My Walt Disney World shopping haul

I always have a major case of the holiday blues when I come back from Walt Disney World, and this year was no exception. In order to combat the inevitable post-Disney sadness, it was obviously essential that I bought plenty of goodies to help with the cheering up process once I got home. This was also our first holiday since my operation last September and the resulting all-clear, so we quite rightly thought we deserved to treat ourselves.

Along with our Disney Dining Plan deal which I've already explained in a previous post, we also received a $100 gift card with our booking to spend on Disney merchandise. Gift cards are just fantastic, aren't they? Guilt-free spending!

I put together a pre-holiday shopping wishlist before I went away, and this actually helped me to focus my mind and narrow down my choices when I was surrounded by all the Disney merchandise you could ever wish for.

So, what did we buy in Walt Disney World this year?

This beauty was a special present from Neil and my parents. It was partly an early birthday present and partly a gift to mark everything I've been through over the last year. I've wanted a Disney Dooney & Bourke bag since the first time I set foot in Florida five years ago and I absolutely adore it! 

I also bought a new charm for my ever-growing Disney Pandora bracelet. I decided on the firework charm on the left hand side as it'll always remind me of the last time I saw Wishes at the Magic Kingdom. I also bought these Disney pens which are proving to be excellent photo props... 

I bought three Disney teddies this year to add to my extensive collection - Minnie Mouse in her pink and white dress, a special edition ShellieMay from the 2017 Flower and Garden Festival, and Baymax! Oh, and there's those pens again. 

I love this Minnie Mouse tshirt. It was so difficult to choose just one from the vast array of choices available and I didn't manage to make the decision until our penultimate evening!

I'm now the proud owner of a Chip mug. I bought it in Florida because I couldn't get hold of it in the UK, and since I've come back there are hundreds of them in Cardiff's Disney Store. You live and learn. 

This mug was Neil's choice. As I said in my last blog post, how on earth can two circles and a line be so cute?! An excellent addition to our overflowing mug cupboard. 

My parents-in-law have these coasters in their house and I've always loved them, so I was delighted when I finally got my hands on a set for our own house. I love the little Mickey holder!

I can't possibly go to Walt Disney World without bringing back a fridge magnet. 

I did tell myself sternly that I wouldn't buy any costumes for Duffy and ShellieMay this year, but I couldn't leave this Lady costume behind! In my defence, I managed not to buy any Duffy costumes so I did keep to half my side of the bargain. 

My new Disney gym bag makes every exercise session a little more appealing (and my old gym bag was literally falling apart at the seams). 

We're getting a puppy in a few weeks so we took the opportunity to buy her some Disney treats in advance of her arrival. We bought two bowls, a Minnie Mouse collar for her first few months, and a purple collar and matching lead which she can wear when she's a little bigger. She'll almost definitely have a Disney dog name... watch this space. 

I also bought two pairs of Mickey earrings (one in silver and one in rose gold), but I couldn't get a decent photograph of them so you'll just have to imagine what they look like I'm afraid. 

I absolutely love all my Disney purchases and they do go some way towards helping with those pesky holiday blues. 

Have you blogged about your Walt Disney World shopping hauls recently? Send me your links! 

My 2017 Disney character meets

Even though I love going to Walt Disney World with all my heart, I'm not very good at one of the main Disney trip staples - character meets.

As soon as I get to the front of the character interaction queue, I get all shy and awkward (even more so than usual) and never really know what I'm supposed to do. Do they want me to talk to them, even if they can't talk back? Should I go in for a hug? How long should I stand there with them? What should I do with my bag and should I take my sunglasses off? Will they think it's a weird that a woman in her 30s wants a photo with them on her own? Yes, I do overthink the simplest of things.

However, despite my reservations in this area, I always make sure I meet a few special characters for those all-important photo opportunities. I thought I'd share this year's character meets on my blog... all three of them!

First of all, I absolutely have to meet Pluto on every trip as he's my favourite Disney character of all time. This year, I'd even ordered a pair of custom-made Pluto ears from Closet Geek Site beforehand so I made sure I wore them to Epcot on our second full day in preparation for our reunion. He got adorably excited about the ears... I love him. 

Next up was a new character for this year - Baymax! Big Hero 6 is one of my favourite modern Disney films and I'm still amazed that the animators managed to make two circles and a line look so cute. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to get my photo taken with my favourite healthcare companion, and I must admit that getting wrapped up in a squidgy Baymax hug was very comforting. Thankfully (mostly for his sake rather than mine), he was stationed in an air-conditioned room!

Lastly, I took the opportunity to meet one more new character for 2017. When I saw that Olaf was meeting guests in Hollywood Studios and the wait time wasn't ridiculous, I just had to join the queue. I needn't have worried about character interaction on this occasion as it was very much a 'get in, pose for one photo, get out' policy. As I'm sure you can imagine, Olaf is a very popular character attraction! I'd already exhausted all my character meet social skills by this point as I'd met Baymax on the same day, so I wasn't disappointed by the brevity of this visit. 

Although most die-hard fans probably meet more than three characters in an hour on their typical Disney trip, I'm pretty pleased with my total considering my slight phobia of character meets! Do you have any 'must meet' characters on your Disney trips?