Hear from Vanessa and Kris as they talk about the fun activities you can enjoy at Disney Springs at Walt Disney World. Later in the episode they are joined by Ashley from Doodlebug Boutique. Her shop includes an array of custom embroidered items from shirts and jackets to hats and stroller tags.
Use the code dislove to receive 10% when making a purchase through her shop.
For all the latest news about our episodes follow us on Instagram @dislovewithvanessaandkris.
Hear from Vanessa and Kris as they talk about the fun activities you can enjoy at Disney Springs at Walt Disney World. Later in the episode they are joined by Ashley from Doodlebug Boutique. Her shop includes an array of custom embroidered items from shirts and jackets to hats and stroller tags.
Use the code dislove to receive 10% when making a purchase through her shop.
For all the latest news about our episodes follow us on Instagram @dislovewithvanessaandkris.
Welcome to the does love podcast with Vanessa and Chris. I'm Vanessa Ferguson, I'm Chris Jones. I would like to welcome you to show number 47 and for any listeners joining us for the first time, our show features things. We love it Disney. And in each episode, we typically have a guest who creates Disney magic for our listeners at home or on their Disney vacations. From vacation planners to product producers, our guests can bring Disney magic into your life. And as a reminder to our listeners, we appreciate if you can take time to leave us a review or a, or taking time to leave a customer rating on Apple podcasts or any other platform where you may listen, we always give these listeners a shout out on future episodes of the does love podcast. And we thank you to all of you. Who've taken time to do those and onto today's show today, we are going to be joined by Ashley from doodle bug boutique. She makes all kinds of unique custom embroidery items, and we're super excited to have her on the show. And with that, she gave us a special code. So you can save money. Use the exclusive code, this love D I S L O V E save 10% off in her shop. So we are going to be so excited to share all about her business with you later in the show. And since the parks were closed are still closed for the next few weeks. We're recording this in June of 2020. We thought we would talk about some of the activities to do at Disney Springs because they, a lot of these have opened already. So we're going to divide them up into what is open as of right now, and then what are some of the activities that you can enjoy in the near future? So starting out, we're going to look at some of the things that have already opened back up at Disney Springs. The first thing is going to be the arrow file, the balloon flight. So this is super exciting. I've always wanted to do it, but we always seem to be, when we're going to Disney Springs, we're running to go shopping or eating. So now maybe you might take a little bit more of a laid back relaxed vacation, where you might have a chance to go do the balloon flight. So if you're not familiar with it, the really big, like hot air balloon that you can see, you can usually see it from a distance. Um, and this is kind of cool because it's the world's largest hand painted helium balloon, which is kinda neat. Um, for it, you essentially get to go up, it holds 29 people. You go up 400 feet in the air and you get an aerial view of Disney Springs and other parts of Disney property. I've seen some really cool things where of course is all of, you know, we got married at Disney and had our vow renewal there. I've seen a lot of couples have done weddings and vow renewals up in the balloon, which seems pretty cool to me. I'm you can get the for it. It's pretty reasonable. Um, it's$20 for an adult right now in 15 for kids. The one thing is though, there can be a lot of different weather things that might impact it from like, if the wind is too fast, um, different things like that, you can't just let your kids go ride. They have to be accompanied by an adult little things along those lines. But what do you think you've seen the big balloon? Would you be interested in doing that, Chris?
