Tag Archives: Disney Art

Disneyland Souvenirs – What Did We Buy?

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We can’t help ourselves.  One of us has a Disney Christmas ornament addiction and the other one is extra sentimental.  Makes us great news for the shops in Disney parks!  Our September Disneyland vacation was no exception to our well-established Disney shopping ways.  What was a bit different was that we actually had a plan and a shopping list and managed to stick to it without going overboard!  Yay us!

Disneyland Souvenirs – What Did We Buy?

Since it was our first visit to Disneyland and we only had three days, we decided to scout out the items on our list before making any purchases.  This turned out to be both a brilliant and terrible idea at the same time.  It was great to get the lay of the land and see what the various shops had to offer, but we almost missed out on one of the items on the list by waiting too long.  The Sally costume we wanted for our granddaughter was suddenly nearly impossible to find on the last day, but Raymond finally spotted one.  Crisis averted.

What was on the list?  A souvenir for our son-in-law, Grant, some more Christmas ornaments (’cause we can never have too many), the costume and a traditional, embroidered EarHat for Violet, and some special something to commemorate this trip to celebrate our 29th anniversary.  What about Megan and Joseph, you ask?  We’d already purchased their souvenirs on the West Coast Disney cruise we took before visiting Disneyland.  Megan got a Disney Cruise Line spirit jersey in a beautiful watermelon color and Joseph got a tee shirt from a fantastic brewery we visited in Astoria, Oregon.

Grant’s souvenir was so easy, we spotted it on the very first day.  Who wouldn’t love a Thanos Infinity Gauntlet Mug from the gift shop at Guardians of the Galaxy:  Mission Breakout?  We made a note to pick it up on the last day and moved on down the list.  We spotted that Sally costume early on too, but made no such helpful note.

Moving on.  The ornaments were plentiful and we found them in many locations.  Choosing just a few was way more difficult than I’d imagined.  I’m a pretty decisive person, but there were so many great one’s I didn’t have!  I mulled over my choices in several stores so I’d be ready when the time came.  See?  Mrs. Potts and Chip, Mushu and Cri-kee, Jack and Sally, and Mickey and Minnie were my final selections.

On the last day, as we made our purchases, we still needed one special something for ourselves.  Raymond and I have always loved Carl and Ellie from Up, so while I was busily debating the merits of one ornament over another and making my final choices, Raymond was looking at sketches being drawn by an artist right there in the store.  There were Carl and Ellie!  A very helpful Cast Member explained the custom framing options and we knew we’d found exactly what we were looking for.

We left our packages to be shipped home and ordered our sketch with a Grape Soda pin and our wedding date added at the bottom.  When we got home, waiting for our souvenirs did quite a bit to soften our post-Disney depression.  The anxiously awaited packages finally arrived and we were so pleased with how the framed sketch turned out.  Absolutely, it’s one of our favorite Disney purchases ever!

What’s your most favorite Disney purchase? 

Disney Around the House

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RM-Dalmation-Tea-PotIf you’ve been visiting here a while, you might remember when I talked about adding a little Disney to your day.  Being the Disney fans that we are, we do tend to accumulate a few Disney collectibles here and there.  I know guests to our home (who know us at all) probably expect to see a lot more Disney than there actually is…Don’t get me wrong!  It’s pretty much everywhere, but it’s not as prevalent (or overt) as one might expect.  You mostly have to be looking to see it all – but love each and every item we do!  And, in the future, there will be more…of course, there will be more.

Disney Around the House

If you’re going to live in an empty Disney nest, I recommend you surround yourself with at least a few special objects, strategically placed, to bring you peaceful Disney happiness during those times when the chicks who have flown the nest are in low-maintenance mode.  These are the times you can most enjoy a carefully crafted home environment sans drama (while constantly checking the days on your Disney vacation count-down app).  I’ve been experiencing just such an interlude recently and have been thinking about adding a few more pixie-dusted touches here and there.  First let’s talk about what we’ve already got & maybe you can help me decide which of our new Disney prints I should have framed next.

