If there is one thing you will find an abundance of at Walt Disney World, it is souvenirs! You find them everywhere; as you walk down Main Street, at the end of every attraction or show, walking through the countries in EPCOT, seeing the animals in Animal Kingdom, etc. All you have to do is look around. It can be overwhelming in a hurry, especially for kids. Having a basic plan before arriving can help with both the spending as well as, believe it or not, your time. Because how much time on your vacation do you really want to devote to shopping? Here are a few things to consider before you arrive for your vacation.
First, does your child tend to spend everything in their pocket for one item or do they want a lot of things instead? Do they handle smaller amounts of money better or larger amounts, waiting on that special item? We have a granddaughter that does much better with a small amount each day to spend how she wants, whereas my son liked having a larger amount and then buying that one big gift toward the end of our stay.
Another thing to think (and talk) about prior to arriving in Walt Disney World is the fact that there will be a lot of souvenirs. And unless they are attraction or show specific, most souvenirs will be found at multiple places throughout Walt Disney World. On my last trip, I wanted my first Minnie ears, but I didn’t want just any ears, they had to mean something to me. I knew I would find them at World Showcase, since this was my favorite area! Thinking about that ahead of time saved me a lot of time looking at Minnie ears everywhere.
I have spent many trips with children walking into this store, then this one and back to the first one, while they decide what they would to take home. This can definitely eat into your time planned for Fast Passes, attractions or shows. To avoid this, I have found that keeping the kids moving and getting them excited about the next thing they would see seemed to help distract them from the BEST souvenir they JUST saw. I tried to interact with them on the things going on around them so that they didn’t focus on that toy calling their name.
On one particular trip, as soon as we exited our first ride – Star Tours – our grandson was ready to purchase a $180 light saber that was roughly 4’ long! My immediate thoughts were: Nope, you don’t have enough spending money, this is our first stop, and how am I ever get that on the plane! After that episode I started trying to think of a better way to handle the “I want” syndrome. So instead of letting them wander aimlessly though each store at the end of every attraction, we talked about the attraction – what they liked, what they didn’t like, what was the most exciting, would they like to do it again sometime if time permits – continuing to talk as we slowly walking out of the store. While this won’t work for everyone, it did seem to make the gift shops disappear as we exited each ride.
Eventually our grandson realized that pins were a way for him to get more and were much easier to carry than a light saber! The kids also realized that they could go see more shows and catch more attractions, if we weren’t in a store. I promised them that each day; we could spend a short while looking for that perfect souvenir but they needed to think about what that would be first. I also let them know there was a store we would go to on our last day that would have almost everything if they elected to wait.
While not all these ideas will work for you or your group, planning and thinking about it ahead of time definitely has saved me a lot of time during our stays.
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Debbie and her husband live in Collegedale, TN where her youngest son is going to college. She is a huge Disney fan who dreams of someday retiring and working as a tour guide at Walt Disney World. She has enjoyed many trips to WDW with children, grandchildren and sometimes adults only. It is her ultimate goal to make sure everyone who visits WDW has the same magical time that she enjoys every time she visits.
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