Addicted to Disney
Caz is addicted to anything Disney, Wayne is her husband aka Mr Disney gets dragged along to all the Parks and shows and doesn't like to admit he is a Stitch Fan.
Join us as we share our experiences and thoughts on anything related to Disney from Disney Parks, and Disney Cruises, to Collectables and anything else made by the Mouse.
Addicted to Disney
The Enchanting Universe of Disney Collectibles: Loungefly, Ears, and Pins
Ever wonder how a single bag could unlock the door to a world of Disney enchantment?
Caz and Wayne share the whimsical tale of Caz's collection's growth from one to many, each bag with its own story and a special place in her heart (and on a shoulder). It's a journey filled with light-hearted debates and a touch of mischief, especially when it comes to gently nudging partners into becoming unsuspecting contributors to our ever-expanding array of park-specific, character-themed, and seasonal bags. These aren't just accessories; they're companions for every Disney adventure, sparking joy and holding essentials (and maybe a bit of pixie dust).
As we waltz further into the magical realm of collectibles, we move to Mickey Mouse ears takes center stage, proving that each pair isn't merely a souvenir but an essential piece of a much-loved Disney-themed ensemble. From Frozen-inspired ears that shimmer under cruise ship lights to the spooktacular selections for a Halloween jaunt in the park, every set tells a story and elevates the experience. But wait, there's more!
We'll also pin down the allure of Disney enamel pins, exploring the breadth of designs that captivate fans from all corners of the globe. It's not just about collecting – it's about connecting with a community that shares a love for all things Disney.
Caz and Wayne are Addicted to Disney, a podcast about the ups and downs of Disney trips, from Parts to Cruises we will try it all.
Caz collects Disney Ears, Characters and Loungefly bags. Wayne likes cameras.
I have pressed the magic button you pressed the button.
Speaker 2:Now we're using your list or my list.
Speaker 1:We should start with. I don't know.
Speaker 2:You can do the introduction this time.
Speaker 1:Oh, I've got to do the introduction.
Speaker 2:Yes, you can.
Speaker 1:So today, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Addicted to Disney podcast. Today, we're going to talk about something that is very close to Kazzy's heart, because she's doing it all the time, and that is Disney collectibles. What are you on about? What do you mean? What am I on? About I don't collect too much two-thirds of our luggage coming back from any trip is full of things that kaz is quote collecting unquote that's why I take half empty suitcases exactly so.
Speaker 1:It's like I get two pairs of pants and a t-shirt and I come back with two pairs of pants and nine t-shirts eight of I come back with two pairs of pants and nine t-shirts. Eight of them all fit cats. So what are we going to start with? We're going to start with your favourite, I think.
Speaker 2:My favourite.
Speaker 1:Yeah, lounge fly bags.
Speaker 2:Lounge fly bags. Okay, Now, I hadn't actually planned to start collecting lounge fly bags.
Speaker 1:That's what she says.
Speaker 2:No, I hadn't. Honestly, I hadn't actually planned to start collecting lounge light bags, because initially I couldn't see the appeal of them. And then I got my first one. I was like, yeah, these are quite nice. I was like, well, that's a summer one, so Halloween's coming. Oh, I'll get a Halloween one. Oh, I like that Halloween one. That's quite sweet. So then I bought a Christmas one, and then I started seeing character ones and park specific ones and um, so what is the definition of a lounge fly bag?
Speaker 2:lounge fly. Lounge fly is a brand, and what they are for me is they are small backpack style handbags that you'll probably quite often see people wearing around the parks, and they're lightweight, they're comfortable to wear and they're just really nice. And to me it's my bag, it's my park bag true, I do sometimes get to stick stuff in it yes, oh, are you taking a bag today? Good, can you put that in there for me?
Speaker 1:yes, yeah, basically she has a bag for for every day, and sometimes one for the evening as well, because we're going to go and see some particular character and it's like, oh, I'm going to bring the winnie the pooh bag with me I might have the odd one or two when I go that sort of well, that's my general park bag and, okay, we've got a special event.
