“I Just Can’t Wait to Go to Disney” Tag

Hi, Pixies!

I was looking through my blog and realized that honorary fairy Natalie Davis (check out her awesome blog here) tagged me a few weeks back in a brand new Disney tag she created called “I Just Can’t Wait to Go to Disney”  😀

My family has been to Walt Disney World (WDW) several times, but our last trip there was in 2012 before the new Fantasyland opened (amongst other new things), so we’re all getting very restless to go back! We’re hoping to plan a vacation there soon (I’ll keep you posted), but in the meantime, read on to see how I will prepare 😉

1.How do you get extra excited for your Disney trips? Just finding out that I’m going to WDW gets me mega excited, but once I know the exact dates and everything, I basically become my family’s planner for the trip 🙂 I really immerse myself into the planning by reading the newest WDW travel books and guides, browse WDW websites/blogs/forums for the latest news and recommendations (this one is the best), create lists of all the things my family wants to do/places we want to see/where we want to eat, watch a bunch of Disney movies and YouTube videos from the parks, listen to Disney music constantly, put together cute Disney outfits to wear – as the trip gets closer, the more crazy excited I become 😛

2.How do you feel the last few days before your vacation? I’m nearly bursting out of my skin with anticipation!!! It’s a whole other level of excitement when you know you’re going to the happiest place on earth where magic lives ❤

3.What are the things you are most excited about? As I mentioned earlier, I haven’t been back to WDW since 2012, so I’m most excited to explore the new Fantasyland in Magic Kingdom (especially the new Little Mermaid ride!), but I’m also excited about a bunch of WDW staples and stuffing my face with Main Street’s Chocolate Chunk Cookies, Pineapple Dole Whips, and other Disney-only treats 😉

4.When you see Walt Disney World for the first time of your vacation, how do you react? I am smiling ear-to-ear, screaming like a maniac on the inside, and trying to slow down and take everything in because WDW trips always go by way too fast.

5.What do you like to do while traveling to Disney? My family travels by plane since driving takes like 20 hours from where we live (versus a 2-hour plane ride), so I usually just listen to music and read, but for my next trip I’m also going to play around with the My Disney Experience app 🙂

6.What do you pack when you go to Disney? I’m NOT a light packer (I want to be prepared!), and luggage scales at the airport are not forgiving, so packing is always a challenge for me. I take a large suitcase, a carry-on bag, and my purse. Here’s the basic breakdown by packing vessel:

Large Suitcase: All my clothes, swim suits, sandals, toiletries/makeup, jewelry, accessories

Carry-on Bag: Books, magazines, tablet, iPod, notebooks, pens, wrapped snacks

Purse: Camera, phone, lip balm, mini sunscreen, mini hand sanitizer, travel-size emergency poncho, sunglasses, spending money, gum

These are my 3 best packing tips:
– Roll your clothes instead of folding them so they won’t wrinkle as easily and not take up as much space in your suitcase
– Take a travel-size bottle of Downy Wrinkle Releaser for clothes that do get wrinkled. It works like magic and makes clothes smell fresh again!
– Use plastic wrap on the openings of liquid toiletry items to avoid leaks and explosions in your suitcase (Google it for pics)

7.Do you countdown the days until you go to Disney, and if so, how?  Yes, I have done a general handwritten countdown on my wall calendar by month until it actually gets down to 1 month before, and then I’ll start counting down the days. I didn’t have a smart phone the last time I went to WDW, so I’m sure I’ll be finding all kinds of apps to help me plan and countdown the days when the time comes.

 

I hope you enjoyed reading my answers 🙂 I would tag some other pixies to do this, but I’m not sure who all has visited a Disney park, so I’ll just leave it open to anyone who would like to do it 😉 If you do post this tag, please leave me a comment below with a link ↓

♥ Marigold

 

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Scary News

Hi Pixies,

While searching for Pixie Hollow news, I stumbled across a really scary article that frightened and disgusted me.

The article is meant for mature audiences, so if you are under the age of 12, please ask permission from a parent or guardian before continuing:

Man Allegedly Kidnaps Girl He Met On ‘Disney Fairies Pixie Hollow’ Website

A Colorado man is accused of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a 14-year-old Connecticut girl he met through a Disney Fairies online game.

Timothy Wind, 53, was arrested Wednesday at his home Longmont, Colorado. The victim, a young teen girl who had been reported missing from her home in Hartford, Connecticut in August, was found two weeks later and nearly 2,000 miles away in Wind’s apartment.

Police say that Wind met the girl about two years ago via a website for kids called Disney Fairies Pixie Hollow, and he had been plotting to kidnap her for more than a year.

A friend of the victim told police that the girl had claimed to have a boyfriend named Tim for about a year prior to her kidnapping.

Wind is charged with second-degree kidnapping, sexual assault of a child, Internet exploitation, and enticement of a child.

Boulder County Housing and Human Services is caring for the teen and working to reunite her with her family in Hartford.

“Parents need to be extra vigilant in watching who these people are, not to give away clues as to your age, sex, location. These things should not be given away and children should be monitored when they’re on the Internet,” said Deputy Police Chief Brian Foley.

