The Untold Truth Of Tim And Jenn Tracker
When Tim and Jenn Tracker began their YouTube channel, The Tim Tracker, in 2009, they never intended for it to become the popular theme park destination for Disney fans it is today. Initially, the couple decided to give vlogging a shot for a short time and created a YouTube channel to feature their daily travels and life updates while living in Orlando, Fla. The 30-day trial was a success because a decade later in 2019, the Trackers amassed a following of over 700,000 subscribers, and they continue to post vlogs daily.
Over the years, viewers have watched the couple experience many milestones as well as life struggles, as they've followed the Trackers' travels to places like Disney World, Universal Studios, and even Tokyo.
Life on YouTube has been a wild and exciting ride for the Trackers, and it seems like the husband and wife are just getting started as their channel continues growing. The Trackers are "taking on the world, one adventure at a time." This is the truth about Tim and Jenn Tracker.
Tim and Jenn Tracker only planned on vlogging for 30 days
Everyone has to start somewhere, and, for Tim Tracker in September 2009, that somewhere was a day-in-the-life vlog. In the dark and grainy video, Tim starts off by introducing himself and the idea behind their channel. "We are, or at least I am — Jenn as well probably — are going to be taking a camera with us for, you know, at least the next month or so, just to see how we like it."
Tim and Jenn Tracker must have enjoyed sharing their daily lives with online viewers because that first month of posting videos on YouTube turned into over a decade of daily vlogging. In November 2018, the husband and wife reacted to their first vlog in a YouTube video, commenting on how much Tim's camera work and content have improved since then and admitting their first vlog wasn't very good.
Jenn added, "I'm so happy that you decided to do it. I thought he was nuts. I was just like, 'Why?' And I totally get it now. And I'm glad that you did it anyway."
Tim and Jenn Tracker moved in together before they started dating
Before Tim and Jenn Tracker started dating, the two were roommates. The couple reminisced about beginning their romantic relationship after college, despite knowing each other during their high school years, in an April 2010 YouTube video. In the video, Tim Tracker explained, "It really was just one Halloween, we're like, 'Let's start dating.' And then we started dating."
The couple opened up about the start of their relationship again in an August 2017 Q&A, explaining that when they met in high school they were both in relationships. They reconnected after college — when both were single — when Jenn returned from college to take care of her mom and she needed a place to stay. Tim said, "She moved in. And then the 2004 hurricanes happened, and we started dating."
Jenn laughed and said, "We were stuck inside for like three weeks and were like, 'Well, we're dating now.'" She added that their love story is an "interesting" one and said, "We've lived together longer than we've been dating." Tim noted, "It's not the normal love story."
How Tim and Jenn Tracker's engagement was almost ruined
After dating for six years, Tim Tracker decided to propose to Jenn. He had a beautiful night planned for her birthday, during which he was going to propose to her on a beach. However, Jenn made him ditch his plans, unknowingly almost ruining the planned proposal.
In a November 2010 YouTube video, Jenn explained, "He wanted to propose to me at sunset on the beach and I totally ruined it. I'm like, 'I don't want to drive three hours just to go to a dumb beach and see a stupid sunset." Noting that she wanted to get dinner nearby instead, she said, "That's what I got."
Thankfully, Tim was able to schedule a dinner at a local restaurant where he popped the question. Jenn said yes, and she excitedly showed off her engagement ring in the video. While things turned out great in the end, it could have gone wrong. Jenn told fans, "Girls, when your boyfriend wants to do something nice for you and you think it might be dumb, just do it." Tim added, "You never know what might happen!"
Tim and Jenn Tracker got married at Hogwarts
On June 3, 2011, Tim and Jenn Tracker got married in a place perfectly suited for them: Universal Studios in Orlando, Fla. Originally, the pair wanted to get married on The Incredible Hulk roller coaster, as they shared in a vlog, but they were told that they couldn't film on the ride. Then, the duo wanted to get married at Ollivander's wand shop, which is located inside The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios. Sadly, due to the Warner Bros. copyright, the Trackers couldn't film their wedding there and share it with their fans, so they eventually decided on arguably an even better spot — Hogwarts!
The two were married by a justice of the peace while standing on the bridge in front of the Hogwarts building at Universal Studios. Following the short ceremony, the husband and wife rode some Harry Potter-themed rides. But that wasn't exactly their only wedding! After legally being married in the United States, the couple had their wedding blessed inside of a 13th century church in Ireland about a week later.
