Tag Archives: Disneybound

How I Upped My Disney Style

You don’t even have to know me particularly well to know that when it comes to planning Disney trips, one of my top priorities is outfits, which I guess is a little bizarre considering I don’t really think of myself as a fashion blogger as such, but honestly nothing gives me more of a buzz than putting together the perfect park look, and the comments that I get when I’m wearing it.

As with anything in life, my Disney style is something that has progressed and developed with time, and I was totally honoured by the number of people who mentioned me in a recent #disneybloggerschat as someone who’s style they really admired/loved, because ultimately its something that I love, and its so nice that other people appreciate it too.

Let’s go back 2-3 years *reminiscent harp sounds*

The funny thing is, I still look back on some of these photos and think ‘wow, this is a LOOK’, but at the same time, I feel like I’ve come so much further since then, and here are a few of the ways I’ve upped my Disney style.

Finding inspiration

I plan all my looks around the day, whether its the park I’ll be in, the characters I want to meet, the walls I want photos in front etc – I even take it as far as thinking about the poses and photos I’ll want. This might sound silly to lots of people but its a big part of what makes me happy and its driven me to want to improve my looks so much more.

It doesn’t have to be all Mickey ears

Sure, I’m the girl who in the past has been known to take 6 pairs of ears on a 2-3 day trip, but more recently I’ve been enjoying mixing up my headwear with some cute baseball caps, hair clips and bows, and even just different hairstyles. My head feels a little bare without, but it opens up so many more options!

Think outside the box

This Sorcerer Mickey Disneybound from November is probably one of my favourite looks of all time. The whole look was born out of a skirt design that I’d had in my head for maybe 2 years, which when I finally got round to making I fell in love with. This high-low chiffon midi drapes just like Mickey’s red robe and its got a dramatic element to it too, but its also super comfy, kept me nice and cool in the Florida heat and its just something a little different from my normal style.

There’s more to park style than just Disneybounding

I often get caught up in the idea of Disneybounding, but not every outfit has to be a Disneybound. I generally go about 60:40 Disneybound to non-Disneybound, but it all depends on how I’m feeling and what my plans are. For me personally, I’m not much of a t-shirt person, so that’s why I tend to lean towards bounding, but I do like to balance things out.

Don’t be afraid to make your look (or get someone to do it for you!)

For my Disneyland trio back in May, I took inspiraton from my childhood Minnie Mouse dress, and made myself the perfect Minnie skirt!

A few years back, everything that I wore in Disney would have been something that I’d bought, but now probably 1 in 3 of my outfits features something that I made myself, whether its the ears, the skirt, or a t-shirt I designed, and the main reason I started making things for myself was because I had ideas in my head that I couldn’t buy in reality, so I turned into my own fairy godmother.

Just being yourself

I can be in tulle skirts one day and denim shorts the next, I’ll probably always be in Converses regardless. That’s just who I am as a person. I have an incredibly varied personal style, and I never wear anything in the parks that I don’t feel completely comfortable in, which means you’ll see me in all sorts!

Growing in confidence

As cheesy as it sounds, one of the biggest boosts in my style is the boost in my confidence. Even two or three years ago I would not have been the girl who could stand in front of hundreds of passers by and go through a range of poses while having my photo taken. My style and my confidence have grown side by side, and while to many people I’m sure planning Disney outfits and photoshoots seems ridiculous, its 100% helped me grow as a person.

I can’t wait to share more looks over more trips!

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Sailor Belle

Ahoy there shipmates! I’m really missing being aboard the Disney Magic, and so I’m sharing my favourite outfit of the trip, my Belle Disneybound.

Yellow is my absolute favourite colour, so when I stumbled across this adorable sailor-style dress in the New Look sale a few months back, I just had to have it – it was only £7! It wasn’t until a few days later that I realised how perfect it would be for wearing on the cruise and doing a sailor-inspired Belle look. Sure, the dress did most of the hard work, but I needed something to bring the outfit together, so I got my thinking cap on..

