Must buy items at the parks

[xipotec]

The haunted mansion ghost portraits of yourself. .

What ....wait.....where is this????? How did I not see this?

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

The kids or adults sports Disney socks are cute! With the Mickey or Minnie on.

 

[crystaldawn]

Pressed pennies have become a tradition for us!

When our kids were little we always did a balloon and tied it to our stroller. For whatever reason the kids really looked forward to that and it made finding our stroller easy too!

We are fans of photo frames and magnets too.

 

[Kricketnp]

An ornament every trip is high up on my list! I also always need one bag of Mickey nonpareils and a Minnie's bakeshop cookie!

 

[SaintsManiac]

Christmas ornaments and ear headbands

 

[ElsasFan]

Is the Twinings Tea that you buy at Epcot different from what you can purchase at home?

Hmm, hard question. Not really in the parks, but every trip I absolutely have to buy sugar free chocolate covered peanuts at Disney Springs. A frankfurter at the Germany pavilion is high on my list. DD and DS have to get Churros from Mexico. Oh, yeah, and there is a pretty good chance that I am going to buy a years supply of tea from the Twinings Tea Shop in the UK every trip lol. We also have to have a new T shirt every year.

 

[BrianL]

What ....wait.....where is this????? How did I not see this?

These are at Memento Mori near the Haunted Mansion. Here's a recent thread about it:

http://www.disboards.com/threads/creepy-face-changing-photo-souvenir.3558384/

 

[MelissaBee]

Another vote for a Christmas ornament with the date on it or one that represents a child's favorite ride or character. We also get a small, dated picture frame every trip.

I also like mugs, but I have enough now, so that's not an every trip kind of item for me, but I do like things like that that I use every day that remind me of my travels. In that vein, I'm going to get a watch and some kitchen towels this trip.

We like pressed pennies, too, but collect those more often in the real world and not at Disney.

 

[queenofthehive]

For this upcoming trip - Christmas mug, pick a pearl/jewelry and a Disney print.

 

[xipotec]

These are at Memento Mori near the Haunted Mansion. Here's a recent thread about it:

http://www.disboards.com/threads/creepy-face-changing-photo-souvenir.3558384/

Wow thanks for this! That store is going to hurt me in the wallet area.....ouch!

 

[wench]

Wow thanks for this! That store is going to hurt me in the wallet area.....ouch!

It's dangerous! I think the only thing that will save me on my upcoming trip is that I already own it all.

 

[Tomh]

Is the Twinings Tea that you buy at Epcot different from what you can purchase at home?

No, not really, just that they have a decent price on it (actually a bit less than I usually pay at home) and a wide selection. Plus, now every time I make a cup of tea, I think about Disney

 

[prprincess]

There are these chocolate covered coconut Mickey Ear candies that are to die for! I crave them all the time!

 

[Angie789]

I hate clutter-y knick-knacks, so my go-to souvenir is a Christmas ornament. It is a great family memory, but it doesn't hang out on a shelf all year collecting dust.

 

[joannamet]

The things my daughter treasures the most are the least expensive. She still has the same autograph book from her first trip at age 6. She always takes it and adds to it. I just keep the book and a big marker in my bag while we're in the parks. Pressed pennies are the absolute best thing ever. Carry a small bag of pennies and quarters and buy a special book to keep them in. DD has pressed coins from everywhere we go; not just WDW. Finally, pins are really cool for kids. You can buy a couple of starter sets on Amazon or EBay before you go and begin collecting them in the parks. DD loves her pins and loves trading in the parks. As your little one grows she will have wonderful collections to remember her trips by.

I also disagree with the person who noted that the things she buys are cheaply made and fall apart. I've always found Disney items in the park to be very high quality but we don't buy expensive souvenirs.

 

[ktlm]

Photopass/memory maker!!! DD is 10 now, and her first trip at age 2 is probably my favorite! Everything was real and magical and she was so happy and so tiny! I love those pictures. We made a photobook on the photopass site too, and also a couple Christmas ornaments from the photos.

She needs a Mickey head ice cream bar- although at age 2, DD really preferred the popsicle type things instead.

As far as souvenirs, she will figure out what she must absolutely have on her own, and it might surprise you. At age 2, we walked into a store and DD became totally enamored with a WDW plastic back scratcher. It was Goofy, with Donald on his shoulders and Mickey on Donald's shoulders. It was bizarre, and she didn't even know what its function was, but she went nuts over it and had to have it. We tried to point her to toys, dolls, or stuffed animals instead, but she was having none of it. She carried that thing with her like a flag the rest of the week. I'm pretty sure she still has it. It was a crazy choice, but she loved it.

