By James Rincon
Pflag Reporter

Walt Disney World chose a Pflugerville resident as one of 21 new panelists participating in the park’s newest social-networking venture.
As a member of the 43-member 2010 Walt Disney World Moms Panel, Pflugerville’s Amanda Pursch will help vacationers get the inside scoop on how to make the most of their Disney experience.
The Moms Panel uses an interactive Web site to communicate with people planning trips to Disney parks and provide a first-hand, uncensored opinion of how to best enjoy what the parks have to offer.
“The biggest question people have when they’re traveling here is: ‘What to do?’ Because there’s so much to do,” said Laura Spencer, social media manager for Walt Disney World Resort. “If you know about Walt Disney World in particular, it’s so large now it’s almost like planning a trip to Europe. So researching with our guests we figured out that guests really just want to speak to people like them who kind of know how to do it.”
The Moms Panel was created in 2007 when Disney announced it was searching for 10 to 12 Disney experts to provide real-world opinions to people planning Disney vacations.
Spencer said Disney expected to receive several hundred online applications. When the company’s server crashed because of the overwhelming response, Disney had to cap the applicant number at 10,000.
This year Pursch is one of 21 new panelists who join 22 returning ones. To put that into perspective, Harvard University, the most selective university in the country, accepted a record-low 7 percent of applicants last year – the Moms Panel accepted .21 percent of its applicant.
“[Panelists] vary anywhere from people who have been going (to Disney World) since they were little and they’ve got hundreds of visits under there belts, to one of the moms who has only been five times but she fell in love with it her first trip and she literally read every book on the park and committed to memory all of the bus schedules,” Spencer said.
Pursch has applied to the panel every year since its creation.
“When somebody says Disney World to me, my eyes light up,” Pursch said.
She said she used to watch reruns of The Wonderful World of Disney that featured Walt Disney himself, although she did not know they were reruns at the time. Pursch said she fell in love with Disney after reading Walt Disney’s biography when she was in the third grade.
“I got to the third grade and I started reading biographies about all kinds of people, and I found one about Walt Disney, read it, and found out that – Oh my gosh, he’s dead – and he had been dead for a long time.
Around the time Pursch realized “Uncle Walt” on TV was long gone, her family took one of its first trips to Disney World.
“I remember walking through thinking, somebody had the brilliance to come up with this,” Pursch said. “When you’re there and you’re totally immersed in it, it’s like you’re not in reality anymore, and it’s a really neat feeling to experience. Then you go back as an adult and you have that same feeling as you did when you were a kid. It’s kind of nice to be able to go back and hang out with that for a while.”
Since that first trip Pursch has gone back to Disney World at least once a year. She honeymooned at the park. Most recently she returned for her birthday. Her two sons had their first trips when they were 3-months old and 7-weeks old.
Spencer said the Moms Panel is filled with knowledgeable people like Pursch.
“We have dads, we have grandma’s, we have different races and different socio-economic levels, but really the core thing is that all of the people who apply for and make it to the panel have an incredible love for Disney parks.”
Pursch and the other panelists went through orientation at Disney World in December for orientation before they began answering questions on the Web site Jan. 1. During orientation Pursch met Disney Imagineers – a term Walt Disney coined for engineers and electricians who “create the magic.”
Panelists are divided into long-term and short-term panelists. Long-term panelists work on the Web site year round, while short-term panelists rotate in on a quarterly basis, Spencer said. As a short-term panelist, Pursch received a complimentary Disney parks pass. She is required to answer 15 questions per week and can log on to do so any time of the day.
Pursch said being selected to the panel was more than she ever expected.
“The important thing about the panel is, we’re not employed be Disney
“Even just sitting on the other side of a computer, not actively engaging with someone face-to-face, I still get that feeling like, “Oh they’re going to Disney World! … I still get that excitement when I’m responding to questions, and I hope it never goes away.”

Contact the Disney Moms Panel online at http://disneyworldforum.disney.go.com.