Learn about special products and boarding services available at Walt Disney World for your pets from Vanessa and Kris. They will be joined by special guest Abbey from PolkaDotPaws who will share about the special products she makes to bring Disney magic to your pet at home. PolkaDotPaws specializes in Disney bandannas and Mickey ears for your pets. Use code DISLOVE20 to save 20% off your purchase with PolkaDotPaws through 1/1/2019.
For all the latest news about our episodes follow us on Instagram @dislovewithvanessaandkris.
Learn about special products and boarding services available at Walt Disney World for your pets from Vanessa and Kris. They will be joined by special guest Abbey from PolkaDotPaws who will share about the special products she makes to bring Disney magic to your pet at home. PolkaDotPaws specializes in Disney bandannas and Mickey ears for your pets. Use code DISLOVE20 to save 20% off your purchase with PolkaDotPaws through 1/1/2019.
For all the latest news about our episodes follow us on Instagram @dislovewithvanessaandkris.
Welcome to the DisLove podcast with Vanessa and Kris. I'm Vanessa Ferguson. I'm Kris Johns. We'd like to welcome you to today's show. Today we are going to be talking about pets and Disney and later on it today's show. We're going to be joined by Abbey Mcdonald of PolkaDotPaws by Abbey, who's going to share with you how you can bring some Disney magic home with your pets when you're not at the parks or just as a nice souvenir of some of your favorite attractions at the parks. So we're going to have those talk a little bit about some of the things at the Disney resorts. Before we get to Abbey a little bit later. And to start off, we want to talk about some of the dog friendly hotels and options you have for boarding when you're down at Disney world. So if you have been following Disney, you'll know that within the last year they have created where there are some dog friendly hotels where dogs are allowed to stay. Now there's only a few places that dogs are allowed to join and there are. You're allowed to have up to two dogs in a room so that the hotels where you are able to have dogs with you right now, our art of animation, Port Orleans Riverside, which is our favorite resort yacht and the yacht club resort. So with those are some varying prices depending on which one you're staying at. And as I mentioned, you can have up to two dogs, but there's designated areas in these resorts where you're able to have your pet stay. So it's not in every building. It's only in certain parts. And we say at Port Orleans Riverside a lot. We were there in March and this program was already going on and we didn't have our dog with us, but I didn't even see any of the dogs. Did you see any dogs? No not one dog at all. So if you are concerned, if you're not a dog lover, you don't have a dog with you, you won't be interrupted by the dogs. At least in our experience. We didn't see that. Now if you're not up to having your dog stay right in your room with you, you can make sure that you are able to go and have them stay at the parks, but not at your actual hotel. There's the Best Friends Pet Hotel, which is right near Port Orleans Riverside, which is just down the road, as I mentioned from our favorite resort and those rates are a little bit cheaper than what you see for having them in the room. The room rates are 50 to$75 versus if you have them stay at the best friends pet hotel, those rates are the standard rate. Start as low as$41. If you're a resort guests now they have a lot of different things. Options there. They are indoor locations with climate controls to your dog's not going to be out in the heat. They also, with those you, they have a walking trail in a dog park where you can come and visit with your dog during the day. It depending on what room you get. They also have some patio areas where you're able to have your pets. Have an indoor outdoor experience. They even have some vacation villas, which are really nice, fancy rooms all the way up to vip luxury suites for dogs. So those vip luxury suites, those are kind of the ultimate experience. That's a 16 by nine bedroom. I can't imagine our dog having that much space to herself when we're gone. I'm the suite has a private covered patio. They get personal pet concierge service. It includes everything from group play section, group play sessions to bedtime stories. They even got get kind of their own vip spa experience before they go home at the end of a trip. So those are$101 if you're staying in a Disney resort, if you're not staying on a Disney resort, it's$109 per day. I can say our Sadie has not had that great of VIP experience yet. Where we board her at home, she has a great time, but definitely not up to the VIP luxury suite standard. And we've not had a chance to travel with one of our pets right to, to Disney yet. They do have a lot of fun add-ons that you can do with your dog. So they, as I mentioned, some of those were included if you have some of those upper level vacation villas, but