This article really upset me, because there’s a chance that either myself or one of my readers had been friends with the 14-year-old girl at some point while Pixie Hollow was open and maybe could have helped her… 😦

I can’t stress enough the importance to NEVER give out personal info when gaming and/or chatting with strangers, NEVER agree to meet anyone you’ve met online alone, and NEVER lie for a friend who is emailing/texting/chatting, etc. with an adult – please tell a parent or guardian who can address the situation.

Many young girls who are preyed upon and kidnapped by older men are often hurt or sometimes even killed. Please take this matter very seriously and make sure you and your friends are being safe online.

♥ Marigold

 

News and Reunion Plans

My Dearest Friends…

I have received horrible news…My uncle has died……It was so unexpected and is deeply upsetting……… :`(

Because of pending funeral arrangements, I am not sure if I will be able to attend any of the reunion get-togethers on Friday…I feel so awful that I’m letting all of you down by being absent…..but my family has asked for my help, and I can’t say no. I need to help them…but I also want to reunite and chat with my fairy friends…I’m so torn and emotional right now…

I hope you can understand and forgive me…I will try my best to publish the post I have been working on for Friday…I will also try to moderate my blog’s comments as often as I can…I just don’t know what else I will be available for yet…..

For those of you who are available to attend The Pixie Hollow Reunion this Friday, please visit Sarah’s Blog for further instructions.

Also, there is a thread already posted on the Pixie Hollow Forums for the 1 Year Celebration Party for you to leave a message and talk with other pixies. You will find the thread under Pixie Events and Parties titled “September 19, PH Closing: 1 Year Celebration.”

I hope to be back soon…Please don’t be mad at me…I already feel horrible enough 😦

♥ Marigold

 

My Goals

Dear Pixie Pals,

After publishing a heartfelt post about re-strengthening our fairy friendships and showing that we still care about one another (click here to read it), I am a little upset to see that only 8 pixies have commented within the last week…Is it really just Julie Tulipblossom, Sarah Diamondswirls, Minerva Grace, Sunrise Starbeam, Vanessa Magicmoon, Crystal Watershimmer, Jade Vanillaflash, Rosemary, and myself left?!? I don’t believe it…I won’t…it’s too heartbreaking 😦

I’m guessing that many pixies just aren’t checking their fairy email accounts anymore (or not very often), so they don’t even know that there are still pixies currently blogging. If that’s the case, I would like to encourage all pixie readers to update their WordPress profile’s email addresses to ones they actually use, or to simply re-subscribe to pixies’ blogs with their current email addresses.

Let me use myself as an example: I’m afraid that I may have lost all contact with a few of my oldest and dearest fairy friends, because I used to have a different email address (at Fastmail.com) back when Pixie Hollow was open, but then that email account was deleted due to “inactivity”, so I lost all those friends’ emails, pictures, and email addresses 😦  I am so upset with myself…Please don’t make my mistake!

Anyway, the purpose of this post was to share my goals for myself and this blog. Drumroll, please……….

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Goal 1: To post on my blog once a week

This is a biggie since I haven’t had a good posting record over the last year. I’m sorry. Really – I’m going to try harder and make posting one of my top priorities. If for some reason I can’t post (like if I’m sick, having computer problems, or exams), I will leave a short message on my main page so everyone will know when to expect my next post.

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Goal 2: To comment on every new post by other pixie bloggers

I always read new posts, but I don’t always have time to comment right away, and then I forget and don’t comment at all. I’m going to make the effort to try to comment right away or comment as soon as possible.

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Goal 3: Encourage other pixie bloggers to post more often

If the pixie bloggers are serious about still keeping their blogs open and posting more, I want to encourage them by leaving comments more frequently to show that I care and that I want them more involved in our fairy community.

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Goal 4: Encourage other pixie readers to comment more often

I know we all get busy, but are we all really so busy that we can’t even write a short comment to our friends when they took time out of their busy schedule to write and publish a post for you? Do you like being ignored when you ask questions? Doesn’t it bother you when you work hard on something and no one responds? I will try harder to get the pixie readers involved and commenting more.

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Goal 5: Continue to contact Disney about Pixie Hollow returning

I admit, I haven’t contacted Disney in the last few months because I was receiving the same response over and over. But that doesn’t mean I should stop contacting them. I want them to know that I still care about Pixie Hollow, even if they don’t. The more of us that continue to email, call, and mail Disney letters, the more likely they will make a change. The ultimate goal would be to bring PH back, but if we could start small and at least have them create more PH-themed apps and such, that would be better than nothing. I don’t have time to contact them daily, but maybe weekly or monthly would be good.

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I may post other goals as I think of them, but these are my top 5. Do you have any goals you’ve set for yourself? If so: Bloggers – please create a post and list them out like I did. Readers – please leave me comment with your list. I may consider creating a page on my blog where I list out everyone’s goals if enough pixies are willing to participate 🙂

Let me know your thoughts – I’m so excited to rekindle our friendships and rebuild our fairy community 😀

♥ Marigold

 

Confessions and Pledges

My Dearest Fairy Friends,

I want to start by apologizing. After reading Sarah Diamondswirl’s blog last week and mulling it over, I want to be honest with myself and admit that I’ve been neglecting my blog more and more over the last several months…

It’s not intentional. I’m not planning to abandon my blog or delete it. No worries there.

