i'm so sorry, that really is the bummer to end all bummers. :( i'm glad you at least got to see Harry Potter world for a minute.

it's so hard to pick, it was all so magical!! i think my favorite was just the sensation you get when you step into the buggy of a dark Disney ride after rushing around in the sun and waiting in the (really awesomely decorated) queues, it just felt like being transported into another realm, and everything else just melted away.

we also had a lot of fun pin trading, i had some really rare unexpected finds, and i was really happy to see my partner find stuff he likes too, because he's not as media-savvy as me, but we had prepared for a few months leading up to it by watching a bunch of Disney movies, so he was fanboying just as hard as me!

Yeah, I mean that was the main part of what we wanted to see so it was nice to finally cross that off my bucket list!

I've only been to Epcot here in Florida but I did visit Disneyland Paris. I can definitely relate to the getting inside and cooling off part haha!

I actually don't know much about how the pin trading works. I've only bought a couple of my own pins. I got a Paris one which is a macaron and an Up one that has balloon beads. I got a general Disneyland one in Paris as well. I picked up a Star Wars prog and R2D2 one for my sister too which she loved. The thing about the pins is that I never know what to do with them because I'm afraid to put them on a bag or jacket or something and have them fall off.

Epcot was so nice. we went in the morning and Nemo was our first ride, it was so soothing. have you been recently? and Disneyland Paris sounds so fancy!! was the castle amazing?

i didn't know what pin trading would be like either, going in! basically, a bunch of shops at Disney have boards with pins on them, and if you ask to see the board, they'll let you trade up to 2 officially marked Disney pins for whichever one or two of the pins on the board you want. for trading, we got a big bulk pack of cheap trader pins on ebay (and we kept a lot of ones we got from the trader pack! it was actually a really good selection for new collectors). you're not really able to get the super fancy pins from the boards, or the new ones that are for sale at the parks, but it's a great way to get your hands on the older pins, some that aren't even in circulation anymore! there's a lot of pretty low-quality pins since it's ones people were willing to trade, but that just makes it even more fun to find a really good one mixed in.

oh i saw a lot of macarons while i was trading, that's cool that you got one! they're so cute. and i've seen pictures of that Up one!! really cool, that's one of the most unique pins i've seen. i love ones with moving/3D parts like that.

i'm also so scared of losing or breaking pins. i really liked using an Ita bag during our trip. the only thing is if you're putting other stuff in the main pocket of your ita bag, you really gotta use the locking pinbacks instead of the rubber ones, otherwise they'll get knocked off when you shove your stuff into the bag. which isn't too bad in an ita bag, since they're just falling into the clear zippered pocket, but it's still annoying i also used these to secure a couple pins to my hat, and it worked AMAZINGLY, 4 straight days of wearing it and taking it on and off for rides and putting it in all kinds of weird places, and the pins did not budge. you definitely have to be at home to put them on or take them off since it requires a tiny little screw and wrench, but it's great for when you want pins on semi-permanently.

That's funny, at Epcot we did the Nemo ride last, haha! Disneyland Paris is smaller from what I understand but the castle was still very pretty!

The pin trading sounds pretty cool. That's a good idea buying a set before you go to have stuff on hand to trade.

Thank you for the suggestions! I've been looking at ita bags but I'm super picky on my purses/bags so I haven't met one that fits the bill yet. I wanted to find like a tiny ita keychain type thing so I could put it on any bag. I did find a couple options last night. There's this heart-shaped coin purse keychain. It's quite a bit larger than what I need but basically the exact concept of what I am looking for. I also found this kit you can use to turn any pin into a keychain which is nice because a lot of my bags are leather and I don't really want to leave puncture marks. With shipping it would be something like $8. I could probably figure out a way to reproduce it but I'm lazy so... Lastly there's these little strips you can use with the locking backs you mentioned. It's more versatile to be able to display more pins and again probably relatively easily reproducible but I worry slightly about the metal edges scraping against the leather of my purses. Hmmm...

last sounds like it would be good too! it was such a soothing ride.

definitely, i was so happy when my partner got them :D it feels like getting stuff for free because you're trading like a $1 pin for a pin that would cost $11-14 to buy.

i feel you, i had a hard time picking out my ita bag too. it's tough because most of the cute ones are poorly made, and also most of them are GIGANTIC that little heart pouch looks AMAZING you're making me want to get one! that keychain is also really cool, i feel you where i'm like "i could make that..." but the idea of getting all the supplies and then putting it together... meh. easier to buy it the little strip is cool, it reminds me of a mini-lanyard. i still get so nervous with those of my pins falling off, i'd want to get some kinda clear slide-on thing to go around it... maybe they make something like that for bookmarks. *chinscratch* i wonder if the screw-on pinbacks i linked would be less scrape-y on your leather? they're cylinders, so they don't have sharp edges, and they're big enough that they cover the whole pointy part of the pins.

