travel booking company specializing in Disney vacations. Military family owned and operated! They know all the ins and outs of Disney military discounts!