RM-Mary-Poppins-PrintCome in through the front door and you’ll notice the Mary Poppins-inspired print Joseph gave Raymond for Christmas.  No pics of the living room or dining room which are both Disney-décor free (for now), but in the kitchen – which is certainly the heart of our home – you’ll notice the most Disney love.

RM-Remy-PrintThe Remy Print we, in a crazy moment of Disney happiness, purchased on a Disney cruise a few years back is near our kitchen table.  RM-Mickey-Dinner-PlateOf course we have Disney dishes – including (not pictured) salad plates in both white and red.  RM-Disney-Mugs RM-Disney-Juice-GlassesWe have some Mickey dish towels and a spoon holder, a Haunted Mansion bottle stopper, and, of course, a selection of Disney coffee mugs and juice glasses.  RM-Disney-Cookie-JarThe Disney cookie jar currently stores packets of hot cocoa mix.  RM-Mickey-TrayMickey is always around, ready to lend a hand!

RM-Pirates-PrintThe Pirates picture Megan gave me for Christmas is in our upstairs TV room.  RM-Disney-Curio-CollectionIn our library is our curio of all small Disney collectibles.  RM-Disney-Junk-DrawerAnd we even have a Disney junk-drawer for storing some of our pins and new Christmas ornaments (wrapped in tissue paper) that haven’t been added formally to the Disney holiday collection.

Raymond and I picked up a couple-few (that’s the technical term here in the South for two to six items) more prints that we haven’t yet framed.  RM-Disney-Kitchen-PrintsCurrently we’re in pre-vacation penny-pinching mode, but when we get back, I want to have one or two of these framed & located in their as-yet-undecided places of honor.  We have two kitchen prints (from Food and Wine Festival shopping) featuring Goofy and Donald.  RM-Disney-Mickey-PrintA new Mickey picture.  RM-Ursula-PrintAnd Ursula who will look absolutely fantastic in our upstairs bathroom.  Which one(s) should we start with?

Do you decorate Disney-style?  What are your favorite pieces?

 

 

Disney at Home – Ratatouille Wine Print

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Disney at Home – Favorite Disney Cruise Souvenir

As a family of Disney fans, we don’t have as much Disney stuff around the house as you might imagine.  Oh, don’t get me wrong – visitors to our home figure it out quickly enough, but mostly, our Disney-ness is subtle.  I think.  Maybe.  One piece of evidence – proof positive that we are pretty crazy about all things Disney is an art print on our kitchen wall.

We bought cruise art.  There, it’s true.  I admit it.  It’s hard to resist temptation when, on each of five cruises on Disney Cruise Line (Magic and Wonder), we’ve browsed and admired the Disney art-for-purchase displayed prominently along the walls.  Most of it, thankfully, is not to our taste – but very beautiful, amazing even, just the same.

Then one day we saw IT!  The ONE.  Our browse-’em and leave-’em days were over.  The 1920’s-inspired Ratatouille Wine giclee print was completely irresistible.  It was perfect and we had toIMG_2082 have it.  Again with the emotion-based Disney purchase, but what can I say?  The style and colors were perfect for us.  It was a limited-edition so it might increase in value someday, but that’s not why we bought it.  Sometimes, when you love something, you just have to take a little piece of it home with you.  This picture represented the great times we’ve had on our Disney cruises.  (Plus, we love wine, love Ratatouille, and have a red kitchen)

IMG_4712I look at this picture on my kitchen wall every single day and remember how much we’ve enjoyed our Disney Cruise vacations.  Land-and-Sea Bahamas (Surprise Christmas gift), Western Caribbean (Megan’s senior year), Castaway Cay Double-Dip (Joseph’s best friend Jason came along), Alaska (Spectacular scenery, SO fantastic), and Mediterranean (Trip of a lifetime).  Remy smiling down at me from his perch next to the kitchen table reminds me of them all.  Will we ever buy another piece of cruise art?  Probably not.  But we sure love the one we’ve got!

What’s your favorite Disney Cruise Line souvenir?