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DIZcovery: Disney Every Day

If you can't do Disney every day yourself, Amanda Tinney will do it for you

- by Bob McLain, December 2, 2010

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A DIZcovery is a mini-feature about an outstanding but perhaps not well-known Disney site and a mini-interview with its owner. If you know of a site that needs DIZcovery, please get in touch.

You know what they say about successful blogs. You've got to update them often. Not just often, but every day. Amanda Tinney does Disney every day and makes no secret of it. She even named her blog after her addiction: Disney Every Day. Sounds crazy, right? Nah. The crazies write for Disney Every Minute.

Disney Every Day

As Amanda Tinney would tell you herself (and does, in fact, just a bit later) her blog is for hard-core Disney fans. She doesn't bubble forth the same old, same old travel tips but rather cuts an expert's swath through the jungle of Disney content and presents only that which the fanatics - such as myself - would most enjoy.

Amanda keeps her site fresh with current news, reviews, and park reports written in her exuberant style. Amanda's writing is plain fun to read - easily an every day habit - and she regularly scores coups like a 'meet-up' at this year's Food & Wine Festival with celebrity chef Robert Irvine, shown here in a picture with an extremely happy Amanda.

Not that long ago, I found my all-time favorite 'celebrity sighted in Disney' headline on Amanda's site: 'Porn Star Ron Jeremy in Walt Disney World's Germany Pavilion at Epcot', with a picture of Jeremy wearing pink Crocs and staring at his cell phone while two lovely companions stare at him.

With stuff like that, I definitely do DisneyEveryDay, Amanda's way.

A Chat with Amanda Tinney

The best part - for me - about writing new DIZcovery features is meeting the brains behind the blogs and plying them with wine coolers into making all sorts of revelations about themselves and their sites.

So I'm kidding about the wine coolers. But not about the revelations.

Spotlight on Amanda Tinney...

Your site, DisneyEveryDay, is relatively new. About a year old, I think? What drove you to start the site? What 'Disney niche' do you feel it fills?

Amanda Tinney:My blog offers a local's perspective and is geared more towards the 'hard core' Walt Disney World repeat visitor. The site started out of a passion to share Disney with those that may not be able to go as often as I do.

You mention on your site that you'd like to go to 'DisneyEveryDay': how close do you come to doing that?

Amanda Tinney:Let's just say that my Annual Pass gets a lot of usage. I am usually there several days a week in the cooler months. I don't do summer days that often unless I'm going to a Disney water park. My readers joke that there will be no 'Amanda sightings' in the parks during the hotter months.

For people who don't live near the Mouse, what's the best way for them to do 'DisneyEveryDay' besides reading your blog?

Amanda Tinney:There are so many amazing blogs out there focused on Disney that can fill any Disneyphile's penchant for 'Magic'. There's also an EXTREMELY LARGE group of folks on Twitter who talk daily about Disney and even vacation together. That's what I would recommend. Get on Twitter and jump into the conversation.

What Disney sites and blogs do you read every day?

Amanda Tinney:My days are usually spent generating content rather than reading it. And I am sort of a tech geek so I read a lot of tech and business blogs. As far as Disney sites go, I check in from time to time at DisneyFoodBlog, ZannaLand, TravelWithRick, ThemeParkMom, TheDisneyBlog, and StitchKingdom.

How much time do you spend daily working on your site? Will it always be a hobby for you, or do you see it one day growing into a livelihood?

Amanda Tinney:An hour at most creating content. I try and post once a day. I have other blogs that I run as well: TheCupcakeBlog and TheOrlandoBlog. They take up some of my time, too. I see DisneyEveryDay as just a hobby for right now. It's a creative outlet for something that I love and I have made a TON of friends and other connections by having the site.

Disney runs in your family: your father was a Cast Member in the 1970s and you also were a cast member, briefly. Do you miss working for Disney? If Disney said you could have any job in the company, what would you pick?

Amanda Tinney:I don't miss working for Disney because I am there more now than I ever was as a CM. (I only worked Saturdays and Sundays.) If I could have any job in the company, I would probably pick something having to do with social media or the concierge for the Cinderella Castle Suite.

You trade pins, too. How many in your collection? Favorites?

Amanda Tinney:I did pin trading for almost 10 years but have since slowed down collecting. There was a recent onslaught of what we in the pin trading community call 'scrappers' which is what ultimately made me stop trading and thus collecting. Scrappers are counterfeit pins that were made in Chinese factories over the allotment set by Disney. They are rampant on cast lanyards in the parks and have devalued pins as a whole. When I did collect, I looked for Disney Auction Pins, Haunted Mansion, WDI, Cast Exclusives, Stitch, Nemo, Cheshire Cat, and Alice.

What's a 'dream day' for you in Disney World? Putting aside the problems of crowds, expense, and the laws of physics, which attractions would you absolutely visit and in which restaurants would you absolutely dine?

Amanda Tinney:Funny you ask this because most of the time I don't set foot on a ride. When I am there, I am either researching or visiting friends. My favorite park is Epcot. If I am going to ride I like Soarin', Toy Story Midway Mania, Haunted Mansion, Splash Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean, and The PeopleMover. My favorite restaurant on property is Kimono's in the Swan. I love me some sushi. And I also can't live without fries and the 'plastic cheese' served at Pecos Bills and Casey's in the Magic Kingdom.

Given that every conceivable aspect of Disney is now covered by umpteen different blogs, what advice would you give for starting and growing a successful Disney blog?

Amanda Tinney:Each person has their own voice and their own perspective. For example, I just did a blog trio on Turf Club at Saratoga Springs with ZannaLand and the DisneyFoodBlog, and we each had something different to report on the same experience. There are people out there that want to hear what you have to say. They can connect with you on some level of Disney'ism'. My best advice is be consistent. If you can blog every day and make it to the six-month mark, you are doing pretty good.

It's five years from now. What's Amanda Tinney doing? What has DisneyEveryDay become?

Amanda Tinney:Amanda Tinney is doing 'world domination'. DisneyEveryDay is still here - it just has 1,825 more posts in its archive.

We wish Amanda well as she continues doing Disney daily.

Don't stop there! More Features Await...

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