[dixie]

My family and I are passionate about WDW, and this August will be our 15th trip always staying on WDW property, I often trawl through the Internet looking for Disney sites and came across a wonderful site, I so enjoyed looking at the different things that I felt I had to contact the person and tell them what a delight it was, she contacted me back and thanked me for my comments and asked about our WDW experiences, we then began to mail each other regularly and decided we would meet one day at The World, my friend by the way is fromTexas and I am from the UK, I am happy to say we met this April at the Contemporary resort at Chef Mickey's and because of our shared passion for Disney and WDW we had the most wonderful four days with her and her fabulous family who were lucky enough to be at the glorious AKL, our friendship is very special and made more so that we met through our Disney interest.:D

[mickey]

Dixie, welcome to DisneyCentral!

Pssst, Tinkerbell, I think she is speaking of you!

[Scanlonsgirl]

That is nice to hear! I have always wanted to have a pen pal but never know how to get one. I'm glad that you had a great time with your friend.. thanks for sharing your story.

[dixie]

Hey mickey, you know what....your right, Tinkerbell is my dear dear friend who we all adore, meeting her at the most magical place on earth well it was just that magical, forever indebted to Disney for bringing us together, P.S thanks for the welcome to, its nice to be amongst friends:)

[Goofette]

Welcome to DisneyCentral Dixie! Tinkerbell is a real sweetie. I thought that was who you were talking about when you said from Texas. We stayed at the AKL at the same time she did, but unfortunately we weren't able to meet. I kept looking for her at the pool though (though I wasn't sure what she looked like at the time). I think it's wonderful that you two have been able to have such a wonderful friendship.

So....when do we get a trip report from you ;)

[LRTJS]

Thanks for your story. One of my email buddies that I have been writing to for over 3 years lives near Orlando and wants to meet me when we go in August. I have been a little nervous about this but your post makes me want to meet her more than ever. Also, could you give us the web site that you found so interesting? I am always looking for new WDW sites to visit, but I will always come back to Disney Central! It is the most fun!:love:

[Goofette]

Originally posted by LRTJS
Thanks for your story. One of my email buddies that I have been writing to for over 3 years lives near Orlando and wants to meet me when we go in August. I have been a little nervous about this but your post makes me want to meet her more than ever

Just being the mom that I am (and probably many of you out there are too, and probably several dads too), just be sure to everyone who decides to meet an e-mail buddy to put safety first. I've heard many horror stories about people meeting a complete stranger from the internet and having the situation turn bad very quickly. I have no idea what any safety steps are or the right thing to do when meeting someone. I felt pretty good about meeting tinkerbell (if it would have worked out) because we were both staying at AKL and probably would have met out by the crowded pool with both of our families there. But I'm a little more than paranoid when it comes to meeting strangers from the internet. Does anyone have any good advice when it comes to meeting strangers??

[dixie]

Hi all, thankyou for the kind responses to my post, in response to meeting a stranger with whom you have only ever had contact with on line, I echo your sentiments fully, but Tink and I had been communicating for over a year when we met, we had also spoken on the telephone, swapped photographs, and e-mailed each other daily and still do to this day, during this time I had built up a extremely good profile of the type of person Tink was, and found we share the same passions, values, morals, heck were practically twins, and course anyone who is as passionate about WDW as Tink and her family are, well doesnt that speak volumes, plus I had viewed Tink's wonderful website, that showed her and her family on several WDW vacations and read all her lovely sentiments about her familyand WDW and knew she had to be a wonderful person and I was right, when we actually physically met we were both with our families at the wonderful Chef Mickeys and it was like meeting family, but I do appreciate not everyone is as lucky as I was and I can only emphasise the importance of being 100% sure of your safety before venturing into any meetings.

[Goofette]

I know many people who have met strangers online, I just want the younger readers here to make sure not to ever meet an online strangers without their parents. I think Dixie and Tinkerbells situation is wonderful and I know of many people who have met in groups at WDW. Most people will use common sense and I think (not sure) that most of our readers online here are adults or in college. I don't mean to sound negative at all, I think people can meet wonderful people online, but for our younger readers I just wanted to stress to them to make sure they are cautious and also to be sure to talk with your parents about anyone who you meet over the internet and chat with. :angel

[Goofette]

Originally posted by LRTJS
Thanks for your story. One of my email buddies that I have been writing to for over 3 years lives near Orlando and wants to meet me when we go in August. I have been a little nervous about this but your post makes me want to meet her more than ever. Also, could you give us the web site that you found so interesting? I am always looking for new WDW sites to visit, but I will always come back to Disney Central! It is the most fun!:love:

Just wondering about an update....have you decided to meet with your buddy in August? You'll have to let us know how it goes.

Goofette

[tinkerbell]

the only thing that made WDW more magic then ever was our families coming together!! I think we are family ..you and I. Most of you already knew I was meeting her and her family at WDW and how excited we were. I remember that breakfast and how quickly even the three girls hit it off with each other. Dixie you know I think of you as family .. if I didnt before we met face to face ..I sure couldnt help it afterwards. Its so funny because I had no idea you had posted here!! and then goofette mentioned it and I went searching :) and here you are !!
to all the other DC members ..this is about the sweetest lady in the whole world !!!! and I feel very honored to have her as a friend. Dixie's friendship has been a very special gift.. we share more then our love for WDW.. and no two people (or families) could be so close considering the miles and ocean between us.
I have to add to the advice about meeting people in real life that you have emailed or met online .. there are safe ways to do it ..such as in a crowded place ( such as WDW ) and never alone. Like Dixie said, she and I had shared a year of email and phone calls before we finally got to meet face to face we prolly know each other better then people that have lived next door to each other all thier lives.
I have met several people in person that I got to know on line. In fact I have even got 2 of my closest online friends to WDW in the past. they have been my friends on and offline since I met them online in 1996. they have been in my home and I have been in thiers ..one in cal. and the other in N.C. online friendships can be just as real as any other. But you have to use common sense ..