Happy Birthday, Twenty Something in Orlando!

It’s hard to believe it’s been a year since I started Twenty Something in Orlando, but it has. What started as something to do when I was bored has grown into something I choose to spend most of my free time on. Sometimes it’s more time than I would like but it’s always worth it in the end.  

This is not going to be the typical post you find on Twenty Something in Orlando, but hey, it’s our birthday, so I can do what I want. 

I want to thank all of you for being here, whether this is the first article you’ve read or if you’ve been following since the beginning. Every like, follow, subscribe, favorite, and comment means the world to me. I put my heart on the page, or screen rather in this case, and I love knowing that people are reading and enjoying.  

I really do thank anyone who is reading, has read, or will ever read Twenty Something in Orlando, from the bottom of my heart. There is a long, long list of people who have helped me get this far, too many to name, but I do have a few that I need to mention specifically. 

• Rob: My friend and editor-in-chief who randomly gets emailed thirteen-page documents with a plea for a quick return because I’m on a deadline. He’s been involved in Twenty Something in Orlando from the very beginning and he has pushed me to become such a better writer. I credit him with helping me create the voice of Twenty Something in Orlando. 
• Mom: My mom, number one supporter, and biggest fan. She goes out of her way every single day to help me, whether it’s blog related or not. She’s happy to fill in when Rob’s not available to check articles and tells practically everyone she knows to follow me. She gave me my love of Disney from a very young age and now I get to share it with the world. 
• Jay: My boyfriend, photographer, Duffy Bear holder, best friend, and is getting close to rivaling Mom in the biggest fan spot. He goes along on every adventure and helps at any opportunity. He recently cannibalized his gaming computer when mine started to fail so I’d still have a way to edit photos and video.  
• AJ: My friend and photographer who was kind enough to help me get started when I barely had a working title for the site. 
• Robby: My older brother who let me plan his visit around what would give me the most to write about. 
• Doug: Another awesome friend who let me hijack his plans for articles and follow him around with a camera. 
• Jessie: An awesome friend and mentor who is always happy to answer my questions and provide feedback, even when she’s really too busy with her own stuff.
• Dad: For reading, sharing, and taking care of my dog when I drag Mom off on adventures. 
• Karen and Amy Hallion: Two amazing role models who have given me more inspiration and exposure than I ever could have hoped for. 
• TDR Explorer: My friend Chris and his Tokyo Disney Blog have always been sources of great inspiration and he’s always happy to answer whatever random questions I email him. 
• Robert and Victoria: For going along on so many adventures and always having suggestions for new posts. 
• Duffy: My best friend and fearless sidekick, who is happy to ride whatever ride, take whatever photo, go anywhere, and never complains or asks questions.  

I would also like to add Lauren, Polly, Lacey, and Andria for being my personal cheerleaders. 

Tonight, we’re having a party of sorts at Disney Springs to celebrate Twenty Something in Orlando’s birthday-it’s a scavenger hunt! I’ve got the details over on Facebook if you’d like to join us! We’re meeting by the LEGO Maleficent Dragon at 6:00 p.m, weather permitting. If you can’t make it tonight and want to have your own scavenger hunt I’ve got one available in the Library for you to download! 

As part of the birthday celebration, yesterday I launched a new series called “The Mini Adventures of Chelsea“. Essentially there are a lot of fun things to do in Orlando that I don’t feel are deserving of a whole report to themselves, but I still want to share with you guys. The first one is already up, so make sure you check that out!  

To finish off this Twenty Something in Orlando birthday post, I’m going to tell you all twenty something random facts about me! 

