The Disney Bag Lady

By Gaylin

It turns out I am a bag lady! I have kept merchandise bags from many of my trips. Way too many bags! I don’t use plastic bags in my day-to-day life, that is not Eco-friendly. But when I go on vacation, I seem to end up with way too many of them!

I have taken 14 trips to WDW and 2 to Disneyland and the results are all these bags:

These bags from either 1978 or 1979 were a fairly thick paper that feel like they have a bit of a coating on them. Probably to make them survive a bit better in the rain!

I went to WDW in 1985 and I think this example was from that trip. I like that this bag  has different pictures on either side.

Front and back, 2 different sizes. I have no idea the year or trip that these came from!

 

I think these are from 2005, when it was Disneyland’s 50th Celebration. Notice the Hidden Mickey cuff link on the jacket sleeve. Again: Front and back.

 

These next two are from the same trip. I had so many bags all over my apartment that I didn’t get a photo of them together.

Balloons!

An assortment of Disneyland bags.

These are very big bags! I have samples of bags in a lot of different sizes. Such a Disney Dork!

I think this one comes from a trip in the 1990′s. I had to pay $2 for this one.

Another one that I am pretty sure I paid a dollar or two for. Very heavy plastic for lots of souvenirs!

Last but not least is this little beauty. A very tiny bag, probably from a trip in the 1980′s when I bought a pair of Mickey earrings.

And that’s it for the bags. But speaking of earrings: That’s for another post!

The 'View' at Downtown Disney

by Gaylin

While I was on vacation in May, I spent some time at Downtown Disney. It appears I have bad luck when it comes to choosing a time to visit WDW, a lot of the construction walls that were up when I was there are now down, and the stores are open. But me, I got to see construction walls . . . starting with the new Starbucks on the Westside.

And by the Cirque du Soleil there will be a food truck park. This hasn't opened yet but it has quite a big area to park in.

Behind these walls is more of the Food Truck Park. 

The Co-op looks like a great store, I would have loved to have seen it . . .

I have no idea what they are building with this huge crane near Fulton's or if it is a staging area for construction supplies to be brought in from the water rather than through Downtown.

 

As you can see, in front of T-Rex, it does look like a staging ground for construction supplies. If anyone knows if this is a staging area or a new build - let me know!

Behind Planet Hollywood is where the new parking lot is going in and it is huge! Most of the west side parking lot is closed for construction vehicles so if you need to park at Downtown - good luck.

Downtown Disney is going to be renamed Disney Springs at some point and this is the construction drawing of what that new parking structure is going to look like.

Here you can see that it is quite close to the Westside, here by Splitsville is about the centre of the parking structure.

This is the front of the World of Disney, where the other Starbucks is. Again, not open when I was there, opened shortly after I got home. I was quite surprised to see it sitting front and centre of the store. It is a walk-up location, no seating available. I wonder if the Starbucks craze ever ends, this location was chosen to make it easy to switch out to a Disney branded coffee shop or other food service area.

And finally, some silliness. Me and Lego Princess Sofie in the Lego store. Yep, she stayed still for a selfie!!!

And Cinderella for another selfie, she is so pretty and loves getting her picture taken.

Downtown Disney Birthday

By: Arnick

I had an awesome time for my birthday this year. My husband and son took me out for my special day. We did a different take on Disney this time. instead of going to the parks, we decided to go to Downtown Disney!

Got to love a nice relaxing day at Downtown Disney. When we got there we had to find a decent parking space because Disney is in the middle of building a large parking complex (Hooray for more parking!). They are also starting a re-imagining of Downtown Disney which will be called Disney Springs. It will be fun to see the changes being made.

Once we got there we headed to Raglan Road for my birthday lunch. Raglan Road is an Irish pub located in the Pleasure Island area of Downtown Disney. It was named after Raglan Road in Dublin. I love going here. It's also one of my husband Jared's favorite restaurants.

The atmosphere is always fun and cozy. The food is wonderful, and the entertainment which includes Irish singers and dancers is a sight to see!
Also I can never forget to say hi to my friend Patty(nickname for him).
Patrick Kavanagh was a well-known Irish poet. Got to love seeing his thinking face every time you pass the pub.

After lunch we headed to the World of Disney. The largest Disney store in the world. I love going around and looking at everything Disney. It makes my heart happy.

But, of course I had to get another pair of Disney ears. Finally made it to the double digits with purchasing my tenth pair. My process of picking out my ears... it's kind of ridiculous. But this time I chose the purple crown ones. Love my new ears!

Happy birthday to me! Hehe.