souveniers - where to buy?

[2ndxmommy]

what to take? autograph books? pins? shirts? ears? etc. 5yo and 3yo. How much ca$h should I reasonable set aside. I'm not big on buying licensed products (and the 20% markup), but I'll make an exception.

 

[Mom to Will and Finn]

Take more than you think you'll need. There are tons of cute souvenirs and they're hard to pass up.

To save a little, buy an autograph book and a "fat" pen at a dollar store before you go. Oh, and Walmart has light up spinner things (exact same as Disney, from what I remember) for half the price of the ones sold at Fantasmic and other Disney spots.

If I had to guess, I'd say we spend about (averaging out) $25 - $40 per day per child. Dh and I usually don't get ourselves much, maybe a tshirt, but this time I'm going shopping in Epcot! Can't wait!

 

[Princess Glenda]

We've set aside $50 each for DS9 and DD4 to buy whatever they want--no questions asked. I'm sure we will also buy some neat things for them ourselves but this money will be for the odds and ends that they can't live without. We loved shopping at Downtown Disney last May. We really didn't spend a lot of time looking at the shops in the parks themselves. If you have a chance to visit the Disney Outlets you can get some GREAT deals. We found shirts for DH that were $3.99 there that were marked $32 in the Pop Century gift shop.

 

[EthansMom]

We always stay out of the stores at the parks and then hit the World of Disney Store at DTD. We pick out one t-shirt/sweatshirt per person and then let the kids pick out one reasonably-priced toy, usually one of the medium-sized stuffed characters, so about $50/kid. For our young kids, we don't let them go crazy.

 

[imsayin]

I don't want to sound like a party pooper, but I have always stayed away from souveniers as much as possible, so DD11 & DS8 don't expect much. I find that they end up in the garbage quickly. I limit them each to $10-$20 per TRIP!

We did pin trading last trip to WDW, but I brought pins with that I had bought on clearance. They actually loved this activity. DS8 (5 at the time) loved it more than any ride.

We just got back from a DC trip, and they got to spend $5 out of my pocket each. They each spent $10 of their own money.

 

[DeanDoug]

A lot of this is personal preference... we have purchased souvenirs on sale at the Disney Store and stowed them away in our luggage... every/other evening (or morning) we pulled-out a souvenir for our daughter and she loved it... you could even keep them in the DS bag, and pull them out in the park we loved the fact that we saved at least 60%

 

[magsmouse]

There is also a disney store at downtown disney (a couple of shops away from Rainforest Cafe) where everything is under $10. Kids could have fun picking out a few things without breaking the bank! Everything is WDW merchandise.

 

[oogieboogie]

if you have a car, you can go down to the outlet store and pick up some great deals.

 

[Micki_Streeter]

Head down to Belz Factory Outlet on International drive. They have to Disney Character stores. Get all your souveniers right away at atleast 50 percent off. We do this every trip

 

[2ndxmommy]

Head down to Belz Factory Outlet on International drive. They have to Disney Character stores. Get all your souveniers right away at atleast 50 percent off. We do this every trip

Directions please? Is this in Orlando area? We will be driving so we can stop on the way. Thanks! 50% off works for me.

 

[Micki_Streeter]

You can get directions here.. There are two "Character Premiere" stores in the Belz Factory Outlet.

http://www.belz.com/realestate/retail/festival/index.html

And here it another option, though I personally prefer the Belz Factory Outlet

Orlando Premium Outlets
http://www.premiumoutlets.com/

Here is a link with really good directions to both:

http://www.allearsnet.com/btp/outlet.htm

 

[2ndxmommy]

Thanks for the tips! I bought some plain scrapbooks and fat pens (easier for costumed characters) and stickers to decorate covers at the Dollar Store for $5! Woo hoo!

I'm going to check out that Outlet Mall as well for shirts and such.