Greetings from near Vancouver, Canada!

[dsmith51]

Hi gang, I'm not new here, I joined on July 5, 2007 but don't think I ever properly introduced myself. After 13 years I think it's about time!

My name is Dan, and I'm from Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, and am a huge Disney fan. For those of you who don't know, Port Coquitlam is just outside of Vancouver on the west coast.

My first trip was in 1984. Mom drove myself and my sister down to Disney World from Hamilton, Ontario, towing a 16-foot house trailer behind. On the way down through Tennessee on I-75, the trailer blew a tire! I remember having to walk back to the nearest exit with a gas station to call a tow truck to come and get us. Yeah, cell phones weren't invented in those days. A long walk back to the car and a couple of hours later, the tow truck showed up and we were told that because we were towing the trailer behind us, they couldn't hook the car up to the truck, so we ended up driving on a flat to the next exit where mom could get another tire for the trailer. I think she got two new ones, because the ones we had on it were just too old and at the breaking point, so we didn't risk another flat. On that same trip, the brakes got air in them, so we went to a JC Penney garage, de-coupled the trailer, and had the brake line "fixed". When we got back out on the road the brakes failed again, and mom turned around and went right back to the garage and raised cane with the mechanic! It was right at 5:00 when they were closing, but they stayed open just for us. It was then fixed properly, and we were back on our way to Walt Disney World!

But I digress, that was the first trip I took to WDW. Years passed and I began to go to the parks by myself, flying down because I wasn't driving at the time and ever since then, Walt Disney World has become my favourite go-to resort. Yes, I am closer to Disneyland and Disneyland is much more nostalgic, being Walt's own creation, but I like the expanse and opportunities WDW has to offer much better than DL so that's where I make my home away from home.

I've been to 3 Disney parks across the world - WDW several times, DL several times, and Hong Kong Disneyland back in 2016, and I love them all! You can see my photos at http://photos.dansmith.ca/. It's on my own site which contains all of the photos I've ever taken (that I can find) of all of my trips.

I also run Park Magic Radio (http://parkmagicradio.ca) but it's not online 24/7. It's a site that has a lot of park-related music on it, along with my own personal recordings that I get every time I visit the parks. I can turn it on if you send me a quick PM or email from the link on my page.

Thanks for reading this, and I hope to be a regular contributing member of WDWMagic!

 

[Goofyernmost]

Welcome... I made my first trip in 1983, but I was a grownup with a wife and two little girls in tow. I think if I had that many problems on that trip I would have turned around and gone back home. Kudos to your mom for her diligence. I did have mechanical problems on a Disney road trip years later when my car blew both head gaskets and $3000.00 later I was on my way again. That was coming back though and I really didn't care how long it took to get back.

 

[dsmith51]

Welcome... I made my first trip in 1983, but I was a grownup with a wife and two little girls in tow. I think if I had that many problems on that trip I would have turned around and gone back home. Kudos to your mom for her diligence. I did have mechanical problems on a Disney road trip years later when my car blew both head gaskets and $3000.00 later I was on my way again. That was coming back though and I really didn't care how long it took to get back.

Thanks for your reply, and the nice welcome. My mom was a pretty resilient person. She knew what was best, and what was right, and didn't take guff from anyone. She passed in 1996 but there's hardly a day that goes by where we don't think of her.

I hear ya about unexpected expenses. I'm sure your price tag was met with some disappointment! First you pay $3,000 for your trip, and then have to spend another 3 grand on getting your car fixed. It must have been a huge let-down, but I'm so glad to hear you continued on. It wouldn't have been the same if you'd turned around and gone home. You'd be kicking yourself for not going!

 

[dsmith51]

If anyone's interested and wants to hear some Disney stuff... Park Magic Radio is online. The link is above.

 

[Goofyernmost]

Thanks for your reply, and the nice welcome. My mom was a pretty resilient person. She knew what was best, and what was right, and didn't take guff from anyone. She passed in 1996 but there's hardly a day that goes by where we don't think of her.

I hear ya about unexpected expenses. I'm sure your price tag was met with some disappointment! First you pay $3,000 for your trip, and then have to spend another 3 grand on getting your car fixed. It must have been a huge let-down, but I'm so glad to hear you continued on. It wouldn't have been the same if you'd turned around and gone home. You'd be kicking yourself for not going!

Don't I wish the trip was only 3K. It was during my once in a life time, bring the whole immediate family to WDW while the Grandkids were still young enough to enjoy it, but old enough to remember who brought them. That was the selfish side of me. That was in 2008 (11 of us) and it cost me $7000.00 before the car incident. I shudder to think about how much that trip would have cost me today. I know that I considered that problem to be a fluke (not to mention the blow out on I 95 also on my way home). It was starting to look like Florida didn't want me to leave. That car was my first Cadillac, but I traded it in for another only to have that one eat up another head gasket a few years down the road. I finally learn my lesson and will no longer own a Cadillac. Turns out to be a really expensive piece of junk. BTW, that second head gasket was going to cost $6000. to replace. I told them what they could do with their Cadillac's and improved my situation by buying a VW Passat, which was way down on the social status chart. Those, and the subsequent VW's, haven't had any engine problems though and actually enjoyed driving it more then the Cadillac. Especially since the VW's have the uncanny ability to actually go past a gas station and not need a fill up again.