.. And bought a hat! This is, in fact, just a costume sailor hat which I bought off eBay for about £3, but it seemed to be missing just a little something, so I decided to style it up using one of my Chip patches (available on my Etsy store here!) which ironed-on just nicely!

I love the hat so much that I decided to wear it to dinner too!

I timed this outfit just perfectly, as that evening was our first dinner at Lumiere’s, which was the Beauty and the Beast themed restaurant on the ship. For dinner I traded in my sailor dress for this strapless number from ASOS, which is one of my favourite purchases of this year because its super comfy and flattering, and also so versatile because it can be dressed up for an evening out, but I can also throw on a cardigan and some Converses for going to the shops.

Anyone else suffering from Disney blues at the moment?

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Return to the Sea

Hey guys, today I’m sharing another of my Disney Cruise outfits, and while this outfit was mermaid-inspired, its not Ariel who I’ve been Disneybounding as!

As part of my Disney Sequel Challenge, I finally got round to watching The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea, which features Ariel’s daughter, Melody, and so I thought I’d take a break from the classic purple and green mermaid combo!

I was mainly excited about this as Melody’s look is mainly coral, which is one of my favourite colours, and it also gave me the opportunity to dig out my favourite Daisy Street seashell bag. As we were on the boat during the day, my daytime outfit was pretty casual, pairing a seashell print tank top from H&M and my scalloped shorts from ASOS. Oh, and I changed my Fitbit strap to match too!

For my evening/dinner outfit, I wore my urban mermaid crop from from Adorkable Apparel and I made this coral polka dot skater skirt to match.

I’ve made this style of skirt in a few different colours now and its probably my favourite skirt to make so I might at this to the Etsy repertoire as a simple Disneybound component, would you be interested in seeing this available in a full range of colours?

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You Know Who You Are

If you’re a regular reader of my blog, you’ll know I love planning the outfits for my Disney trips, and I love sharing them with you, but you may have also noted that prior to my recent Disney Cruise, I didn’t share any of the outfits I had planned for this trip. Well, that’s because I wanted to wait until I could showcase them in all their glory on the beautiful ship that was the Disney Magic.

Cruising produced a whole new world of outfit planning for me, because rather than just one outfit per day, I had to have an outfit for during the day, and then another outfit to change into for dinner and our evening activities! I saw this as the perfect opportunity to do some creative Disney-styling, and each day I took inspiration from one character, and produced both a casual daytime look, and then an evening outfit inspired by said character.

Over the next few weeks I’ll be sharing each day’s looks, and the outfits I’m sharing today are inspired by Disney’s newest addition to the princess family: the ocean princess herself, Moana.

My daytime outfit was pretty cruise casual, and rather than a traditional Disneybound I planned the outfit around a few products of my own design. Here I’m wearing the Ocean Princess tank from The Happiest Fitness Co which I’ve teamed with my favourite denim shorts, decorated with my Ocean Princess iron-on patch, which you can buy from my Etsy store!

I’m also wearing the beautiful ‘You Know Who You Are’ rose gold bangle from Lillian & Co – better pictured below!

My evening outfit was a proper Disneybound of lace on lace and I love it. I combined my red lace bardot body from New Look with a creamy lace a-line skirt from Hollister (a few years old now!) to create Moana’s outfit from the movie, with the lace adding the texture to represent the pattern of her top and skirt.

I’ve written before about how much Moana meant to me as a film, and why this beautiful movie is just so special in my eyes, and stood onboard of this beautiful boat having the time of my life, the line where the sky meets the sea was calling..

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My RunDisney Paris Weekend Outfits

I may have just got back from my Disney Cruise, but I’m off to Disneyland Paris THIS WEEKEND! I’ll be up bright and early tomorrow morning to be on the first flight to Paris, and I’ll be in the parks Friday-Sunday, but as per usual this trip is not without a race weekend!

I’ll be running both the 10K and half marathon in order to earn myself the Bibbidi Bobbidi Challenge medal, and I’ll also be getting my second Castle to Chateau Challenge medal, and two races means another two outfits to create!