It was awesome too because there was zero line right then so we just whizzed on through!

For sure! Is the pin trading at all of the parks or only Epcot?

They all do seem really big! Or shoddily made... Or have like zero internal pockets which is a big no for my organizational needs. The heart pouch is the most secure for sure but so big for what I want to use it as... I'm leaning towards the converter. I'll have to take a look at my pin collection again and see which one I can justify.

same for us, i think Nemo always has a pretty nonexistent wait time. i guess because it's an older movie and a slower ride, but that works out great for me since i'm older and slower

every park! this article has the main places listed (scroll towards the bottom, the top is just explaining pin trading). at Disney Springs we found out the Pin Traders shop board is only available at ~*magical times*~ nobody would tell us but Once Upon a Toy and the Co-Op had boards.

ugh i feel that, mine only has the one pocket. it's a great size and i found one that's pretty well made, but just such missed potential. my solution was to organize with ziploc bags not the most elegant solution, but it actually kinda worked because i could take out the smaller bag and see everything in it. maybe i'll get some bitty clear vinyl bags or something at the dollar store to make it cuter...

i think out of the options i'd go with the converter too! it's a good blend of secure and space-conserving. would you be getting it in gold? i guess it depends on the pin, right?

Oh that's interesting because earlier in the day there was quite a line for Nemo.

Thanks for sharing that link!

I think the converter only comes in gold sadly which is unfortunate because I have some silver pins too. I wonder if it would look weird....

really? that's so interesting! we were there early in the day too. maybe it's just the day of the week

i think it could look cool, gold and silver together always remind me of the piles of galleons and sickles in Harry Potter's safe. very regal vibes.

Maybe! We did go on a weekend so there is that...

Ahaha, that's a funny image to imagine! I tend to be all matchy-matchy but since that isn't an option... My sister actually bought the replica Harry Potter money from Gringotts. I was tempted myself but I knew it would just end up sitting in a drawer somewhere after I admired it for a bit so I convinced myself not to.

yeah, weekends are definitely a bit busier.

oh that's so cool! i feel like her having it is just as good as you having it in a drawer anyways, right? i used to get the chocolate coin versions of the HP money, but those didn't last long...

Yeah, I wish I had gotten the chance to take them out of the box and look at them before she took them home with her. Oh well, I'll have to look at them next time I go home to visit! She was also going to share some of her candy with me but then forgot. Oops! That's ok, I'm not sure I would have wanted to try puking pasties anyway.

hahah yeah i'll pass on any puke-themed candies i used to hate thinking i was going to get a Marshmallow Bertie Bott's Bean and ending up with a vomit one instead

OMG how horrible did it taste? I remember getting some of the Bertie Bott's Beans as well and there was one soap flavored one and one grass flavored one but I can't recall more than that really.

SO horrible, it was like oddly sweet and sour? ugh i can't. omg yes i remember the soap and grass ones. the grass one really did taste like grass, don't ask me how i know that and the soap one tasted like how the soap crayon smelled, did you ever use the scented crayola crayons? they remind me a lot of the bertie botts beans too.

Bleurk! OMG yes, the soap one definitely smelled and tasted just like a scented crayon! My little sister tried to get me to do some crazy beanboozle game or something like that once but she just kept having me eat them first and I was like nuh uh that’s not how this is going to work.

ahaha can't pull one over on you! i wouldn't want to be the canary in the coal mine for that either

i'm about to submit a reply! i wanted to introduce a new kind of mushi that wasn't in the show because i thought it might be interesting to sort of build a new creature together from both our different perspectives. this is what i have so far about them:

Eda - The branches of Life, these are dead pieces of trees brought back to life by the Mushi lifeforce. They cling to any living thing that sits still– usually other trees, but if a human or animal falls asleep in the forest, they may find themselves wrapped up by a cuddly Eda.

That sounds like a really cool Mushi! I can't wait to read your post!

oh i also made a dream avi of what i picture the master looking like! just for fun

I FINALLY just read the post. It's been crazy times over here. I'm laughing to myself already trying to imagine clumsy Gisela try to do tai chi. XD

Also, that avi is hilarious! Fun times! Why does he have a pineapple growing out of his head?

ahaha i was hoping i'd put Gisela in an interesting situation i hope things aren't too crazy over there! how's everything been going?

it reminded me of some little houseplant, and i thought balancing a tiny Mushi plant on his head seems like a very him thing to do for some reason i had no idea it was a pineapple head but i see it now ksdgsg

I've been having a hard time catching up since being sick, my cat being sick, traveling, and traveling again... I'm all out of whack.

Ahhh that's pretty funny!

that's a lot to deal with i'm amazed with all this you're traveling again too! life just doesn't let up, huh? where are you headed to this time?

We went to Oklahoma over the weekend to look at a bunch of apartments in preparation for our move later this year.