March DisneyBound Challenge 2018 outfit summary

It's obvious that this year has been slow for me in terms of blog writing. Only one post in three whole months! However, I must highlight that I've been a little busy planning a new project that you'll likely discover soon enough. But, I really didn't want March to go by unnoticed because of the wonderful experience in which I took part during the last 31 days.

For those of you who follow me on Instagram, you've probably already noticed that every single day of March I have posted a Disney-inspired outfit portraying a Disney character, item or park. What you may not know is that every year the fabulous Leslie Kay promotes the March DisneyBound Challenge from her well-known @TheDisneybound Instagram account and her DisneyBound Tumblr. Following the hashtag #DisneyBoundChallenge you will find quite a fashionable flood of Disney-inspired ensembles from hundreds of Disney fans from all around the world.

The trick about the DisneyBound Challenge -it is a challenge, after all- is that you must follow a pre-determined theme for each day of the month. This year some of the topics included movies like The Little Mermaid, A Wrinkle in Time, and Cinderella; characters like princes, sidekicks and villains; and even some other themes like rule breakers, 90s styles and park attractions.

According to @TheDisneybound, this year's challenge doubled the amount of Instagram posts using #DisneyboundChallenge, going from less than 14,000 images before the challenge started to an overwhelming post count of almost 29,000. This implies there's a flowing river of Disney-inspired outfits to admire and take inspiration from. What I liked the most about this challenge was seeing all the different styles, combinations and creative views within the Disney community. Everyone comes together, free to use their imagination and express their personality, thanks to a conjoined love and admiration for the happiest place on Earth and everything around it.

In the photos above you can see my 31 bounds for the month. It was so fun to participate in this year's #DisneyboundChallenge, but it was also a daring task to keep up with the challenge every day. I'm also really glad about taking the decision of changing my backdrops after the first four DisneyBounds that I posted. The extra effort of finding locations was really worth it! Feel free to visit my Instagram account @edu_and_joy to check out all my March bounds and some older Disney outfits from past months.

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Mermaid Monday: Ariel visits the aquarium

Welcome, March! And welcome to my first post of the year! I seriously can't believe how fast time flies. It feels like it was yesterday that I made my last blog post, when in reality it's been three months. Ooops! Lots of things have been going on these months, but today I wanted to share our experience at the Barcelona Aquarium, a place I'd been wanting to visit since we arrived to the city, for a really cool Mermaid Monday (though I know it's actually Thursday).

First of all, no good visit to any aquarium could be complete without a proper Disneybound of an ocean-related character. Honestly, I feel it's very hard to find a comfortable and beautiful outfit with these cold temperatures. I wish I could Disneybound every day of my life, which is already quite a daunting task, but it's even more difficult when you have to wear three or four layers of clothes to protect yourself from the cold. I'm so not feeling like Elsa in winter! But with a bit of planning I was able to choose a nice ensemble to portray Ariel during my trip to the aquarium honoring a lovely Mermaid Monday.

My outfit was simple, but highly recognizable. The beautiful green mermaid dress by Retrolicious, which I got from The Oblong Box Shop, served as a wonderful base to channel Ariel. You can read a detailed review of this dress if you go back a few posts in the blog, or simply click here. Its green scaley pattern perfectly resembles the little mermaid's tail, while the dark purple cardigan tied over it evokes her sea shell top. Everything came together nicely with a pair of tropical-themed flats in a similar color scheme. Those weren't my first shoe option, but given that we had a long walk ahead of us, they started to seem like a pretty good choice. We left our coats and scarves inside a locker at the aquarium's entrance, since the building is completely enclosed and has no outdoor tanks or shows. Here's a little side-by-side:

We had a *splash* at the aquarium, where we got to see dozens of large fish tanks with around 450 different species of marine animals. Fish, eels, sharks, starfish, mantas, jellyfish, and even penguins made their appearances throughout the place. There are special daily "feeding show" schedules, where you can see crew members feeding some of the animals. My absolute favorite part was a long underwater tunnel filled with fish and sharks, which reminded me of the similar tunnels at the Boston Aquarium and Sea World Orlando. However, I must say that larger animals like orcas, walruses, dolphins and others were nowhere to be found. We really expected to see some big mammals, but the only sizable beast we saw was a really hunchbacked bull shark. He is the pride of the Barcelona Aquarium, and you can actually opt to swim with the sharks in that tank... for quite a high price!

Tickets are also a bit overpriced in relation to what you get to see, at least according to us, so it's nice to wait for discounts and offers. We actually got a great coupon with 4€ off each ticket. Savings, savings, come to me! Although it was a fun adventure, I think the Barcelona Aquarium definitely doesn't rank in my top three favorite aquariums. Regardless, it was a wonderful experience and this little Ariel is always glad to visit fishy friends. I truly felt like a mermaid in the ocean for a whole day. Aquariums are one of my go-to places all around the world... I think I'll be going back soon to get a new shark plushie from the aquarium store to add to my collection.

By the way, I was able to identify all the fish species from Finding Nemo swimming in different tanks. I'm guessing that after the movie became so popular, hundreds of aquariums around the world began to place these fish together for Disney fans to discover. You can use my guide "A study on Finding Nemo's aquarium fish" to look for them next time you go to any aquarium! Just follow this link. And speaking of Nemo, have you checked out @TheDisneybound 's new March Disneybound challenge? I will be partaking in this, so stick around my Instagram account to check all the Disney-inspired outfits I post this month. Let's get our Disney on!

Come back later for new posts and cool findings!