Disney World

Not many people consider Disney World their second home.Then again, not many people have been to Disney World 52 times.But for a family that lives in the Wood County town of Washington, traveling to Orlando is something they do as commonly as changing the oil in their car.The Foutty family has traveled to Disney World just about every three months for the past 10 years.Over the years they have managed to sample the park in every month of the calendar.Doug and Laura Foutty first visited Disney World in 1973. Both went as children with their parents.They didn’t get to go back until 1994, when Lindsay, their oldest daughter, was 3 and after Doug had gotten his first good job.”We just always wanted to go again,” Laura said.After Doug and Laura saw the joyful expression on their daughter’s face and heard her talk about the trip afterward, they knew they had to return.”She talked about it non-stop until she could go back,” Doug said.Now, Doug, 45, Laura, 40, and their three children, Lindsay, now 17, Destiny, 3, and Reagan, 20 months, have been to the park so often they know some of the workers by name.”We love Phyllis from the concierge,” Laura said.”Oh, yeah, Phyllis is really nice,” Lindsay said.The Fouttys really geared up for frequent Disney visits in 1997 when they learned an annual pass cost the same as a one-week pass. With the pass, they were able to get incredible discounts. Rooms, for example, would cost only $49 or $59 a night.Now they will be making the trip less frequently, at least for awhile.Doug had seven weeks of vacation a year when he had a well-paying job at the chemical plant NOVA in Belpre, Ohio. But he lost his job when the plant closed in January.He is extremely grateful to have been hired at Kraton, another plant in Belpre but will have to curtail the visits because he does not have as much vacation time.For now, the family has many memories to sustain them.As Doug, Laura and Lindsay talk about the park, they have huge smiles on their faces.”Christmastime is awesome,” Doug said, his voice rising in excitement. “I can’t even describe the decorations and the amount of lights.”When he couldn’t adequately describe a fireworks show, Doug called it up on a computer to display the image of pirates attacking a princess castle.The Fouttys have seen many celebrities at the park and on Disney cruises. Their sightings include Beyonce, John Stamos, Lindsay Lohan and Aaron Carter.Doug especially loves to visit the park in May when there is a Flower and Garden Festival with concerts starring singers from the 1960s and ’70s.Doug’s sister loves Davy Jones, so when the Fouttys saw the Monkees in one of the Flower and Garden Festivals a few years ago, Doug held up his cell phone for her to listen.Davy Jones saw him holding up the phone and approached the Fouttys. He said into the phone, “Hello, this is Davy Jones,” and then continued to sing and dance with Lindsay.”Dancing with Davy Jones was awesome, especially because I knew who he is,” Lindsay said.The family knows many of the park’s secrets, and Doug and Lindsay frequently visit online discussion boards to share them.For instance, it’s easier to walk through the stores along Main Street, which are all connected, at closing time than it is to walk in the street where the crowds are.It’s better to experience the rides during parades because most visitors are watching the Disney characters march down the street.
And when anyone asks, the family can point out the nearest bathroom.Their many trips to the park have not lessened the thrill.”We get excited when we go,” Doug said. “We have fun. You don’t think about work. We just like being together with no phone or any distractions. It’s like the first trip every time.”When they aren’t at the park, they miss it.
“Every so often, I’d say, ‘I want to go home,’ ” Lindsay said.Each family member likes visiting the park for a different reason.Doug’s favorite part of DisneyWorld is the Magic Kingdom and the music at Epcot.Laura doesn’t really have a favorite section of the park — she just loves the whole atmosphere.”I like walking around the park, listening to their music and being with my family,” she said.Lindsay loves to watch people and especially likes to talk to people from different countries at Epcot.”I love to take pictures of families that are there,” she said.And everybody in the family likes to take people there for the first time.They’ve taken other family members on a few trips.”It’s fun to show someone else your playground,” Doug said. The family’s favorite place to stay is the Beach Club, where there is a huge pool with sand on the bottom and a lazy river 8 feet deep.They try to plan trips when school is out, or they include a few weekend days in their visits.Lindsay usually misses about seven days of school in a year, but the vacations don’t seem to have an effect on her grades.She still manages a 3.75 grade point average and wants to become a journalist.Even when they aren’t at the Florida park, the family likes to pretend they are.On a typical Saturday morning, the Foutty family can be found cooking Mickey Mouse- shaped waffles and listening to Mouse World radio, an online radio station that plays the same music that would be playing at Disney World.On a recent Saturday, Destiny, who has been to the park 13 times in her three years on Earth, was dressed like Snow White but was curled up and snoozing like Sleeping Beauty.Tiny Reagan, 20 months, who has been to the park five times, was wearing Mickey Mouse Crocs.An entire room in the basement of their house is dedicated to Disney.Lobby cards, also known as window cards, hang on the walls. These are similar to movie posters and would be hung in theaters, but Disney made only 180 of them.A poster of “The Gnome-Mobile” hangs on one wall in the basement.It was the first movie Doug ever saw. He was in pre-school and watched the movie at a drive-in with his parents.Nearly every movie Disney ever made rest on multiple shelves. Some were especially hard to find and had to be bought from other countries.Some of the family’s favorite movies include “Pollyanna” and “Summer Music.”Lindsay just got her first car, a white 2001 Grand Am GE. On her rear antenna is a Mickey Mouse head. She has named the car Snow White.The family most recently visited the park in December and January.Their last trip was quite memorable.The family won two prizes in Disney’s “Year of a Million Dreams” giveaway — a room upgrade at the Beach Club Resort with free food each day and passes to 30 theme park rides.When people ask the family why they like Disney so much, it’s hard for them to answer.
“It just happens to be our place that we like,” Doug said.

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