We are celebrating the 15th anniversary of Disney Food Blog this year!

Lime and Pineapple Dole Whip

When I look back over 15 years of DFB, it is easy to find many things to celebrate. But I’m not going to lie and say it was all pretty cupcakes and yummy totchos and delectable plastic cheese. Starting a business is HARD. Building a brand is HARD. Planting a stake in digital media, which I swear changes daily, is HARD. And if I’m being completely honest here, there were definitely times when I wanted to quit.

What do you do when there’s a nearly 3-month gap between the EPCOT Flower & Garden Festival and the EPCOT Food & Wine Festival? You throw yourself a big old DFB Mega Fest! We’ve got loads of giveaways, behind the scenes content, and untold crazy stories from AJ Wolfe and the DFB team. Come celebrate DFB Mega Fest with us!

So, as I and the team share some of our best times here at DFB, I would be remiss to not share some of the worst times either. Here are 3 times when I really wanted to quit.

Fireworks Dessert Party

Back in the day, we held a few Fireworks Dessert Parties in EPCOT during the EPCOT Food and Wine Festival! These were soooo cool!

Epcot Sparkling Illuminations Dessert Party

We contracted with the Disney events team (like you would if you were holding a conference or a wedding or something) to rent a space in EPCOT and purchase a menu of dessert items. But I didn’t want just ANY dessert items! I customized the menu specifically to DFB favorites! School Bread from Norway, Butterfinger Cupcakes from Hollywood Studios, CARROT CAKE COOKIES!!!! — stuff like that!

I do love that school bread!

The stress of the event was massive. Would anyone come? Would they hate it? Would they hate ME? WHAT IF IT RAINS AND THE FIREWORKS DON’T EVEN HAPPEN?!?! Unfortunately — the one thing I really needed to worry about and be anxious for, I hadn’t even considered! When I arrived right before the event to do the walk-through, I didn’t see the school bread on the dessert buffet. We had publicized the menu, so I knew our guests were going to be expecting it…but it wasn’t there.

It was nowhere to be found.

What I saw instead were…a bunch of dinner rolls. Literally dinner rolls. That was what we’d received to be our “school bread.” (!!!) I told our event manager that that was never going to cut it (for me, or for our guests!), and chaos ensued. I had to explain what school bread actually was and show them pictures. And, to Disney’s eternal credit, the event manager called for someone to literally DRIVE backstage to the Norway pavilion and BUY THEM OUT of School Bread! Ha ha ha!! Talk about a miracle!

School Bread

Luckily they had about two big pastry boxes worth of them ready to go (shocking to me since it was so late in the day), and the night was saved! But yeah — the stress, anxiety, and unexpected chaos of that event so early in our life cycle nearly made me want to quit…and it definitely made me think twice about doing big events!

Foodie Fest

Back in 2011 we held the first ever Disney Food Blog Foodie Fest! We worked with Disney events to purchase the use of an event space (Ariel’s Restaurant at the Beach Club Resort — this seafood restaurant right next to Martha’s Vineyard Lounge  shut down in the 90s, but it’s still used as a private event space), and spent a bunch of money on snacks like ice cream novelties (e.g. Mickey Bars and Mickey Ice Cream Sandwiches). We invited our readers to join us for a meet-and-greet.

MICKEY ICE CREAM BARS!

There were no tickets; it was just a free-of-charge open house for anyone who wanted to come. It was truly delightful! I got to meet readers for the first time, share stories, and connect. But then I realized that some people literally came with COOLERS in order to fill them up with the free (for our guests) Mickey Bars?! It was something I never would have imagined doing — or even thought of doing — if I was going to a meet and greet for a blogger or creator I respected and liked.

You can’t go wrong with the classic snacks!

It struck me as weird and upsetting that people would just take advantage in that way. Maybe I was just super naive — and I’m sure I was — but I learned a lot about human nature that day. That said, the majority of people who came to our Foodie Fest were amazing, wonderful, kind, and thoughtful. So, yep, while there will always be a few bad seeds, try not to let them spoil the whole harvest.

Covid

2020 was an intense and unprecedented year for all of us. One minute everything is normal, and the next: chaos. And for a company that writes about Disney theme parks…when suddenly all the Disney theme parks close…we were plunged into an extra level of “what in the world are we supposed to do now?”

Mickey Pretzel

Our work — how we paid our team members and paid our own bills — was squarely centered on being in the parks every day, helping people plan for Disney trips, bringing all the latest news to our readers and followers. And suddenly we couldn’t be in the parks at all, and people were definitely NOT planning Disney trips. Disney parks “news” didn’t exist anymore.

Magic Kingdom

Not only did I WANT to quit. I didn’t really know how we were going to be able to survive regardless of what I wanted. But enter the world’s best colleagues! Sierra, Jelly, Jessica, Meghan, and I immediately set to cracking the code: what do our readers want to hear about now? If we can’t write what we usually write, how can we still keep them informed and entertained through this?

Spaceship Earth welcomes you to EPCOT.

And this small, but mighty, team succeeded beyond anything we could have imagined! We started writing about Disney history, bread recipes, what to do with all of that toilet paper you stockpiled, what’s happening in the parks even though they’re closed. We used video and photos to help Disney fans feel like they were in the parks even when they couldn’t be there.

Disney’s Animal Kingdom

We wrote posts about how to support cast members who had been laid off, and trying to bring a little bit of joy and kindness through unique and heartwarming stories. We found the bakery that made Jack-Jack’s Num Num cookies for the parks and showed people how to get there on certain days to do a car drive-through to get their own.

SO good.

We pivoted and innovated and used our own feelings and emotions about not being able to go to Disney to figure out how we could help our readers and viewers.And our readers and followers stuck with us! We saw record numbers of fans flocking to our content, supporting our work, and supporting US! Despite the chaos that was going on around the world, we were finding a way to add a little bit of magic and light to the darkness.

There you have it — 3 times I wanted to quit, and yes, I am SO glad I didn’t! Once again, it just goes to show: You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. Keep following us here at DFB for more!

I Was Fired From My Job 15 Years Ago and Started a Blog. Here’s What Happened Next.

The post Three Times I REALLY Wanted To Quit When I Was Building Disney Food Blog first appeared on the disney food blog.