1. When I started my Disney College Program in 2013, I actually got my dream job of being a Jungle Cruise Skipper. My mom and I were on a road trip in 2012 and I was reading her fun facts out of a Disney trivia book. One of the facts was about the Backside of Water, and a light bulb went off in my head.
2. I worked the Jingle Cruise the very first day of the Christmas overlay the first year they ever did it. 
3. I actually lived in the same house my entire life until I moved to Orlando. Since then I have had three different apartments and am currently in a rental house. 
4. My first job was at a dog grooming salon in Knoxville called Doggone Pretty, Inc. If you subscribe to the Duffy Gazette, Twenty Something in Orlando’s newsletter, you’ll find their address listed at the bottom because you’re required to put an address on any email going to subscribers and I didn’t want to put my address on there. My boss is awesome. 
5. I currently work a full-time job in addition to running Twenty Something in Orlando, which is a full-time job in itself. I also do freelance video, writing, and graphic design, and pretty much any other side hustle I can get my hands on. 
6. I love writing this site. I don’t love trying to figure out how to promote it on social media. They say you’re supposed to spend 20% of your time writing and 80% of your time promoting, I’d much rather it be the other way around. 
7. My favorite thing that has come from Twenty Something in Orlando so far was being able to justify buying the Canon Rebel T6 I’ve always wanted. Now it’s a business expense! 
8. I’ve lived in Orlando for five years now and I’ve been downtown exactly three times: once for a Maroon 5 concert, once for Paws in the Park, and most recently for the Lion King at the Dr. Phillips Center. 
9. My favorite Disney park is Magic Kingdom. 
10. My favorite non-Disney park is SeaWorld. 
11. The vast majority of my travel plans involve going to Disney Parks around the world and Disney Cruises. I really have no desire to go places where I can’t find Mickey. 
12. I would like to own a corgi, a Dalmatian, and a golden retriever at some point in my life, though not all at the same time. 
13. I have cosplayed five different versions of Korra from Legend of Korra and will be premiering my sixth version at MegaCon later this year. 
14. I have something Duffy from every Disney Parks location around the world, and even from Aulani. Most of my bears and outfits come from Walt Disney World in Florida. I have a California Adventure Bear, coffee cups from Hong Kong Disneyland, an outfit and a hat from Shanghai Disney, the Paris 25th Anniversary Bear, outfits, key chains, and more from Tokyo, and my original Shellie May is from Aulani.  I also own Duffy’s luggage from his Epcot meet and greet location.
15. I have more than fifty plush Duffy Bears. 
16. I was captain of my college Ultimate Frisbee team. Sadly, I haven’t really gotten to play since I moved to Florida. 
17. I have technically had my SeaWorld annual pass since before I moved. I bought it two days before we left and I’ve been an annual passholder ever since. 
18. I have a YouTube parody with over 2.5 million hits on it. I have another superhero parody that I am dying to do, but it is currently on hold until I have the means to fund it. 
19. My favorite job I’ve ever worked at Disney was actually when I would pick up Fantasmic shifts while the Jungle Cruise was down for refurbishment. 
20. The summer after my College Program, I came home for a month. My second day in town I broke my hand during an Ultimate Frisbee game. It took me seven weeks to go to the doctor to find out it was a break and not a sprain. This led to me working the World Famous Jungle Cruise with a broken hand, which meant a whole lot of kids got to drive the boat so I wouldn’t have to. 
21. I was in Diagon Alley the night before the grand opening during the soft opens. Gringotts wasn’t open yet, but all the shops and the Hogwarts Express were running. It was late and it had been raining, so the place was deserted. It’s one of my favorite memories. I cried when I walked in. 
22. In high school, I was super excited to go to writer’s camp. When I got there, I was disappointed there weren’t any fiction classes. I got put in memoir since I wasn’t a poetry person. Ironically, this is where I learned to write the stories that would eventually be blog posts. 
23. The most frightening thing about working at Disney was honestly the amount of people who cannot figure out how PUSH trashcans work. 
24. As a result of having two knee surgeries by the time I was eighteen (okay, technically one of them was two weeks after I turned eighteen but still), one of my legs is shorter than the other. To correct this, I have a .55″ heel lift, which makes water parks and open toed shoes a challenge. 
25. I have a mild dairy allergy that caused me significant health problems and a total of seven ear infections over the course of 2015. Now I am on a basically dairy free diet and everything is fine, but I’m lucky in that mine is mild enough if I have the occasional Mickey bar it won’t do me any real damage.  
26. There is not a day that goes by when I don’t miss Tennessee, but I can’t imagine leaving Orlando. Living this close to the parks is the most magical thing, and I don’t see myself ever giving it up. 

Thanks for sticking with me a whole year everyone! I appreciate each and every one of you. If you’d like to help support Twenty Something in Orlando, the best thing you can do is liking and following the social media pages and sharing the articles you like with your friends! Also, I want to hear from you guys! What do you want to see me write about? 

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