Speaker 2:So that's that park bag. And on the recent trip which was our cruise it's close above I've got one for going into the park, I've got one for going on the cruise and I've got one for matching my outfit, and then another two accidentally fell in the suitcase yeah, and then we get into the big discussion about I'm only going to buy one.
Speaker 1:So she then goes and buys a larger lounge fly bag and denies that it is a lounge fly bag oh, I know which one you're on about.
Speaker 2:Are you on about my cruise ship rucksack?
Speaker 1:bag. Yes, the definition of a lounge fly bag. Now, ladies, and bear with me here, as far as I'm concerned, there's two requirements for a lounge fly bag. One, it has to be made by lounge fly, which is quite obvious. Two, it has to be a bag, and to me, a bag is a receptacle for carrying things. Therefore, the one that goes on your back and the one that goes over your shoulder that are made by lounge fly are both lounge fly bags. I hope you agree with me.
Speaker 2:If you don't agree with me, please don't write in, because nobody's worried about it really what this boils down to is on our second cruise a couple of years ago, I went into the shop and I spotted a really nice lounge fly branded and I'm gonna stick to that lounge fly branded it's a lounge fly bag rucksack bag which was going to be ideal for using as a port bag because it had internal zips, it was waterproof and it was bigger than a standard lounge fly backpack.
Speaker 2:Now, the lounge fly backpacks are actually quite small and generally have a big internal pocket and a front zip pocket and two little side pockets. But this one is actually. It's the size of a rucksack but it's got lounge fly on it.
Speaker 1:It's a lounge fly bag.
Speaker 2:He's convinced it's a lounge fly bag.
Speaker 1:I don't need to be convinced. It is a lounge fly bag.
Speaker 2:But yeah, I do do the rule that I'm only going to buy one and then I do the, but you can always buy one as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, she uses that trick. So, guys or girls, when your partner says I'm only going to buy one, but I really like that one over there, what that actually means is you can buy it for me and therefore I've only bought one, because you bought the other one, or two or three, or four. It doesn't stop. It goes on forever, and every single time you go to a park, every single time you go to a cruise, there is another lounge fly bag, because they shell them out like eggs. Every week there's new lounge fly bags.
Speaker 2:And I will point out, I'm not the only one to have a lounge fly bag, am I?
Speaker 1:That's not a lounge fly bag.
Speaker 2:Yes, it is is. Does it say lounge, fly on it? Is it a bag? It lights up do you put things in it?
Speaker 1:yeah it's a lounge fly bag then okay, yes, I bought a tron lounge fly bag, but it wasn't one of those silly little backpack ones. This one's a it's a crossbody it's a crossbody, more manly style, and it lights up when it's drawn. It's quite good.
Speaker 2:And I won't mention that Loungefly Do is.
Speaker 1:Let's not even go there, and Purses.
Speaker 1:Let's not even go there, because if you realise, if you mention Purses, you then have to mention the other company. Are you being doonies? Yeah, and by the way, just to demonstrate how bad this actually gets, when we buy things now just in the house or just for ourselves, we now count them in lounge fly bags. Lounge fly bags for us is almost a currency now, so it's like oh, that's a hundred pound, well, that's one and a half lounge fly bags it's a bit like you and your gadgets and goosebumps.
Speaker 2:How much was that? Oh, that was pounds. Oh, that's free land flies in. And then he goes and buys himself a camera bag. And I ask him okay, that's a really nice camera bag. And the comment was it's the same price as a dooney. Now, if you know what dooney bags are, dooney bags are very expensive, very nice, they are made of leather, but so is my camera bag but I prefer my loungewear bags yeah, dooney bags are very expensive, I do.
Speaker 2:I do prefer my loungewear bags. And a top tip they make very good packing cubes for in your suitcase so you can carry more of them exactly.