I’ll be the first to admit that the costumes I created for this race weekend were a little bit last minute – in fact, my 10K outfit was something I literally threw together this week – thank goodness for my fabric stash!

So for the 10K I’ll be letting out my inner Star Wars nerd with this outfit inspired by Princess Leia’s Episode IV outfit. I have a good collection of plain coloured tech t-shirts now, so I only needed to make the skirt to go with a plain white top, and then I’ll be attempting some cinnamon roll style buns.

Then for the half marathon, I’ve created an outfit inspired by my favourite Mickey Mouse look: Sorcerer Mickey. I actually made this skirt from fabric I got out of the scrap bin at my local fabric store for just £1, and I’m so happy with how it came out! And while its probably impractical to run in a sorcerer’s hat, I do have this amazing scrunchie that I got from Shanghai Disneyland last year, and I even have a Mickey glove too!

If you’re also running this weekend, or are going to be in the parks, come say hi if you spot me!

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Disneyland Day 1

Well after a whole lotta California dreamin’, I am back in my happy place! Despite expecting jet lag to be a killer, we slept through til 6am which was pretty good, although we were up, showered, dressed and ready by 7:30am..

We started by grabbing breakfast in La Brea Bakery in Downtown Disney while we waited for the parks to open, then headed straight into the Disneyland park, where we were greeted by a load of character appearances. We just did Mickey and Minnie, then headed down Main Street for those all important castle photos, a quick meet with Aurora and then my classic first ride: Pirates of the Caribbean, and no, Johnny Depp wasn’t there..
After Pirates, we did Haunted Mansion then Big Thunder, both of which were basically walk ons, then headed into Fantasyland where of course we stopped for teacup photos and photos with the Small World wall. As we walked towards Tomorrowland, however, we came across the Mad Hatter just standing by himself near the Matterhorn, so we went to keep him company for a bit, then as the line for Hyperspace was a bit lengthy, we opted for fastpasses and decided to hop over to California Adventure, stopping to watch the band perform in front of the castle with Beast and Belle.

As we got into DCA, we saw Oswald at the park entrance, then headed round to queue for Soarin’, which is a ride I’ve never actually done in Disneyland! After flying all over the world, we headed to Cars Land and got bread cones from the Cozy Cone Motel, then explored Hollywoodland for bit before going back to the Disneyland park for our Hyperspace Mountain fastpass.

Galaxy saved, we wandered back through Fantasyland, then caught a little bit of Fantasy Faire from just outside The Royal Theatre, then decided to do the castle walkthrough before going to Adventureland to do Jungle Cruise. We then walked back to Royal Princess Hall where we met Cinderella, Ariel and Snow White, and headed into Toontown for a little while, before grabbing a spot on Main Street USA for Soundsational.

After the parade, we did a quick browse of the shops on Main Street, then as it was getting a little colder, decided to head back to the hotel via Downtown Disney so we could grab our jackets and have a quick chill out and wifi hog before going back for the evening.

Refreshed and ready to take on the evening, we walked back to the parks and grabbed dinner at the Red Rose Taverne, then hit a few of the rides with shorter queues – the carousel, Big Thunder in the dark, Snow Whites Adventures and Its a Small World – then as we were starting to feel the tiredness set it, let our competitive nature wake us up with a go on Buzz’s Astro Blasters (Ps I won), before heading back to Main Street to sit and wait for the last Main Street Electrical Parade performance.

Lovely as it was to see the parade again, we were both really struggling to truly appreciate it while battling to keep our eyelids open. We’d intended to hold out and get empty Main Street photos but as soon as the parade had passed us we knew we couldn’t stay any longer, so plodded slowly back to the hotel for a well deserved night sleep. Catch you guys tomorrow!

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My Top Tips for Disneybound Planning

While the concept of Disneybounding has been around for a while now, it seems to be growing in popularity more and more over recent years, and its something that I especially love to do on my Disney trips.

What is Disneybounding? Quite simply, its when you use everyday fashion items to create a look that reflects a particular Disney character, like so:

Disneybounds can vary from the very subtle to the very obvious, and I love spotting people bounding in the parks because styles can vary so much and its pretty cool to see how others interpret their looks! Its also amazing when other people, especially cast members and the characters themselves appreciate your Disneybounds – the characters get so excited and it always makes for a great interaction.