At that age, I think a must is one of those overly expensive light up toys at night. DD always loved those. Yep, it is expensive and silly, but it sure is fun!

We didn't start the autograph books until she was age 4 or 5 when due to a reservation issue on the phone for a DL trip, at check in we found a packet waiting for us with an autograph book and pen for her and a couple of fast passes for all of us. It was so sweet of the CM/Disney to do that for us. She loved the autograph books at that age, but before that at age 2 and 3 it was nice not to have them, because the characters spent more time interacting with her. At those ages, she couldn't really read the signatures yet anyway- the photos were much more important.

We also have a pin that was given to her by an off duty CM that we met nicknamed Grandpa Smiley that was her very first pin ever . I think that was her 3 year old trip, not her first trip. At the time, we had no clue that she would become a huge pin collector in a few years. She told him her favorite character was Cinderella and that was the pin he gave her, and Cinderella is still her favorite character today and that pin was very special. Even if your DD doesn't collect pins in the future, maybe a pin that you can put away as a keepsake for later years would be nice.

I would maybe try to find one nice thing that you can put away or keep high on a shelf somewhere for a while that will last forever that she can look at years down the road as a memento from that first trip. There are all kinds of things in the stores that you could find for that. It could be of her favorite character right now if it is a classic (although I wouldn't go with Disney Jr.- except for Mickey and Crew).

 

[gatorlisa]

For me it's the pins. I collect pins everywhere I go and Disney is no exception. There are so many cool designs and I like that they do not take up a lot of room. I have several cork boards on the walls in my office where I display them. They aren't terribly "useful" but I enjoy looking at them. I have done very little trading. The ones I buy at the parks I like too much to trade. I tend to only trade if I have some that were picked up very cheaply from the outlets for the specific purpose of trading. I have a few t-shirts and a couple of hats, but I don't get new ones of those every time. Only when there's something I come across that I particularly like. I also have a collection of 9-inch stuffed Mickeys dressed as something (Mickey as Jack Sparrow, Mickey as Indiana Jones, Sorcerer's Apprentice Mickey, etc.). Those are another thing that I don't get a new one of each time...only when I see one that I do not have and that I like. I do collect Christmas ornaments from my travels and those make wonderful souvenirs, but I have so many that I tend to only get new ornaments when I visit new places, so rarely get new Disney ones anymore, unless it's a special event or trip or something.

 

[brookstu]

I would agree with the earlier posters. We have bough a bunch of toys both for boy (lightsabers and spinning r2d2, pirate gun) and girl (princess wand, shoes, dolls) and everything has held up over a number of years even when we wish they would be retired . Gifts are pretty personal I always enjoy getting the scorers cards and putting them with the baseball cards when we get home

 

[YawningDodo]

The chocolate marshmallow on a Mickey straw. I love them. Plus you a straw.
The popcorn bucket then you can use it as a crayon holder or small toy holder or planter. Umbrellas with her name on it. China in Epcot and magic kingdom. Autograph book. Pressed pennies book.

I can't eat popcorn anymore without getting sick, and the part that bums me out about that the most when I go to the parks is that I really liked the popcorn buckets. They are (or in 2009 were) pretty nice plastic tubs with lids that could be taken off and clipped to the handle. They were perfect for hooking onto a purse and you didn't have to eat all the popcorn at once if you weren't up for it.

Mickey ice cream bars have been mentioned, and they're my #1 must buy. My family has a tradition of taking a daily ice cream break at the parks, and the classic Mickey bar is my favorite. I also tend to buy one small plush toy per trip, maybe a couple pins. I probably would have bought a bunch of books last year, but I didn't have a smart phone then for price checking and I was leery of buying them and then finding out they were available on Amazon for cheaper. Now that I've been to Trader Sam's once (maybe not relevant to OP's interests, with a two-year-old in tow) I'm tempted to get one of the tiki mugs each time, though that's fairly pricey (I love my Krakatoa mug and use it fairly frequently - right now it's a pen holder for a party tomorrow night, but usually it's my water glass whenever I want to be reminded of a fun time).

I guess my overall advice is the same as doing any shopping for non-necessities -- just ask yourself what you're going to do with it when you get home, and don't buy it if you don't have a good answer. "Put it on display" is a perfectly good answer if it's something you'll enjoy looking at and you have a place to put it, but I try to limit the things I buy purely for decoration.

 

[SonicSunglasses]

I love getting the t-shirts, the more character or ride specific the better. Lots of PotC stuff, Haunted Mansion, A couple Orange Bird ones, etc. That's all well and good while I'm still here in Minnesota. When I move to Florida next year, everyone will think I'm a bloody tourist.