If you haven’t read part one yet…. check it out HERE

After that first trip to Walt Disney World in 1986, my parents ended up saving money and we went again the next year. And then again the year after that. In fact, we pretty much went to Disney World every year after that. Some of you might think that this is when I became a Disney World snob, but you’d be wrong.

For the first several trips after that big extended family one in ’86, we didn’t stay on Disney property in any of their resort hotels. My mom weighed the options and it was so much cheaper to stay off-site near by and that made the trips more affordable. This off-site thing went on for a while because we really didn’t spend much time in the room anyway and it saved so much money. But then one year, Disney sent a postcard in the mail with an offer for a Disney resort hotel. At this point, I had heard my mom talk so much about how expensive it was to stay on Disney property that I’d more or less resigned myself to the fact that I’d probably never stay on property. But I was perfectly happy staying off-site and going to Disney World versus not going at all.

So when I heard my mom telling my dad that with the offer she got in the mail it wouldn’t be as expensive as the normal rate and asking if he wanted to try it out, my eyes started to widen and I went to tell my sister that they were contemplating staying at a Disney World value resort for our next trip. I know some people don’t like the value resorts but let me tell you that this was a big deal to me! We weren’t dirt poor, but my parents had to budget and plan financially to make sure we had what we needed before we tried to spend money on anything we wanted.

I don’t remember what year it was or how old I was, but since the All Star resorts didn’t open until 1994, it was definitely the Summer of 1994 or after, but my parents decided to use the offer from the mailer and we ended up staying at the All Star Sports resort. This is when those first little glimmers of Disney World snobbery started to show but I didn’t realize it. I was telling friends and other family about how we were staying ON PROPERTY and acting like it was no big deal (even though I was really excited). No one freaking cared but I would still keep bringing it up until people left the room or just rolled their eyes and changed the subject.

I loved staying at All Star Sports! The theming was cute to me and it made me feel like I was in the Disney World bubble. We eventually stayed at All Star Music and All Star Movies, although we did kind of go back and forth with staying on-site and staying off-site depending on what kind of special offers Disney had going. But staying on property was game changing and we slowly ended up staying more often at one of the All Star resorts.

My family has always been close so even when I had moved out of my parent’s house, we all still went on vacations together. My parents planned and paid for our vacations for a long time but then eventually, even though I was a single mother, I started planning and saving on my own so that I could continue to take my own Disney World vacations with my kids.

This is when I really started to realize (and admit) that I was an obsessed Disney World fanatic. I’ll start to tell you all about the trips that I planned myself when I continue with part 3 tomorrow! °O°