10 Awesomest Blog Posts of 2012
On Friday I shared the best posts from 2012 that didn’t find much of an audience their first time through. Judging by the comments that suddenly appeared and the new social media shares of those 10 articles, it seems like many of you discovered these posts and enjoyed them. That post took a fraction of the time to write as a “real” blog post, and was read more than a “real” post. My laziness prevails!
Since 2012 still isn’t over and since these “top 10″ posts are really easy to curate, I’m going to give you another one! This one features my 10 favorite posts from 2012. Please note that in 2013, I’ll spend the first six months of the year writing actual substantive posts, and the second six months of the year looking back at my “best” posts of the year, with top 10 lists like this that are all basically variants of the same list. On the plus side, I pledge that I’ll focus on altering words in a “cutesy” manner to fit my usage rather than choosing context-appropriate words (a la Slayer Slang). Yep, 2013 will be the awesomest year of all. It’ll be far more awesomey than 2012! 
As noted, these are my favorite posts of the year. Most were fairly popular, which is good in the sense that reader tastes overlap with mine fairly well, even if they weren’t the top posts in terms of overall readership. I’ll be sharing the top posts, quantitatively, on Monday; the 10 worst posts on Tuesday; the 10 posts that used the word “communist” on Thursday; and, the top 10 posts as picked by a badger on Friday! (Kidding. Although it’s fun to do these top 10 posts, I am acutely aware of the fact that they are lame substitutes for actually writing content, and they grow old fast. I will be doing a top photos of 2012 post on Monday…which is totally different…right?!)
10. Disney Facebook Cover Photos – When I originally posted this at the beginning of the year, I had no idea more than a few people would use the few Cover photos I posted. After numerous updates based upon reader requests, this went on to be the single most popular post of the year. From my perspective, it’s cool to see people using photos I’ve captured.
9. Disney Moderate Resort Rankings – Many of you agreed with my rankings, but just as many disagreed. Half of you are right, but I won’t say which half! I enjoy writing articles like this that compare offerings at Walt Disney World, which seem to be more useful to readers that unqualified numerical ratings. Perhaps I’ll do more posts like this in 2013. (Magic Kingdom Restaurant Rankings? Disney Bar Rankings? Would this type of post interest you?)
8. Nikon D600 Review – I’ve never done a review quite so technical (and probably won’t again), but I got a camera on the day it was released for the first time ever, and I was excited. Since this release was one of the first Nikon D600 reviews posted, it was linked to by a lot of prominent photography sites, often with a preface along the lines of “a surprisingly well-done review from a Disney fan site.” As if it’s a shock that a Disney fan can write a reasonable review of anything outside of Disney…
7. Disneyland Bar Crawl Guide – Drinking around Disneyland Resort isn’t nearly as popular as “Drinking Around the World (Showcase),” but I’m hopeful this guide will change that! (Just a tad bit of hubris there… ) Although it’s due for an update now that Cars Land is open, much research was undertaken to assemble this guide for drinking around Disneyland Resort. It’s field-tested, and it’s a lot of fun!
6. In Defense of Starbucks on Main Street – The posts where I share my strongly-held opinions are my favorite ones to write, and I had a lot of fun with this one and the comments that ensued (at least, the ones that presented reasoned counterpoints). Too bad I forgot to finish that “In Defense of Alcohol in the Magic Kingdom” post that I started, but is still sitting in my “Drafts” folder in WordPress (along with one complaining about EPCOT’s 30th anniversary…).
5. One More Disney Day Recap Photo – In terms of memorable posts, this might be #1. I wrote this several times in my head the morning after One More Disney Day as I sat in bed trying to sleep. In retrospect, I wish I would have typed out my thoughts in the heat of the moment, even if they would have been inarticulate gibberish due to my sleep deprived state. The only thing that kept this post succinct (a rare quality in my posts) is that our plane started to board, so I had to wrap it up.
4. Plaza Inn Restaurant Review – Definitely my most-off-the-wall restaurant review of the year. (I quoted “Audio-Animatronics” Lincoln (as opposed to real Lincoln) in this article and basically accused Sarah of treason. I love posts like this where I get going on goofy tangents, but people reading this blog for serious advice probably think to themselves, “don’t quit your day job, idiot.”
3. Tear Down That Sorcerer’s Hat! – I’ve been complaining about the Big Sorcerer’s Hat at Disney’s Hollywood Studios for years; I finally put those complaints into a blog post this year, as I tore apart some of the myths surrounding the BAH. The Sorcerer Hat is still up (I expected it to come down with 2 days of the article being posted ), so I guess it was a failure overall.
2. Disney World on a Budget Tips – One day while sitting around watching my Twitter updates pour in, I saw two tweets in a row for different articles on saving money at Disney. Neither one of the articles contained any information of value…they just contained tips like “use Disney transportation so you don’t have to rent a car.” This article was my “response” to articles like that, and I tried to include simple tips for the first timer, but also more specific tips, like building your own (large) Dole Whip at Captain Cook’s instead of ordering a smaller Dole Whip at Aloha Isle.
1. Big Savings on the Deluxe Dining Plan? – We don’t generally do things because they’re “bloggable,” but we tried the Deluxe Dining Plan in 2012 as an experiment to write about how much we could save on the plan. Yep, we did it all for you readers, and were not at all motivated by the prospect of eating delicious meals at nice restaurants. The sacrifices we make for you people!!!
It was difficult to narrow this list down to ten posts (not because there was an abundance of good posts…more like a “lesser of evils” problem!), but these are my favorites of the year. At least of the posts I remember. Watch out for my Top 12 Photos of 2012 post tomorrow. Unlike the last two posts, that will not be a lame curation. A couple of the photos are brand new, and I’ll share some insight into the photos (the photos themselves), and my overall reflection on my photography in 2012, and where I want to go with it in 2013.
Share your thoughts in the comments!
UPDATE: I used four “wink-face” emoticons in this 1,200 word post. For that, I apologize. I promise I will never to do that again in the future. If I can’t convey sarcasm without the crutch of the emoticon, something is wrong…
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Thanks for the website! I honestly don’t see how you manage to keep it up and be a newbie lawyer at the same time, but you do a great job at bringing the magic to those of us stuck at home
Sometimes it’s difficult to juggle everything, and I’ve made some sacrifices (I used to work out for an hour a day, but I can’t remember the last time I did that). Luckily, I’m good at multitasking at home, and I spend the bare minimum amount of time on each post I write (as you might gather by my overuse of parentheticals, lack of proofreading, and frequent tangents, these are mostly written in stream-of-consciousness), so I actually spend a lot less time on the site than people might assume. It still takes a lot longer than I ever expected before I started, but overall, it’s not too bad!
Emoticons are like fisheye pictures… you can never share too many!
If only there were a fisheye emoticon!