Category Archives: Disney Collectibles

Disney Gifts For Dad

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RM-Maharajah-Jungle-StopGot a dad?  Is he a Disney fan?  GREAT!  You’ve come to the right place.  I’m married to an awesome Dad who happens to love all things Disney and I’ve had a few years-worth of gift buying practice.  Here are a few gift suggestions for the Disney dad in your life…

(Merchandise pictures are courtesy of the Disney Store.)

Disney Gifts For Dad

For his closet – The coolest new Disney clothing items are all part of the Twenty Eight & Main collection.  Retro, laid-back, and perfect for Dad!  These duds are for cool dudes.  One of my favorites is this Rocketeer tee ($32.95).    Rocketeer-TeeSeriously, this collection is wonderful.

For his office – This Disney Parks Attraction Poster calendar ($21.95) is the gift that keeps on giving – save the pictures and have them framed. Disney-Parks-Attraction-Poster-Calendar-2016 What dad would not love this rosewood pen ($21.00)  The Disney Parks Products, stationery and office selection is full of classy choices for everydad.Disney-World-Rosewood-Pen-Arribas

For his castle – Two things come to mind.  First, a little Mansion merch for his gadget drawer in the form of this awesome Haunted Mansion bottle stopper ($19.95).  Haunted-Mansion-Bottle-StopperI own one of these myself and am a huge fan!  Second, a new coffee mug – pick one that’s microwave and dishwasher safe like this Magic Kingdom map mug for $12.95.Magic-Kingdom-Map-Mug

For his next Disney vacation – If your favorite dad deserves a little extra TLC or some extra rest and relaxation, treat him to something extra special on your next trip to Walt Disney World.  RM-Grand-Floridian-Senses-SignThe Senses Spa at the Grand Floridian offers excellent massages sure to make dad feel pampered and relaxed.  If that’s not your Dad’s cup of tea, you can always treat him to a round of golf, a movie, bowling, a Segway tour or a Dessert Party.

For his love – Help Dad keep the magical memories close at hand.  Turn his favorite vacation photos into unique gifts.  Bundle up your favorite Disney vacation pics into a Disney photo book.  For $79.95, this gorgeous, personalized reminder of your family’s vacation memories is easy to make with your own pictures and/or your Disney PhotoPass pictures.  We made one a few years back and I cannot count the number of times we’ve paged through it and relived those precious moments.  Disney Photo Book Disney Photo Book2Also available are smart phone cases, magnets, mousepads, ornaments, and more.

Are you shopping for a Disney-loving Dad? What are your best gift ideas?

Are you a Disney Dad? What are your favorite kinds of Disney gifts?

Animal Kingdom Happy Meal Toys: Part 2

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Animal Kingdom Happy Meal Toys: Part 2

By Nick

In last Saturday’s post, I shared 6 of a set of 12 Animal Kingdom McDonald’s Happy Meal Toys from 1998. If you missed it, please feel free to check it out here. I’ll wait.

Back? Good!

So, let’s take a look at the remaining toys.

First, we have a dragon! Why a dragon? There aren’t any dragons at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

Well, back when the park first opened, there was a planned area called Beastly Kingdom, which would have featured mythical creatures, such as unicorns, and, of course, dragons. In fact, the original logo for the park prominently features a dragon.

This toy’s wings flap when you press in the button on his chest. I assume this is supposed to be a push and release feature, but, as I mentioned in my last post, these toys were a little the worse for wear when I received them, and the button sticks on mine.

Next up, we have a couple of clip on type toys.
First this Crocodile:
And this Lemur.

Then we have a couple of pull and release toys.

The Rhino does not work unfortunately, so, no charging.

The Cheetah does leap into action however. Well, he actually stays crouched and lunges, but at least he works, so I’m not complaining!

Last, but not least, we have a squirt gun Elephant.

Just put water in the hole on the back of his neck.

This works amazingly well, shooting water at least 15 feet!

Doing a little more digging, I discovered there is actually an exclusive Tortoise toy that was available at Walmart McDonald’s locations. If I come upon it, you will be among the first to know!

For more Disney awesomeness, be sure to follow Nick, his wife Barbie, and friends:  Disney Musings Blog, on Twitter, on Facebook, On Instagram, On Pinterest.  You can listen to Nick, our friend Dave and me on The Disney Exchange Podcast where we talk about…well, you can probably guess.

Headed to Walt Disney World in 2016?  The Disney Exchange Podcast will be having a meet-up in February during the Princess Half Marathon Weekend!  Details will be available on The Disney Exchange’s Facebook Page and also on Twitter.  We’d love to see you there!!!

New Disney Ornaments!

