We were lucky to catch up with Amanda Batts recently and have shared our conversation below.
Amanda, appreciate you joining us today. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea
For as long as I can remember, I’ve been a theme park fan. As a young adult I dreamed of getting to work at Disney getting to experience the inner workings to be able to impact the Guest experience. I had the blessing of not only getting to intern on Disney’s Executive Communications team, but I also got to stay on full time working special event communications being a part of the Magic Band roll out communications team. After I was able to experience so many amazing things at Disney, I wanted to expand my PR and corporate relationship building skillset and I moved into the healthcare field. It was so rewarding getting to partner with healthcare professionals to get their patients the help that they need to live full lives. While I was in that role I was blessed with our two babies and got to experience all that comes with motherhood. As a working mom, I wanted to give my 110% to both my family and my career, which can be very challenging. I needed an outlet where I could enjoy family time and get to also build a career, which is exactly what content creation has given me the chance to do. Starting was daunting, don’t get me wrong, but with my degree in Public Relations and Digital Media, designing and creating a social media presence was something I was so excited to do.
In the past, I created social environments and a brand presence for corporate entities, so being able to create that for myself gives me not only an opportunity to be more present with my family, but it also gives me a platform to share tips and tricks that hopefully help my audience enjoy more of their true family time during their vacations and travel in general. I started my theme park instagram @bibbidibobbidibatts and blog TinyThemesBlog.com in 2018 and really dove into sharing what families and individuals can do at the parks to make their experience the best it could be. Through the hundreds of times that I’ve visited theme parks, I’ve seen more family meltdowns and exhausted individuals than I can count and I want to use my page to help everyone avoid those moments and enjoy their experience. I knew there was a need, and only being one person, albeit a tired mama of a newborn, I had to start slow. First I shared photos and tips on my instagram and a few months later I created my blog via Wix. I started in sharing what parents of really young babies can expect at the parks (since that’s what I was experiencing first hand) and what benefits they can enjoy. When the pandemic hit, my content shifted slightly since the parks weren’t open, but I wanted to spread joy during a hard time so I created unique theme park centered costumes for my oldest so we could all look forward to the time when the world would return to normal. It was fun bringing those costumes to the park as the parks started to reopen and spread joy in that way. Also with the “new normal” at the parks, it was a great time to share those updates with my audience since we lived so close and could help travelers know what to expect. We were featured in various magazines and social profiles and it was so nice to be able to spread joy and info during such a wild time in the world.
As my kids are growing, I continue to share family content as well as overall info about parks, experiences and travel in general. With all of the negativity in the world, I aim to cultivate an online space filled with joy, positivity and light. I not only hope that the content I share continues to be helpful but also makes my audience smile.
Amanda, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
As a theme park fan, former corporate professional, and mom of two, I’m the founder of Tiny Themes Blog and the Instagram page @bibbidibobbidibatts – my channel is filled tips, tricks and info about theme parks, themed events and experiences so you can make the most of your time when visiting! After exploring the parks first-hand hundreds of time and witnessing more bewildered individuals and family meltdowns than I can count, I knew there was a need. I created a page filled with info as well as fun and joy. There’s so much that’s negative in the social media world, and during my time in healthcare marketing, I saw so many statistics on the drain that social media has on viewers, so my page is a space that’s filled with positivity and info in hopes to bring some light to a normally taxing environment for viewers.
As a professional who worked in Disney corporate and who partnered with Universal, Dollywood, Hershey Park, Legoland, etc in my current role as a content creator, I aim to bring the inside scoop and helpful tips and tricks to my audience when it comes to the overall theme park experience as well as how to balance out a long list of want-to-dos with what’s actually feasible during a park day. I’ve also had the privilege of getting to bring my audience along on hotel tours and unique regional offerings outside of the park so they can pick and choose what’s best for them on their trip as a whole.
Since I’m based in Orlando (and actually met my husband (my Prince Charming) while we both worked at Disney), theme parks are part of our family’s DNA and we want to help make the most out of the experience to every individual, couple, group and family traveling to all of the exciting locations I get the privilege of featuring on my page. I’d love for you to join me on Instagram @bibbidibobbidibatts so we can navigate travel experiences together!
We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.
When I was in my role as Professional Relations Manager at a healthcare organization, I enjoyed what I did a lot but I felt that my passion for theme parks wasn’t fulfilled in the role. During the evenings, when my kids were asleep, I would edit photos from our weekend family adventures to create helpful content on social media and my blog and get my content set up so it could go out during my work day. I also started my podcast during that time, so I would create an outline on Sunday of what the episode would be about, record it Monday night and edit and schedule it Tuesday night. It was a ton of work, and lots of sleep was forfeited, but it was an area I was passionate about and knew a lot of folks could benefit from what we learned from being in the parks regularly and sharing what we learned the hard way. After about 6 years of growing my platform and getting to partner on some strong paid brand collabs, I was able to take the plunge and really dig into content creation full time. It’s been so rewarding to do what I love and get to bring my family on the journey! I just recently was able to announce on my channel an exciting new opportunity I’ve been given this year with Dollywood. I was selected to be 1 of 5 Storyteller Ambassadors to bring first hand social content during the 40th anniversary season of Dollywood to help guests best prepare for their adventures!
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
When I started 6 years ago in the theme park world, there was a small handful of content creators focusing on theme parks. Although I wished I could have gone full time then and hit it hard, I knew that wasn’t the plan for me at the time and as a mom of a newborn, my timeline would look a bit different. However, since I not only live in Orlando and visit our area parks just about every weekend with my family and often during the week solo, my audience knows that I’m going to share with them the most up-to-date, truthful info. Before I share any unique tips and tricks, I confirm with area Cast Members and/or test it myself many times to make sure you’re getting honest info that can be implemented into a trip. Also, since I’ve worked in Disney corporate and have extensive first-hand experience in the parks, I bring a unique perspective to the market. As a creator, being able to partner with Universal, Dollywood, Legoland, Hersheypark and non-theme park related themed experiences like Fork n’ Film, and Snowcat Ridge to name just a few, I will always bring not only honesty to my page, but also as up-to-date info as possible to my audience in a creative way that I feel inspired by. I can always tell when content is disingenuous when I’m scrolling the gram, so I aim to always create content that inspires me and/or makes me smile in hopes that it does the same to my audience.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.tinythemesblog.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bibbidibobbidibatts/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanda-batts-58922726
- Other: Tiny Themes Podcast – https://open.spotify.com/show/6ZrJxPOS92m3i835vVSpjV?si=a21b7963eb0e4d98
