When people ask me how I came to do what I do as a Disney Vacation Planner, I used to say, “It just fell into my lap!” At the time, that is what it felt like. BUT, knowing the big picture now, I can say 100% that it was ALL God! He is truly amazing & I am beyond thankful to Him for giving me the desires of my heart. Everything happens in HIS perfect timing.
Let’s go back even further, shall we?
I didn’t really have a “list” in writing when it came to must-have qualities in a future husband, however I knew that I wouldn’t settle for someone who wasn’t perfect for me. One unspoken wish was that my future husband would be a lover of Disney, like I was! I never mentioned this to Jason while I was dating him. Shortly after we began dating, I just kind of knew we were going to end up together, and my family took a spur of the moment trip to Disney World as what we assumed would be our last trip as our little family of four. We were right!!!
Jason had been to Disney World two times before meeting me. Once with his family growing up. And, the second time with his high school band when they marched in the Magic Kingdom parade. How cool is that? I so wish I would have happened to have been there while he was playing, and then years from now find pictures from that trip, and he would find himself in those pictures…
Anyway, fast forward a little bit. Jason & I were married on June 7, 2008. We had our first child, our son Ory, on July 15, 2010. We decided to take a little weekend getaway to Walt Disney World together (just the two of us) in September 2011. This would be our first vacation away from Ory, but also our first time together at Walt Disney World! We were heading down with the purpose of attending the “Night of Joy” concert that Friday night at Magic Kingdom.
For this whirlwind Disney weekend, we stayed at Pop Century Resort. We went to Magic Kingdom until the wee hours of the morning that Friday. On Saturday, we park hopped to the other three parks. On Sunday, we explored Disney Springs before heading home. I can say with 100% confidence that after that trip, Jason was HOOKED!!! My dream was coming true right then & there. My husband was becoming a Disney lover!!!
Fast forward to April 2014. I was a few days away from having our second child, and Jason came home from work with a little story. He had stopped at the post office on the way home from work for something, and he paid with our Disney credit card. The postal worker commented on the card, saying he loved it, and then proceeded to have a conversation with Jason about Disney World. His daughter had just gotten married there. As Jason left the post office, a woman caught up to him outside, and talked to him a little bit about Disney. The conversation went something like this (I’m paraphrasing).
Woman: Excuse me. I couldn’t help but overhear you talking about Disney. I’m a Disney vacation planner. Here’s my card. When you are getting ready to plan your next trip, feel free to give me a call. I can help you out.
Jason (holding the card in his hand): Thank you! My wife actually LOVES planning all that stuff. She used to be a travel agent & grew up going to Disney World.
Woman (wheels turning): OK. Well, in that case, would your wife be interested in a job?
Jason (his wheels turning): Well, she’s about to have our 2nd child any day now. But, I know she would love to do this.
Woman: Have her give me a call when things settle down!
Jason: OK. Thank you!
Now, if you know Jason at all, you know he isn’t a huge conversationalist. This is how I know that God hand His Hand in this whole thing. When Karen gave him her card, he could have just said “Thank you,” and left it at that. Instead, he told her about my Disney & travel agent past. I’m so glad he did!
He came home & immediately told me the story and gave me her card. I couldn’t believe it & was super excited. But, knowing that she was possibly interested in hiring someone soon, I didn’t know how I could make that work…being just days from having our daughter. I decided to look up the agency website, and noticed that everyone was an Outside Sales Agent. I was pretty sure that meant that they worked from home, so I was super hopeful. We began e-mailing & she recognized my passion for Disney instantly. We met a couple months after Vangie was born & she hired me. So, I’ve basically been doing this since Vangie was born, April 13, 2014!!!
A few months after I started with I’m ALL Ears Vacations, I took advantage of my agent discount with a birthday trip with my sister, Wendi. While we were at Disney World on a research trip, Karen, my boss, was down there for an agent conference. We made it a point to meet up when time allowed. That was pretty fun!
I was so excited to begin this journey!!! And, every year, my business and client list grew and grew. After deciding to send our son to a Christian school when we did & having that extra expense in our budget made us both kind of nervous. It was then that we saw the big picture & realized God’s plan all along. Everything was falling in to place at the perfect time. And, now…my work flow keeps me busy enough that I am needing to spend more hours each day working at the exact year that Vangie will be going to school four mornings a week. Coincidence? Nope! It’s all God!
Working as a Disney Vacation Planner doesn’t feel like “work” to me at all. I can’t describe the JOY that I feel when I talk to other people about Disney vacations. I could seriously talk about it for hours…in fact, I do! That’s the best part of it all.
What I find super fun is that I was able to introduce Disney World to Jason with “fresh” eyes & through a “Disney lovers” eyes. He became so interested that he now listens to several Disney podcasts. He loves learning more about Disney related things. We love going on adult only “research” trips together. We have the goal of staying at ALL the different Disney resorts & eating at ALL restaurants on property. I want to be able to share with clients my personal experience at each.
It is such a blessing being able to stay at home with my children, as I always wanted to…AND being able to work from home doing something that I am so passionate about is the icing on the cake!
Thank you Lord!!!
Lisa loves ALL things Disney 