I’ve had a lot of people ask me how I go about planning my Disneybounds for each trip, so I thought I’d share a few tips and tricks that I use when I do my outfit planning!

Google your character

You might know your character’s style inside out, but do a quick Google image search. You might find that there are slight variations on your character’s outfit, or come across some great fan-art that inspires a look that you didn’t think about originally

Scroll Pinterest

I am constantly scanning Pinterest for new Disney outfit ideas. You don’t have to copy anything like for like, but there’s a world of inspiration out there!

Colour filter your searches

My first go-to site is always Asos, because it has such a vast array of clothing of brands. I hit each item (skirts, dresses, tops, shorts, trousers etc) then filter the search by the colour of the product – eg. for Rapunzel, I’d search pink and purple. Anything that catches my eye goes into my saved items list, where I can them compare them all in one place.

Look for the little details

Bounding as a princess who wears an off-the-shoulder dress? Try and find an off-the-shoulder top. Is there a particular pattern in the fabric? Try and find the best match. You don’t have to get every detail perfect but sometimes including little extras can make an outfit even better!

Accessorise!

Hair bows, Mickey ears, shoes, bags, the works! I love an excuse to find cute little extra pieces to bring a bound together!

Make it yourself

If you’ve got a vision in your head that you can’t seem to get right from what’s available, why not bring that vision to life with a creation of your own? And if you can’t..

Hit Etsy and shop small

Etsy is packed with small businesses that are just dying to help make your Disney outfit dreams a reality. You might find that missing piece for your look, or find a talented person who can bring your vision to life!

Have fun with it and make it your own!

The great thing about Disneybounding is you can totally put your own spin on a particular look. I’m talking steampunk princesses, gender-bends, vintage styled looks, whatever you want, you can do it!

Feeling inspired? Here are a few of my personal favourites:

I’m always happy to help with any Disneybound queries, so drop me a message if you’re in need of any advice!

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February Disney Trip Day 4

Jambo friends! Today we’ve been exploring the Animal Kingdom, and I’ve become a Wilderness Explorer!


We got into the park just as it opened, and headed in the direction of Kilimanjaro Safaris as we had an early fastpass, but on the way over we managed to randomly meet Flik from Bugs Life and also Tarzan, where we were basically rendered to awkward teenage girls but he was really nice. We then hopped on Simba-1 for a safari, and were lucky enough to see a baby elephant and a young giraffe as well as the other amazing wildlife on the ride.
One quick breakfast later, we hopped on a train up to Rafiki’s Planet watch as Sarah had never been before, and met the main mandril himself, and also caught the It All Started With A Mouse show which was really cute and something I’ve never seen before, or even knew was a thing! A quick train ride back, and we walked over to Asia for our Expedition Everest fastpasses, and we got to ride right at the back which made the whole ride seem more extreme and awesome!

A few Wilderness Explorer stops later, and we headed to Yak and Yeti for lunch. I’d not eaten there before, and I know I’ve probably said this about every restaurant so far but the food was so good and the service was amazing! I had a chicken tikka masala and cheesecake for dessert and I was super happy the whole time.

After lunch we went to meet Pocahontas, which had a fair bit of a queue, then walked across into Dinoland for our Dinosaur fastpass, via a few more WE stops, then after the ride went to meet Russel so I could show him how great I am at exploring the wilderness. Then, with time closing in on me to complete all 31 stops for my badge, the pressure was on, and we spent the next half an hour or so rushing round so I could get my Senior Wilderness Explorer badge before the cut off of 5.15pm – AND I DID IT!


While I went to collect it, Sarah got in the queue to meet Mickey and Minnie at Adventurers Outpost, and I joined her, sticker badge proudly on my chest! From there, we dashed back to Africa for the last Festival of the Lion King show of the day. We got there with only a few minutes to spare, so we were sat really high up, but I still thought the view was pretty good and the show was it’s usual standard – monkeys tumbled, fire baton man batonned..