The problem is now that Pixie Hollow has been closed for nearly 1 year (closed September 19, 2013), there is less and less to post about…no new fashions, no new games or shops, no events taking place, no visits from the Famous Fairies…

When Pixie Hollow was open, I always had something to post about – even if it was just a summary of the Never News. For me, sharing the latest news and secret codes were important, because they were relevant. Current.

I think many of us bloggers have held back from posting, because we don’t have any news…at least not Pixie Hollow-related. Sure, there are always rumors spreading about the hollow, but I refuse to post about any rumor unless there’s a legit source to back it up. Some hard proof. Otherwise, they’re just lies, and these lies build false hope only to hurt people in the end.

Yes, we could all just post memories of Pixie Hollow, but for me it’s a really painful experience. The reality sinks in and upsets me all over again. It’s too fresh. Too emotional. I’m not saying that I’ll never post memories again, but I’m explaining why I don’t do it more often.

When I found out Pixie Hollow was closing, I was devastated. Pixie Hollow was my life, and I was willing to do whatever it took to keep it from closing. I even started the Pixie Salvation Soldiers to make fairies aware that their voices needed to be heard in order to keep the hollow from closing. Sadly, there just wasn’t enough time to get enough fairies involved for Disney to take notice. Pixie Hollow still closed, as scheduled, and several of us took to contacting Disney directly for answers…and to plead with them.

Several emails, calls, and letters later, I started losing hope on Pixie Hollow reopening. I was getting the same response over and over again about how Disney had no plans to bring Pixie Hollow back but to try their other apps or games instead  -_-

I was so lost and depressed after Pixie Hollow’s closure. I think like many of you, I finally began to accept the fact that Pixie Hollow was not coming back anytime soon, so I busied myself with other things to keep my mind off of the fate of my beloved hollow…

Although I’m not posting on my blog as much as I used to, I still moderate all my blog’s comments and check all my fairy friends’ blogs nearly every single day. I may not always have time to comment, but I “Like” the posts so the authors know I read them, and then I try to come back when I have more time and comment. It’s not a flawless system, but I hope it shows them that I still care.

I still really do miss Pixie Hollow. Terribly. I think about it everyday. I miss everything about the hollow, I miss my friends, and I miss reading the posts from other pixie bloggers. Many of the pixie bloggers have stopped posting and commenting, and some have even abandoned their blogs and seemed to have disappeared altogether. This really saddens me  😦

At the suggestion of a brilliant reader of my blog, I created the LAFF service, because so many fairies had lost their friends and needed help finding them outside of Pixie Hollow. It has been helpful for some fairies, but I think it could be more successful if more fairies talked about it in blogs, forums, and other websites. I can only do so much alone…

Aren’t we all still friends? Don’t we all still care about each other?

I’m telling you right now – I care. I cared then, I care now, and I will continue to care into the future.

Pixie Hollow may be gone, but that doesn’t mean our friendships have to end. We need to keep communicating!

Let’s all pledge to rekindle our fairy friendships and re-strengthen our community by making our presence known.

If you’re a blogger – make an effort to post more often. I’m not asking you to post daily, but set a goal and try to stick with it. Tell your readers your goal and let them hold you accountable. Even short, meaningful posts are better than no posts at all. Show your readers that you care about them.

If you’re a reader – make an effort to “Like” and comment more often. Even a simple “Hi! How are you?” now and then is better than silence. Be encouraging. Be positive. Be a FRIEND.

I pledge to do all the above – as both a blogger and a reader of other blogs. I’ll be posting again soon with my goals  🙂

♥Marigold

 

Disney Princesses are just like us!

By Sarah Diamondswirls

When was the last time you saw Cinderella and wished that your dress also changed over a course of three seconds? Didn’t you wish to go an epic journey that would change your life, like Mulan?Or did you desire discovering a whole new world?

Well, just look back and think. Aren’t Disney Princesses just like us, with a little of magic added (of course)?

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Disney Princesses: They’re Just Like We Are!

A Disney Princess is just a regular girl… with a little bit of magic.

There you have it. They’re just like we are. (Okay, not entirely, there’s that magic thing… but just go with us.) Now keep that in mind the next time you’re wishing you were part of the royal family!

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I love my pets, so does that make me like Jasmine? 😉 Which Disney Princess are you the most similar to? Tell me in a comment, below! 😀

 

Disney Film Costumes

I found this fun little article on the Disney Style Blog that I thought my readers would enjoy  🙂

I wish Pixie Hollow were still open, because I would have suggested to Marina and the Never Council to make most of these dresses available for us fairies to purchase  😉

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Disney Costume Changes

Lots of Disney character costume changes, all in one beautiful infographic. Also, who knew that Tiana had so many outfits?

 

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Which dresses are your favorites? Leave me a comment below  😉

♥Marigold