(Updated quick note as of Feb 28th, 2016 – we did a family trip in mid February 2016 and found the pieces of magic in only one location – In the main store on the west side of Main Street USA. They were on a small shelf in a middle aisle mid way through the store. Same as last year – not a huge selection left but they did have some. quick note for anyone looking to find Disney pieces of magic – we did a family vacation late January / early February 2015 and the only place at Disney World where we found the pieces of magic were at the Art of Disney store located in Epcot by Spaceship Earth. They didn’t have a huge selection but they still had them)
Back in January 2013 while at Disney World doing the Goofy Challenge I realized I wanted to have something with me that I could show the kids (who were back at home) that I took with me on my runs that reminded me of them.
I had a Pokémon card in my wallet that my son had given me months before and I brought that with me in my arm band on the half marathon portion but didn’t have anything with me for my daughter. So the afternoon after the half marathon was over my wife and I were doing some Disney shopping on the Board Walk and came across these little metal tokens (called “pieces of magic”) in a variety of shapes with different motivational words or phrases on them that were not too expensive (maybe $10 for 6 – not too expensive for Disney). We looked through these and found ones that fit for my daughter and son and also for my wife – that gave us 3 and to round out the 6 we found 3 more with phrases that spoke to either myself or both of us.
Since we bought these we found these items at several of the gift shops at various Disney hotels in the Boardwalk area (Beach Club and Yacht Clubs as well as the Board Walk – I’m not sure if they are available at other resorts or not or if they are even still available now.)
I took these tokens with me (as well as the now well-travelled Pokémon card) on the full marathon the next day and also brought them with me on the WPS Half Marathon in May. Since then they also made the Manitoba Marathon with me in June 2013 (and since then several half marathon races and another Goofy Challenge in January 2014).
For my daughter – silhouette of Tinker Bell with the caption of “believe”. She loves the Disney fairies and this one really spoke to us to remind us of her.
For my son – an envelope shaped token with the words “thinking of you”. If there had been a Star Wars themed one the boy would have gotten one of those as it is this one captured my thoughts behind getting these little items – plus I still have the more personal Pokémon card.
For my wife – a little Cinderella carriage saying “happily ever after” – says it all by itself doesn’t it?
General thoughts:
A square with Cinderella’s castle on the front and the word “dream” on the back – Disney World and Disney in general has definitely helped shape our hopes and our dreams in the past several years and this one captured this for me. Plus the castle reminds me of the races specifically and takes me to a good place.
A circle with a classic Mickey head cut out surrounded by “laugh often” – good thought in general. With all the stresses in my job and life in general this is good one to keep with me always.
Another circle with a classic Mickey head cut out this time surrounded by “live well” – this speaks to me on a few levels – not only the concept of living healthy and exercising as exemplified by the Disney and runDisney races but also speaks to how I feel people should treat each other and how they should behave.