Speaker 2:No, I would not. How come? Well, I just think, I don't really go to Disney Springs to look over Disney Springs. I mean, I've seen, I think the other side is when you we've been in the back lot at Disney before, and there's, it's very industrial. It's just a lot. Most of the Disney is a facade. And so to really go up 800 feet or 400 feet and kind of see what's behind the curtain. That's true. So, yeah, and I wouldn't really call central Florida beautiful by any stretch. And so, I mean, again, I think it's a nice sentiment. If, if you're, it's just not for me, that's all. What about a general hot air balloon? Big time. I mean, when they went from, let's say Lakeland to Orlando, that would be awesome. That would be neat to see, but just to see the Disney Springs out is not my cup of tea and that one,
Speaker 1:Well, I'm sure some of you would disagree and I think I would just like to do it cause I've never been in a hot air balloon before, and I think it gives you, it is tethered. So it gives you a little bit of that experience. Um, so again, that is open so that something fun that you could try out now, especially when the parks aren't open that says give you some opportunity for as many activities. Another thing that's open right now is the vintage amphib info car. Um, this is kind of an amphibian vehicle. It looks like an old fashion car, and then it goes right into the water. This takes off, this is over by boat house and it's a 20 minute when your car goes into the water, it's a 20 minute ride. Um, actually we've not done it, but my parents did it with our daughter when we were just down in March. And this is a little bit more expensive. Sometimes our discounts, um, like in some of the tour books and that it's$125 for a car, it takes three to four people and you're going to have a, I think they would be called captains, a captain. That's going to drive you around. You just walk up at the boat house and you do the reservation and you can get a kind of a reward if you're eating at the boat house, or if you shop at their store there, it kind of looks fun. It's a retro car. My parents got some really cool there's. Um, they have set up for PhotoPass to take pictures as your car is going into the water. So that's pretty neat. I will say they mentioned it was quite hot in the car. So you may want to take an umbrella or something to open up. It wasn't even that warm of a day and they got quite toasty in the vehicle. So I think it's a fun thing, especially if you like older cars, if you have some kids that might be interested in something, I wouldn't mind doing it myself. I think it looked fun. It is a little bit on the expensive side. So depending on what you have available in terms of spending money, it is open though all the way into the evening. I think it would be more fun maybe to do it at night and see all the lights of the different shops and things. It does go all around that Lake area. So you're going to be able to see, um, Saratoga Springs. You're going to see all of the shops lit up and all of that sort of thing. What's your opinion on the car? Oh, I think it'd be a great idea. I think there'd be a lot of fun. So did you see those pictures? I did. Yes. It looks like it would be fun. I think, especially if you were celebrating a special occasion, like maybe you're going for a birthday or anniversary, you're having a nice dinner at one of the restaurants at Disney Springs and top it off with a ride in the amphora car. I don't even know the right. Does that sound right? Sure. So somebody can correct us if we've pronounced that wrong. So that is open right now. So the car's open, the balloon flight is open and if you're super, if you're looking for just kind of your average day sort of entertainment, the carousel is open right now as well. But now we're going to move on and talk about some of the attractions at Disney Springs that unfortunately have not opened back up, but we hope to see them in the very near future. One of course. And we've talked about this in the past, just the movie theater, the AMC movie theater, there's 24. Um, they have 24 screens. One of the neat things about this theater is they have that dinner and movies where you can have a gourmet meal while you're watching a movie. My family used to, we somehow we always timed it. We would go in the spring, usually in may. And a lot of times some have a new Disney show movie, like one of the cartoons or something was coming out and we would go watch a movie there. I haven't personally been since they've had the dinner and the movie. I think that would be kind of fun, again, nothing out of the ordinary, but I think the dinner and the movie would be a nice thing. And we've talked about that in the past. What do you think about some of those dinner in the movie? Oh, I think it's a great idea. Yeah. And especially if you're more local or maybe you go more often, that might be something. So when the movie theater opens back up, another attraction there that we've enjoyed several times is Splitsville and Splitsville is the retro bowling alley. Um, it's two floors. They have over 30 lanes, they have bars. And within the, within the bowling alley, they have decent food. They have pool. Um, we've enjoyed it. We did for our vow renewal. We did a welcome party there. So the day that most of our guests were arriving, we reserved several of the lanes on the second floor. We had a pool table reserved, we got pizza and appetizers and I really enjoyed it. It's a nice laid back environment. It's a great place to do a party. Or if you are traveling with a group or even just your family go enjoy a night of bowling and Chris likes bowling a lot. What's your thoughts about Splitsville?
