Leaving for 1st WDW family trip in 3 weeks - ? about souvenir type stuff?!

sdckb

Earning My Ears
Joined
May 18, 2009
Wondering about a few things.........is best to get this stuff ahead of time from Disneystore.com or ebay or something? I'm wondering about the character autograph books, pin lanyards, mickey ears, etc. Or is there a good place in the park to get them first thing we walk in? Obviously costs more at the park, right? What are some other hot item must haves? I have 9 and 7 yr old boys and 4 yr old girl.
 
Oh, I soooo wish I had asked this question before our first trip. :headache:

YES! buy all the glow bracelets, t-shirts, light spinners, lanyards, and autograph books you can before you go. If you think your kids might be in to pin trading, buy those traders too. You will save a bucket of money that can be used for your next trip. Trust me, there will be a next trip ;)
 
On our last trip I bought a few things at home and surprised the kids(girls) on our trip. Our gifts(one a day) were found in the morning and were sprinkled with pixie dust from Tinkerbell(Green glitter brought from home)for a little Disney Magic. I added a little poem for fun. I just bought little things I knew they would like( Disney toothbrush,tshirts, hair ties, light spinner -on clearance MUCH cheaper than at Disney) Your kids will probably want to buy a sounenir at Disney too, since it is your first trip.
Just my two cents on the pin trading. Expensive and a pain to carry around heavy pins. We wasted too much time looking in pin shops and then the kids didn't want to trade the pins they picked out. The Cast Members who would trade were rarely engaging with the kids. I really would save that for another trip if that is what you decide to do. Now our kids buy a pin they like and we put it on a Disney hat and keep it for a souvenir-MUCH better and easier for us!
As for the autograph books most kids love getting their books signed and a photo taken. We bought our books at Disney but brought sharpie click pens from home. Write your name and phone number or IF FOUND info inside. You will spend alot of time waiting in line for characters ,so maybe if your kids have special characters that they HAVE to meet, do a search online for where in the parks you can find those characters. Have your kids think of something to say to that specific character and the character will usually be very responsive. For instance, ask Cinderella what was her least favorite chore. There are some good suggestions for making autograph books on these forums if you choose do that.
Have a great trip!
 
Oh, I soooo wish I had asked this question before our first trip. :headache:

YES! buy all the glow bracelets, t-shirts, light spinners, lanyards, and autograph books you can before you go. If you think your kids might be in to pin trading, buy those traders too. You will save a bucket of money that can be used for your next trip. Trust me, there will be a next trip ;)

We bought glow necklaces at the dollar store for cheap. The kids loved them and it saved us so much money. We only bought one light up toy at Disney, and of course it's no where to be found now.
 


Wondering about a few things.........is best to get this stuff ahead of time from Disneystore.com or ebay or something? I'm wondering about the character autograph books, pin lanyards, mickey ears, etc. Or is there a good place in the park to get them first thing we walk in? Obviously costs more at the park, right? What are some other hot item must haves? I have 9 and 7 yr old boys and 4 yr old girl.



of all the things on your list, its the mickey ears you should get at the parks. First of all there are plenty of styles to select from. Secondly it may be one of your (and their) fondest memories. Thirdly - it makes for great photo ops trying them all on.
 
I tried to prebuy once but the kids preferred the stuff they saw in the parks so I no longer do that.

I just limit them to 1 (sometimes 2) items per day. My kids are good about picking inexpensive stuff.
 
I actually bought the disney ears ahead of time. I ordered them from the disney store online. I had each of the kids' names embroidered on them. We surprised them with them when we arrived at Disney. The kids couldn't have been more excited. We had people stopping us everyday to ask where we got our personalized Mickey ears.
 


I was doing my usual Target run last week and I noticed they have Mickey bowls, plates, cups, trays and water bottles! Stock up and use those for your kids breakfast, dessert, etc. to build the excitement of your trip. :thumbsup2

Yep, check out the Dollar Store for Disney items and stock up on those glow necklaces. One year, a little girl fell as she was boarding one of the buses. I gave her a few of my glow bracelets and she instantly smiled.
 
