What do you think?
Rate this book
Mickey Mouse is My Neighbor: Living Next Door to Disney World in Celebration, Florida
Once upon a time, a Disney World fan named Barb was stuck on the cold tundra of Chicago. She could only visit her beloved Florida theme parks once or twice a year. She must have had a Fairy God Mother because one day, despite many obstacles, she found the perfect house in the perfect town for a Disney lover like herself: Celebration, Florida. She didn't have a pumpkin coach, so she packed up her Aztek with her husband, pets, and belongings to start a new life living next door to Mickey Mouse where she could hear the Magic Kingdom and Epcot fireworks through her windows every night.
"Mickey Mouse is My Neighbor: Living Next Door to Disney World in Celebration, Florida" is the story of Barb's adventures, from the time she bought her house in Celebration in 2003 while still living and working in Chicago to the glorious day in 2005 when she made her official move to Florida. It follows her adventures as a long distance commuter and her first year as a full-time resident in Celebration, as adapted from her Celebration, Florida, blog.
You'll read all about:
-The Mickey Mommas and the Bunny Brigade, two intermingled social groups whose adventures include everything from stalking Davy Jones at Epcot to visiting a nudist resort near Disney World.
-The traumas and travails of furniture deliveries in Florida, a state that definitely proves that time moves much more slowly in the South.
-Learning to live with tourists and to adapt to the idiosyncrasies of the Sunshine State.
-Skippy, the tattered old car that was Celebration's unofficial mascot for many years.
-Peaceful coexistence with Florida wildlife, like basking alligators and raging armadillos.
-Living through a hurricane long distance and then trying to dodge one firsthand in order to have a community picnic.
-The bliss of never having to "go home" from vacation.
Other books claim to tell the true story about life in Celebration, Florida, but Barb writes from the perspective of a real resident who calls the town her permanent home, not of someone who moved there temporarily just to bang out a quick book. Even though she sometimes takes a cynical view, her love for her hometown is always apparent.
Barb continues to blog about her adventures and the many changes caused by Disney's sale of the downtown area, the housing bubble's implosion, and rampant foreclosures. If you enjoy this book, which covers 2003 to 2005, catch up on her most recent adventures in "The Celebration, FL Blog."
"Mickey Mouse is My Neighbor: Living Next Door to Disney World in Celebration, Florida" is the story of Barb's adventures, from the time she bought her house in Celebration in 2003 while still living and working in Chicago to the glorious day in 2005 when she made her official move to Florida. It follows her adventures as a long distance commuter and her first year as a full-time resident in Celebration, as adapted from her Celebration, Florida, blog.
You'll read all about:
-The Mickey Mommas and the Bunny Brigade, two intermingled social groups whose adventures include everything from stalking Davy Jones at Epcot to visiting a nudist resort near Disney World.
-The traumas and travails of furniture deliveries in Florida, a state that definitely proves that time moves much more slowly in the South.
-Learning to live with tourists and to adapt to the idiosyncrasies of the Sunshine State.
-Skippy, the tattered old car that was Celebration's unofficial mascot for many years.
-Peaceful coexistence with Florida wildlife, like basking alligators and raging armadillos.
-Living through a hurricane long distance and then trying to dodge one firsthand in order to have a community picnic.
-The bliss of never having to "go home" from vacation.
Other books claim to tell the true story about life in Celebration, Florida, but Barb writes from the perspective of a real resident who calls the town her permanent home, not of someone who moved there temporarily just to bang out a quick book. Even though she sometimes takes a cynical view, her love for her hometown is always apparent.
Barb continues to blog about her adventures and the many changes caused by Disney's sale of the downtown area, the housing bubble's implosion, and rampant foreclosures. If you enjoy this book, which covers 2003 to 2005, catch up on her most recent adventures in "The Celebration, FL Blog."
349 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 5, 2012
4 people are currently reading
10 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
July 25, 2012
I've often wondered what it would be like to move to Orlando to live near The Mouse, and this book tells a really interesting story of a couple who moved to the sunshine state from the windy city to do just that. It's the recounting of a blog that covers the building of a place in Celebration, FL, the town that Disney built, and the move there, getting into the local community, and some of the fun that residents have there. It's also a story about how despite the proximity to the Disney Parks, how it's just a regular subdivision like any other, and how life there can actually be as normal there as it can be magical.
One big point in the book for me is after jet setting across the country to live there on the weekends, the trip to move all the pets down there permanently takes place during a freak ice storm that hit Atlanta, where I'm from. I remember that storm, and think it's interesting to see an outside perspective from the frozen north on what an ice storm does to this city. Many folks who are from the north who move to Atlanta don't understand why we baton down the hatches for a day or two of freezing rain sometimes, but the truth is this: Snow is not scary. The ice that forms on the streets here after it half-melts and then re-freezes overnight is something to be avoided at all costs unless you like spinning your car into a ditch on the way to work. Stay inside where it's safe. I know it looks okay out there, but two streets over you'll find yourself on a patch of ice you can't get through to your destination, or back home from and then you've got to walk out there, trying not so slip on your butt again. It's not a pretty picture. I don't advise trying.
They made it fine, but any time you can frighten someone from Chicago with a snow storm in the south, you know it's as dangerous as you've been brought up to believe.
One big point in the book for me is after jet setting across the country to live there on the weekends, the trip to move all the pets down there permanently takes place during a freak ice storm that hit Atlanta, where I'm from. I remember that storm, and think it's interesting to see an outside perspective from the frozen north on what an ice storm does to this city. Many folks who are from the north who move to Atlanta don't understand why we baton down the hatches for a day or two of freezing rain sometimes, but the truth is this: Snow is not scary. The ice that forms on the streets here after it half-melts and then re-freezes overnight is something to be avoided at all costs unless you like spinning your car into a ditch on the way to work. Stay inside where it's safe. I know it looks okay out there, but two streets over you'll find yourself on a patch of ice you can't get through to your destination, or back home from and then you've got to walk out there, trying not so slip on your butt again. It's not a pretty picture. I don't advise trying.
They made it fine, but any time you can frighten someone from Chicago with a snow storm in the south, you know it's as dangerous as you've been brought up to believe.
Displaying 1 of 1 review