Recently, many of us have been thanking Disney, Disney cast members and thanking each other as friends in our community disboards. As the Thanksgiving holiday approaches, I want to highlight one more friend, the DIS Unplugged, who gets us through our FOMO, for being our source for Disney information, and for just being our good friend. More than ever, this upcoming holiday highlights the importance of being thankful, and I want to take time out to express how much I cherish and appreciate the DIS Unplugged.

The DIS has been a good friend. For myself, and for many of us, especially during the pandemic, I look forward to visiting with you daily. I look forward to your humor, candor and companionship. They’re like my imaginary friends, but for grown ups. They’re real, I feel like I know them, they’re here with and for me. It’s a safe, (sort of one-sided?!) relationship, and yet they’ve been with me, with all of us, through our ups and downs during these unusual times and never left our side.

Photo by Pro Church Media on Unsplash

We all began enjoying our community for the typical Disney vacation trip planning, the use of a high-quality travel agent, an online information source for Disney news and getting our questions answered no matter how big, small or redundant. But during these past few months, my relationship with the DIS has become a lifeline. Sometimes a pleasant distraction from the daily monotony or diversion from the daily news feeds, sometimes a desperate need for uplifting my spirits.

This is a friendship that has helped me accept the loss of a vacation or two, or three, check in on each other on a good or bad day, and upholding a judgment-free zone of all of our opinions ( “is it safe for us to go to Disney”).

Sometimes we even cook and bake together with Deni! And, of course, my go-to for knowing the latest merchandise to make my life at home more Disney friendly and enjoyable.

On an average day, though, we just check in to say hi. My favorite DIS daily activities are following Kevin’s twitter page where he welcomes us safely as his followers, checking on my daily disboards community forums that the DIS monitors (with helpful moderators), listening to the weekly audio podcasts where my friends are not just speaking to me, but conversing with me (at least in my head they are) about all things Disney and sometimes not, and watching a fun YouTube stroll in the parks with my friend Craig. Toward the end of the week, I look forward to Deni’s Saturday Snacks, baking Disney treats, and on Mondays, I get super happy to read contributor Zoe Wood’s Monday Merch Meeting! If I’m in a focused mood, and not distracted, I turn my attention to my friend-in-my-head Michael Bowling’s podcast, Connecting with Walt, when I am hiking around town for a bit of Disney history and take Craig, Michael’s sidekick, along for the ride.

On generous days, it feels great to have a back-and-forth friendship where I can help them, too. Booking a trip through their travel agency, Dreams Unlimited Travel, purchasing holiday gifts on their website, becoming a patreon member, attending or donating to Give Kids the World (Night of a Million Lights) or liking them on YouTube are all ways to help a friend as they have helped me.

Photo by Chris Hardy on Unsplash

My DIS Unplugged friends remind me of Andy or Bonnie from Toy Story. We have our gang of friends with Buzz and Woody (aka Pete and John) and Duck and Bunny (Craig and Ryno) and Bo Peep and Jessie (Jackie and Deni), and of course, life wouldn’t be the same without our Forky or Kaboom (you can fill in the blank on those but I’m thinking Corey on that motorcycle!!) on our Disney adventures altogether traversing the unknowns of pandemics, politics, real estate, and natural disasters. We can’t control the unknown, but we can count on our friends, and I am thankful we have each other.

Thank you Pete, John, Kevin, Ryan (Ryno), Craig, Kathy, Teresa, Corey 1 , Corey 2, Julie, Deni, Jackie, Sean, Ruben, Elaine, and Michael. You are all awesome! How have these friends helped you?! I would love to hear and discuss how you also appreciate The DIS in your life.

Feature photo by Hannah Rodrigo on Unsplash