"Faith, trust and pixie dust!"

Now that I'm back home and not able to visit Disneyland 20 times in one week... I have to channel my obsession somewhere else.. not easy to do!
Well I have officially opened my own etsy shop!! I'm so excited to get this up and running, where my love for Disney is put into detailed hair bows. Perfect for Disneybounding, cosplay, or even a day where you need a little extra magic in your life. I'll be posting pictures to give you a sneak peek at what I've created so far...

Just a few of my Design bows so far.. To see more please visit my page!
www.etsy.com/shop/designdreamers


 

Disneyland 60th Anniversary

SUCH EXCITING NEWS EVERYONE!!!! Disneyland turns 60 this year!! It's going to be a beautiful diamond celebration! I've heard rumors and stories about what exactly is going to be happening this year and I wanted to share all that I've learned with everyone! (P.s. I am not saying this is all for sure going to happen this is just what I've heard from my own research)

So as of right now we have a lot of closures going on at the DLR. Here's a list of the closures for this year so far....

Disneyland Resort

Captain EO 11/1/14 to 2/27
Matterhorn Bobsleds 1/7 to 5/15
Haunted Mansion 1/12 to 1/22
Davy Crockett's Explorer Canoes 1/12 to 2/26
Splash Mountain1/12 to 4/2
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh 1/12 to 2/26
Sleeping Beauty Castle Walk-through 1/19 to 2/27
Main Street Train Station 1/26 to 2/12
Tomorrowland Train station 1/26 to 2/12
New Orleans Train Station 1/26 to 2/12
it's a small world 1/26 to 2/5
Mickey's Toontown 1/26 to 2/12
Peter Pan's Flight 2/2 to 5/7                               California Adventures Muppet* Vision 3D 11/2/14 to 5/31 The Bakery Tour 11/3/14 to 1/26 Character Close Up 12/1/14 to 5/31 Pacific Wharf Cafe 1/5 to 2/5 Soarin' Over California 1/6 to 5/14 World of Color 1/7 to 3/12 Taste Pilots Grill 1/7 to 3/12 It's Tough To Be A Bug! 1/18 to 1/29 Redwood Creek Challenge Trail 1/20 to 3/12 Grizzly River Run 1/20 to 3/19 Luigi's Flying Tires 2/2  to 12/1 Ariel's Grotto 2/2 to 2/27 The refurbishments, while many, are going to be well worth it. Like I said earlier, it's the DIAMOND celebration! Disneyland needs to make this BIG. And these closures are going to help them do that! But you might ask...with all these closures what are we going to do when we planned a Disney vacation during the months of February - March?! Well my good friends if you like the hit movie "Frozen" the closures might not be AS bad as you thought! And my theory (again, not official) is that they have inputted all this lovely Frozen entertainment at this time to distract us from all the closures they are going through. Currently "Frozen Fun" is going on at Disney's California Adventures. This includes... *Olaf's Snow Fest Located in Stage 17 in Hollywood Land, Olaf's Snow Fest is a fun party room filled with music, food, a snow playground and even Olaf himself! Yes, Olaf has come to Disneyland for meet and greets and this is the place to see him. *Frozen Sing-a-long I had seen pictures and videos of this from Walt Disney World in Florida but I didn't expect them to bring it here! Probably a distraction like I mentioned earlier... but it seems to have won the hearts over of many! I haven't seen it myself, but from what I've heard, it's where the Muppets* 3D show used to be. It's a large theater that includes scenes from the movie where the audience sings along and even has appearances by Elsa, Anna and even Kristoff! *Anna and Elsa's Royal Welcome Located in the Animation Academy this is where you get to meet the beautiful sisters, (not located in Fanstasyland at Disneyland anymore) the animation drawing academy has now turned into "Do You Wanna Draw A Snowman?" where you can learn to sketch the characters from the movie. Still more!!! *Freeze the Night! Freeze the Night took the place of the nightly show in Hollywood Land the "Mad T Party". This too is a nightly event with music and fun, from what I've heard, not the best part of the Frozen Fun spectacular Over at Disneyland we do still have some Frozen inspiration... *Storybook Land The wonderfully miniature ride now incorporates Arendelle! *Fantasyfaire Theater Where once Belle and Rapunzel had their wonderfully adorable shows, Elsa and Anna have theirs instead :( I'm personally disappointed because I was such of fan of the fanfaire theater shows but I've heard that the show is amazing and has truly impressed. SO MUCH FROZEN!!! But all this fun will end in May, right around the time that I've heard rumors about the *drumroll please* 60. hour. day. THIS IS NOT OFFICIAL YET ... but there are definitely rumors! And the timeline seems to all make sense. Closing everything from now until May and adding Frozen in to distract guests and then closing all the Frozen down and opening up for the Diamond Anniversary! From what I've heard, the 60 hour day would commence right around May 23rd, but it also may be taken down to the usual 24 hour day that they've had the past 3 years. Either one would be incredible. And you can bet your bottom dollar I will be there. As part of this celebration you may have noticed the Sleeping Beauty Castle will be under refurbishment. I SURE HOPE THESE RUMORS ARE TRUE. A beautiful diamond overlay of the castle. And diamonds decorated all throughout the park. Oh please please please put faux diamonds everywhere.  The best source I've found about this is linked here: http://micechat.com/91544-disneyland-diamond-anniversary/ Coming up a little before that is the ever so wonderful Dapper Day!!!!! Being held March 1st for Disneyland and March 14th for Disney World, this day is a time to dress to the 9's and go spend the day at the park. Mostly taking lovely vintage-like pictures and mingling with other well-dressed guests. This will be my first year attending and I CANNOT wait. More info... here!: http://dapperday.com/ So many exciting things happening this year... I simply can't contain the excitement I have to see all that Disneyland does for their Diamond Anniversary. Credit given to the "Frozen Fun" information: http://variety.com/2014/biz/news/disney-adds-frozen-experiences-to-california-adventure-theme-parks-1201371926/ Credit given to the refurb schedule: http://touringplans.com/disneyland-resort/closures# Sneak peak of our inspiration for Dapper Day..  With all these planned trips to Disney I need to start saving up... My friends and I have found the best way to do this is to get a jar. Any jar will do as long as it will hold the money that you plan to put in. We like to decorate ours to get excited:) But this way the money you plan on saving doesn't "accidentally" get spent on other things. If it's in my bank account, I will more than likely end up spending it. And plus it's fun to count the money every once in a while and see what you've come up with. Even putting spare change in the jar throughout the year adds up! The blue ribbon and Disney World-esque castle decal do have a purpose.... Trip to Florida coming up....? :) The official logo for this year...! Hopefully everyone gets to experience the 60th Anniversary

