What do you save?

[Grumpy'sWife4Ever]

What "freebie" items from the park do you end up dragging home with you? This time around I brought home:

-The schedules and maps that you pick up at the front gate

- The covered kids' cups from the Village Haus, and ditto the color-changing straws

- I also flattened the cute boxes that the kids' meals came in and brought them home, too and no, I don't know why

-The cool Cars cup my son got at the Blue Bayou, along with the flashing car that decorated it

- The kids' pirate "hats" from Blue Bayou

- DDs crown from Ariel's Grotto

- The drivers' licenses we got at Autopia

- All of the bags from our purchases.

When we went in '06 I saved our bags and I even saved some of the paper napkins because they said "50th anniversary" I don't know what I will do with all of these things, but if I ever get organized one day I could one very impressive scrap book!

 

[DizNee Luver]

Ditto!!!

I save pretty much everything but the leftover food & garbage!!! I scrapbook & keep napkins, maps, well you know....... everything!!!

 

[LavenderPeach]

I usually end up saving the autopia drivers license and birthday buttons. I saved the little plastic mickey/minnie cup that DS got at CO but decided to throw it away once we got home since it was hard for him to drink out of (he can't drink with a straw - feeding issues - and the edge had a bumpy rim on it which made it difficult for him) Oh and one thing that always takes me awhile to throw away is the parking pass/ticket. I do eventually get rid of them but I usually leave them lying around the house or in the car for a few days. I guess I kind of like seeing a little bit of disney sitting around like it's just a normal thing to have a disneyland parking pass sitting around the house with all the regular clutter.

 

[Mike_M]

I save the Souvenir Guides / Maps from every trip I've made so far and they are a really cool way to see how the park has changed over the years and also bring back memories from certain trips when I look through them.

 

[DizNee Luver]

Those are cool...... I have one from the 50th opening day..... think I got it with a press packet in my Dreams Come True Fireworks backpack I won on ebay...... It's really awesome!!

 

[mechurchlady]

Popcorn buckets, maps, menus, any paper with info to use here, and schedules.
I still have beads from New Orleans square and save a lot of stuff because I am NV and a collector of useless stuff.

 

[alexandria674]

I keep the maps, the bags that are flattened out, my autotopia license, it's not for "free" but I get those smashed coins that imprint designs on them.

 

[Diznygrl]

I save almost everything. Maps, brochures, cardboard coasters, napkins, hotel parking passes, confetti, you name it, LOL. My favorite thing to really "collect" though are the napkins. Whenever I see a new design, I snatch one up!

Back when they used to skewer the cherries in a mint julep with those little plastic swords, I collected those. Yeah, I know you can get the same things at the grocery store, but these were SPECIAL because they came from Disneyland!

 

[Disney Dreams]

...

See, now these are very cool to have! My problem is this: I have NO CLUE where the things I save "because they will be great mementos" actually are. Sigh, I wish i actually scrapbooked all the things I say I'm going to scrapbook.

Nice collection Mike_M.

 

[BecBennett]

Everything! I can't bring myself to throw anything out. I have a dreams plastic cup, that broke in half on the flight home... I still have it.

 

[mechurchlady]

I used to have the little deer from Japanese Deer Park and for a long time had the sword toothpicks from the Pirate Ship. Oh if they could make me a gluten and soy free tuna sandwich like them days when food was king of DL.

 

[redsox721]

I still have everything from our first family trip to WDW in 1994. We were there 10 days so you can only imagine the "stuff" I have. I even saved the receipts from our Food'n Fun Plan meals and the leis we got when we checked into the Polynesian Resort. My family thinks I'm nuts to save them but it is a wonderful memory of our first trip to Disney.

As for saving them, I purchased the photo boxes from AC Moore and store everything in those. The are a nice weight, have covers, a place for a label and stack nicely. They also come in nice colors and designs.

 

[Brady's Mom]

I have old/unused fast passes from all of our trips, our tickets from all of our trips, and napkins from our Christmas trip. I also grab a handful of maps from each land so we have some when we come home. My kids pull them out of the drawer to look at them all the time. We also end up giving them away when we find out someone we know is going to DLR. I have times guides (these are very handy) from when we were there last, the mickey shaped kids meal bowl thingies and I keep the bags from our trips because they keep our ears and birthday hat from getting dusty!

 

[PinkBudgie]

I still have a Fast Pass from Space Mountian that I never got a chance to use last year. I also have my maps from January. I wish I had the ones from when I was younger. How cool! I know I have some old DL tickets from the ticket book but I don't know where they are. Possibly in my parents' attic.

 

[Jennifer03]

I save maps, receipts, plastic bags, park tickets, and pens/note paper from the hotel.

 

[Disneyanajc]

I save just about everything I like to have a little disney out at all time so I have a these sitting out on the tables and on my desk;

Yes, the drink coasters for under your cup or glass...one year a very nice housekeeper took pity on me and left me a bunch ...jc

 

[Snow Orange]

I'm saving the links from our countdown chain. Don't know what I'll do with them. Currently there piled up in a basket on my counter.....

 

[swimrsal]

I have a beverage cup from when I was there in 1996. I also have the "lunch box" that my son's meal came in at Whitewater Snacks... we use it for crayons. I used to keep airline tickets and stuff like that but I finally stopped!

 

[JadeDarkstar]

cups lots an lots of cups. popcorn buckets. maps bags the birthday buttons the charcter meal ones. menus that i can. hats from bb

 

[lntsmom]

Our last trip was to WDW. Along with what you mentioned we brought back:

*Our wristbands from EMH.
*A couple of plastic kiddie meal Mickey plates.
*Stickers from "What's Your Problem".
*A flattened popcorn box. (My older son has done this both trips...I flatten them and put them on the back cover of the album to hold park maps and schedules.)
*The kidcot necklaces.
*napkins from the Sci-Fi cafe
*salt and pepper packets from Sci-Fi cafe
*drink coasters from Raglan Road
*all the hang tags from the t-shirts the boys chose
*"extra" fastpasses...as in, after we got fastpasses I'd put the cards in again to get the ones that say "You already hold a current fastpass for this attraction" This is a cool time to document the exact day and time you rode the ride.
*dessert plates, flattened
*driver's licenses from the Sci-Fi Cafe
*the wrappers from the Mickey treats we had at Animal Kingdom
*receipts (sadly, these fade quickly so you have to photocopy them and put the photocopies in the albums)
*a candy wrapper from the candy bar we shared in Norway
*my son's "stick pony race" certificate from WCC
*my son's "padawan" certificate from the Jedi Academy
*we don't bring these...but each day I make my boys journal on a postcard and then post it to themselves. These are reflections of their personal experiences.


Hm...seems like there was more. It all made it's way into albums! I haven't done albums for anything other than our Disney trips...if nothing else, the albums will serve as family storybooks when the boys are grown. I journal about each day, add an actual itinerary (when we are waiting in line I jot notes...as soon as we get home I turn these into trip reports), add things like the weather data for the day, and with some pictures you have a great album.