Disney in my Life

So just how does Disney fit into my everyday life?

The easiest, and as anyone who knows me will tell you, the most obvious, are through three things - clothes, jewellery and tattoos!

Clothes - I think its fair to say I have a few t-shirts and tops that tend to get worn on a fairly regular basis.....OK I have 20 at the last count - and then there are the pyjamas, scarves, 3 hoodies and hats I could mention.  I love Disney Couture for both the clothing and the jewellery as it tends to steer away from the more traditional designs, such that on more than one occasion friends have been surprised to realise that the top I'm wearing is in fact Disney!

Jewellery - Everyday I always wear a bit of Disney jewellery.  I have my D23 watch that I alternate with a bling Mickey watch.  Most days I wear Disney earrings (mostly Mickey ones) and sometimes a matching necklace.  I have a lovely bling bracelet that I actually own three of - the first was bought in Disneyland and was probably worn constantly for nearly a year until the elastic gave out (I am determined to sit down and repair it one day!), the other two were bought last year and I deliberately bought two just in case the elastic went again....but so far so good, although I have lost a small stone out of one of them.  

I also wear a ring that has five Mickey's in it that I try to wear most days as it has special sentiment for me which I shall go into another time!  I also own a lovely burgundy coloured rose ring that although not strictly a Disney ring was bought in the souvenir shop at The Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco so I always think of it as Disney inspired....perhaps something that a classic princess would have worn?

Tattoos - I have three and all of them have Mickey's in them but I'll talk more about these in another post.

And I suppose I should mention my mobile phone case, my ring tone and the antenna toppers for the cars and my PC wallpaper......

But then don't get me started about the pins, the vinylmations, the key-rings, the books, the figurines, the kitchen accessories, the CD's, the plush toys, the DVD's & Blu-rays, the pictures and posters, the mugs, the Christmas decorations, the magazines, 365 Mickeys, handbags and purses and of course my 'Mickey-ccino' most mornings.....are you getting the picture?  

We have so much to talk about.......

C25K Week 5 Done!

Well I've now completed week 5 and am actually feeling really quite proud of myself.  Week 4 increased the tempo to a combination of 3 minute runs, 90 second walks, 5 minute runs and 2 and a half minute walks, which all sounded very daunting at first but by the end of the week I was pleasantly surprised at how well I'd coped.

Then I took a sneaky peep at the podcasts for week 5 and got an inkling that things were about to change as there were three different runs for week 5 to complete.  But I resisted looking at the details and it wasn't till the morning of my first week 5 run that I took a look at run one.....a mix of 3 minute walks and 5 minute runs - oh boy!  Then the second run......two lots of 8 minute runs.....and then the third run.....one run, non-stop, of 20 minutes - you've got to be kidding!

I have to admit on Monday morning the thought of running for 20 minutes filled me with more than a little apprehension but here we are on Friday evening and I did it, yes me, the one who doesn't really do exercise, only went and ran for 20 minutes for the first time in my life ever!  And I'm not ashamed to say it I feel really proud of myself and would say to anyone out there who's thinking about 'doing something' to give C25K a go.  I feel fitter, I think my posture has improved but most of all I feel good about me - best tonic out there!

A Year Ago

Well it's the 20th August today and I got to thinking about what I will be doing this time next year - any guesses? ;)

So then I thought about what I was doing this time last year...

365 Mickey - 20th August 2011

...well we spent the day cooling off from the Florida heat at Disney's Blizzard Beach followed by a game of miniature golf at Winter Summerland Miniature Golf - Winter Course...

 finishing just as a massive thunder storm hit!

Roll on 20th August 2013!!

Tips

• Having a round, or two, of miniature golf after a day at Blizzard Beach is a great way of drying out before heading back to the hotel on the bus.
• Volunteer one of your party to be official 'carrier of bags' whilst playing golf, this means they get to take all the photos, and capture those important memories, whilst the rest of your party can concentrate on the important tactical golf play - miniature golf is, after all, serious business!  Of course this does mean that you have the perfect excuse to play again another day so that someone else can be the official 'carrier of bags'....
• In the case of a 'tied' game the eldest female member of your party has the final say ;)

Why Disney?

So why does Disney have a special place in my life?

I thought I'd start this blog with explaining, or trying to explain, just what it is about Disney that is so special to me.  Now I'd always been aware of Disney growing up; there were the TV specials that were a staple of any holiday scheduling and I definitely remember having a double LP of Disney songs in, dare I say, the late 1970's.  But this kinda got me thinking about when the love began....

....back to 1991 we go, and our first visit to Orlando (in fact my first visit to the US).  It was all very exciting, our first transatlantic holiday!  So being the organised individual that I am, I started to plan and find out exactly what to expect.  This led me to buy my first copy of 'Birnbaum's Walt Disney World', I read every single word, more than a few times, and soaked up all the new information.

And then, on 30th July 1991 I experienced WDW for the first time and something just clicked.

We were staying on International Drive and drove to WDW, with Magic Kingdom our first destination.  We parked up (Simon's convinced it was the Pluto lot), took the tram to the TTC and then opted for the ferry across the Seven Seas Lagoon.  All this built to the suspense and excitement of entering Main Street, USA and seeing Cinderella's Castle for the first time....I was blown away.

July 1991

Park guides 1991

From that moment on, I fell in love with all things Disney.  There is a magical quality about all that Disney does and as a result not a day goes by without a little bit of Disney entering my life.

I know that still doesn't really explain why I have this love for Disney, but whilst I was out running today I was thinking it over (not much else to do whilst running except get out of breath) and I came to the conclusion that it's to do with an all round feeling you get from anything Disney.  It's the attention to detail and all the little touches, the customer service, the story, the 'if your going to do something then let's do it and do it right' attitude, the ability to make everyone feel special, taking the time to care, the quality in everything and of course the magic....am I making any sense?!  Or shall I just quote a certain individual;

“What ever you do, do it well. Do it so well that when people see you do it they will want to come back and see you do it again and they will want to bring others and show them how well you do what you do.” WD

A little footnote to this story;

In doing a little digging around when writing this piece I came across a photo of me wearing mouse ears and noticed that it was dated late 1990 - which was actually before my first WDW trip.  I then realised that the photo was from a weekend trip to London to do some Christmas shopping and that the ears were bought from the then recently opened Disney Store on Regent Street.  As I thought back I remember that the opening of the store in London at that time was quite a big deal and was one of our 'must-do' shops on our visit.....I guess that Disney meant a lot to me before I even realised it!

Me, November 1990!

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog and thank you for reading!

As I type it's only 32,227,200 seconds (or 373 days) until my next visit to WDW...not that I'm counting.  I'm about to embark upon week 4 of C25K in my endeavour to get fit and meet my challenge of running around Lago Dorado at Disney's Corondo Springs Resort next year, and through this blog I hope to keep you all up-to-date with my progress, thoughts, tips and memories.

I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I hope to enjoy writing it!