Behold, A Handful of Things I Brought HOME From Disney World Last Week That Were Worth the Extra Checked Bag Fee

Airline baggage fees are absolutely infuriating, except when they’re incurred for luggage used to encase brand-new pieces of magic you bring home from Disney World. Behold, a few things I brought back from Disney World last week that were totally worth the extra checked baggage fee!

Credit: Becky Burkett

If you’re just beginning your journey to becoming a Disney Adult, you’ve no doubt read more takes on the 10 Things to (Always, Never, Possibly, Maybe, For Sure) Pack for Your Next Disney World Trip than you would have ever believed could have been published online in the time that has elapsed since dinosaurs roamed the earth. And if you’re already a frequent visitor at the parks at Disney World, chances are you might have even published a version of your own to join the overflowing archives of online pieces declaring to serve as the definitive, hands-down best way to [insert activity here] on your next trip to Disney World.

There’s just one problem: if you love the parks and jet off, drive, walk, hitchhike, Uber, or cartwheel your way to Central Florida every chance you get, you likely also have some very specific preferences about the way to “do Disney World,” including which food to eat, which restaurants to skip, which rides to do before lunch (and which ones to never do after lunch), and whether EPCOT is the park to skip on a three-day trip to Disney World.

It is not, by the way. But I digress.

Credit: Becky Burkett

If we’re honest, those of us who visit the parks so often that we’ve found the bride’s wedding ring 1,276 times in the queue for the Haunted Mansion attraction, we know there’s actually a key under the mat at Muppet-Vision 360 at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, we know that the lute player in the Renaissance scene of the Spaceship Earth attraction was once President Dwight Eisenhower in the Hall of Presidents attraction at Magic Kingdom and that there are no restrooms in Liberty Square because that wouldn’t have lined up with an accurate historical account of the era, also know what we like and what we don’t like at Disney World.

And because we’re experts, very little can sway us otherwise.

When not writing about the glorious Disney Parks, the unfathomable genius and visionary talents of Walter Elias Disney, and a new $1 trillion-dollar company that has emerged to acquire The Walt Disney Company from my office in North Texas, you’ll usually find me “conducting research” for future posts from my second home at the Walt Disney World Resort. And, like you, there are certain “things” about the way I prefer to enjoy the magic that pours out into the streets and spills over ever rooftop inside the parks.

Credit: Becky Burkett

Once you become a Disney World expert, whether self-proclaimed or otherwise, reading another Guest’s take on 8 Ways to Wear Your Hair at Space Mountain So It Looks Good in the On-Ride Photos Afterward doesn’t hold water–or your interest. Neither do online posts aimed at leading you to believe that your life is drab and will remain as such unless you purchase the newest line of [insert IP and merchandise type here] at the Disney Parks.

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To that end, I’d like to endeavor to share with you (and by no means sway you, of course) some of the most amazing things I “earned” over the last two weeks at the Walt Disney World Resort. This merch, in my humble yet accurate opinion, is some of the more fun and interesting things I’ve ever brought back from the parks. I mean, I didn’t even mind paying the extra checked bag fee to bring them home with me.

To my recollection, I hadn’t seen any of these items on any of the 985 bajillion If You Don’t Buy This Merch on Your Disney Trip, Tinker Bell Will Withhold the Pixie Dust, and You Will Never Feel the Magic Again posts online. And that’s probably one of the things I love most about these things that I bought at Disney World and welcomed into my home in North Texas.

Things Walt Disney Could Have (but Probably Didn’t) Have on His Desk in Burbank

The Walt Disney Company is celebrating is centennial anniversary this year, and some people are confused because the company didn’t start out with that name. Instead, Walt and his older brother, Roy, who played the part of financial wizard in the Disney Bros. duo first started the business in October 1923 as the Disney Bros. Studios. If you’ve ever been so kind as to read my posts, you will hear an undercurrent of a deep adoration for the person, the visionary, and the genius of Mr. Walter Elias Disney that flows through every piece.

Add to that the fact that I’m a writer by trade, and there way no way I was going to leave these things on a shelf at Disney’s Hollywood Studios when they’d look far more comfortable on my desk at home.

Walt Disney, Cartoonist Mug that features the address of the first studio where Walt worked as an artist/Credit: Becky Burkett

Walt Disney Studios Post-It Note holder that looks like a mini-typewriter/Credit: Becky Burkett

The notes read, “Character Model Dept.”/Credit: Becky Burkett

Now I Can Advertise Walt’s “Wonderful World of Color” Wherever I Go

When Walt Disney was developing his plans for Disneyland in the early 1950s, he only had so much money with which to work. To supplement his own assets, he reached out to manufacturers and companies to sponsor attractions and rides in the park: increased cashflow for Walt and great advertising for the sponsors. But he still came up short, so he went to the executives at the ABC television network to ask about partnering with them to bring his dream of Disneyland to fruition.

ABC agreed to float Walt financially in exchange for content on the network on Sunday evenings. The Wonderful World of Disney was born. And in 1957, two years after Disneyland opened, The Wonderful World of Color debuted.

Last week, Disney’s Wonderful World of Color debuted on the hoodie I bought at Disney Springs and brought home so Walt wouldn’t feel so alone on a hanger at night when all the Cast Members and Guests leave for the day.

“Ears? More Mickey Ears? Yes, More Mickey Ears, Dear, Because I Don’t Have THESE!”

Anyone who ever said you can have too many Mickey ears or ear headbands must not have ever been taken aback by the magic in the parks. (I’m looking at you, husbands in the room.) There is no such thing as “too many ears,” and when you visit the parks, even while wearing a brand-new pair you just ordered from Etsy, when you see a pair you’ve never seen before, it draws you in, and there’s nothing to do but buy them and ask the kind Cast Member assisting you to please clip off the tags as well because you are wearing these ears outta the shop.

So that’s exactly what I did with both my near Walt Disney Studios ears that I bought at Hollywood and my new Disney 100 light-up ears that I found at World of Disney!

Walt Disney Studios ears with stars inside the ears and a film take clapper on top/Credit: Becky Burkett

Disney100 Light-Up Anniversary ears/Credit: Becky Burkett

May the Force Be With Him

Since my husband didn’t say a word about the new ears, how could I say anything about the stormtrooper helmet he wanted? I couldn’t have and I wouldn’t have; in fact, I had my daughter buy them when he wasn’t looking so he’d be surprised. It’s a bit bulky, a little heavy, and I developed instant clostrophobia when I tried it on, but if Star Wars is your bag, you might want to bag this helmet the next time you’re in the parks. It’s even got a voice distortion mechanism in it so you can definitely sound like a stormtrooper at home. Or wherever you want to sound like a stormtrooper. I won’t judge.

“Star Wars” stormtrooper helmet with voice distortion/Credit: Becky Burkett

These are just a few of the things I brought home from Disney World last week that made me feel so much better about paying that extra checked baggage fee, and it’s nice to bring a piece of the magic home, as it’s always so hard to leave the parks!