Speaker 2:I mean, I know we've been there just to ball. We had one of our activities before our wedding. What is it called? Re power. No. Yes. Um, I love it. I mean, I think it's a great place. I mean, bowling is fun. The food is good. It's a nice atmosphere. I think Splitsville is one of the top places to go on downtown Disney,
Speaker 1:Disney Springs, sorry, Disney Springs. Well, at least they could tell you have gone to Disney a lot. And another attraction that we're going to talk about, and I've heard bank's reviews. We're not a basketball family, but the NBA experience opened last summer. This of course is also temporarily closed, but this is where it's kind of, it's an experience where you get to enjoy all of these unique basketball activities. There's 13 games and activities throughout. Um, I've heard mixed reviews. I've heard that. It's not that exciting, but I think if you were a basketball lover and maybe you had kids that were really into it, it's not super expensive for Disney stuff. It's$34 as of right now. And they have all kinds of neat kind of activities. They have a dunk activity where it's like dunking skills. They have a game that's like beat the clock of how many baskets you can make. They have a Slingshot thing where you can play with a basket. They have all kinds of play with the baskets. Sorry.
Speaker 2:You're you're fine. No, I just think Vanessa's right. Like we're just, we're not a basketball. We're not, we're short. That's just this, not us. We're more of a bowling family. But again, I think that the nice thing with like the MBA experience though, is just, I think if your kid wants to be Steph Curry, you know, shooting threes and doing those different things, I think that's a really neat option. But, um, again for us, if let's say, if we were, you know, we have, uh, some friends that live in South Georgia, if we were with their kids and they wanted to go, we would go with them. I don't think we'd put up a fight, but if it was between bowling and basketball, our family would be bowling like 100%.
Speaker 1:But again, I really am surprised. I thought it would have been a lot more expensive. The price to meet the price point is decent. In particular, if your family is big basketball or NBA fans. So check that out. Um, I've heard there's a possibility. It might not be there long. So if you like MBA, I just heard it. Hasn't made a lot of money. Okay. So anyways, that's a great thing that hopefully will open back up another one that nobody has gotten to try out yet, but I hope that it does open. There's really not. It was supposed to debut in the spring, it's called drawn to life. It's the Cirque du Solei show that was going to be re that was going to be going into the, the new buzz empty stage area. This was really cool. I had seen some previews. It was going to be exclusive and Nuba or Cirque. Du Soleil show is going to be a mix of Disney animation. And of course the fun acrobatics of Cirque du Solei was going to be any little previews and things I've seen, looked like it was going to be really awesome. They describe it as a love letter to the art of Disney animation. It was supposed to debut of course, with everything going on. They've not, it's been postponed indefinitely. I really hope that it does come to fruition. It was so close to opening. I can't imagine that it won't, I've never been to a new bus show at or Cirque du Soleil show at Disney. We've seen a Michael Jackson one, we saw a Christmas one, the holidays one, and then I've seen another one with my goddaughter, um, at a local theater. So these shows are always amazing. I'm always shocked at what they're able to do. So hopefully this will come back very soon and let everybody be able to see the preview of that show. So those are a few of the different activities and the fun things that you can do at Disney Springs. As we mentioned, there are already some of these that are open that you could go and check out and hopefully the other ones will be opening up soon. So we're excited. We're gonna take some time to get Ashley up so you can hear all about her business and learn about Doodlebug boutique. And then we'll come back with our trivia and our wisdom from Walt. Hey Vanessa, Hey, what? Everyone needs a little doodle bug in their life.
Speaker 3:Well that how ironic that's actually what we're going to be talking about today. We have Ashley Miller with us. She is with doodle bug boutique, and she's going to share all about her, her business with us today. They have custom hats and shirts and all kinds of really unique designs. And we are excited to have Ashley on the show with us today.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 4:Hey guys, I am super excited to take some time and chat with you guys.
Speaker 3:Well, we always like to start out with an icebreaker question to hear a little bit about what some of our guests enjoy at the Disney parks. So we want to find out from you, what is your favorite quick service restaurant at any of the parks?
Speaker 4:I'm going to have to cheat on this question because I am so huge. I'm a huge lover of via Napoli and it's not quick, but it is a quick sit down. So I have to say being an athlete.
Speaker 3:Well, that is true. We've enjoyed. We we'd like to go and get the really big pizza there. That's something that we've done several times, for sure.
Speaker 4:It's also somewhat inexpensive. So that's helpful too.
