When I wrote my dating profile, I very much included the term “hot geek” in the description for the man I was looking for. I had always been a passionate individual when it came to my fandoms, and I was hoping to find someone to share the love with.
The above Instagram post dates back to May 28, 2017 – about a month after Adam and I met. At that point, I had already realized that Adam was who I had been waiting for my entire life. The first time we went to his apartment and he showed me around, I was like 99.5% positive we were going to get married. Half of his closet was stuffed with costumes and scuba equipment and archery stuff (because he had read Hunger Games and wanted to give it a try). He proudly owned over a dozen classic Disney animation soundtracks, plus a large collection of the movies. He excitedly showed off his signed photographs from Comic Con and his Doctor Who mug and his space ship models. It was clear that this was a guy who didn’t just talk about his passions, but engaged with them. As someone who is a doer, that was incredibly refreshing to find in a man.
Our interests didn’t align completely and there was something fun about that. I was a Potterphile and Twihard who made weird hats to sell at Comic Cons. Adam was a tech-nerd, who loved video games, TV shows and movies about space and time, and World of Warcraft. We shared our interests with each other – I would read to him my fanfic and he taught me how to play video games again. Disney was the thing we had already loved individually and could easily love together.
It quickly became a tradition that whenever we went to Walmart we would pick up a Disney movie to add to our collection (this is how we accidentally ended up with two copies of Tangled). We listened to Disney podcast shows weekly and then would spend at least an hour discussing them. Whenever I was home sick, he would surprise me with a Disney special edition magazine to read in bed. Even now, we still do all those things and more. We have a couple Disney-themed rooms in our home that are continually evolving with our Disney-themed purchases. We love watching virtual tours of the rides in the Disney parks. And, of course, we love going to the Disney parks, most of all.
Our first trip to Disneyland was in September 2018, a few months before our wedding. We had a blast planning our Disneybounds (where you use regular clothes to color block representations of Disney characters) and even recorded this video, which we later played at our wedding reception while singing along with the song (Mandi can’t really sing, but the wedding guests were kind enough to nod and smile).
There are people who hate Disney, people who are neutral toward Disney, people who like Disney, people who love Disney, people who REALLY love Disney, and I’m sure there are a thousand more shades in between those. We would fall firmly into the category of LOVE. We don’t eat, breath, and drink Disney, but it is definitely something that has captured our imaginations and taken us on some incredible adventures.
On our honeymoon we visited both Disney World and Universal Studios in Orlando. Both theme parks are incredible and enjoyable in their own right. However, it struck us in Universal Studios that we were only interested in certain parts of their parks, whereas in Disney World, we wanted to do some of everything. That’s the magic of Disney – they have created a beloved library of classics that can be enjoyed through generations.
It all starts with loving the media they create – old and new. There is no doubt that Disney played a huge role in our childhoods, having grown up in what is called the Disney Renaissance – when films like Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, and Aladdin were created and are credited with reviving Disney’s animation studio. Even before that, our parents loved Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse and brought that to our homes. Nowadays, we enjoy watching them evolve as a company, producing new Star Wars and Marvel content while keeping us entertained with wonderful animated films that are sure to become classics in their own right.
Recently, our little two-year-old niece, Ella, has found an obsession with Mickey and Minnie Mouse. My mother asked me how that happened, as my sister and her husband hadn’t done anything to push that on her. The fascination just kind of appeared one day. I thought about it and came to the conclusion that Mickey and Minnie are just that good. Walt Disney created characters that speak to children in an enduring way, and the Disney corporation has kept Mickey and friends current and fresh. Ella will probably outgrow Mickey and Minnie, but there are a wealth of other characters that will capture her interest and imagination as she grows up… and many of them will have that Disney logo stamped on top of them. Then, as an adult, she will find new things to love in the stories she grew up with.
I am sure there will be many, many more blogs exploring our love and passion for Disney, and probably things we don’t love about it as well. Disney certainly isn’t perfect, but it is something that has helped to make our lives, both before and after we met each other, wonderful.