I have always purchased goodies for the kids before the trips a few tips:

If you want to get pins and plan on trading I purchase them off of ebay for $1 each I usually plan on about 5 pins per day to trade that way the kids interact with the cast members and every day they come back to the hotel with new pins.

I always check Walmart for t-shirts they usually have a few styles for $5 each, last year I purchased 6 of them for all of the kids on the trip and they all enjoyed them.

Party City has the glow bracelets for $1, they are also great to share with other kids while waiting for the parades.

Dollar tree usually has cute Disney items to make a goodie bag for the hotel.

Last year we went in December and the Disney store was running a sale on sweatpants I got a pair for both kids for $10 each and they were about $28 at the parks, kids loved them!

When at the parks, also think outside of the box. Last year we went with the whole family in August as well, when we ate at Chef Mickey's we purchased the package and inside the 8x10 folder was a picture of Mickey, my DD had all the characters sign the picture and when we brought it home I put it in a frame in her room. She still talks about it!!

Hope this helps, enjoy your trip!!
 
Ok I haven't been to Disney in about 20 years but I plan on buying all the little souvies before we go. But my must haves for the kids is the Mr. Potatoe Head box and the My Little Pony at DTD. Those seem like toys the kids will get the most use out of when we return home and I guess you can't find them anywhere but Disney.
 
Wondering about a few things.........is best to get this stuff ahead of time from Disneystore.com or ebay or something? I'm wondering about the character autograph books, pin lanyards, mickey ears, etc. Or is there a good place in the park to get them first thing we walk in? Obviously costs more at the park, right? What are some other hot item must haves? I have 9 and 7 yr old boys and 4 yr old girl.

the pin lanyards i'd get as well as the autograph books but the mickey ears i'd have to say let them get their own make it a special thing for them on their trip! Make sure you get big bulky pens from a bank (they tend to have huge pens) because it makes it easier for the charachters to hold. Oh and dont forget to pick up a couple tubes of glowsticks and look for light up disney things they sell cool things like that in disney at night and the kids will be sure to want them. I'm 17 and I always want to buy all the light up toys lol!
 
our first trip with the the girls they were 4 and 7. We did the autographs. we have not done it since.(there choice) but if this is on your list to do then buy the books at home before the trip. During the night parade every kid will want the glow in dark stuff buy at home. Water bottles buy at home. I say the ears are something that we buy every trip at disney. The girls go through and pick theres out each year and we have there names put on them. ( used to be free ) The pin trading has realy become something our girls and myself do each trip. We bought a large qty of pins from ebayer and used those to trade with. The girls have a lanyard from each trip ( we only go every 3 years). I have a hat that I keep mine on. We have realy enjoyed the pin tradeing. (note the cm wearing green lanyards are for kids only). Enjoy your trip and remember you cant do everything in Disney World in one trip. So slow down enjoy and have fun.
 
I bought as much as I could before hand- I would hit the Disney store when they had good sales and scooped up Disney T-shirts for the whole family to wear each day.

I also bought my DD a huge Minnie doll, my DS a huge Mickey doll and my DMiL (she came with us last trip- it was her first time ever to WDW) a huge Donald duck doll. They were about $7 each. Our first day there as we were leaving our room to hit the parks I said I had to run back inside to use the bathroom- I put the dolls on the table with a big note that was from Mickey, Minnie and Donald saying welcome to WDW and hope they have a great time. When we got back to the room that night the kids (and MiL) saw the dolls and just loved it!! And it was much cheaper than buying from the gift shop...

I also pre buy Disney gift cards for each child with a pre set amount and that is what they have to spend on their souveniors. Let's see, I also pre bought glow sticks/bracelets, prepaid for photopass, etc.

My kids weren't really into the pin trading, but they loved the pressed pennies! We pre-filled M&M candy tubes with enough pennies and quarters for each kid- as we walked around the parks we would find the penny machines and they would get to press their penny. The gift shops sell a special book to hold all the pennies- I believe the book was about $6.95 or so.

BTW- not sure what your itinerary looks like, but if you will be over at DTD first, there is a special store where everything is $10 or less- you can get autograph books and souveniors from there...that is where we went on our last day to get goodies to bring home for all the unlucky family members that didn't get to Disney with us...;)

Have a great trip-
 

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