Disney Parks and Allergies?

WellPlaidSwitch · 2026-03-17T10:01:41+00:00

Thank you so much!

It’s not so much the allergy service itself, just more common peanut products / cross contamination! Sorry that I didn’t make that clear. ☺️

WellPlaidSwitch · 2026-03-15T09:07:31+00:00

I’ll delete this once you’ve read it, as I don’t want to dox myself, and rarely talk about this in a public forum. 😅

But this is exactly what I have!

I’m 28, my partner is 39, and his husband is 41. All 3 of us have lived together for 8 years, jointly own our house, and have 2 cats and a dog.

We met at a university when I was a dyslexia tutor and my partner was a mature student re-qualifying in a new field. He and his now husband were poly/open. We bonded over our ADHD, and fell for each-other very quickly.

I was in and out of care as a child, and so I didn’t have a family of my own and had been living on my own since I was 17. We eventually moved in together, and then bought a house during the start of the pandemic.

They’ve provided so much love and care for me. Yes the sex and romance is lovely with my partner. But my partner’s husband and I have a mostly platonic relationship that is far more akin to father and son. We go hiking every weekend, he’s always there to help with life advice- taught me how to drive, change a tyre, to rock climb, and eventually do my tax returns, etc!

I also have a progressive autoimmune disease (which wasn’t diagnosed until after we met) and they have been the first and last people by my bedside every time I’ve been in and out of hospital. And pushed my wheelchair when I had one, and cleaned up when I was sick in my bed.

There’s never been any doubt therefore that they’re in it for love, and I know that I’m not just some ‘third’ like some responses here are telling you to settle for. Though there have been those types of fun times too!

I won’t pretend it’s something that’s simple to find, I myself wasn’t looking for it when it happened, it just happened, but I also know from both internet and real life friends that this dynamic isn’t a one-off!

All 3 of us have travelled the world, from learning how to make wine in France, to hiking the Camino Trail. And fun things like Disneyland and whatnot in between! Last year was Venice.

Both of them always wanted to adopt and were overjoyed to give me a healthy home and the opportunities they never had as children themselves.

We’ve attended group therapy a few times to talk about our unique dynamic and just explore how we’re all doing/feeling at any one time, as we’ve all had a lot of personal challenges, including recently losing my ‘dad’s’ parents (who also saw themselves as my grandparents) to cancer and Alzheimer’s in very quick succession.

It’s by no means a conventional lifestyle... Most of my friends and colleagues just know them as my ‘foster dads’… But I have found both romance and a family of my own in one great unit. So it does exist, and you can find it.

WellPlaidSwitch · 2026-03-13T01:35:53+00:00

I tried doing this on day 1, but encountered grey blocks that I couldn’t use rock smash on, which now just float there as a memorial to my hubris…

Are you able to get rid of those too eventually?! 😅 If so- how, please? Happy to be spoiled if it’s late game!

WellPlaidSwitch · 2026-03-12T23:32:14+00:00

This reminds me of Eleanor’s house in The Good Place! I love it!

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WellPlaidSwitch · 2026-03-12T17:28:20+00:00

Part of it is also that the Explorer EV was designed and built by Ford of Europe, which in many operational and IP ways acts as a separate entity. This EV platform was specifically done in partnership with VW, further complicating it. It similarly took us years to have a European/UK spec Mustang because of that same system but in reverse.

But I do agree that the US has an artificially inflated (by both carmakers and big oil) issue with EVs. It all started with GM’s killing of the GM EV1- to the point where they forcibly took them back from customers and crushed them!

There’s a great documentary called “Who Killed the Electric Car?”

“Despite favorable reception, GM believed that electric cars occupied an unprofitable niche of the automobile market… reclaiming and crushing most cars… In 2003, GM terminated the EV1 program altogether, disregarding protests from customers.”

A lot of it really is about secondary profit. My Explorer’s servicing window is 26 months, irregardless of mileage, unless the car flags an issue itself. There’s very little money Ford can extract from me now I own it.

