A woman Disney Bounding as Han Solo at Walt Disney World with Chewbacca
A group of seven people, including a person in a Mickey Mouse costume, taking a photo together outdoors near some plants and benches.
A woman and a young girl riding a carousel horse at an amusement park.
Two women wearing playful holiday headbands with Mickey Mouse gloves, one with round sunglasses, taking a selfie indoors with a colorful, festive setting reflected in their sunglasses.
Two women posing with a large Mickey Mouse dressed as a princess in a regal outfit, inside a decorated room at a Disney-themed event. The woman on the left has glasses and wears a patterned dress with mouse ears, while the woman on the right has a Minnie Mouse headband and colorful skirt.
A smiling girl posing in front of Cinderella Castle at Disney World with other visitors walking around on a partly cloudy day.
Nighttime scene at Disneyland with a large, decorated Christmas tree, surrounded by visitors walking along Main Street U.S.A., with buildings adorned with holiday lights and garlands.
A plate of Japanese curry with rice shaped like a cute white character with a black line for a face, accompanied by broccoli, a heart-shaped piece of fried food, and pickled vegetables.
A young girl with a polka-dotted jacket and starry pants standing in front of Disneyland Park's entrance, holding a balloon. She is wearing a blue wizard hat and Mickey Mouse ears headband.
A woman with wavy, dark hair and large, black sunglasses wearing a black hoodie with a pink and white smiley face design, sitting outdoors with a young girl with braided hair decorated with colorful ribbons, wearing a purple shirt. They are sitting in front of a brick wall and greenery. The woman appears to be smiling slightly, while the girl is looking downward.

I’ve Been Going to Disney Parks Since 1975!

Growing up, I went to WDW a lot and to Disneyland every now and then. I made a few trips as a young adult, but it wasn’t until I became a parent that I began to get serious about going to the Parks again. Our first family trip was in 2016.

Since the end of the pandemic, we’ve been going fairly regularly - and I’ve even been a few times sans kid. In the last few years I have come to realize - no, happily embrace - the truth: I am a Disney Adult.

At time of writing, I’ve been to all six resorts - Disneyland, Walt Disney World (the “Walt” is important - iykyk), Disneyland Paris, Hong Kong Disneyland, Shanghai Disney Resort, and Tokyo Disney Resort - with my daughter in tow along with various family members. (And I always stay in the bubble because I am 100% that mouse.)

While I’ve only been to Hong Kong and Shanghai once, I’ve been to the other 4 multiple times. I spent my birthday this past June at Disneyland Paris with my oldest friend [pictured]. I can’t wait to go back and see how their new World of Frozen stacks up against HKD’s!

I’m not the kind of Disney person who watches the movies over and over (although I usually get round to watching them all eventually - and of course when the kid was small, we watched Frozen about 800 times) or cares too much about the Broadway shows. For me, it’s the Parks. Above all I am a Park Nerd. Walt Disney World in particular. It’s the first place I remember going where I felt… magic. And I still do. The impetus is a little different 50 years later, but it’s the same buttons getting pushed. I may not believe in fairies, but I definitely believe in nerding out about park esoterica & lore, being immersed in really great themeing, casual cosplay, and of course the immense privilege of escaping from reality every so often to recharge. (The older you get, the more you need that.)

I have… experience, opinions, merch, an Incredi-Pass, and advice galore. I follow a lot of amazing content creators who put way more effort into this than I do and I encourage you to subscribe to their channels. This is a hobby - I have a day job! (How else could I afford this hobby!?) I put this site together as a place to store all of the stuff I like to share with folks - stuff I’ve done, and stuff I’m planning to do: pictures from past visits, recommendations, stories, planning scenarios, tips, and so on. And right now it is very much a work in progress so <ahem> excuse my pixie dust…

Here’s a caveat though: Disney makes a lot of changes and it can be hard to keep up. They also do things differently park to park. I won’t go into the why, but I’m not a news site or source of truth for important Disney details because it’s a full time job keeping it all square. But I’ll do my best to verify and/or link out to anything that could potentially trip you up (no pun intended) if you’re doing any planning of your own!

If you’re thinking “Why would I even want to go to Disney in the first place - ew?” then good for you! I’m not here to convince you of anything. Disney parks are crowded enough already - go do something else with your time and money! It’s a big, wide world out there with plenty of other stuff to do.

If you used to love Disney parks as a kid and you think you can’t ever go again… OR you start to tear up a bit when you hear the opening bars of When You Wish Upon a Star but you’re a Serious Person with a Proper Job and a Mortgage so how can you love… an anthropomorphic mouse!? I’m here to tell you that it’s just the magic of storytelling combined with really meticulous engineering and creative theming - plus some 5-star hotels let’s not forget those - doing it’s thing and it’s perfectly normal.

You’ve come to the right place!

- Joanna. June, 2025

A person with pink hair wearing a black hat with Mickey Mouse ears and the name JoAnna embroidered in pink, standing in front of a castle at a Disney theme park.

“Don’t Quit Your Day Job”

Never! (Well, I mean eventually.) I have a pretty great career in Software Engineering management. I started out as a software engineer, of course, but now it’s less about writing software and more about coaching, mentoring, organizing, communicating, orchestrating, and, uh, managing (people & expectations & goals & futures & org charts & hiring & things). (That said, right now I happen to be doing some IC work, which is very fun & cool!) I live in New York, the second largest “tech” hub in the US behind Silicon Valley. The nice thing about being a “tech” person in NYC is it’s not an industry town, so while there are jobs to be had, the economy does not revolve around it - and it’s not the only thing anyone cares (or talks) about! It’s f*cking New York City! I’m raising my kid here, too. She is a budding opera singer about to start 9th grade at a performing arts high school. I own my apartment (flex). I have a dog (double flex). I have been happily married (and amicably divorced) twice… so far ;). I am very into Mid-Century modern industrial design & architecture - especially chairs, perhaps because I’m “indoorsy” and love nothing more than a comfy sit down. I recently bought a rowing machine. I have been in love with Harrison Ford since 1981.

I often joke that when I retire, I hope to get a part-time job at WDW as a character called “Mrs Teapot” - who is very likely me making a portmanteau out of Mrs Potts from Beauty & the Beast and Judi Dench’s Spaceship Earth narration. (I’m British, so I could easily pull this off.)