Speaker 1:Okay, you mentioned ears ears, yes. If you've ever been to a disney park or any disney event, or even these days, walking down the street, one thing you're going to see is kids and adults wearing mickey mouse ears. Now you'd think that Barryman, mickey Mouse, is a mouse with black ears, that Mickey Mouse ears would just be black ears that go onto a headband. No, you're wrong. There are thousands and thousands and thousands, and as we publish this there'll be another thousand out there of Mickey Mouse ears. You can go to any store in any Disney environment and they will be hundreds of different ears. And again, they change every five minutes. So guess what? Kaz collects them. So how many Mickey Mouse ears do you think you have?
Speaker 2:I actually counted them.
Speaker 1:Oh, God, please no.
Speaker 2:How many? Come on tell.
Speaker 1:I'm sitting down.
Speaker 2:How much does one lounge player cost?
Speaker 1:I'm not worried about the cost at the moment. How many disney ears do you have?
Speaker 2:uh, not quite three digits. I think I've got about 50 pairs, maybe 60 but you've only got one head yeah, and you have to coordinate your ears to your outfit and your bag.
Speaker 2:So so if, say, you're going to a restaurant on the cruise and the theme is, say, arendelle, you have to have frozen ears, frozen bag and a frozen inspired outfit. If you're going to the park and it's Halloween, you have to have Halloween ears, halloween T-shirts, halloween pack bags. If you're going to a celebration event, then you have to have halloween ears, halloween t-shirts, halloween packbacks. If you're going to a celebration event, then you have to have ears that match. They form part of an outfit. And okay, I admit I take six or seven pairs with me whenever I go on an average disney trip. I like to be different. I don't like being seen out. Oh, she's got the same ears on she's got the same ears.
Speaker 2:I must admit, you don't often see people with the same ears you do if they've only got one pair, and I will point out 90 of my ears are official disney ears. You can get ears from other high street retail shops, not mentioning their names, but most of my ears are official disney ears and some of my ears are also made by non-fly which means they're even more expensive.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and, and the ears are also collectible, asounfly, which means they're even more expensive. Yeah, and the ears are also collectible as well. There are some really lovely ones. I've got some that light up. I've got some that have a swap your bow, which is basically I've got a black headband and this one black headband suddenly turns into six or seven different ears because I've got different bows that I can swap over. So I like my ears. I actually feel naked when I'm not wearing them.
Speaker 1:She has even been known to wear them at work.
Speaker 2:Yep, and at home and when I'm doing a lot of my editing on YouTube, I even have to wear themed ears, depending on what video I'm doing. So if it's cruise-specific videos, it's cruise ears. If it's theme park ears, it's theme park ears. So where's the best place to buy ears? Best place to buy ears are in the parks themselves, because they do have the widest range. Some of the larger shops, like Emporium that you find on Main Street, world of Disney that you find in the Disney Village or in Disney Springs, some of the other shops within the parks, like if you want a specific style of ear, if, say, you're looking for Marvel ears and Avengers Campus in Disneyland Paris, or if you want something personalised in Walt Disney World, they actually have a shop where you can buy what they call an ear hat. It's actually a hat with Mickey Mouse ears and you can have it embroidered so you can actually have your name put on it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that doesn't class as ears.
Speaker 2:It is, that's a hat, it is no it's a hat it's a ear, hat it's a hat, but mr disney has got a thing about me wearing ears because if she's wearing them, I don't have to and also, if you haven't heard our podcast about characters, mr disney did have an encounter with olaf, where olaf laughed at him in my disney years.
Speaker 1:I'm saying nothing.
Speaker 2:I deny everything although I do occasionally say to him just try this on for five minutes and grab the picture of him here and there.
Speaker 1:It never happens. This does no, this does. So what's these ears that you keep going on about?
Speaker 2:Oh, the rather expensive ears. When Disney had its 50th anniversary and walked Disney World, they brought out a crystallized set of disney ears. Now, they were absolutely stunning, and I mean absolutely stunning as they were so pretty and shiny. I do like shiny things and if you, if you like anything with crystals on, you'll know exactly what I mean in this case of crystallized items. Look great they. They were really, really pretty. But to give you an idea how expensive they were, they actually had to have them in a glass displayed cabinet and they had a rather large price tag.