Why Tim and Jenn Tracker "pay the price"
At the end of every video Tim and Jenn Tracker post, someone says, "And now it's time to pay the price." The couple never really explained the meaning behind that video outro, which prompted many fans to ask about it. Fortunately, the husband and wife vloggers decided to explain the saying's origin in a January 2016 YouTube Q&A.
In the video, Jenn said, "We've never told anybody. We've never actually said this is the reason why we say it." She shared, "For me, it means we're giving you content for 'free,' I guess, and so now it's time for you to pay the price. ... The price is liking, commenting, and subscribing. So, that's kind of like your payment that you could be paying to us."
While the saying might hold a specific meaning for Jenn, it's not where Tim came up with the idea. In fact, he actually borrowed the saying from the Adult Swim series Home Movies after a suggestion from a friend. And because their vlogs are like the Trackers' own home movies, the saying stuck.
Tim and Jenn Tracker's real last name isn't Tracker
Tim and Jenn Tracker have become well-known on YouTube for their theme park adventures, but some might be surprised to learn that their last name isn't actually Tracker. The couple created their account using a different last name, likely due to privacy reasons. Although the Trackers share just about every aspect of their daily lives with fans on YouTube, they still try to maintain a level of privacy about their home life, friends, and job situation, in order to avoid unwanted fan encounters offline.
Before becoming full-time vloggers, Tim held a regular full-time job, and he wanted to keep that information private from the public, as Tim and Jenn shared on their channel. However, sharing most of his life online made some viewers apparently feel entitled to learn everything about him, and some of those people have found out the Trackers' personal information.
Jenn has expressed her dismay toward this sentiment, writing on Twitter in November 2015, "This is just a little PSA: please don't message me telling me you know our actual personal information. That is scary and creepy. Not okay."
Tim and Jenn Tracker opened up on not being able to have kids
Often when a couple gets married, people immediately start asking them when they're going to have kids. While most ask the question with good intentions, many forget to think about the struggles a couple may be experiencing to conceive. Tim and Jenn Tracker detailed how they tried having kids over the course of their then-15-year relationship in an August 2017 Q&A, and they revealed they could not have children.
In response to one of their most frequently asked questions from fans, Jenn explained, "I will say this. When you ask those questions, you don't know why they don't have children. For us specifically, we can't have children. So, it is ... sometimes a hurtful question to me, purely because it's like having 200,000 mother-in-laws ask you, 'Why aren't you pregnant yet?'"
Jenn continued, sharing that not being able to conceive sometimes made her feel "incomplete" and "like she failed." However, the couple stated they had "made peace" with not being able to have kids and that they loved their relationship as it was.
Tim and Jenn Tracker lived next to neighbors from hell
When Tim and Jenn Tracker bought their first place, they thought it was going to be their forever home. But after experiencing nightmarish behavior from the neighbors living next door — including trespassing and stealing water from their property — the Trackers no longer felt safe. The couple decided the best thing to do was to move and purchase a new home.
The husband and wife explained their reason for the move in a December 2018 vlog introducing their new house. Jenn explained, "I think what I'm the most sad about is that I felt like we had to move. I felt like it was like no longer our home." She continued, "I am really sad that we had to move because I love that house. It was our first house. ... for me, I thought we would live there forever."
She continued, "I think just everything that happened with the neighbors and just with not feeling super safe ... we did have an issue where like our neighbors were trespassing on our property and stealing from us and nobody was doing anything about it." Thankfully, they loved their new neighbors.
Vlogging has changed Tim and Jenn Tracker's relationship
When Tim and Jenn Tracker started uploading daily vlogs to YouTube, the couple had been together for five years. The pair already had a solid foundation to their romance, and creating daily content together helped strengthen their communication and their relationship. In an October 2018 YouTube video, Tim and Jenn discussed the effects daily vlogging has had on their relationship.
Jenn said, "It is something that has made our relationship so strong," noting, "I think that if you're daily vlogging and you don't like each other, you will not be successful because you spend so much time together." Tim admitted that, even when he's filming videos on his own, he remains in constant contact with his wife, saying, "This is just the way that it is. We are always in communication with each other, or seeing each other, or in the same room as each other."
While vlogging allows the couple to enjoy spending all of their time together, they said that it has also caused them to be co-dependent. Tim said, "I don't think that I could live my life without Jenn."