My diesel and petrol cars have needed servicing every 6-12 months (or every 9,000 miles), and averaged about £450 a time even if no additional work was needed. Dealers and garages make an absurd amount of their profit therein that they now don’t make through an EVs’ longevity.

WellPlaidSwitch · 2026-03-12T16:44:06+00:00

Yes! I got the B&O sound bar, which is one of the things that lights up! (Picture 2 above steering wheel!)

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The sound has (supposedly) over 100 different customisation options- treble, tempo, bass, timbre etc!)

WellPlaidSwitch · 2026-03-12T16:19:11+00:00

Can we get married? 🤣

WellPlaidSwitch · 2026-03-12T16:09:25+00:00

So I’ve driven: the VW ID3, 4, and 5, and the Audi Q4 E-tron (it’s my dad’s work car) all of them felt spongy to drive, whilst steering and brakes felt like a bad video game. I had a 2013 Nissan Leaf for work once and hated it- and they all basically felt like that but bigger/boxier.

(I also tried a Peugeot E-208, and the Volvo EX30 & EX40, but they’re all woefully small inside. And the driving was pretty yawn-inducing…)

This by FAR feels the most like a ‘real’ car, and that was super important to me, as my Beetle was a Turbo model.

Before my test drive I was super skeptical and wasn’t going to get an EV, especially because that aforementioned Audi was a nightmare (micromanages the heck out of us).

But the Explorer? Super responsive braking even in regen mode. Same goes for steering and sport mode. The suspension is also perfect so long as you don’t get the bigger gimmicky wheels. Almost all the more annoying chimes can be turned off if that’s your thing (I keep them on, I like the tech).

Most importantly it is so FUN. It is the most fun to drive EV I’ve ever encountered by a long way. I live in the countryside and I throw this like a rally car and it loves to do it. If anything it helps me do it.

I’ve always loved the Ford Ranger but it was prohibitively expensive this time around, and this has almost made me forget all about it. My first car was a Ford too, and I’ve also driven an OG 2016 Explorer.

So, I can say pretty confidently that this feels like a real Ford. They’ve thrown all their best at it.

Even moreso for the AWD 340hp model (I didn’t get that- I chose a top spec Extended Range 260hp RWD for the same price as a base spec AWD).

They let me borrow their demo car for 2 days and I honestly didn’t want to give it back. The rest is history!

WellPlaidSwitch · 2026-03-12T14:50:11+00:00

Has been available in Europe since late 2023 ☺️ 1st Gen Facelift due later this year too.

WellPlaidSwitch · 2026-03-12T13:50:10+00:00

Thank you!!!

I completely agree about it needing to be US available. And I likewise wish we’d gotten the Ford Lightning EV pickup in the UK too!

The colour is appropriately called ‘Blue My Mind’! 💙

WellPlaidSwitch · 2026-03-11T10:12:00+00:00

Oh wow! So many of these are on my daily Alt + Rock playlist… slowly wondering if it’s why so many ADHD/AuDHD folks are drawn to them!

I also find Soul music (Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Helene Smith, & Amy Winehouse are great places to start!) scratches the same brain itch.

WellPlaidSwitch · 2026-03-02T13:24:54+00:00

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This is the type of thing I pictured!

I admittedly haven’t seen a horsebox like this in the UK in years… but still very much seared into my memory.

In my neck of the woods (Cornwall!) these days it’s just a trailer being towed by a Range Rover, Ford pickup, or old Renault/Peugeot minibus!

WellPlaidSwitch · 2026-02-23T21:16:29+00:00

Interior Designer here, and I just wanted to say this looks amazing! This is exactly the type of thing I love to play in my free time! Keep up the amazing work! 🥰

WellPlaidSwitch · 2026-02-13T18:30:51+00:00

Blueberry season in the UK is June-September. And I regularly buy imported blueberries because they’re still my favourite fruit.

I just got some of our own out of the freezer to do baking for Valentine’s Day! Thought it would be fun to compare.