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Christmas-Disney-Ornaments-WrappedMaybe it’s been mentioned a time or two, but my favorite Disney collectibles have always been Christmas ornaments.  As souvenirs, I think they’re perfect, so I always make time to carefully select one or two (okay, sometimes more) on every Disney vacation.  This year presented two great opportunities – Walt Disney World in February and cruising on the Disney Magic in Norway in June.

New Disney Ornaments!

When we get home from a Disney trip, I have a tradition of sorts – I put my new ornaments in a drawer with our Disney pin collection so I’ll know right where to find them when it’s time to decorate our Christmas tree.  While the tree hasn’t yet gone up, I pulled my 2015 ornament stash out this evening to inspect our newest treasures and here’s what I found…Christmas-Ornament-Disney-2015

Clearly I didn’t have much time to shop in February!  I selected only three new additions to the collection from Disney’s Days of Christmas in Disney Springs.  The first was to commemorate the year – I love how Mickey’s wearing his sorcerer hat and holding up his Mickey ice cream bar.  I’m sure it was that Mickey bar that sold me on that ornament!  Christmas-Oswald-OrnamentThe second ornament was my favorite of the three – Oswald holding a wreath.  We’re big Oswald fans at our house.  Look at his little face…Isn’t he adorable?  Christmas-Hitchhiking-Ghosts-OrnamentFinally, to go with the Haunted Mansion singing bust ornament set I bought in 2014, I added the Hitchhiking Ghosts.  They’re awesome!

There are ornaments available for purchase aboard Disney cruise ships.  I know this because I’ve bought some in the past.  This cruise, though, I opted for souvenirs from Norway.  Bergen, Norway, to be precise.  When we took our walking tour of the city, our guide mentioned there was a Christmas store conveniently located between the end of the tour and our ship.  Easy, convenient, and irresistible!Christmas-shop-Bergen-Norway

Megan and I each decided Norwegian flag ornaments would be perfect mementos.  Christmas-Ornament-Norwegian-FlagI also found a tiny glass frog prince I couldn’t pass up.  Christmas-Frog-Prince-Ornament-from-NorwayFinally, we purchased a non-ornament.  We bought this funny little figurine.  Partial to pigs, this little pair was impossible to leave behind -so, while not Disney, they came home with us anyway.Christmas-Pig-Norway

Now, assembling the 9-foot tree, fluffing all the branches, making sure the lights are all on, and adding the many layers of decorations is going to be quite the project (as usual)!  I’m motivated, though, to get going, so our newest ornaments can find their place as part of our Disney Christmas collection.

Do you collect Disney Christmas ornaments?  Which are your favorites?  Please share pictures over on the Facebook page.

 

Animal Kingdom Happy Meal Toys: Part 1

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Animal Kingdom Happy Meal Toys: Part 1

By Nick

While looking for Disney McDonald’s Happy Meal Toys on eBay recently, I came upon a set of Animal Kingdom Toys. I had no idea these existed until that moment!

They were released in 1998, the opening year of Disney’s Animal Kingdom park at Walt Disney World.

There are 12 toys in this set!

I found a set at what I thought was a reasonable price, and bought it.

Sadly, when they came, I was not at all happy with the condition the bags were in. Worse, upon opening them, I found that water must have gotten into some of the bags somehow, as there were actually rusted screws on a couple!

.
 

Another interesting thing about these toys, while they all feature some sort of interactive element, there is no indication as to what it is, or how to activate it.

Some activation methods are obvious, like on this zebra. Wind him up, and his front legs propel him forward.

Others are not as obvious, like this lion.
Obviously, his mouth opens, but how to get it open?
Lift his front paw!
A simple interactive toy. Lift the gorillas arms, and his baby flips around.
.
This Toucan makes a tweeting noise when you push in on his chest.
Dinosaurs weren’t left out.

For the life of me, I can’t figure out what this Triceratops is supposed to do, or how to do it. Whatever it is, I’m assuming it’s noise related, because of these openings in his stomach.

 

This Iguanodon has an opening mouth feature, like the lion, but how to get it to work? No clue. It’s constantly in an open position, so perhaps the mechanism to activate it is broken.

Next Saturday we’ll see the remaining 6 toys from this terrific set.

For more Disney awesomeness, be sure to follow Nick, his wife Barbie, and friends:  Disney Musings Blog, on Twitter, on Facebook, On Instagram, On Pinterest.  You can listen to Nick, our friend Dave and me on The Disney Exchange Podcast where we talk about…well, you can probably guess.

Headed to Walt Disney World in 2016?  The Disney Exchange Podcast will be having a meet-up in February during the Princess Half Marathon Weekend!  Details will be available on The Disney Exchange’s Facebook Page and also on Twitter.  We’d love to see you there!!!