How much shopping do you do?

[SimonV]

OK, this is only half in jest for those of you who are ardent Florida shoppers, but exactly how much time do you think you devote on holiday to the all-important retail therapy? With our Itinerary Planning business, we are seeing people request 3, 5 and even SEVEN days shopping built in to their itinerary (admittedly the 7-day example was on a 20-day holiday, but SEVEN?? Can anyone really shop THAT much - honestly?!). But what is a decent amount of time to devote to this activity (and please don't say EVERY day! )?

 

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

Like all holidays, its up to the individual how much time they spend doing what they enjoy.
Now we have done WDW to death, so we do spend up to 6-7 days checking out the malls, we actually once a year use it as our annual shopping foray, for shirts, shoes, socks, etc etc.

we will spend thousands on some of these shopping trips, with rips to WDW and Universal in between.

There are times we go to FLa and do not go to WDW parks at all.

Holidays are what you want them to be.

 

[mrsminniemouse]

We shop a lot too. But we tend to visit the malls for several afternoons or evenings. We generally visit Mall at Milllenia once, Premium Outlets 2 or 3 times, Belz a couple of times. A few hours at Walmart is a necessity at the start of the trip too.

I agree that this is hugely personal. I don't think my parents were too impressed to spend so much time in the malls during our trip last year!

Mandy

 

[JohnnySharp2]

We have a few hours every now and then at the Florida Mall, Mall At Millenia and Festival Bay.Tend to visit each a couple of times.
Do not do as much shopping as we used to do - usually end up buying plenty though, not necessarily because we need anything.

It is a nice contrast between the theme parks and ideal to do on rest days, when we are relaxing - I would say overall about 1 day (split over the course of the holiday).

 

[wicket2005]

On our 14 day holiday to Orlando we spent two afternoons in the Florida Mall, two afternoons at Belz, one evening at Premium and one evening at Walmart, roughly.

We prefer being in the parks to shopping malls.

 

[Goofyish]

We have one day scheduled for Christmas shopping at the Florida Mall. All other shopping we do will be on the spur of the moment in park/resort shops and at DTD.

 

[gilld]

On our last trip we spent a total of one hour - at DTD!

 

[Muppet]

We shop everyday, EVERY single day!!!

 

[MazdaUK]

We spent one morning and half the afternoon going to Walmart, SuperTarget and Premium Outlets, then another 1/2 day doing a few bits of Belz (DH made the mistake of driving donw I-drive which wasted a LOT of time!) plus a couple of evenings we stopped of for an hour or two after the parks.

For Brits it is such good value (even in Disney properties) compared to the UK its silly not to do a good bit of shopping, e.g. a pair of Levis over here will set you back around £40 ($70) - nuff said!

 

[wilma-bride]

Last year, we had 2 days of our 14-day itinerary for shopping but, in reality, probably only shopped for 2 half days. This year, we had only 1 shopping day (7 day holiday this time) and probably only shopped for half a day.

However, as the definition of shopping is buying something in exchange for money, then I would guess we were constantly shopping (or it certainly felt like it anyway)

 

[Minniespal]

We usually shop everyday whilst in Florida

 

[Frances999]

Rather than spending something like four solid days at the malls, we tend to visit just for a morning/evening to keep the children from moaning! On the whole though we spend at least 6/7 mornings or evenings at the malls and an entire day or two just for shopping.

 

[natalielongstaff]

we did one afternoon at the mall and a few trips to dtd thats it ! the rest of the stuff we buy in the parks

 

[Desire 2b a princess]

Hi

Shopping is definately part of my holiday I love to shop!!!!

In a two week holiday we will visit the Premium Outlets, Belz and Florida Mall, which will take approx 4 days in total as we tend to go in an afternoon on different days more than once!!!!

I tend to go without here and make up for it when we go to Florida.

 

[susan1]

hi
usually a trip to walmart one evening to stock up on socks and intimate apparel as the ameriucans coyly call it!! also an hour looking around the uniform shop on colonial drive and buying their wonderful nurses shoes!
also a quick look in cvs,walgrenns and walmart again if time to wonder at the drugs they sell over the counter and the massive ammounts you can buy at a time!!

 

[rpbert1]

My wife could and would shop all day every day, but she will curtail it when we are in Florida but i promised i would take her out a few times a week [we are there for 21 days] mostly evenings, so shes happy and we are happy

 

[cazzie]

We don't shop that much, we normally go to the Beltz Outlets once or twice and this is normally either on a park free day or in the evening. To be honest I am not a mega clothes shopper so having spent all that money on park tickets then I prefer to be at the parks or just mosing around the I Drive. When we start to get bored of WDW then I wouldn't fill my time with shopping I will find somewhere else to visit perhaps even convince DH to go to New England.

 

[Amyrlin]

A few hours on 2 or 3 days, too much shoppping and it is not a holiday, but we still manage to bring back a lot more than we take.

 

[mushumadness]

Hiya We normally have three specific shopping days, one at the start of the holiday (so chris can go to the model shop and order whichever helicopter he wants) and so I can get any presents people have requested. the one is the middle is so we have a break from the parks, and the third to double make sure ive had my fix.

But we also visit the florida mall and belz at last another six times inbetween lol I love my shopping plus I am doing the christmas shop this year

anna (just call me shopaholic lol)

 

[UKDEB]

We probably don't devote anywhere near as much time to shopping as we did at one time. And, much as I love to shop, I've never been able to endure more than 2-3 hours at a time.

We now tend to stick to our favourites:

Mall at Millenia - we usually visit twice per trip; invariably mid-late morning for a couple of hours, followed by lunch at The Cheesecake Factory, Brio Tuscan Grill or (my currrent favourite) McCormick and Schmicks. Since discovering Blue Martini in May, I think that could also become a regular component, so that would mean a good part of the day given over to the whole shopping experience.

We also still like the Florida Mall. I'd say we visit once per trip, plus the occasional, very quick sortie towards the end of the trip.

Other than that, we usually pop into Festival Bay to see what's going on, but rarely stay long. Ditto Pointe Orlando and Premium Outlets - both one time 'must-dos'. I also like to see what's happening along the restaurant row area of Sand Lake Road. We haven't been to Belz for years.

We also make at least one visit to Edwin Watts on Turkey Lake Road, but usually en route to somewhere else.

I'm assuming that you're referring to leisure shopping rather than for groceries, but over the period of a 2 or 3 week trip, we probably spend quite a bit of time in supermarkets. I sometimes drag dh (under duress) to the Albertsons at Dr Phillips.