Tim and Jenn Tracker announced "shocking" news in 2019
Tim and Jenn Tracker have opened up to fans about their struggles to have children, previously explaining how they tried to conceive for years before making peace with the fact that they couldn't have kids. However, the husband and wife shared some exciting and unexpected news in a May 2019 YouTube video: They were pregnant!
In the video, the couple detailed how Jenn took a pregnancy test when she missed her period. Jenn, who figured she couldn't get pregnant, had Tim read the test to confirm she was indeed expecting. She explained, "It was really, like, I don't know, such a shocking moment. ... I just didn't think it was real, and it is." She continued, "I just can't believe this is happening. I'm so happy."
The couple shared how they'd have wanted a child for "such a long time," and, while they thought it couldn't happen, the universe apparently had exciting plans for the future of their family.
Tim and Jenn Tracker celebrated a major milestone in 2019
On Sept. 19, 2019, Tim and Jenn Tracker celebrated a major milestone: their 10-year YouTube anniversary! The couple reflected on their decade of sharing their lives with their subscribers in a YouTube video, mentioning that Tim had initially planned to vlog for only 30 days.
In the video, Jenn said, "The vlog has been with us for so many different parts and stages of our lives. ... It's just incredible. We got engaged on YouTube, we got married on YouTube, we bought our first house on YouTube." She went on, "We've taken tons of awesome trips that never would have happened if it weren't for YouTube."
The couple uploaded a vlog almost daily for a decade, missing some days for moments like their wedding trip to Ireland. Still, throughout it all, they always updated their subscribers on what was going on in their lives. Tim shared, "It's really mind-blowing. Just thinking back on all of this stuff. So many different things, so many different places."
Tim and Jenn Tracker faced backlash to this announcement
When Tim and Jenn Tracker announced their pregnancy on YouTube, the YouTube stars were over the moon with excitement. While the husband and wife were ecstatic to finally share the baby news with their subscribers, they also worried about how some fans would react, afraid to bother any fans that had experienced fertility struggles. Sadly, some individuals were upset the Trackers were adding another traveler to their party, and they made their angry voices heard.
On May 4, 2019, Jenn tweeted, "I never thought that announcing our pregnancy would result in the amount of hate that we've seen from this theme park community. Neither ignoring nor defending ourselves has stopped these vile comments from coming. All of this because we announced our pregnancy."
The couple and their families received violent threats, and they also were harassed by people at their homes. In response to the vitriol spewed by online trolls, Jenn announced she was taking a break from Twitter for the sake of her and her baby's well-being. Thankfully, the Trackers still have endless support from true fans, who are a "saving grace" for Jenn and Tim.
Tim and Jenn Tracker shared a magical reveal with fans
Despite the negativity Tim and Jenn Tracker received from their pregnancy announcement, the couple continued to update their YouTube subscribers throughout Jenn's pregnancy. Many fans anxiously awaited the news of the baby's gender, and, on July 11, 2019, the Trackers revealed the info in a Disney-centric YouTube video.
In true Tracker fashion, the couple went to the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World to reveal their baby's sex. In the YouTube video, Tim and Jenn showed off a Mouseketeer cap embroidered with, "It's a boy!" in blue thread, while Jenn held a blue Mickey Ears balloon in front of Cinderella's Castle. The video included a sweet message to their son that read, "We can't wait to meet you."
The two expressed their excitement over the news, with Tim adding, "I'm excited to, like, take him to Disney." While imagining all of the "firsts" their son will get to experience with them, the Trackers stated they think his first Disney trip will be a visit to the Magic Kingdom.
YouTube isn't Tim and Jenn Tracker's only gig
Daily YouTube vlogs and constant traveling just wasn't enough for Tim and Jenn Tracker. The workhorse couple added another project to their increasingly stacked resume by beginning a podcast in February 2019. That podcast would bring the Trackers even closer together, as it was set entirely around the couple and their thoughts on various subjects, including aliens, the '90s, their favorite TV shows, and more.
While the topics covered on the podcast are a bit out of the norm for their theme park-centric YouTube channel, Jenn Tracker explained that they didn't want to copy the theme park podcasts that already existed. The Trackers also wanted an opportunity to talk about other things that interested them.
In the first episode of their podcast, Jenn stated, "I think that Disney will be in our podcast because Disney is such a huge part of our lives, but we have so many friends and there are so many other people in the community that already have a Disney podcast so we wouldn't want to take anything away from them or repeat the same things that they're saying."