they have play time that you can add on cuddle time, walking experience, ice cream break, which I think are little pup would love an ice cream break during the day. They can have, if you're staying over the holidays, you can have special holiday meals. They even have special bedding you can have and not only for your dogs at best friends. You can also have some of your other pets there as well. They offer boarding for a lot of other pets also at this spot finished. Do you know that you can even take your cat to Disney world? I did not know that you can hit them boarded a kitty city. Oh my goodness. I think our Nina would like that. Exactly. So they can not only be us resort guests where they can also have a space in a full room condo and the amenities range from playtime to tuna on the Ritz. And even a deluxe kitty bed and I know our kit would love that. Yes. I think the deluxe kitty bed and the tuna would be her favorite now, besides kitties, they also have, you can have pocket pets, so these include hamsters, Guinea pigs, rabbits, and ferrets. So if you are traveling with them, you don't want to leave them in a vehicle or anything. They have great accommodations for them from small to extra large size pocket pets. Those prices range depending on the size of your pet. I'm the only pets that are not allowed at best friends are primates and venomous animals. So leave those ones at home. Don't bring those down to the parks with you. And if you are there and you just, maybe you're staying off property, um, you can also have participate in a day camp. So it's almost like doggy daycare at home. So that's a nice designation you can have because if you are somewhere off property or maybe you're just visiting for the day, you can do that. And I think thing we did forget to mention they also have in resort accommodations at Fort Wilderness too. So if you're camping, you can have your pet there, but let's say you are camping at Fort Wilderness, but you don't want to leave them in your trailer during the day. You could take them over for that day camp over at best friends, so be if you're not traveling with your pet, which we haven't traveled to Disney with our pet yet, but you can also get some pet gear essential to take home with them. You can order them on Disney shopping or you can also get them at the Disney parks themselves, so they have a wider variety of things on Disney shopping from costumes. They have some really great ones during the Halloween season, they'll have great costumes. They also have collars and leashes. A lot of these things are available down at the parks. We ourselves to purchase quite a few of these during the parks they have. We've bought bowls for our recent dog that we adopted earlier this year. We actually bought those bowls before we even had adopted her because we knew we were planning on getting a dog later in the year. So when we were down at the parks, we bought some Mickey bowls for our new dog, Sadie. They also have a lot of great squeaker toys. They have mickey ice cream bars and the Mickey waffles. I know that my parents have been, I think the Mickey waffle for their dog before and then they also, besides what they have on the website, as I mentioned, a lot of the things are in the park. They'll have additional things such as harnesses and other Disney essentials that you may not be able to find elsewhere. So these are some really great ways that you can bring Disney magic home after your trip or things that you can do when you are already at home. And maybe you can't make that trip down to Disney. You can order some of those things from Disney shopping. So lots of great options out there for your pet, whether you're traveling with them or just want to bring them a souvenir from your trip. So besides some of those Disney essential products that we talked about, there's lots of great vendors out there who make custom Disney items for your pet. And today's guest is Abbey with PolkaDotPaws by Abbey, and that's Abbey. Abb, E Y. Our dog has several bandanas from her, including one of the, her figment designs. It's a small world and even a beauty and the beast. Bandana. So we'd like to welcome Abbey to the show today. How are you? Hi. Thank you so much for being here. I'll give a little bit of your bio and then we'll go into some of the things that we wanted to talk with you today. Abbey is married. She has a pup herself. She's a civil engineer by day, but she has dreams of becoming an imagineer, which that would be a really cool job, that's for sure. Um, all of her. She'll talk a lot more about her products, but they include over the collar dog, Bandanas, collars doggy, mouse, ears, blankets, infinity scarves, and Bandanas set. So again, thank you Abbey for being with us. Thanks for having me. So we always like to start out our show with an icebreaker. And today we wanted to find out, one of our favorite things to do at Disney parks is to, is the Disney dining. So we wanted to find out what is your favorite restaurant at any Disney park and why?
