One of the top questions I hear from Disney guests is how much to budget for souvenirs. Shopping can be a big part of your Disney vacation, so here are a few tips to make your perusing and purchasing productive!
Gift Shops
There are an abundant amount of gift shops around Walt Disney World and Disneyland. From the hotels to the anchors (hello, Emporium!) to the attraction shops to World of Disney, there’s no shortage of shopping stops filled to the brim with bright colors, sparkles and shiny things beckoning “Buy me!!” With that in mind, I’m typically a shopper who’ll look around before making my final choice, but if something has caught your eye, ask a cast member if it’s available elsewhere. Once or twice, we’ve ended up returning or sending a runner back to get an item we decided we couldn’t live without but couldn’t find anywhere else. These would typically be attraction or event-specific items.
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Get Park Wise: Overdo it in the shops or just don’t want to lug around your new toys? Disney resort guests on both coasts can send purchases back to their Disney hotels as long as they’re not checking out (on the perpetual) tomorrow. These can be picked up in the resort gift shop or will be delivered to the rooms of club level guests.
Give Me the Money
A few notes about the downer part of shopping…paying for it. Disney resort guests have the option of charging their purchases to their resort accounts. Extremely convenient (especially on those Magic Bands!) or extremely dangerous? You decide!
I also suggest my guests pick up a few Disney gift cards before they leave home. This can even give you a slight discount if you snag a Target deal or belong to a warehouse club that offers discounted gift cards. This keeps you from the shock of a post-vacation credit card bill, and if you’re really disciplined, you can even tell yourself when the card runs out, you’re finished shopping. Right. 😉
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Get Park Wise: Ask about discounts! Annual passholders, Disney Visa cardholders, etc. are often given discounts at shops on property (especially at Disneyland).
What Should I Buy
This part of Park Wise will be totally subjective, so I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments!
The point of a souvenir is to bring back those magical memories of your vacation, so I like to pick up things I’ll use often back “in real life.” And that, my friends, is why I bought a carry-on two weeks ago at the Orlando Premium Outlets to lug home the seven Tervis tumblers I snagged during spring break. A little drink of magic and dreams every day! (To be fair, two of them were gifts.)
Along that same vein, Disney Dooneys and Veras are one of my weaknesses, but I tend to use purses and wallets on a daily basis, so that’s how I justify it. Or something. Finally, Disney artwork has been on my radar as of late. With the Wonderground Gallery and Art of Disney calling my name, Disney art pieces are a nice addition to my home office that I get to sit and smile at each day.
We tend to avoid t-shirts for a couple of reasons. First, they don’t get a lot of wear at our house. With growing kids and a no-t-shirt dress code at work, they just don’t get in the rotation often enough. The quality ebbs and flows quite a bit. With the tees we have purchased, some have held up nicely enough to be passed on, while others sport faded graphics and hanging threads. However, these are an incredible popular option, and there are some really cute ones!
We also give the no-go on anything we can buy at Target. Generic Disney items can be picked up at other locations, so it’s not something on which we choose to spend our vacation bucks. If your little one just has to have a Mickey plush, save yourself some dough and snag one at home and surprise him with it on vacation!
Do you love Disney shopping? What are your favorite souvenirs? Are there specific items you wished Disney offered in the parks that you can’t find?
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