Do you buy something each time you visit as a "tradition"?

[jemmouse]

Shopaholic here who loves Disney and my momentos...I buy a picture frame with the year we visited on. I buy several ornaments one with the year and our family name with vacation on it. Every other year I buy a Mickey watch. My newest is I have a Pandora bracelet so I buy the Chamilla brand with a Disney emblem on it. And of course the sweatshirt/tshirt with the year on it....Thankfully I have a Disney Visa and get at least 10% off at Downtown Disney...

I think I love Disney shopping as much as Disney. My moments keep me going until my next visit....

 

[CruznLexi]

I have a Camilla bracelet so I like to get a new charm. Whether it is at WDW or DL or DCL. Sometimes I get a shirt or make a Tye dye or get a new pin.

 

[Goosey515]

I get a dated Christmas ornament each year. When we get home, I pack the ornament along with a picture of my son from that trip in a tote. The ornaments will be for him one day. He's 5 now and I have been doing this since his first trip when he was one. He already loves looking at pictures from "old" trips, so I'm sure he will enjoy both the ornaments and seeing himself "grow" at Disney.

 

[ssawka]

We get the Disney refrigerator magnet. In the form of the current year.

We get magnets from everywhere we go, including the year ones from WDW.

DD gets a shirt (T-shirt or Sweatshirt) with the year and a stuffed Mickey with the year. Because we go every year, people give her Disney gift cards for her birthday and Christmas that she uses to buy these items herself.

 

[crazybones27]

I always bought mugs, but now have no room for those. I moved on to pins for the resort we were staying at during that time. I still buy a pin plus something for the kitchen and a Mickey Doll with the year on it. There's usually a specific one where he has a sweatshirt or something on that we buy with the year on it. If we're there during the holidays a Xmas plush is a must and a different one each time.

I also have a new tradition of getting glasses with our children's names and year etched on them. As they grow they get a new glass for their appropriate age. Right now they only have the small OJ glasses, but soon we'll be getting small regular glasses. I think it will be cute for them later on to see what their favorite characters were during certain times with their names on their glasses .

My husband collects Vinylmations as of 2010 and they've taken over the house

 

[Simba's Mom]

Coffee cup and a "year" golf shirt.

Don't get DH started on buying golf shirts again! He's got too many already! He used to buy the golf shirts that had the name of the individual courses on them, but the last few years it seems that they all have the same generic "WDW golf". We buy 1 or 2 ornaments every year.

 

[katiepants29]

We do pins, a special one from a ride or attraction that was the highlight of our trip ( or ten rides or attractions that were highlights, lol). I always get the girls charms for their pandora bracelets, as well as a clip on charm for their cheapie charm bracelets.

I am obsessed with Alex and Ani. Last trip I got the castle bracelet in gold. This trip I am hoping for a silver bracelet.

When we went in September, the kids and I did the pearls (our mommy daughter fun jewelry). I picked a blue pearl out of an oyster. But the woman helping us put too much glue on the pearl and ruined it. I was sad. But I got over it and picked a white pearl to replace it. The girls got pink and silver. It was a fun experience.

 

[Hollymom1229]

DH and I have gotten a Christmas ornament on just about every trip since we became DVC owners. I just wish we had started the tradition with our trips before we were owners.

 

[Micca]

We find a Christmas ornament or three on most of our trips. We have so many Disney clothes, coffee mugs, drinking glasses that we just don't need any more right now. We have a few pieces of art, but we only have so much wall space to hang them so we've cut back on that. The kitchen stuff is fun because it's actually useful and doesn't take a lot of storage space.

Our granddaughters, on the other hand, don't have nearly enough Disney stuff. A good chunk of our merch budget will be devoted to building their inventory of Disney items over the next few years.

 

[CaFeeney]

My daughter (6) picks a new color lucky cat from the store in Japan/EPCOT each time we visit. She loves to find out the meaning of each color and keeps all of her cats in a little box and plays with them often.

Small, cheap, and a cute little memento!

 

[Greatfalls]

Always pins. Either a resort if it's the first time we stay there, an event (Christmas, F&W), a year pin, or the DVC members only pin. I'm on my second lanyard and it's fun to look at them to remember our prior trips.

 

[palhockeymomof2]

I buy an ornament for our tree each year...I've also started buying one for each of my kids and have put them away until they have a tree of their own

 

[Mickey527]

We do ornaments and magnets, if there's something different or special for an occasion. But our ornaments can be, and usually are, not traditional. We'll get a key chain or something we can hang on the tree instead of a real ornament.

Oh, and my wife likes finding new antenna balls. When my son and I went to WDW for the W&D 1/2 marathon last year, we found a sale on them at VWL and we surprised her with two weird ones.

Now I'm trying to figure out a way to display them somewhere because over the years she's built up quite a collection, from both WDW and DLR.

I bought 2 inch wide wood the length of my french doors and dowels thick enough to fit the antenna toppers. I drilled holes in the 2 " wood and cut the dowels to 4" and 8" lengths and glued the dowels into the wood. then two screws down the wood into the top of the door frame to hold it, put up the antenna toppers and show them off.
I dont know how to insert photos, I have them on my computer but don't have url addresses for them.

 

[gopherit]

We buy a magnet... and we have a quest to (eventually) stay in all the DVC resorts (although it keeps getting interrupted by returning to favorite places as well!) So in keeping with our quest - when we (finally!) stay in a new DVC resort - I buy the artist rendering of that resort that is sold at the resort (we get the 8X10 matted as 11X14). I have turned our family room and the stairwell leading to it into a Disneyfied game room, and on the stairwell leading up to the room, I have all our DVC resort prints hanging. So far we have BWV (our home!), BCV, OKW, VWL, HHI, and SSR. I have a spot (and frame) all primed and ready for AKV (staying there in a few months) so I sure hope they have something! And I have plenty of stairwell left for any of the others!

 

[Chuckers]

I buy 3 things:

A pin from the resort I am staying at
The current year magnet
The current year 'expanding' washcloth. (I usually buy 2, one to keep in the packaging and one to use)

 

[maburke]

Always pins. Either a resort if it's the first time we stay there, an event (Christmas, F&W), a year pin, or the DVC members only pin. I'm on my second lanyard and it's fun to look at them to remember our prior trips.

Me too. Also, when I help someone else plan a trip, I ask them to bring me a pin that represents what they liked best.

 

[CocosMeme]

DH collects pins and I buy coffee mugs. Yes, I have too many, but..

Same here - I have so many coffee mugs it is crazy, but I pick one every morning. My new favorite is my Aulani mug! I am drinking from it right now.

 

[smallblackstars]

I love this idea! Although I have been to the World many times this will be my DH's first time. We will need to find something fun and start our family tradition this year!

 

[meajuly5]

I get a dated Christmas ornament each year. When we get home, I pack the ornament along with a picture of my son from that trip in a tote. The ornaments will be for him one day. He's 5 now and I have been doing this since his first trip when he was one. He already loves looking at pictures from "old" trips, so I'm sure he will enjoy both the ornaments and seeing himself "grow" at Disney.

Nice idea with the photo too! I write a note on the box re: why I bought it. Buy them each an ornament to commemorate the year and vacation

 

[eporter66]

Yes - I have seen others mention this, but we always buy a Christmas ornament. We usually go in the fall, so it is a nice reminder of our vacation when we hang them from the tree.

We also usually get a nice picture frame with the year on it and put the nicest picture from our trip in it.