To celebrate our upcoming 5th anniversary, Jenny and I are planning a trip to Walt Disney World in October. After overcoming my initial hesitation (how about another cruise, honey?), I have now become obsessed with planning this trip, Jenny’s first visit to WDW and my first since childhood. Through our planning, I have come to realize several things:

• Mickey Mouse is an undeniable cult leader with millions of devoted followers all over the world.
• Disney’s marketing people and “Imagineers” basically have a license to print money.
• Disney World is so big that even staying about a week, there’s not a chance we’ll be able to see everything, which means we’ll probably decide to go back (see above re: printing money).
• Many Disney fans are even more obsessed than I am, with discussion boards and websites that offer restaurant/resort/park reviews and thousands of tips, not to mention the dozens (hundreds?) of books in print. I have a cousin who goes EVERY YEAR with her husband. There are many people who visit TWO OR THREE TIMES a year or even more. The amount of devotion and information is overwhelming.
  
• It’s OK for a 28-year-old man to be excited about going to Disney World, although it does help if he takes his wife. My wife and I are even planning to have afternoon tea at the Grand Floridian, but don’t tell my poker buddies.

We think it will be a great way to celebrate 5 years together along with my 29th birthday. They give you buttons to wear for special occasions like these. If an employee (or Cast Member, in Disney lingo) sees a button, they acknowledge it in various ways, often involving a special greeting or even free desserts or rentals. Between the two of us, we qualify for three different buttons. We’re hoping that’s enough to score a night in Cinderella’s Castle, but we’ll be happy just to be there.