With the park now fairly quiet, we took the opportunity of a 10 minute wait time on Everest, although we probably only waited 5, and riding that in the dark was pretty awesome, then all the way back to Africa again for another safari – this time in the dark. OH MY GOSH THATS WORTH DOING. I’ve always sworn by early morning safaris, but we saw 3 lions in the evening – and I’m talking up moving around lions, not just the standard one lying on a rock that I’m used to. We were also so close to a white rhino it was incredible!

I’m so happy Animal Kingdom is being kept open later cos it just seemed to make the whole day more enjoyable. I feel like a total cliche because I feel like every day I’m telling you all that it’s been an awesome day but they all really have been! We’re back to the hotel now for a pre-race dinner and an early night as I’m up at 3:30 in the morning (which is actually before this post will even go live) to run the Princess 10K, so keep an eye on my Twitter and Instagram for updates!

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To the Court of Miracles

Esmeralda Disneybound

Esmeralda Disneybound
Esmeralda Disneybound

So this was possibly the coldest outfit shoot of my life, it was about -3C out and I had to take my coat and hat off and get these photos taken as quickly as possible haha!

The Hunchback of Notre Dame was one of my favourite Disney films as a child, and probably still is. I loved Esmeralda, and I remember having a doll and a full playset which I adored, and something that upsets me a little is how forgotten this film is, and especially how it isn’t featured in Disneyland Paris, despite Paris being the setting of the movie.

So I decided to honour one of my favourite characters in the form of a Disneybound. It was a spontaneous sewing project that turned into an outfit – a half-circle skirt, with the addition of a tie-round sash, and I had to hand sew the yellow trim which was a nightmare, but I’m so happy with the results, and despite spending the whole day with my coat done up firmly so no one else could appreciate my efforts, at least I’ve got it to wear again now!

Are you a Hunchback fan?

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Mama, There’s A Girl in the Castle

Chip Disneybound

Chip Disneybound

Chip Disneybound

Three weeks today I’ll be on my way to Walt Disney World, and as excited as I am about that, I’m more excited about this outfit. I think its safe to say that I’ve never been prouder of anything in my life. Yes, I MADE THIS SKIRT.

After running the Glass Slipper Challenge at the Princess Half Marathon weekend, all I really wanted to do was have dinner at Be Our Guest so that I could wear all my medals, and that became even more of a necessity since the medals were announced to be Beauty and the Beast themed. Everything fell into place, and I had the idea of this skirt in my head, so after a long length of time umming and ahhing over the details, I finally sat down a few weeks ago and ran it up in an afternoon, and it came out so perfectly!

Because I wanted the skirt to do the talking, I’ll be pairing it with a basic while top, and my little Chip bow from Mickey Waffle Bows on Etsy, and it’s going to be the most perfect outfit for dining with the Beast!

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Amigo Donald

Its another Disney outfit day, and today’s is a Disneybound with a slight difference!

My love of Donald Duck is well known among my friends, and I’ve done a Donald-bound before, but something I’ve never done, and always wanted to do, is meet Donald in his Mexican pavilion outfit at Epcot, so that’s exactly what I’m going to do this trip!

Mexican Donald Disneybound

The inspiration for this whole outfit actually came from the ears, which were made by the lovely Maggie from Elephant and Mouse, who I was lucky enough to meet back in January, and thus the outfit idea was born!

I found the skirt in the H&M sale months ago – its a little large, but it matches Donald’s poncho so well, so what’s a little alteration! I’ll be pairing it with a blue top and my favourite yellow and white Converses, and the amazing fluffy ears to complete the look!

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Seawitch OOTD

I’ve been waiting to post this outfit for AGESSS, and I finally decided that Halloween was the perfect time to share this villainous look.