Speaker 2:So I'm a west coaster, so I mostly go to Disneyland. I would say my favorite restaurant at Disneyland is probably flew by you. The overall experience?
Speaker 1:Yes. We've been there before. What is your favorite item there? Do you have a favorite item?
Speaker 2:I've only been a few times, um, but everything I've had is really good. The Gumbo is really good. I've never had that not been there, but just the overall experience of being in there. It's just so cool.
Speaker 1:And Disneyland definitely has a much better pirates of the Caribbean. I think that Disney World anyways, and having the restaurant and their adds even more, that's for sure.
Speaker 2:Yes, I would agree.
Speaker 1:So Abbey, we'd like to know, tell us more about your business.
Speaker 2:So I primarily make a, the over the collar, dog bandannas that slide right onto your dog's collar. Um, and I, I focus mostly on Disney prints because that's what I'm passionate about and that's what a lot of my customers love to, um, but I also have a ton of other nonbusiness designs and just normal day to day stuff too. Um, and also make little flowers for the girl dogs. I'm like, go on their color. I have some little dog blankies and also makes the ears for pets. So your pet can be just like you and having your collection.
Speaker 1:Nice. So what is your favorite distinct design?
Speaker 2:Um, I, that's a hard question. That's like picking a favorite child.
Speaker 1:You have lots of very cool ones. I know, I love all the ones that we've gotten for Sadie before.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 2:So yeah. And um, I just started making these new characters, sort of costume inspired ones.
Speaker 1:I saw those on your instagram.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So those are a lot of fun. I'm having a lot of fun making those.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 1:So what kind of led you to starting your business in the first place?
Speaker 2:Um, so I, I've always been, I'm a crafter, I've always loved making things and I'm really, I just, I was always making too many things and filling up my apartment with my own craft and um, so I thought it'd be cool if I can make something that I could, you know, so um, that way I get to still make stuff, but it's not piling up in my room and my grandma, my grandma had given me a sewing machine and one day I was at the craft store and I bought some star wars fabric for my dog and I made him a little Bandana and it just looked so cute on him and uh, I showed some other people and I got a lot of encouragement from friends and family and they said, you know, it's so cute, people would totally buy that. And so I just started working on the design from there and develop multiple sizes and then it just all kind of happened from there.
Speaker 1:Wonderful. And tell us more, you know, how can your product, how can it add Disney Magic to folks' Lives?
Speaker 2:Well I noticed a lot of people including myself like to name their pets after Disney characters and um, or you know, people like to find a product that maybe represents a movie that, that doesn't have a lot of merchandise out there. And um, that's what I think the small shops are great for is we, you know, I try to represent like every character, every movie I can think of and so somebody might find that perfect item for that obscure character that their dog is named after and they get so excited and that just makes me really happy.
Speaker 1:And I know I was super excited when I saw that figment is my favorite character and even though our dog is named after figment, I was so excited and I immediately had to buy that for her because it's hard to find stuff in general. But to find something for our dog was even more special.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1:So you mentioned your dog. What kind of dog do you have?
Speaker 2:Um, I have a little Mutt. He is, we have no idea what breed he is just fluffy and adorable. Um, and his name is Odie
Speaker 1:Oh, how nice. So what's his favorite Disney princess?
Speaker 2:Um, well he likes the star wars ones, you know, to represent his, his star wars love. So we also a little bit good classic Mickey Mouse.
Speaker 1:Okay, great. So what we, if you had to, what are some of your, you mentioned that you have a new line out with some of those character inspired ones. What are some of your favorite ones that you've been working on or recently released?
