Today, we are meeting for breakfast, and during our meal, we will be joined by members of the Disney internet community.  This is our first opportunity to talk to the “press”, and I think most of us can’t help but feel a little anxious.  Last night, we are warned on the bus ride home about what to say, who to say it to, and how to say it.  Talk about stressing people out!  It is suggested that we turn our name tags around so no one will see our last names, and hopefully avoid picking up stalkers among the internet Disney fans. 

I’m so not a good listener.  I went with my name tag facing forward.  I think it was okay.

To begin with, at our table, the people that sat down and conducted interviews only really spoke to the two women seated on either side of them at the table.  I wasn’t close enough to anyone to really have them see my name tag, so I think I’m stalker safe for the time being.  But when it comes to the bottom line, I almost NEED people to find me here.  I make my living as a writer, doing mostly web content, and I would love for people to see that I have a website.  And it has content.  And I wrote it.  Then they will pay me to write for their websites, and the world is a happier place.

But I digress.  We have a few minutes of meet and greet time with the internet Disney website people, and then my internet idol comes to our table.  I think I straightened out my blouse, fixed my hair, and tried to use the remnants of some type of berry from our yogurt and granola parfait to make it look like my lipstick hadn’t worn off during the eggs.  Um, yeah, not so successful there.

Deb Wills from the website www.allearsnet.com comes over and sits down at our table.  She is just as sweet as a human being can be, congratulating all of us on our accomplishment in getting on the moms panel.  And while she does not specifically interview any of us, she does ask a few questions, one of them being something like how is it that we knew enough to get on the moms panel?

Well, Duh.  Deb Wills runs the most comprehensive site containing Disney information anywhere on the web.  As often as I’ve been to Walt Disney World in my lifetime, I didn’t LEARN much about going to Disney until I found Deb’s site.  I didn’t know about dialing in early for CRT ADRs.  I didn’t know what type of food they served at Spoodles.  I had never seen the inside of the All Star Movies resorts.  I am on the Walt Disney World Moms Panel, thanks in great part to the knowledge I have gained through Deb Wills’ site.  Thanks, Deb!

Another question she asked was what we hoped to learn being part of the Moms Panel.  I had already learned a huge lesson.  Sitting around at a table full of women who begin planning their NEXT Disney vacation in the car on the way to the airport for their current Disney vacation, I realize I am not a lunatic.  Not only can I not wait to get to Disney when we do have a trip planned, I am constantly planning my next Disney vacation!  Talking to my family and friends, I get a bit of a complex.  They had me convinced I was one step away from a 12 step program.  Producers from the TV show “Intervention” must be waiting in the wings to pounce on me as I stroll happily to the car with my suitcase for my next trip.  But here is a group of 15 other people as completely insane as myself! 

I also learn that I don’t know nearly enough about Disney.  I am worried that I will encounter questions for which I have no answers.  I don’t know how many minutes or how many forms of transportation are involved in getting from point A to point B at Disney World.  I didn’t know how many bricks were in Cinderella Castle.  I felt fairly comfortable in my knowledge of parks and dining, but these people could kick my ass in a trivia contest!

Overall, I think most of us are just grateful to have survived our first brush with “media” attention.  We all lived, no one had spinach stuck in their teeth or sticky up hair, and it wouldn’t have mattered much anyway, since most of the interview process was done only on a tape recorder.  The only real pictures were taken by and of Deb Wills, and we were all so star struck, we didn’t much care what we looked like!