When planning your Walt Disney World be sure to include a budget for souvenirs! As many times as we have visited, I still cannot resist coming home with some kind of memento of our wonderful Disney vacation. Budgeting for souvenirs can get challenging though, especially with children, but I have a few money-saving tips that will help make the souvenir dollars stretch a bit further – for kids as well as grownups!
With younger children, try purchasing some things before your trip. I have found coloring books, dolls, and a multitude of other official Disney toys and products at our local discount store, the $1 store, and even online (and not just at Disneystore.com). Purchasing a few things ahead of time, will help spread out the cost over several months. Then on your Disney vacation, surprise your little ones with a surprise each morning that was dropped off by Mickey during the night! This definitely helps curb the “I wants” when they already have some fun suprises!
When you have older children this suggestion may not work quite as well. Older kids, from my experience, prefer to buy what they want and are not likely to be distracted with little dollar store items. Instead, I have found that encouraging older kids to save their money in the time before their trip works best. (Put the word out to family that Disney gift cards make great presents!) Then once you are at Disney, you may find that it works better for your child to limit their money spent each day, so that it doesn’t all get spent the first day. Here, consider giving them a gift card for each day as a way to spread out the souvenir money. Gift cards can be purchased ahead of time and at some stores, you can even get up to a 5% discount. For example, if you are giving them $100 to spend and you purchase (4) $25 cards, with a 5% discount, you only spend $95. While that doesn’t sound like a lot, it can add up.
Pressed pennies are a great way to have a small memento of you trip without a huge expense. Just save those shiny pennies and quarters prior to going and have a supply of them handy. Pressed penny machines are located all over each park, the shops and the hotels. Maybe consider even a little splurge to purchase a book to put them all in.
Another great idea is to take a picture! Let’s say you are going around World Showcase – try on the different hats at each country and grab a photo instead. Can you imagine how expensive and how cumbersome it would be to carry around a hat from each of the 12 countries? Instead you have some awesome photos and can get a frame or two for your favorites.
Personally, pins are my down-fall and even after all my visits, I still find pins I just can’t live without. These too can be purchased ahead of time to trade with cast members or maybe even other guests. Just make sure that what you purchase has the official “Disney” stamp on the back, so they are actually tradeable. I have some very unique pins that I got when trading with a cast member. Always look for the lanyards on the cast members and if you are lucky enough, you might spot a cast member with a trading vest, which will have more on them. Just keep your eyes peeled!
When looking through the souvenir shops, there are a couple of things you will want to think about:
- If you want a souvenir from a specific ride or park, be sure to purchase it at those locations. Even the pins for these special places are not available everywhere.
- If you see an item that really “speaks” to you, get it. Don’t try to bargain shop at Disney. Disney is very good at having the same price on the same item everywhere, even if it is on sale!
Over-all, I have found that thinking ahead about souvenirs and having a budget of what you want to spend makes the entire experience more relaxing and a little less stressful. Have fun going through the many shops Walt Disney has to offer!
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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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Wow, great ideas on saving $ for souvenirs. I especially like the gift cards idea along w/spreading out the $ to cover the time you’re at the parks. I also agree that pins are a downfall. What the writer omitted was that each pin is color-coded by price. One color code might be yellow, and its price could be 5.95, while another pin would be blue and its price will be either higher or lower than yellow-coded pins.
Regarding the surprise gifts, they can ordered from Disney’s Gift Store and dropped off at the guest’s room. I made the mistake of buying too much of that stuff on last year’s visit, and compounded it by purchasing more souvenirs like a glow ring and Mickey Ears, the latter of which I had never bought in all my years of visiting Disney! Then I attempted to to stuff as many of those gift items as I could into my suitcase and carryon. I ended up eating the snack items and not using the snack cooler, while I donated the Star Wars items to charity. I had to do so because I was moving to another home, and some things needed to be disposed of like that. I’m sure some lucky kid will have something nice from Disney on Xmas Day or for his or her b-day that his or her parent bought from the thrift shop.