Tips about Characters and Souvenirs

For those of you looking for low-priced souvenirs that will be both fun and useful, you should really consider the Mickey Mouse ears ice cube tray! I bought one for $4 at World of Disney, and have been smiling ever since. I'll definitely buy some for my friends as souvenirs on my next trip! - Michele Cardona

My 4-year-old daughter wanted to find gifts for all 12 children in her preschool class. We went to the Disney shops and found sets of crayons in the shapes of various Disney characters. These crayons come 12-15 in a pack, so we broke up the set and gave each child their own special crayon. We added to that the crazy Mickey straws that we could purchase, or sometimes were given for free, at the food court at Port Orleans Riverside. Then, when we got home, we realized that we were able to scrounge together 12 Disney World shopping/gift bags! Each child was thrilled to have his/her own package direct from Mickey! - Evalynn Kuehner

I am an 11-year-old girl who has visited WDW at least 35 times, and I found the best Disney World product for us Disney nuts. It is the Walt Disney World Resort Scavenger Hunt. It is only $4.00 in the Magic Kingdom Emporium on Main Street. It has questions like: What is the name of the mill on Tom Sawyer Island? What are they auctioning in Frontierland? If you WANT to know everything about Disney, or think you DO know everything, then this is for you. My family and I thought that we knew Disney, but we were so wrong! I thought you would like to know about this awesome product. - Chris B.

I read the tip about using the WDW shopping bags for packing and had to add this -- I also bring home several of those from each trip and save them. When I have my garage sale each year, I like to give those to the kids who come in and buy a little toy or something. They are so excited to get the WDW bags and, of course, many of them have never been to WDW, so it is a special treat for them just to have that bag. - Diane

I am 35 and made my first trip to Disney two years ago. It was spectacular, and we are going for our fourth trip in October. I always get a gold charm for a charm bracelet I have had for years. I have a Mickey, Tigger and Tinker Bell charm. This year I am going to put the charms on their own special Disney bracelet. I hope it will become a family heirloom one day. - Lucretia German

Take a shoestring/small cord and put it thru the spiral binding on the autograph book. Frees the kids (and your) hands and it is easily slipped over their head when they see a character. - Karen S.

ALL PARKS - If you arrive at Magic Kingdom prior to opening, there is a Welcome Show on the Train Station Platform.

Antenna Toppers -- They make a good identifier for a rental car in a parking lot. - Monte Kremin

One of our favorite souvenir items from Walt Disney World is picture frames. We have gotten quite a collection over the years. It is a wonderful way to remember your trip and you can fill them with pictures of your trip and look at them every day. We also have a collection of magnets, license plates and beach towels. - Deb Curl

During the course of our Disney vacation, we accumulated a huge number of plastic Disney bags. Instead of throwing them away after we removed our purchases, we kept them in a drawer in our room and used them to wrap and cushion breakable items that we were carrying on the plane on the wayhome. - Erin

This year, instead of the regular autograph books or white baseball hats to have the characters sign, I wanted something that I could bring home and use in our scrapbook. I bought a "Stax" pack of 100 sheets of multicolored card stock pre-cut into 4" x 6" sheets. (I chose the primary colors.) I then separated them into three stacks, one for each of my children, and punched a hole in the top left corner of each sheet. I had gotten three of the new key rings that are basically oval clips with a ring attached to them. I then let each of my kids choose one of the "shaped" key rings that matched (i.e., heart, star, etc.). That clip was then attached to the oval on each "book" and the outer clip was used to let the kids attach their book to a belt loop, backpack, etc. Then, when we returned home, I just unhooked the pages from the clip and each autograph can be used in the scrapbook. (We always take black Sharpie markers with us to use.) - Michelle Suit
For other scrapbooking tips, visit: http://allears.net/btp/scrapbook/intro.html

When getting character autographs, please have your children hand the character the pen with the tip down. It's very hard to turn the pen around and hold an autograph book. Also felt tip markers work best. - Stacey

I agree whole hearty about getting one "nice" gift / souvenir. My DW and I for years always got the "usual" stuff to bring home. T-Shirts, hats, etc. Nice stuff to remember our trip but would always seem to get put away and never really used. On our last trip we decided to try something a little different. We had always wanted a coo-coo clock so when we were in EPCOT we bought a very nice clock in Germany. It was expensive but they shipped it home for us (it arrived the day after we got home) and it now proudly hangs in our kitchen. It is a constant reminder of our trip. - Jim B

Disney has such a large selection of coin banks. We bought one toward the end of our trip but next time we will buy it on the first day. THEN as we get back to our room or camper each night, all change will go into the bank to begin our savings fund for our next trip. I found that halfway thru this trip I was lugging around a huge change purse of coins that added a heavy load to my backpack. Buying a bank the first day will not only give us a fun sense of "when we come back again" but i won't be lugging all those nickels & dimes around trying to pawn them off on kiosk vendors paying for my stuff. - Amy Miles

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For a cheap and suitcase friendly souvenir I love the antenna toppers. You can buy a patriotic one or even Christmas ones. They are so cute. I think they are $3.00 - $4.00. Stacey