Speaker 1:Which was.
Speaker 2:The first pair I looked at were $550, which were really nice. The next ones I looked at were $650, which were okay, and then the set I looked at in Disneyland Paris were €350.
Speaker 1:$650 or €350 for a pair of Disney ears.
Speaker 2:Yeah, a crystal Disney ears to celebrate anniversary.
Speaker 1:No she's looking at me across the studio, going you could buy them for me and I could then talk about them, and the answer's no, no, no, no and no no there has just been a released set of ears in Walt Disney World by Dooney and Burke, which are really, really, really nice.
Speaker 2:Um, but they're 275 dollars.
Speaker 1:Dooney and Burke ears now. So these are the same company that make Dooney bags yeah, yes, I'm not buying either. Good, nor am I. Anyway, let's get to something collectible that's slightly cheaper Pins, pins, pins, basil.
Speaker 2:Pins yes, disney pins. Disney have got an enormous and I mean enormous range of enamel pin badges. Basically, these are metallic pins, metallic badges which are a bit of Disney characters. Range of enamel pin badges. Basically these are metallic pins, metallic badges which are a bit of Disney characters, disney park icons, disney logos, with a, a pin which basically has a spiky pin that you can then wear on a lanyard and then you can wear them around the parks. I might just happen to have a few.
Speaker 1:How many is a few?
Speaker 2:I'm not telling you.
Speaker 1:Go and tell.
Speaker 2:About 350. I'm saying nothing, but they are collectible. They do do different ones. They do do seasonal ones. They do Christmas ones, valentine's ones, easter ones. They do do seasonal ones. They do christmas ones, valentine's ones, easter ones. They do do seasonals. They do do celebration event ones. So they were the 50th anniversary ones for walt disney world, there was the 30th anniversary ones for disneyland paris and they do do what they call limited editions, but they only make so many of them and they are collected items and they're just really great, it's lovely and, yeah, I like collecting them so when you have these, what do you do with them?
Speaker 2:you build up a collection, but you can also go pin trading. Now, pin trading is something that you hear a lot about on various pin forums you might be on. Basically, with pin trading, you meet up with a person or a group of people and you look at what pins they've got that they don't want to have keep anymore and what you've got, especially if you've got duplicates which I do have a couple of duplicates which are part of what I call my traders and you can swap. The general rule is you try to swap for the same level pin. So if you've got a pin, say, worth seven dollars, you want to swap it for a seven dollar one. You don't want to swap a ten dollar pin for a six dollar pin because it it doesn't really work out like that.
Speaker 2:But with the main rule with pin trading, especially if you're going to pin trade with cast members, um, within the disney rules are they have to be official disney pins. Now you do get fake ones out there and they're quite easy to spot because when you look on the back they they're a very cheap and manual and all the Disney pins are actually embossed. They've got Mickey's on the back. They normally have a Mickey pinhead, and they do actually have somewhere the Disney logo.
Speaker 1:And it says copyright Disney.
Speaker 2:And it does say copyright Disney. They are collectible and there's some really nice ones out there as well, and there's some exclusive ones as well. Even you've got a couple. Yeah, I've got a couple.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I've got a couple.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because you've got your PhotoPass and your Cruise one.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I managed to get one, which is a PhotoPass one. It's actually one that a lot of the cast members who take pictures wear, and as a photographer, it was one that just appealed. And yeah, it's a sort of Mickey Mouse shape with a green spirally bit in the middle, but it's quite rare as well, so I'm told.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it is quite a rare one and obviously going on the cruises you get cruise-specific ones as well. So it's just another sort of souvenir of a trip and it also helps build up another collection, not as if I don't need to collect anything?
Speaker 1:Yeah, shall we go on to what else you collect?
Speaker 2:What do you mean?
Speaker 1:Well, I have a list here.
Speaker 2:Okay, oh, he's got a list. I have another one of those lists. Oh yeah, I always get worried when he has his lists because I never know what's on them, because he sits scribbling what you're doing nothing and I don't realize. It's another list for me. Okay, what's on the list?