Speaker 2:Um, oh gosh, that is difficult. Um, some of my favorite ones are probably, uh, like the beauty and the beast beauty and the beast is my favorite Disney movies. So I really love the bell one and the little matching. There's a matching feast. Prints. Great. Yeah, you could have a little couple. Um, also the, the Flynn Rider and Rapunzel one. Yeah.
Speaker 1:I really have super hearing.
Speaker 2:And um, I even, I even put a little crown inside the Satchel on the Flynn Bandana.
Speaker 1:Oh, how cute. Now, if some of our listeners were interested in buying some of your products for Christmas, what is kind of the deadline of when they need to get those orders into you?
Speaker 2:So character, bandanas and mouse ears have a turnaround time of two weeks. Okay. So would want to order two weeks ahead plus three to five days for shipping for when you want to receive it. So about three weeks before Christmas would be the deadline.
Speaker 4:Okay, great. And so with that, people want to make an order for Christmas or maybe just even just to have for their dog to look good. Where can folks go to find your products?
Speaker 2:So my shop is on etsy and it's PolkaDotPaws by Abbey, a, B, b, e y. right. Um, and I'm also on instagram at PolkaDotPaws by Abbey and there's a link on my instagram to the shop as well.
Speaker 1:And I actually found you on instagram. That's how I found you. And then was able to go to your instance or to your etsy shop to be able to order from you. And Are you on facebook?
Speaker 2:Yeah, uh, I do have a facebook page. I don't use it quite as much. Um, instagram is like the most up to date. I update that daily, but I do have a facebook page as well. It's also PolkaDotPaws by Abbey.
Speaker 1:Great. Well thank you so much for joining us today. We definitely will make sure to share some links to some of those social media outlets that you mentioned and make sure to share some of the photos of your great products and may throw one at a picture of our and one in your bandanas in there as well. But thank you so much for being a guest with us today, Abbey. We really appreciate your time and hope that folks go out and check out PolkaDotPaws by Abbey and get some bandanas for their dogs or the little years. I now have to get some of those for our Sadie to looking at those pictures. Those are definitely going to be next on my list. Thanks again for being with us today.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thanks for having me.
Speaker 4:Thank you very much.
Speaker 1:And so we always like to end all of our podcasts with a little bit of Trivia and some wisdom from Walt. So let's hear from Kris with our Trivia for today.
Speaker 4:So we're going to be a part of my favorite part of the podcast. That's going to be where I asked Vanessa gave her three clues and she has to guess the answer. Are you ready? Vanessa? In again with the pet related to show. So this is animal related. Okay. Okay. The first quote or the first clue. And you have to be taking the answer has to be precise. Okay. He was owned by the black hearted captain, Hector Barbosa. It was the monkey, but I don't remember his name. All right. The next clue is he appeared, is both a living in undead form. And then the last clue you've got it. But I want to have it exactly because that's the monkey is not good enough. I'm also appeared in all five movies. Give me a one. What would you name a monkey? If you had a monkey, what would you name them? I have no idea. First Meet Jack the monkey. Jack. The monkey. Oh, that's a good time of Jack Sparrow, Huh? Exactly. So that was our clue. Give me this. I did stump you so far are through clue three clues. Segment it was the three clues were owned by the black hearted captain. Hector Barbosa appeared is both in living and dead form and undead form and appeared in all five movies and it is Jack The monkey from the pirates of the Caribbean fame. I sure did. And so with that, we're going to close with our wisdom from Walt. Sometimes we can recognize ourselves in animals and that's what makes them so interesting and I think there's oftentimes that we see some characteristics and our pets that we wish we could emulate, their little nice and the ways that they interact with people. So definitely a great choice for this show. So again, that wraps up this podcast about pets and the on behalf of the beauty and the beast. Thank you for listening. Thank you for joining us today. This podcast is not affiliated with the Walt Disney company or its holdings, and it is intended for entertainment purposes only.