How to Write a Disney Blog During a Pandemic

I woke up this morning inspired to write, which was a bit of a welcome surprise since I’ve been struggling with it for months. When you write a blog about all things Disney, it’s a little challenging to set the right tone during a pandemic. Too peppy and you sound out of touch. Too real and you sound, well, depressing. Content can be a challenge too since so many Disney activities just aren’t available to us at the moment (movie theaters, Broadway shows, Disneyland…). I wrote and rewrote a post about stuff for Disney fans to look forward to about five times because the items on my list kept getting delayed. It just felt inappropriate at best and insensitive at worst to continue to write as normal. Then again, maybe “normal” is what we need.

Please indulge a little story to explain.

A few years ago I witnessed an altercation at my gym. Having completed my workout, I was walking (slowly and somewhat painfully…) back to the dressing room. My path led me past the lap pool, where a young boy was waiting with his mother and younger sibling to take a swim test. The test required swimming the full length of the 25 meter pool without assistance. It’s pretty common practice I think.

Anyway, all of the lap lanes were busy at the moment, so a gym employee asked the swimmer in the lane closest to him to stop swimming so the young boy could complete his test. I confess I didn’t hear the exact wording of the question, but that was the general idea. Apparently I should have eavesdropped more wholeheartedly though, because the swimmer’s response was to LOSE HIS MIND. I am not exaggerating. The swimmer ripped his goggles off his face, threw them on the side of the pool and started launching expletives like they were water balloons at a children’s party.

Now I don’t know if this particular swimmer was on the verge of a new world record or something, but I’m guessing he wasn’t. Perhaps he was close to achieving a personal goal. Maybe he was winning a bet. I suppose he could have had limited time during his lunch break or maybe… does it matter? He LOST HIS MIND. The young boy backed away from the scary speedy swimmer who was screaming at him and ran to the dressing room in tears. His mother, who probably spent a good chunk of her morning getting her kids prepared for that particular moment, followed him with her shoulders slumped in defeat.

I stood there numb, not sure what to do. Why was the swimmer so incredibly angry? Why scream at a young child for interrupting your workout? Couldn’t you just start swimming again after the two-minute break?

I wish I could say I did something amazing to remedy the situation, but I didn’t. I’m still not sure what that would have been anyway. Instead I left the gym determined never to act like the guy in the pool.

Which brings me back to 2020.

I feel like we started this year like the nameless swimmer at the gym. We were moving along, staying in our own lanes and maybe even closing in on a hard fought personal goal. Then something interrupted us. It was completely out of our control and we probably didn’t see it coming. That something turned out to be way scarier and longer lasting than a young boy wanting to take a swim test. The pandemic didn’t just temporarily interrupt our swimming. It closed the pool and sent us home for months.

The good news is we still don’t have to respond to the interruption like the guy at the gym. When something causes us to stop swimming, literally or figuratively, we should welcome the rest. We may even use the time to reevaluate why and where we were swimming in the first place.

So that’s how I’m attempting to write a Disney blog during a pandemic. I’m letting go of the disappointment of canceled Disney vacations (yes, I had them too), delayed movie launches (some day Black Widow…) and so much other fun stuff. Instead, I’ll be looking for ways to interject some magic back into our regular routines like I set out to do from the beginning with this blog. Maybe I’ll scour Disney+ for obscure titles to review, catch up on wacky Disney-themed books or try some new Disney crafts or treats since I can find supplies in the stores again. Mostly, I want to feel normal again and encourage others to feel that way too.

Want to join me?

Add a little magic to your world.