This is my first blog post ever! To start I thought I would just give a little background about myself and why I started new venture in my life.

My name is Stacey Goon and I’m girl who loves Disney. Before I became a Disney travel agent I was a zookeeper. Big career switch I know! I still have a love and a passion for zookeeping but sadly my physical body just couldn’t handle the job anymore. I was a zookeeper in Arizona for over 10 years. When I left my facility, I was actually the manager of an entire department full of animals and people. I loved my job but professional burn out is a thing and it’s something that happened to me. This was actually my second bout of burn out. I was able to come back from my first burn out so to speak. Zookeeping is a very physical job and it’s also an incredibly emotional one as well, I mean you are reason the animals in your care are alive and that can get stressful. I still have a love and passion for animals and I’ll never forget or regret the time I got to spend with them.

I’m also married to an amazing man, Jeff. My husband has been so incredibly supportive of my career to the point he moved to the middle of nowhere AZ, was willing to commute over an hour each way so I could be close to my job. He did this for years. Eventually he let me know he didn’t want to stay in AZ forever and was wanting a change in scenery and move to a different facility to work at. We started discussing where we would like to move to and what jobs were there. At first, I was still looking to stay in zookeeping, but as our conversations about moving progressed and we had decided we wanted to move somewhere more tropical, the prospect of working outside was less appealing. I’m just not built for the humidity. After realizing Florida was our place, we realized how close to Walt Disney World we could be, and we were excited about that.

My husband and myself are huge Disney people, so much so we got married in Disneyland in California in 2019. During the planning of our wedding, we bought annual passes to Disneyland as it made more sense than buying tickets every time, we went to do wedding planning trips. We only lived about 7 hours drive from AZ to Disneyland, so it wasn’t all that difficult to go. Remembering how much we loved having our annual passes to Disneyland and how much I actually liked planning trips I began to look into becoming a Disney Travel Agent and realized it was something I wanted to try. Once we moved to Florida and got more settled in I started to look into and applying to travel agencies.

I found Academy Travel and loved how they would help train me, and I’d have a support system with a larger company but still be an independent contractor. They liked me and I liked them, and the rest is history. I’m still new to the travel agent industry but so far, I’m loving it and I’m fully committed to helping people have great vacations. As someone who worked in a field where your time and presence is demanded almost 24/7 I understand the value of time off and making the most of it!

My husband and I call ourselves Disney DINKs (Dual Income No Kids) and I feel we have a perspective on Disney that is not addressed much; adult only Disney vacations. I’ll be writing about my experiences with doing Disney as a DINK but also having tips and tricks for larger families and groups too! In my opinion family is not just 2 parents and a number of children under the age of 18. Family is dynamic and unique to each person and so I will be doing my best give advice and help plan the best vacations to fit whatever family dynamic you have. I’ll be covering Disney Destinations like, Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, California Adventure and Adventures by Disney.

So please follow along with my journey and come explore the magic with me!