Today we’d like to introduce you to Allison Tripolitis and Megan Noble.
Hi Allison and Megan, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
We’ve both had a strong love for all things Disney, especially the Disney Parks, for many years. We’ve made frequent and memorable trips throughout our decade of friendship, once even deciding to fly to Orlando on a 12-hours-notice to spend 24 hours in the Magic Kingdom.
Knowing our great passion for sharing about Disney, friends would often come to us for tips and help planning their trips. We had talked about starting a Disney blog for a long time but finally decided to go for it after Megan moved away from St. Louis and we found ourselves long-distance best friends. We truly started The Pixie Dust Pals as a way to bring our friendship closer and do something fun together, even though we were living 365 miles apart.
When we originally began, we thought about what we loved most about Disney Parks: making memories with friends, the fashion, and most of all, the food. We began with an Instagram account, and we made a schedule of when and what to post and would take turns each week being in charge of posting.
After a few months, we added to the blog, with a goal of posting once a week. Three and a half years later, we’ve added in a lot of fun elements, but the goal of our blog remains the same. The Pixie Dust Pals is our way to find magic in our everyday lives and spread joy to our friends and followers!
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
For the most part, yes!
Because we do live in separate cities, we don’t have the ability to create content together a lot. We have to be very purposeful about what we create and when Megan comes home to St. Louis we have to have a plan in place to take advantage of the time we have together! Additionally, both of us have full-time jobs, and Megan is also a mom, so sometimes life just gets in the way of us finding time to prioritize the blog.
Much like it did for everyone, the pandemic made a major impact on us and the content we create. In terms of the blog, it impacted our ability to plan trips to Disney parks, which forced us to get a bit more creative in how we celebrated our love of Disney. We started creating a lot more Disney at home content, as opposed to focusing on the parks.
In terms of how it impacted us personally, both of our jobs changed drastically. Allison went from teaching and coaching in-person to a completely remote learning schedule. It was incredibly challenging to change the way she was used to being an educator, and having a positive force through the blog really allowed her to channel some of the creativity she wasn’t able to use in her classroom.
For Megan, the pandemic began when she was eight months pregnant and found herself temporarily without work. The Pixie Dust Pals really became her creative outlet and something that brought her joy in the midst of challenging times. We spent a lot of time developing Disney-inspired recipes and early on in the pandemic, we even did a series of Disney-style posts where we envisioned what different Disney characters might do or wear during quarantine.
Another pandemic-related struggle is that it caused Disney to completely change the way it operated its parks. Because of this, we are having to relearn the best ways to navigate a Disney trip, which was challenging when we weren’t able to travel to the parks. However, we’ve since been able to visit and are excited to be able to share new information with our followers soon!
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
One of our goals when starting our blog was to have an official way to share the tips and tricks so many of our friends and family had been asking for over the years when planning a trip to Disney. We feature a ton of information on our blog regarding how to plan days at each park, as well as reviews of various restaurants, hotels, and experiences.
We truly love to help people plan a trip; going to Walt Disney World can be extremely overwhelming, and we feel that we are able to help make that a less stressful experience for those who ask. We are not travel agents, but we gladly offer up our experience to anyone who reaches out to us!
Another major love we have of Disney, in general, is the food. We would honestly be happy to go down to the parks, not ride any rides, but instead, just eat all day (and… we’ve basically done this before). Megan especially has done a fantastic job of translating the Disney food experience to life in the Midwest! She began a Happiest Hour at Home series that features a Disney-inspired snack or a drink each Friday to bring some magic to the beginning of the weekend.
One way we love to interact with other Disney bloggers is through fashion. We’ve been able to connect with the Disney community through different style “challenges” where we bring elements of Disney into everyday fashion. @TheDisneybound and @ColorMeMagic – we participate in any organized content that they promote!
As any good Missouri fourth-grade student knows, Walt Disney spent a chunk of his childhood in Marceline, Missouri. While we don’t have the proximity to the parks that those who live in Florida or California do because we are based out of St. Louis we were able to take a day trip out to Marceline to experience the original Main Street USA, as well as the Walt Disney Hometown Museum.
We highly suggest this as a trip to any Disney fanatics out there!
What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
Joy! The whole reason we began this blog is that we truly find joy in the magic that Disney brings to the world. At its best, Disney is about finding moments of joy to share with those you love.
That was the whole reason Walt Disney decided to build Disneyland–a place where families could gather together and have fun.
We try to bring this same spirit and energy to everything we do associate with The Pixie Dust Pals, and even when we run into roadblocks or can’t prioritize the blog like we’d like to, we remember that the goal of the blog is to bring fun to our lives and those around us!
Contact Info:
- Email: thepixiedustpals@gmail.com
- Website: https://www.thepixiedustpals.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thepixiedustpals/
Image Credits
Anna X Tripolitis
