Editor’s Note: Guest writer Cari Keebaugh tells us about the ultimate Disney collection today! Take it away, Cari!
Do you have a lot of Disney paraphernalia around the house? Do you own more than one set of Mickey-and-Minnie salt-and-pepper shakers? Mickey towels? Shirts? Shoes? Tea services? Telephones?
It’s likely that Janet Esteves does in her collection of 4,127 officially catalogued Mickey memorabilia (over 6,000, if you count the uncatalogued pieces). Esteves recently reconfirmed her title as monarch of Mickey in the 2013 Guinness Book of World Records.
What began as a souvenir purchase grew into Esteves’ impressive collection. “It started in the early 1970s,” she explained to Guinness World Records. “We went on our honeymoon to Disney World. I bought a couple Mickeys there. Then it blossomed when my daughters were born… we started playing with Mickey toys, and Mickey plushes.”
“And it started growing, and growing, and growing, and it keeps growing. Now we have the grand-kids that like Mickey too!”
Esteves, who originally obtained the record in 2006, has held the record since she first won it. Her 2006 collection numbered over 2,100. Now, Esteves estimates that she has tripled her original collection, and she doesn’t plan to stop anytime soon. Her new goal, as she told the Orlando Sentinel, is to have her picture taken with Mickey in each of the 200+ costumes he wears in the parks and on the cruise ships.
Photo Copyright Guinness Book of World Records.