Speaker 3:That is true. Cause the co we usually do the dining plan, but the few times we've not been there on the dining plan. We'd take advantage of eating there. Cause it is, it is much more affordable than some of the other options. That's for sure. A lot of bang for your buck. Yes. And it's good too. So that's even better now of course, we want to hear all about your business and what are some of the products that you offer connected to Disney?
Speaker 4:Um, I do embroidery and everything I do is definitely, I don't necessarily say Disney, but it's definitely magical, magical stitching. So I do just about anything that you think of. I do a lot of Disney snacks like Nicki waffles actually just took one of those off the machine, a lot of, um, strollers tags, which are really fun and easy way to spot your stroller in the sea of crazy.
Speaker 3:Yeah. That is definitely something good to have.
Speaker 4:Um, lots of t-shirts quarters, as you mentioned earlier, tons of hats. Hats are probably my number one seller. Wow. What is your most,
Speaker 3:The product that you sell the most? I mean, besides hats, but like, is there a certain design that you sell the most of
Speaker 4:Probably Mickey balloons. I have a design that's two Mickey balloon. So you get to pick your colors, you get to customize it a little bit. A lot of people do it to where like if they have two kids, a girl and a boy they'll do a blue and a pink, it's really cute. Um, and I add those two initials as well, so
Speaker 3:Very cool. And now do you do custom designs besides what's on your website? Could I do a custom order?
Speaker 4:You can. Yeah. Um, people can email me at, um, Doodlebug boutique twelve@hotmail.com. They can find me on my Instagram, which is Doodlebug boutique underscore. Um, I have an Etsy page, have a website with a contact form through their Doodlebug boutique that net. So lots of ways to reach me. And, um, I usually answer back pretty fast.
Speaker 3:Awesome. And I will make sure to share all of those links and email address that you mentioned so that way people can find you right away. Thank you. Awesome. And so with that, what was the inspiration for you to start your business?
Speaker 4:Honestly, I did not start out doing what I do now. I started out doing like pillowcase dresses, bows because I couldn't find the things that I loved and that were affordable for my kids. And I'm a mom of five, so it gets expensive. Um, so it just kind of morphed into this and I love it. I can't imagine doing anything else
Speaker 3:Now. What are some of the, like if I were to get a custom order from you, something that wasn't in your shop, what is that like, if were planning a trip, how early should I contact you? What's your turnaround time for products?
Speaker 4:I always tell people six weeks now. Some things can shift within a week. For instance, I did an opening last night and I sold hats and they sold last night and I'm shipping them today. Just kind of depends on what I have in stock. Um, so I like to tell everybody six weeks to be safe, but it's usually three or four week Mark. Okay.
Speaker 3:And then something that you already have in stock then that is a relatively quick turnaround when you do those product releases,
Speaker 4:Mostly hats. Um, I do have a lot of stock of tight eyes. Um, and that is huge right now. I have a ton of tight eyes with different quotes and things on them. So those I try to keep as well.
Speaker 3:Awesome. So if, when you're talking about your different products, how do you think they add some Disney magic to your customers and to could add to our listeners lives?
Speaker 4:I think what's so amazing about them is you can kind of carry Disney around with you for everyday life. And that is kind of cool to me. And it's important that, um, I am able to show my personality through what I wear and people can always tell. I mean, I have pop sockets and earrings and, um, we have a tattoo. I have, I carry it around with me everywhere. So
Speaker 3:Yes, yes. That's how we are too. Now, how about, what is your favorite design? I know you kind of told us what your most popular, but what's the favorite design that you have right now, or that you've done in the past?
Speaker 4:I really liked my tight eyes. I just feel like they're really unique to me. And another thing I do is the name badges. Um, they look like the Disney cast member badges, and I can put those on hats or shirts or quarters. It I'm going to try and start doing it on my rain jacket. So that's something that nobody knows yet.
Speaker 3:Awesome. Now with your different products, I know you had mentioned things for kids in that. So do you offer a wide range of sizes and your shirts and hats?
Speaker 4:Definitely. If they make the sizes, I carry them.
Speaker 3:Okay. So all the way from like toddler on up or
Speaker 4:Infant sauna. Yeah. Oh, awesome.
