Today we’d like to introduce you to Randy Chew II.
Hi Randy, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
Growing up my grandparents both loved Disney and worked for the company at some point in their life. As a kid, they would always take my older sister and myself to the parks all the time! With these trips becoming such a frequent occasion, my love for Disney and the parks, Walt Disney World to be exact, just grew stronger and stronger as time went on! From kid to teenager to adult I’ve always loved my time and memories I’ve spent inside WDW!
This love, passion, and pastime all sparked my idea of creating my own personal Disney blog! With my knowledge of photography, videography, and creativity, I felt as it was just a perfect fit for me! Originally, I started my Instagram with just photos, videos, stories, etc of my adventures in the parks and on Disney property. With the growing support from new friends, followers, and my family, I kept my page going and never truly pressured myself about deadlines and quality of post. After all, it was just my own little blog about my life centered around Disney!
After the first year or so, I really wanted to up my game to try to bring more of a following but also keep it authentically Randy. I decided to “rebrand” and push myself to slowly become more of a “blogger”. As I started pushing myself to become more, the widely known Covid shut down happened. Which I found out through multiple messages and tags on my Facebook, which I happened to be walking out of Animal Kingdom. I was so upset, I sat outside that main entrance in tears. I didn’t know what to do with myself, just as many others’ thought as well.
This was both an upsetting time in my time on my blog but also a start to a new chapter in my life. Through the amazing Disney community on Instagram, I started growing my page and making new Disney friends every day! From starting a livestream show called “Sunday morning coffee talks with Randy” to zoom calls where Disney friends would host little trivia nights, movie nights, and Disney talks! It seemed like the parks closing wasn’t the end of the world! The livestreams ended up as a short-time thing but still was very popular! I still liked to connect with my followers by just going live to talk Disney, show off projects I was working on, and just to connect with others!
With lockdowns, I still found a way to pin trade, both online and in-person! For me, pin trading was a huge interest in my life! This little colored pieces of metal are always gonna be viewed as more than just an object to me. It a way of life, a way of remembering others, and a way to relive memories!
Fast forward to the parks reopening, I was so excited to start creating content again! It was a moment that felt like I had to wait forever for! This is when I decided to take my blog into the newest route. This decision was the birth of my line in my bio, “Bringing you the magic at home”. I truly realized how spoiled I was as a local passholder, making me want to be able to make others, not local, feel the same way I felt every time I stepped foot into a park, excitement.
With the reopening also came new friendships! These friendships have become lifelong friendships and also some of the best support system I could ever ask for! I mentioned my love for cameras and photography to one of my best friends, she was quick to tell me to get a true camera and push myself with my content!
This spark made me become who I am today with my content. Although I have a good mix of photography and selfies/photos of myself, I feel as my page is more of a Disney Park photography page but still a blog of my adventures. I still love to bring people through the day’s adventures in my stories and through messages for people who ask me to film or picture something they miss or just wait to see again! I like to have fun with my post, normally asking questions that are open-ended. I also like to showcase some of my favorite things on Disney property!
I’m very happy with my journey so far and can only hope for more and more amazing experiences in the future! Because with me all experiences we witness are great memories to reflect on!
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
For the most part, it’s been smooth! The only true struggles were when the parks closed for the pandemic and when I started to push myself to post more with better quality post, I would overthink/stress myself out over not reaching goals I set for myself or timeframes.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
In my personal life, I’m actually a Line Service Supervisor for a family-owned private aviation company named Shetland Aviation! I work out of our Lakeland Linder international airport flight base operation! Working in aviation was always something I was interested in as a kid and now I get to witness some of the best of general aviation! From airshows to meeting some of the most interesting people/celebrities, I absolutely love my job! Oh, and plus it funds my Disney addiction!
For me, I don’t like it mix work with my fun/escape from reality! Although I do love my professional career, I’m happy to have a fun hobby at the most magical place on earth!
We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
My favorite childhood memory has to be the time my grandmother saved up all her tips from housekeeping at the Caribbean beach resort on property and took my cousin, sister and I on an all-paid trip to the parks for multiple days! Staying at a resort although we were locals, just made it that much more magical! My grandmother booked us at All-Star Movies and we were lucky enough to stay in my favorite section of the resort, the Toy Story area!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: Instagram.com/randygoestodisney
Image Credits
@RandyGoesToDisney