Seawitch Ursula Disneybound

Seawitch Ursula Disneybound

Seawitch Ursula Disneybound

Seawitch Ursula Disneybound

Seawitch Ursula Disneybound

I’ve never really been one for Disney villains, but about 18 months ago the idea of this Ursula-inspired skirt came to me and I took to my sewing machine. About two days later, I had one finished skirt (or semi-finished, as I’ve never actually hemmed it!) and I’m so proud of it! If I was going to DLP for Halloween (which I’m pretty gutted I’m not to be honest), I’d definitely be packing this!

As I think the skirt is the centrepiece of this outfit, I just paired it with a simple black crop top and chunky black Chelsea boots, and the lipstick is Winky Lux Stella Marina. This is also the first time I’ve been able to use my remote shutter control, meaning I’m finally in focus for a change, yay!

Who is your favourite Disney villain?

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What I’m Wearing – The Main Mouse

So I had a little rethink on my last Shanghai outfit.. I couldn’t decide on a final princess to Disneybound as, so I thought, given that its a brand new park full of fresh Disney magic, I should really do a little something to honour the boss mouse himself!

Mickey Mouse Dress

Mickey Mouse Dress# Tokyo Disney ears

Mickey Mouse Dress

Once again, self timer and auto-focus aren’t always my friends..

This outfit is entirely from my trip to Tokyo Disneyland. I couldn’t resist buying the dress, and although its a tad short for climbing on and off rides, that’s what shorts are for, right? Plus I think it was under £20! The ears are also from Tokyo, and have fast become one of my favourite pairs of ears because they go with everything and they’re sparkly without being too out-there!

By this time next week we should have just about arrived in Hong Kong (I think!) before we get the train to Beijing, but don’t worry, I’ll be sharing our full itinerary with you guys on Sunday! I am literally so excited for this trip, you wouldn’t believe it!

Are you excited to read about my Shanghai and Hong Kong Disneyland adventures?

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What I’m Wearing – Rapunzel Disneybound

In just three weeks time we’ll have actually arrived in China, eek!

Rapunzel Disneybound

Rapunzel Disneybound

Rapunzel Disneybound

Rapunzel Disneybound

I don’t keep it much of a secret how much I love Tangled. Rapunzel is the epitome of positivity and free-thinking and, as silly as it sounds, she just inspires me.

I really like this outfit; I think its fairly clear what princess I’m representing, while also being super subtle and most importable, crazy comfortable! The top is from Boohoo, and made of a sort of thick crepe material which means its really light and cool, and although its a crop top, the shape of it is really flattering. I obviously chose it for the criss-cross front as a nod to Punzie’s dress! The shorts are from Asos, and again I really like them. I’m not really sure how to describe the cut; they’re sort of pleated in the front which makes them just the right kind of baggy for the heat of summer – can you tell I’m not a fashion expert? Ha!

Finally the outfit is completed with the most beautiful pair of custom ears that my friend Amy made for me – she’s got a shop here! I’ve been looking at wire ears for a little while now, and saw this as a perfect opportunity, and she nailed them! They’re so pretty, so comfortable and so right for this Disneybound, I couldn’t be happier!

Pascal agrees too!

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What I’m Wearing – Belle Disneybound

The start of weekly Disney outfit posts can only mean one thing.. I’m counting down to a Disney trip! YAAYYYY!

Yes, that’s right, I’m now properly in the run up to my Shanghai/Hong Kong trip, and with 5 total park days during my 2 week trip, I’ve got five outfits to share!

Belle Disneybound

Belle Disneybound

Belle Disneybound

Belle Disneybound

(sorry for out of focus shots, I work with a self timer..)

Its no secret how much I love outfit planning, but I really struggled with ideas for Shanghai, so I took inspiration from the part of the park I’m most excited about: the castle. You see, the newly built castle consists of elements of all of the Disney castles combined, so it only seemed right that I represented a few of my favourite princesses, starting today with Belle!

I had my eye on a pretty yellow dress on Asos, but its forever out of stock in my size, so when I stumbled across this gorgeous playsuit on Romwe, I decided to take a chance on the ‘one size fits all’! I really love it; its super comfy and represents Belle’s ballgown so well! The Belle inspired bow is from Mickey Waffle Bows on Etsy.

Adventure in the great wide somewhere, anyone?

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