Back in the early nineties, The Disney Stores began opening here in the UK. They were highly themed, with huge moving statues of our beloved Disney characters, and were full to the brim of Disney clothes, toys and collectables for fans of all ages. I remember there were pins, smart adults clothing, ties, snow globes and jewellery, along with the cuddly toys and mugs that are more common in today’s stores. In the mid 2000s however The Disney Store had a big modern make-over of most of the stores and became solely focused on their younger fans (much to the dismay of us adult collectors).

Recently though, thanks to collections like Oh My Disney, we have seen a major comeback of adult merchandise for adult Disney fans and collectors, re-introducing favourites such as t-shirts, pyjamas, handbags and stationary. This has been a very welcome return and I hope it is long to continue.

Another of the things that were introduced last year, specially for us adult Disney collectors, were the Mickey Memories plush, mug and pin sets, that were released monthly, to celebrate Mickey’s 90th birthday. The Mickey’s each had a different, unique style and design and were therefore highly collectable. In fact they caused quite a stir in the Disney community, with some fans queuing up at their local Disney Store from the early hours of the morning on release day, and others becoming very upset that they had missed out, only to see the plush toys pop up on Ebay for many times their original selling price.

Following on from the Mickey Memories, there is now a rather nice Donald Memories collection being released this year, though only available in Shanghai. It looks very similar to the Mickey Memories, though of course paying homage to our favourite duck! Disney vlogger Gregory Gaige has released a Youtube video reviewing the first Donald Duck Memories, if you would like to watch that and find out more information.

Disney Store have obviously seen how popular the Mickey Memories collections were, and due to this we now have two more collectable collections on offer to us throughout this year, 2019. The first one is called Disney Wisdom, and will feature popular and inspiring, Disney quotes, from some of our favourite Disney films, emblazoned on to plush toys, t-shirts, mugs and more. Each month’s collectables will be symbolised by a colour of the rainbow. It is an exciting collection as it looks like there will really be something for everyone, and to suit every budget too. The Disney Wisdom kicks off with Dumbo this month, and other films featured throughout the year include Aladdin, Cinderella, The Sword in the Stone, The Lion King and The Jungle Book, to name a few.

The other monthly collection which we can look forward to will be a charm bracelet and Disney Princess charms to go on it. This looks to be more for the younger Disney fans, and will probably be a bit more purse-friendly than the Disney Wisdom collection. One Princess charm will be released at the end of each month, focusing on a different Disney Princess, and a different pretty colour, each time. The charms will also be accompanied by two co-coordinating colour beads. These charms look to be similar to those sold by big jewellery companies such as Chamilia and Pandora, though as I have mentioned, will likely be much more affordable, which can only be good news for us fans! The Princesses that will feature in the Disney Princess Charms range, include all our favourites, such as Aurora, Snow White, Rapunzel, Moana, Tiana and many more. I am hoping to complete a full collection of these, as I love wearing Disney jewellery and adding it to my everyday look. I can’t wait to see what all the charms will look like together!

Another nice thing about these collectables being released one each month, is that you can pick and choose which ones you wish to purchase, if you don’t want to pick up the whole collection. For example, you may want to just collect the plush or Princess charm from your birthday month, or to celebrate the birth of a new baby. Or perhaps you are getting married this year and want to collect the Disney Wisdom plush to remind you of your special day, or of an anniversary. Of course these pieces also make wonderful gifts (I know I would be very pleased to be gifted any of the lovely collectables on offer!). Imagine collecting all of the princess charms throughout the year and then giving the completed bracelet to somebody special as a Christmas or birthday present!

Finally Disney Store is remembering us adults, and how important we are (we are the ones who have the money to spend in their stores, after all!). I feel like Disney Store is getting back to how it originally was, and being inclusive of their fans of all ages, which is wonderful news, in my opinion!

Personally, I am looking forward to the Lion King Disney Wisdom as it is my favourite Disney film, and for the Disney Princess charms, I am looking forward to the first month’s set of Aurora as it is pretty girly pink, and my favourite colour! Though it is nice to see some other characters in there, like Tiana and Moana, who we don’t get so much merchandise of.

The Disney Wisdom collectables will be released on the 18th of each month on Shop Disney beginning with Dumbo on 18th of January. The Disney Princess Charms collection will be released on the last Saturday of each month, beginning with Aurora on 26th of January.

Will you be collecting either the Disney Wisdom collection or the Disney Princess Charms collection this year? Which collectables are you looking forward to most? Let us know in the comments below!