"When your values are clear to you, making decisions becomes easier."

I know it's been forever since I have posted! After I received my job at Disney, life was hectic and amazing all at the same time! I worked two jobs and was trying to make ends meet. This was, after all, my dream... and I was living it!

As you could have guessed everyone wanted to visit and go to Disneyland, for the perks I'm sure... but also because they wanted to see my new life. Most everyone I know and love live in Utah so a trip out to California is not a weekend getaway! This required me to take off time at work, change my schedule constantly and plan things ahead! Don't get me wrong, how grateful I am to have so many supporters in my life.
My Mom and sister came to visit me sometime in September and I couldn't wait.When taking my Mom to the airport at the end of her vacation, something felt completely and utterly WRONG. Of course I'm going to miss my Mom and homesickness is completely understandable and expected, however, this was one of the worst feelings of my life. I pushed it away and continued on with my day to day tasks, but simply couldn't shake it off.
Meanwhile, working for Disney was so much different than I thought! Getting to see how the magic is created is absolutely incredible. It was hard. But so worth it. I will be eternally grateful for everything I have experienced. As a Photopass Cast Member we worked hand in hand with our wonderful friends from beloved Disney movies as well as a roll called Character Host. It was a wonderful trio. Spending time in Mickeys house with the mouse himself, watching the children run through the door and capturing those moments on film was incredible. One day I was scheduled as a "breaker" which simply meant I would travel to different destinations throughout the park for an allotted amount of time so the Photopass photographer at that location for the day could take their breaks. This day was one to remember.

To start out the day we would head to our headquarters for Photopass where we would gather our equipment and hear the news of the day. You walk a lot as a Disneyland Cast Member and the backstage area is quite large! So as a safety precaution I thought it was very neat that they require you as part of your shift to go down to the stretching room and follow a simple warm up video. You will be standing and walking so much that day, so you have to keep your body and mind energized and refreshed. What a cool system to incorporate, they truly care about their cast members.
I joined the hustle and bustle of the park that morning and got to shrink down to the size of a pixie to hang out with Tinkerbell and her animal talent friend Fawn! Though my time was short, I would be back later to help out again. (Shrinking down and going back to normal size is exhausting! Ask Alice!!)
After my first round as a pixie I was privileged to walk over all the way over to Toontown and see Mickey Mouse! Shooting with him is always the best time. If you haven't seen his beautiful home take some time on your next trip to take a tour, Mickey was filming a movie at the time and had taken a break to see all of his loving guests. You just might see him if he's not too busy!
After that I was honored to fly over to Arendelle in Fantasyland and see the beautiful Queen Elsa and Princess Anna. Seeing them interact with the sweet little kids was indescribable. They had waited an awful long time in line too so it was well worth it.
Back to Pixie Hollow I went! This is definitely a must see when visiting Disneyland especially if you've seen the new Tinkerbell movies. Located just to the right of Sleeping Beauty's castle, you can shrink right down into the blades of grass and meet the fairy herself. Tink spends so much time with each guest and it was truly amazing to see their interactions. Usually Tink has one of her fairy friends that you are able to visit with too!
Since this was right around Halloween I got the awesome opportunity to go see Jack and Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas! They make appearances starting in October and all the way through the first week of January. They're located over by their re-designed holiday ride Haunted Mansion in New Orleans Square.
At the end of the day I was exhausted. But never had I experienced so much Disney magic in one day. I'm sorry to say that was my last day as a Cast Member, the burden of my feelings when my Mom had gone back to Utah hadn't left. As much as I tried to convince myself that I simply missed my family, it seemed to be much more than that. It was a gut feeling that something wasn't right and I needed to go back to Utah. So I did... it was a long journey to get where I am today but I'm finally back home, settled back into my previous job, and still as Disney obsessed as before. Whatever you have heard about working there "ruining the magic" is completely untrue. It made it all the more amazing for me.
But don't you worry!!! I'm still an annual passholder and have multiple Disney trips planned this year!!! I will continue to blog about the wonderful things I have experienced with Disney as well and tip and tricks that you can experience with your own friends and family!


THANK YOU to everyone for being so supportive, it means the world to me to have people understand.