Fun Find: The Keys to the Magic (Disney Store Collectible Keys)

Hey guys!  It's been a really long time since I did a Fun Find Friday so I thought it was well overdue!  Today, I'm sharing information about something you can get all over the country... something that I'm referring to as the Keys to the Magic!

As I've mentioned back in one of my Nashville posts, the Disney Store has been giving out collectible movie or character inspired keys the past few months.  For those of you who don't know the history, the Disney Store has given out keys for quite a while, but up until recently it's been harder to get your hands on one.

Each Disney Store has an opening ceremony every morning when the store opens, and the person selected to open the doors by "unlocking the magic" gets to keep a little key as a memento.  You usually have to be the first one in line, and I've heard that even then, you might get passed over for a cute child somewhere else in the line.

Thus, the keys are hard to come by, and the ones that have ended up on eBay are usually $50 or more.  I've held out hope that I would someday be at a Disney Store in the right place at the right time, but I wasn't too optimistic about getting one.

Fortunately, the Disney Store started to make special character inspired keys that have been much easier for people to get!  I have been collecting all of the ones they've released so far over the past few months.  (Big thanks to my brother Jeremy who has gone to his local store to get all of these for me!)  My key collection currently includes:

Mickey Mouse
Aladdin
Donald Duck

The key release dates have usually coincided with a character's birthday or with a new movie release.  (I expect that trend to continue.)  For example, Mickey was released on November 18, 2018 which was his 90th birthday.  Aladdin was released on May 19th right before the new live action Aladdin movie started showing in theaters.  Then, the Donald key was just released back on June 9th which was his 85th birthday.

Tomorrow, Saturday July 13th, they are releasing their new Toy Story Pixar keys!

The best part of these keys is that they themselves are FREE.  The catch is that you have to be one of the first 100 people at a Disney Store to make a purchase on the day the keys are being released.  Down side, you have to get there early in the morning if you want one.  Plus side, you have an excuse to purchase something at the Disney Store!  And it doesn't matter what you buy... something small and/or inexpensive or something huge.  Jeremy has purchased an ornament for me one time and a new Steamboat Mickey plush for himself another time in order to get the keys.

Note as of the Toy Story release, they are requiring a minimum purchase of $10.

For the Donald key release back in June, they also released some of the keys to customers who purchased online at a certain time "while supplies last" on the Shop Disney website.  The problem with that is you have no idea how many keys they have.

I personally think these keys are a fun way to bring more magic home.  I actually have a few projects already planned for them, which is why I've made sure to get multiples of the Donald keys (thank you Jeremy and Elissa!), and why Eliot and I are driving to Massachusetts early tomorrow to meet up with Jeremy for the Toy Story keys.  I haven't quite gotten to work on my projects yet, but once I do, I'll be sure to show you what I've made!  I might even do a tutorial on my Keys to the Magic!  °o°