My first visit to The Vacation Kingdom was in 1972 with a follow-up in 1973. I don’t remember much, as I was quite young, but a few things stood out. Surprisingly, Mickey Mouse was not one of them! Eeyore and being smothered by Winnie the Pooh in a sticky bear hug made the strongest impressions. Well, a ride on the Haunted Mansion didn’t do me any favors!
But the first visit to Walt Disney World with my wife took place in 2007. And that 15-day vacation will never be forgotten! To commemorate the occasion, I purchased this little Mickey keychain to dangle from my camera bag:
As you can see, he is well loved. I haven’t made it a habit to buy dated merchandise as it becomes irrelevant once time marches on. We did make an exception by buying a pin for each subsequent year. But as for buying t-shirts or spirit jerseys with a year blazoned across the front just doesn’t do it for me.
Mickey doesn’t have much of a butt, does he? I never noticed that before. This keychain has a pretty substantial clasp. This is probably why I haven’t lost him after so many years.
True Story: I had this little guy hanging from my camera bag for numerous visits to the Parks. Every single time a small child would cry out “It’s Mickey!” and point and try to grab him. We had a lot of nice conversations with the families and it’s made for some awesome memories!
Why is a piece of merchandise with ‘Walt Disney World’ clearly printed on it also labeled on the tag with ‘Disneyland’? I get the dual-Park branding, but at some point, it just doesn’t make sense!
Why I bought this Mickey keychain was because of the legs and arms. They are made of a tightly woven cord, or rope. I hadn’t seen many versions of Mickey made like this. I felt that it made him just that much more cute! What do you think?
I wrote a post years ago about what I thought every first-timer must-do on a Disney vacation. Check it out and see if you agree! Spoiler Alert: It involves a train.