Speaker 1:okay, fridge magnets fridge magnets. Yeah, I've got a few yeah, we had to buy a bigger fridge again, fridge magnets are collectible.
Speaker 2:You get all different ones. You get ones that are photo framed, you get parks, specific ones, you get special ones, and I might have about 50 so far yeah, we had to get a new fridge and also with magnets. You do. Actually, if you're an annual pass holder in walt disney world, you do get the occasionally get the chance to go and show your annual pass and you get a annual pass specific magnet.
Speaker 1:Yes, magnets Also on my list, and considering I'm sitting in a studio on a settee that is covered in stuffed animals, I could suggest that you actually collect stuffed animals characters as well.
Speaker 2:I collect Stitch and I collect Mickey and Minnie's and I collect Winnie the Pooh's. Now, this stems back from my first trip to Disneyland Paris back when it was Euro Disney. I brought home a Mickey Mouse and then, just after I came back, the Disney shop opened. If you can ever remember the old style Disney shops around, they used to have the big plush mountains. I always wanted a mountain of Disney plushes, so I started collecting Mickey Mouses and then I bought my first Winnie the Pooh, because Winnie the Pooh is one of my favourite Disney characters. And then I discovered that they did all sorts of various different Winnie the Poohs. You can get Winnie the Poohs in different outfits. I've got Winnie the Pooh.
Speaker 1:You've got Winnie the Pooh.
Speaker 2:I've got about 175 Winnie the Poohs.
Speaker 1:You what I've got.
Speaker 2:Winnie the Pooh's you got 175, winnie the Pooh's yes, all collectibles, and some of them are dated as well. And then I also collect Mickey Mouses. I don't have as many Mickey Mouses at the moment. At the moment she says and, of course, a Stitch, which we really like. So yeah, disney plushies are fun, they're cuddly, they're so cuddly, they're so fluffy what else do we have?
Speaker 1:spirit jerseys spirit jerseys. This is expensive disney sweatshirts very nice disney sweatshirts.
Speaker 2:Spirit jersey is a slightly. It's a brand of disney apparel sweatshirts that you can get in the parks and they do all different types and styles and colors and basically it's a jumper, a long-sleeve jumper, which often has a motif or a picture on the front and on the back it has a picture or a motif and some big writing. So you have Walt Disney World specific ones, you have Disney Cruise specific ones. You have the Disney 100 ones, because last year was 100 year of Disney, you got the Disney 100 ones. You have the anniversary ones. They're just really comfortable jumpers. Mr Disney's got a couple as well.
Speaker 1:I wouldn't describe them as jumpers, they're sweatshirts they're not as thick as a sweatshirt.
Speaker 2:They're a slightly more lightweight sweatshirt. They're not a jumper jumper, they're lightweight. They're ideal out in Florida and also actually roll them up and put them in the bottom of your lounge fly bag.
Speaker 1:Another use for lounge fly bags.
Speaker 2:But yeah, there are other things you can collect at Disney. There are Disney mugs, disney pens, disney knickknacks, disney ornaments, disney Christmas decorations yes, I have a Disney Christmas tree and if you could see our studio now, there is lots and lots of Disney ornaments around. So, yeah, there are all sorts of things you can collect, but the main collectibles for me are my lounge flies, are my pins and are my ears and my plushies.
Speaker 1:Thank God for that.
Speaker 2:Well, if I wanted to start collecting everything, I'd need a bigger house.
Speaker 1:Anyway, I think we've bored people enough now.
Speaker 2:If you have Disney collectibles. It'd be interesting to hear what you think. And, ladies, I think you all agree with me that lounge fly bags are a necessity and having more than one is a must-have. Yes, dear.
Speaker 1:I'm going to buy you another one now. I'm saying that instead.
Speaker 2:I am.
Speaker 1:Anyway, I think it's time to say goodbye.
Speaker 2:It's time to say goodbye because, guess what? I'm going back on to shop. This needs to go shopping. Bye.
Speaker 1:More lounge fly bags. Anyway, thanks for listening and have a good one.
