Mickey Mouse Memories is a series of monthly collectible Mickey Mouse Plushes, Mugs, Pins, and Christmas Ornaments. There will be one new plush each month along with the other items, and this started last January.
I only found out about them a few weeks ago! It's probably a good thing, because I would have wanted to collect all of them. The Ebay prices are insane. I contemplated getting all the pins, but decided against that as well. The mugs and ornaments don't interest me in the slightest.
This plush is so popular I was afraid I wasn't going to get it. For the April Mickey, the local Disney store only got 12 plushes. There were 13 people waiting in line. Then I heard that there were many who tried to buy the plush online, only for it to sell out within the hour.
To play it safe I took the online route. If that didn't work I could show up to the mall two hours early for the 10 a.m. store opening. Seems ridiculous, right? Out of all the pictures I've seen of past and future Mickey plushes, this is the one I wanted. (The Disney Store has only released images for future Mickey's up through September. I'm thinking about getting the Sept. plush as I do like that design and it's 90's theme). May is my birthday month. I love the May color scheme of aquamarine and pink. The 50's inspired space theme is really cool. Each plush represents a different decade.
In the U.S. the Mickey's go on sale the third Saturday of each month, which was May 19th, Midnight morning Pacific time. That's 1:00 am Mountain time. I already planned on staying up for the Royal Wedding (I lasted till 3:30 before heading to bed). That night I did a bunch of research, mainly reading old posts on Facebook about the April launch, getting tips. There are Facebook groups, and some groups post links to the plushes if the link isn't popping up on ShopDisney.com through page refreshes. I joined Mickey Mouse Memories Monthly Magic Collectors USA. Thankfully they accepted me around midnight.
When the clock stroke 1:00 am I couldn't believe how crazy nervous I got! My fingers were tingling and I was slightly hyperventilating. Man, I wanted the plush, but that much? On my browser three pages were open: 2 on the ShopDisney page and one for the FB group. I started refreshing, over and over, and it wasn't until 20 minutes or so after 1:00 when someone posted the links on the group. The items weren't showing up when I refreshed ShopDisney.
In April people could order 2 plushes per account. This month, to fight scalpers, each account was limited to one plush. I quickly snagged two pin sets and a plush. And then my Mom wanted me to get her a plush. With her account I quickly bought a Mickey. And then, all of a sudden, the plushes were SOLD OUT! I went back to the plush link on the FB page; it was only 16 minutes old.
The plush sold out online within 16-20 minutes.
The next day I started reading FB posts about people getting their order canceled due to the 1 per account rule. One person had adult children who ordered and used her shipping address, and both their orders got canceled. Some people were having a second order canceled, or both. Some ordered one and thought it went through, only to get an "order canceled" email due to ordering right when it sold out. Others couldn't get the plush online and went to the store, unable to get one there as well. Scalpers will have someone stand at the front of the line and when the Disney Store opens its doors, suddenly 10 people will show up out of nowhere. (Read quite a few of these stories on the FB group). Even though the online rules are strict, at the store each costumer gets a plush. Some stores reportedly got 6 or 8 plushes. My local store got 12 again. The London flagship store got 98, I believe.
I was crazy nervous about my Mom and my orders getting canceled, because we had it shipped to the same address. I was super happy Sunday night when we both got shipping notices.
The orders arrived yesterday and Mickey is gorgeous.
I LOVE the May pin set.
When I found out a few weeks ago about the Mickey Mouse Memory series at the Disney Store, there was only one April pin set left. I got it! Love the 1940's theme. I would have liked the April plush, but not going to fight those Ebay prices.
This pin is my favorite. Mickey looks so happy.
Last Saturday I wanted to get another pin set (as the second I ordered online was for my Mom), because I want to keep one in the package and take the other one out. Around 8pm I showed up to the store and got the very last May pin set. Sold out at the store within the day! And I got the last April set early this month. Huge contrast.
As a note, the June plush is going to be equally insane. From January to June only a certain amount were produced. Due to the series popularity there will be more plushes available for July though December. June is 1960's themed. Dark periwinkle with bright colorful tie died shorts, "Love" written on one ear and "Peace" with flowers on the other. So many people online are excited! So if you want June hopefully my story will help you get one.
I'm not going to get June as I'm very happy and in love with May. July is a bright burnt orange disco theme, ugly. August is black and shiny gold 1980's theme, again ugly. (and I was born in the 80's; was going to try for it until I saw the picture). But I really like September, which is more classic Mickey in bright blue shorts and Mickey type symbols. (All the pictures are small and blurry). At the very least I'm going to get September's pins. October through December have yet to be reveled.
I can't believe how popular these Mickey's are! Again I feel lucky to have gotten May, as this month is special, my birthday, and having gone to Disneyland a couple weeks ago. Two weeks ago I went on the "Walk in Walt's Disneyland Footsteps" guided tour for the first time. May 12th. And the May Mickey items either say 5/12 or 5 of 12. Cool, right?
So if you weren't able to get a May Mickey Plush, hopefully you'll be able to, or maybe hold out for June or another month. There's at least one Mickey for everyone, and we're not even through half the year.
(As a fun note, I learned this last week that Push/Stuffed Animals in the U.K. are sometimes referred to as Bears or Teddy's, regardless of the represented animal. Those overseas are referring to the Mickey Plush as Mickey Bears, confusing us Americans. Interesting stuff, really.)
(As another note, the May plush has hidden Mickey's. The average seems to be 4-6 hidden Mickey's. One lady happily wrote yesterday she got 3 hidden Mickey's. My Mom got 1. Guess what!? I got . . . . drum roll . . . 9 1/2 hidden Mickey's!)
