Tag: covid

Lockdown Shopping Syndrome

Em

I’ve no idea if that’s an official term, but if it’s not, I’m coining it now. And I’ve been suffering from it. I know I’m definitely not the only one either! My best friend and I also call it #AddToBasket. It’s definitely an issue!

In the absence of other things to do / places to go, my poor bank accounts have taken a massive hit with perhaps some of the most random items I have ever purchased in my lifetime! (At the start of lockdown I bought a cello… A CELLO! I still intend to learn it properly, I just haven’t had the motivation)

A lot of the items I’ve bought though have been Disney related. Some have been just fun things, some have been for planning purposes and some have been little things that I think will be useful on a trip! So i thought I’d share a few here.

1. Loungefly Bags and Minnie Ears

I started my Loungefly backpack collection a little while ago, and keep adding the odd one. Some really cute ones have come out since lockdown began such as this Mulan one

this Cinderella anniversary one

and this fab light-up Tangled bag.

As for Minnie ears, I totally blame Molly from All Ears for my obsession! I used to have two pairs. Now I have MANY. From Disney store, from Etsy…. I just keep seeing cute ones! Agh! Help!

2. Minnie Mouse Main Attraction Mugs

The Minnie Mouse Main Attraction mugs (try saying that five times fast!) are part of a bigger collection of Loungefly Bag/Ears/Pin set/Mug/Minnie Plush, one of which has been released each month since January each based on a different Walt Disney World attraction.

After attempting to get an occasional backpack or set of ears (and I 100% mean attempt because these items going on sale at 8am and are typically sold out by 8.03am!) I decided on the mugs. They are stackable, but I decided to keep them in their boxes because they look really nice.

Minnie Mouse Main Attraction Mugs (and in front, wax melts with scents from the Magic Kingdom from SeillanMórShop on Etsy)

3. Walt Disney World Transportation Planner

I spotted this on Etsy and thought it would be really helpful when planning how to get between the parks or to different restaurants.

This was, of course, before park hopping ended, but I still just love it, especially as my husband has a fond love for London Underground style maps.

From Etsy seller WDWFocus

4. Disney Dinner Plates!

This dinner set from George caught my eye and now it’s our main dinner set! Even my husband likes it and I thought I’d have to talk him into having Mickey on his plates! (Note the hidden Mickey I made for my Instagram pic 😂)

Disney dinner service from George at Asda. Photo from my Instagram @gibsonsdodisney

These are just a few of the things we’ve bought! Have you found yourself shopping more? Found any lovely Disney things? Share your purchases!

Shout out to my Travel Agent

Em

I want to give a MASSIVE shout out to my travel agent, Peridot Harrison.

Actually first of all, let me give a shout out to ALL travel agents. I can’t imagine the hassle they must have been getting since the start of the lockdown in March. I know Peridot has had some really crappy people essentially blaming agents for things that could not be any less their fault.

Unprecedented is a big buzz word at the moment, but it’s certainly a correct one. Nobody could have predicted this, and the effect it would have on global travel. Everyone I know has had trips cancelled or postponed, but just about everyone I know has also been very gracious about it with the people who have helped book those trips.

Peridot has been on the receiving end of so many emails from me as I rescheduled our family trip so many times, or worried about whether we should move it again. And every time I apologised for bothering her, I was met with her reply saying that I wasn’t. She has done her absolute best for me and the family for several years now and is brilliant.

Peridot is a Travel Counsellor. If you have one, hooray! If you don’t, I highly recommend ours. She works from home and you don’t have to be close by, as she works over the phone and by email, so you could literally live at the other end of the country from her and still be her client.

As with all travel agents, you pay her nothing, but she gets commission from the places you book with when you book through her.

Check her out. She is (with the help of her business partner and best friend Claire who specialises in cruises) exceptional.

https://www.facebook.com/PeridotHarrisonTC/

Long time no blog!

Em

It’s been a while! I need to be more organised – not like I haven’t got time on my hands!

The last time I talked about our family holiday to Walt Disney World, we had had to reschedule it from July 2020 to October 2020.

In the midst of the coronavirus crisis, and to use a phrase much repeated, with an abundance of caution, we decided to move it even further ahead to February 2021 and as it happened we were glad we did because then the US closed its borders to the UK to all but non-essential travel, without basically two weeks quarantine on either side.

So, we moved it back to February 2021, not knowing how things would be then, and because we weren’t sure whether we would really get our money’s worth, with character greets and all that stuff being off the table, we downgraded from the Beach Club to a suite at the Art of Animation, a resort we know we love.

But it wasn’t long after that that we all had a family discussion and decided that we had rather save the money for the trip we had originally planned for and hopefully we will be able to make that in 2022, so we cancelled it. Ready to rebook for two years’ time.

I have to admit to you – I cried after I let my travel agent know. I’ve been looking forward to going back ever since I left. It was less than two years and now it will be almost four, but each time we move it, the countdown is a little less.

And we are not alone in having to do this, we know that. So sending solidarity hugs to everyone in the same boat.