Speaker 3:Awesome. Awesome. And then with some of your different things, do you, I know you mentioned, like you had just done a hat release. Do you have certain things that only come out at different times? Do you do certain product releases?
Speaker 4:Um, I do Wednesday night live sales through Instagram, so that is good to get things quickly. They usually get to you by the end of the week. So Friday, Saturday, sometimes Monday, um, I've started closing my site just to kind of catch up on orders and taking that Trevor calm down. That's what I meant by opening. I was closed for a little while and I just opened back up last night, so
Speaker 3:Perfect. And then we'll make sure we'll share when your next opening is when you're, when the episode goes live as well.
Speaker 2:Can we get it? And I, you had mentioned earlier, please tell our listeners going to, where can they find you online?
Speaker 4:You can find me in several places. My website is Doodlebug boutique.net. I am also on Facebook. I have a private Facebook group. Well, she's just Doodlebug boutique. I have a fan page on there as well. Doodlebug boutique. Um, you can email me@doodlebugboutique.net. Um, and then Instagram is Doodlebug cheek underscore.
Speaker 3:Okay, perfect. And then for those like live, um, sales, are those exclusively on your Instagram page?
Speaker 4:Correct? That is exclusively through my Instagram page, my mother and I actually do them together. Um, everybody calls her mama doodle and we do live together every Wednesday night. Um, no matter where we are we're live and we are, um, selling some cool things.
Speaker 3:Very awesome. Well, thank you again for taking time out of your day, to share with us about your great products. We are excited to share this with our listeners. We'll make sure to put all of those links in there and share some of the great pictures of all your different products that you have.
Speaker 4:Hey, y'all I appreciate y'all having me. Thank you. Thank you.
Speaker 2:And again, a big thank you to Ashley for giving us a 10% off code just for our listeners. Use the code does love to save 10%, offer her shop 10% by using the code does love.
Speaker 3:And of course we are going to wrap up today's show with our two minute trivia and our wisdom from Walt quote. So Chris, you up with our trivia question.
Speaker 2:Okay, Vanessa, I've got a tough one for you. What was the name? Oh, give me this in proceeding order. Give me the names of the area that we just talked about in Disney.
Speaker 3:I think it's Disney marketplace than downtown Disney than Disney Springs.
Speaker 2:Oh wow. I thought there's gonna be a lot tougher for you, but you're, you're very smart. Um, so here's one, what it is according to Disney trivia.net. My buddies, Rhonda Marie, they do Disney trivia. Oh, that's nice. What is the name of the body of water next to Disney Springs? The technical name, according to Ron and Marie. I don't know. Cause some of my research just said Lake Vista, but that's the city. So I don't think that's right when they were talking about some of the attractions, according to Ron and Maria Disney trivia.net village Lake. I believe that, yes. That sounds, that sounds correct. Okay. And then here's the last Disney trivia. Where is your favorite place to go in downtown Disney, Disney Springs. It's always going to be downtown Disney to me,
Speaker 3:But you just call it Disney marketplace, like really go old school downtown. Um, I was, we haven't gotten a chance to try a lot of the new restaurants yet. So I would say just for entertainment wise so far, the places I have been, I
Speaker 1:Would say Splitsville I liked going there. That's fun restaurant wise. There's so many new ones. I don't know. I'm going to have to kind of put a, I'll have to wait and see because there's a lot of the, and Enzo is we haven't been to boat house. We haven't been to some of those. So I'd like to try some of those before I give a definitive favorite place. If you could go to one place right now, where would you go? Probably the Christmas store. Thank you, Austin. In restaurant to be determined, determined. So of course we always end out with a quote from Walt Disney and this one I enjoy quite a bit. It's quite short, but I think given all of the things that have gone on recently, we can all use a little fantasy in our life and escape from reality. This is fantasy and reality, often overlap. And I think that's what happens at the Disney parks takes you into a whole new world of things that you wouldn't be able to experience in the everyday in your everyday life. So thank you again for joining us on this episode of the does love podcast with Vanessa and Chris I'm Vanessa and I'm Chris
Speaker 4:[inaudible].
Speaker 1:This podcast is not affiliated with the Walt Disney company or its holdings and it is intended for entertainment purposes only.