In the spring of 2004, Daps Magic was born. Originally it was born as Daps for Disney Magic. Eventually, this name changed. What hasn’t changed through the years is what Daps Magic is all about. Daps Magic strives to be a family-friendly community offering positive Disney and geek information, news, and activities while celebrating a mutual love of Disney and positive stuff. This mission statement has been expanded to include more than Disney. However, the core of what it is has not.
Why do I write this in March of 2025, just short of Daps Magic’s 21st anniversary? Mainly because I firmly believe that if we can build something like Daps Magic, so can you. So today, I’m going to share my story and I hope it inspires you to pursue your dream.
A Quick Look at Daps Magic History
The Beginning
Daps Magic was started because I observed a less-than-positive response to someone’s passion for a certain thing at Disney. The unkind response hurt people’s feelings and also hurt their dignity. I didn’t feel that was right and rather than going on the attack, I decided we would simply just create our own place where people could celebrate things they loved. This also is a place where people would be valued and built up as well.
Next Steps
Initially, Daps Magic was only a community. It started on MySpace and then a website was secured. Soon articles were being written and posted regularly. There was no business plan or agenda. Most decisions were made on whether the idea sounded like fun or not. The arrival of YouTube added a LOT of fun. This brought the possibility of sharing our love of Disney in a way that hadn’t been available before. We soon found ourselves filming parades, shows, the Candlelight Processional, and the Disneyland Resort All-American College Band.
Geeks Corner and More
In 2010, things went to the next level with the start of Geeks Corner. At the time, we figured we’d make a better name later (this never happened). However, what Geeks Corner did was allow for Daps Magic to be about more than Disney. We could talk about other things we were fans of… like Marvel movies, Star Wars, and Star Trek. It also allowed us to share some of our other passions like music, puppetry, and magic on the weekly show as well. This has continued to be a place where various passions and fandoms can be celebrated for nearly 15 years now.
Growth and Innovation
As we continued to try new things and create content, we started to get invited to events. Some of them were big, and some of them weren’t. To be completely honest, we were shocked that we were getting invited to anything and were (and continue to be) thankful for each opportunity. The result of these events was more possibilities to create more content, whether it was an article, photos, or video With more content came more momentum, more viewers/readers, and more opportunities. New technology also helped create new possibilities as well.
Focus
Throughout most of Daps Magic’s history, it was done as a side thing. I had other things I was doing as my “day job,” as did everyone else who has been involved through the years. A couple of years ago, it was time to start taking things more seriously. At this point, I made this my main focus. This led to new ideas, new videos, new columns, and new experiences.
Foundation for the Future
Today, Daps Magic continues to move forward. Every day, new content goes up covering Disney and positive stuff. We have great people who celebrate Disney and positive stuff with us. Some of them are on the team, some are in our Facebook group, others on Patreon, and others read our posts/social media or watch our YouTube. Today, just like nearly 21 years ago, the goal is to be a positive place where people can have fun with their fandoms.
The Challenges of Building Daps Magic
There have been many challenges throughout the story of Daps Magic. These challenges were overcome and sometimes overcame us. They also taught us many lessons through the years that I will get into later.
Technology
First off, technology has always been a challenge. I am not a tech guru. My brother thankfully is. The original Daps for Disney Magic website was pretty rough and very simplistic. The second iteration of the site, when it became Daps Magic, was basically a hand-coded website that was trying to do what something like WordPress does today. Doing it by hand led to a lot of challenges through the years. Another challenge through the year has been web hosts. It wasn’t until recently that we really found a company that we really liked and have had zero issues with (knock on wood). There were many technological lessons learned the hard way through the years. Many of these challenges came from me having ideas that were beyond what could be done with website technology at any given time (anybody remember the No Name Game or Caption of the Week? lol).
Resources
Resources have always been a challenge as well. There is always much more to cover than there is time to cover it. Because of that, things have had to be prioritized and sometimes stories and opportunities had to be passed on. Quite often the ambition of what we wanted to do had to be dialed back a bit by what we actually could do.
Humanity
Another challenge through the years is all of our humanity. In any organization, there are different people with different personalities, priorities, values, and worldviews. This has led to some amazing ideas and projects and also has led to the end of some ideas. We’ve also seen personalities that aren’t natural fits that have created their own set of challenges.
Consistency
Consistency has also a challenge. This is a challenge for anything. Whether it’s piano lessons, sports, writing, or publishing, consistency is a discipline that helps build towards success. It also isn’t easy. For Daps Magic, consistency was particularly a challenge when I had a “day job.”