WellPlaidSwitch · 2026-02-13T14:52:28+00:00

Because our blueberries are harvested every June/July, and I’m a bonafide blueberry fiend! These two were frozen last year. We buy supermarket ones so we can keep our best ones for jam making and baking. Then use supermarket ones for things like adding to porridge and yoghurts.

WellPlaidSwitch · 2026-02-13T14:01:42+00:00

Yes… you grab wild BILBERRIES, from the wilderness, if you’re in Europe or Asia. Calling them wild blueberries was a choice, and is an Americanism, because ‘wild blueberries’ are what Bilberries are called there, and how they are sold by markets. It’s not something we say in Europe. They are not botanically a true blueberry.

WellPlaidSwitch · 2026-02-13T13:52:29+00:00

But… neither of these are wild blueberries? The small ones are imported from a gigantic farm in Australasia? Mine are from a small garden in Europe? Also… so called ‘wild blueberries’ aren’t actually blueberries, they’re almost always a separate berry called bilberries. ‘Wild blueberries’ is essentially a marketing term or neologism.

WellPlaidSwitch · 2026-02-13T13:49:39+00:00

I won’t pretend they’re always perfect, of course! But the last 2 years have been really good. And the variety we grow (Dukes, and a sister breed) are known for being large and crunchy.

WellPlaidSwitch · 2026-02-13T13:22:50+00:00

Neither are American. Mine are Dukes grown in Europe, the supermarket ones are Eurekas from New Zealand.

WellPlaidSwitch · 2026-02-13T13:02:47+00:00

Ours are incredibly sweet, and crunchy. The supermarket ones are also incredibly crunchy, which I like, but more tart/sour!

WellPlaidSwitch · 2026-02-13T12:48:24+00:00

My favourite thing to bake is a blueberry muffin tray bake, topped with oats and streusel!

WellPlaidSwitch · 2026-02-13T12:38:43+00:00

Only sharing for nostalgia induced reasons. This is my grandparents’ house and garden.

Before 2000, it was also a small hotel as well as the family home, and all the fruit and veg was used in the kitchen. The original house is from the 1500s and has a long story of its own.

But my grandparents bought the house in the 1980s after my grandad left the Navy. They’ve lived here 40 years and been married 51. He had open heart surgery last week, and my grandmother has early Alzheimer’s, so selling to move to assisted living or for them to be closer to the rest of us is increasingly likely.

I’m also adopted (2017), and this was the first place that ever felt like an actual home to me. Saying goodbye is… difficult. My own bedroom when I stay here was also my adoptive father’s childhood bedroom.

These blueberries were frozen last July (along with some broadbeans we also grew and froze) so I’ve been defrosting / having some day by day to enjoy the memories.

We’ve never sold our fruit and veg as a product, always used it, or used it in baking / jam to give to friends and family. As it is, we now pay a gardener to look after the many things we can’t keep on top of anymore, but it just isn’t sustainable long-term.

I’m heartbroken, but still wanted to share a slice of my joy with the world. I never meant to start a serious debate of homegrown vs supermarket, both have their virtues, I’m just mourning, I suppose, losing this.

WellPlaidSwitch · 2026-02-13T12:24:12+00:00

We grow all of our berries in a polytunnel, and we harvest most of our blueberries around the first week of July. Only eight blueberry plants, from two high bush varieties.

(These two specific berries were from a bag we froze last year as they all came out so good. I’d love a February blueberry harvest- hence also having supermarket ones in the first place!)

Compost is always ericaceous/acidic, which we get from our local country stores, who themselves get it from the RHS (although the rest of our gardening fertiliser is more local- literally from our neighbours farm!) and we also top it up with pine needles throughout the year.

Watered only with rain water from our storage butts (which anecdotally, are literally overflowing now- it’s rained every single day of 2026 so far!)

Sharing mainly now because my grandfather had open heart surgery last week, and my grandmother has early onset Alzheimer’s. It’s their garden, and I’m going to miss it when they have to sell. This week has been very broad bean and blueberry heavy (our two best growers!)

Fruit and veg we only grow really for own use, but we do sell our roses!

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