Negativity
Finally, perhaps the biggest challenge we have faced while growing Daps Magic through the years is negativity. There have been many people who have told me that it was a dumb idea through the years. Others have said it will never be successful and that it is a waste of time. Others say it is a fool’s dream and a simplistic venture that isn’t worth it. I think most people would be amazed at how often the idea of Daps Magic is attacked and how often I’m personally attacked with negative comments of some kind regarding this pursuit.
The Lessons of Daps Magic
There have been a lot of lessons learned over the two-decades-plus that I’ve been running Daps Magic. I share them with you today in the hopes that you won’t have to learn them the hard way as I did and that hopefully you can be inspired to pursue your own dream.
You Can!
First off: You can! I have people come up to me frequently and tell me they are thinking of starting a podcast, a website, a YouTube channel, or some other endeavor. I honestly sometimes have a hard time coming up with a good response. However, as I’m thinking about it today I know that you can do it. If I can, you can. I’m a natural introvert who would much rather be behind a camera than in front of it. However, the lesson of my story is that with passion and perseverance, anything is possible.
It’s Your Dream!
Second, it’s your dream so you will have to be the one to drive it. Others will come and go and provide counsel, opinions, and be a part of your community. However, at the end of the day, it’s your dream and the success or failure of that dream will come down to you and nobody else. This can be exciting and also terrifying.
Be Positive!
Next, be positive! If you don’t believe in what you are doing, nobody will. Focus on what your goals are and where you are going. Believe in yourself. You can do it! Remind yourself that you can do it, even if that means writing it on a 3×5 card and putting it on your bathroom mirror. What you focus on will grow. Be sure to focus on what is good for you and your dream!
Positive & Supportive People
With that in mind, surround yourself with positive and supportive people. Pursuing any endeavor is going to have its ups and downs. Have people around you who will celebrate your wins and console you during your losses. Recognize that everyone is on their own journey and these people might change. Some people who are positive and supportive today, might not be tomorrow. That is ok. You aren’t responsible for others. You are responsible for how you react. Everyone has chapters in life. While some chapters will be with you, others won’t. Everyone has to live their own life with their book full of chapters. What is important to remember is you owe it to yourself to be surrounded by people who build you and others up. After all, if they are dragging others down… they probably will drag you down as well.
Give Yourself Grace
Things are going to go well sometimes. Other times, they won’t. When things are tough, give yourself grace. Be kind to yourself and don’t beat yourself up. It is so important to take care of yourself as you share your dreams/endeavors with others. It is so easy to tear yourself apart when things don’t go the way you want them to. Please don’t do this though. Instead, focus on the wins and celebrate them. I will quite even often celebrate things going wrong and treat them as a win as it is a milestone to be passed on the road to success.
You Are a Leader
There are so many other lessons I’ve learned through the years that I could probably turn this into a book. However, this is getting really long so I’m just going to end with a couple quick more lessons I’ve learned. First off, if you are pursuing a dream/endeavor/whatever, you are a leader. Act like it. Don’t be a manager. Instead, share your dream and invite people to go along with you. Some will and some won’t. Your job isn’t to force anything. Your job as a leader instead is to inspire others and help them pursue their dreams, some of which will overlap with yours.
Be The Reason Someone Smiles
Lastly, treat people like you’d like to be treated. If you wouldn’t want it done to you, don’t do it to someone else. If you wouldn’t like it said about you, don’t say it about someone else. If it is something that makes you happy, make someone else happy with it! There are so many challenges in the world for people, don’t make yourself another one. Instead, be the reason someone smiles.
Daps Magic Looking Forward
It is an exciting time at Daps Magic! We have a lot of things that are going on. We have a lot of things that we are working on and improving on as well. Through these things, we are going to continue to abide by our core values of Fun, Positivity, Kindness, Magic, Respect, Family-Friendly, Quality, and Integrity. The team is regularly coming up with new ideas and possibilities for how we can have even more fun celebrating Disney and positive stuff!
We hope you will continue along with this adventure. We also hope that you will pursue your own! There are so many ideas that just haven’t been thought of yet. You could be the person who comes up with the next great dream, invention, video, community, whatever! There is only one of you. There is only one person who can do what you can do. Daps Magic will always be here to celebrate those ideas and dreams in the realm of Disney and positive stuff. We look forward to seeing what those will be! Whatever they are, remember if we can get to where we are with Daps Magic, you can!
