Disney Souveniers

Way too much for me. I also go to the Walgreens in the area and pick up much cheaper t-shirts, mugs, keychains, ears...

Our biggest hit by far was pin trading! We went online and bought a "lot" of I think 30 pins for around $25. Then we split those up between our two boys. They used those pins to trade with the Disney employees. DH and I got into it a bit too, it was really fun! We bought a few pins there that we really loved, but the trading was the most fun and doesn't cost anything beyond the initial eBay expense :) We each picked out mouse ears, and I loved my light-up ones that flashed in time to the fireworks shows. I would highly recommend setting a budget per child and encouraging them to buy their "big" souvenir on the last day. We got pins before we left, ears the first day, and they each picked out a small stuffed Agent P and a toy the last day.

some of the best suveniours are the ones that are .51 cents. we had fun looking for the coin machines and collecting the smashed pennies and keep them in a book. also the autographs are another cheaper suveniour....all you have to do is buy an autograph book and stand in line and have your camera handy!!! those are/were some of our favorites!!

$100 per kid sounds like an awful lot, but I guess it depends on what you expect them to buy with it and what your personal budget is. Something like a hat, t-shirt, or sweatshirt can cost quite a bit more than something relatively small, but you can also find things much cheaper outside the park, i.e. Walmart, then at the park itself. If they wanted snacks or other extras at the park, would that have to come out of the $100 too?

Our daughter is 5, she's been to Disney World twice, and Disneyland once. Each time she's gotten a pair of light-up mouse ears at one of the evening parades or shows ($8.00 each). Once she got one of the giant Mickey balloons inside of a balloon ($10.00). The trip to Disneyland, she got an autograph book with a matching pen ($26.00). We did pop for some pins for the first time on that trip too as well as mouse ear hats with our names stitched on them. She loves the pressed penny machines and like someone else said, they only cost 51 cents each. We went this past Christmas and I went for some Christmas tree ornaments - but that was more for me! :)

BTW, if you are staying on Disney property, any purchases you do make at the park you can have delivered to your room, so you don't have to schlep them around all day!

Color me cheap, but it didn't really cross our minds to waste much time shopping. We brought our own sharpies and purchased little autograph books for I'm guessing about $6 each (because my guys are little, 10 probably wouldn't be interested in that, lol...but the button trading thing was all around the parks and sounded interesting for a "big kid"). We took a million pictures, many with characters who also signed the autograph books, so when we got home, I taped a photo of the boys with that character on the blank page next to the corresponding "autograph". Mostly, we bought events (memories!) instead of toys (the Pirates & Pals party and excursion at one of the resorts, and a character dinner at another resort, and a balloon ride. When I took my 5 year old for the first time, we bought a cane for my husband who wasn't able to come along, a Jasmine toy for his best friend, a pirate telescope for his little brother, and a RC dinosaur truck to remind him of his favorite ride, Dinosaur. No regrets there at all. When I took my 2 year old, he bought 2 pirate guns: one for himself and one for his older brother. We bought Christmas ornaments a few months later online instead of full price at the park. The park did give us buttons for our first visit, for some environmental thing, etc. A saleslady was looking for a pirate treasure box for me (to keep the kids' beads and doubloons in that we already have, their boyish treasures they pick up along the way) but they didn't sell any.....so she gave me plastic ones for free that she found from some other room. Very sweet. We probably paid $40 for the cane, and $6-20 for any toy that was bought. I wouldn't have paid more than $20. But these boys, half a year later, STILL look at their photo albums and autograph books regularly, and dearly love them. We found like $5 or $6 Disney photo albums that hold 200 photos after we checked out of the hotel and were ready to leave town at one of those cheesy junk souvenier shops. They work perfectly, and I'm glad I didn't pay $20 for the same thing in the park. Santa found a small Mickey doll at Walgreens on Christmas Eve for $5 to be a reminder of the fun my preschooler had at WDW, and my 6 yr old enjoyed his Peter Pan ornament to remind him of the pirate party and Peter surprising us, which was found on ebay.

Personally I think $100 is way too much. They don't need all that junk and you can buy it for less than 1/2 the price at another location.

We went several years ago and my kids were around the same age as yours now. As a family we all got ears. We also got a Christmas ornament. In the hotel were souvenier cups for purchase and then you could refill them for free. Within the first day, it paid for itself.

Also, lanyards and pin trading were the big thing. We purchased the lanyards at a Walgreens in Orlando (disney themed) for a few $$. They were much better quality having metal attachments rather than the WDW plastic ones that were tripple the price. We got them for our room key/ticket. WDW also gave out a few buttons like "first time visit" or for playing a trivia game. We put those on the lanyard. Mine and hubby's are hanging up in our room, I have no idea what happened to the ones we bought for the kids.

Also, NO stuffed animals.

My daughters went last year for a school trip. I gave the $50 each to cover the cost of 2 meals and a souvenier.

We gave each child a $100 gift card that they kept in a lanyard. We explained that they could get whatever they wanted, but when the card was out of money..their shopping ended. It was a good budget lesson because they would ask how much will be left if I buy this..or if I buy this back pack will I have enough for a shirt, etc. At one point two went in half to buy a souvenier for a favorite teacher who collects Disney stuff...and yes when they got ready to pay they both chimed in to the cashier that 1/2 came off one card and 1/2 on the other! It was really cute and the cashier really made the kids feel special.

We didn't limit it to the last day only. The Lego store in Downtown Disney will be a hit with your son. T Rex was a cool place to eat, also in Downtown Disney. It's cool with all kinds of dinasaurs and they "come to life" every 15 minutes. Boys love it.

I also recommend 1 character meal..Chef Mickeys was great. Mickey, Minnie, and Goofy came around to each table for parents to take pictures. If you do a character meal it's best to have the adults all sit on the inside and the kids on the outside. That way the characters have easy access to the kids and adults are on the opposite side to take pictures. The characters will stop and sign autographs too so it's a good idea to buy autograph books ahead of time.

Another character meal that was nice for the girls is at Akershus in Epcot (Norway). The princesses are there, Snow White, Cinderella, Belle and they even have all the girls get in a line for a little parade behind all the princesses. It was really adorable.

Have fun, Disney World truly is magical & your kids will talk about it forever!

We've been to Disneyland dozens of times, it's fairly close to where we live. My grandson chooses a food treat each time, not a souvenir. He did get a hat one time. It's just not that necessary, the rides, parades, light shows are the main fun.

I'd count about 100 per kid that's reasonable. But you likely won't need that much per kid.
If you are staying on property they will send anything you buy back to your room for you.
If you have park hopper passes on your tickets then yeah you can wait till the last day cause you can go tot the different parks all int he same day. And purchase what you want.

ETA : definately look up disney pin trading there are rules but it's a lot of fun, and you can get lots of them on ebay for like 1$ or less per pin.

whaaaa-???? $100 seriously??

i was thinking more like, one item.

but that's me. that's kind of our deal whenever we go somewhere. and yes, we generally wait till closer to the end, so that we know we have "SEEN EVERYTHING" lol. also so you don't have to carry it around all day.

That answer is gonna vary widely with all kinds of socioeconomic variables from family to family... We are taking a 9 day Disney cruise in a few weeks, we have 3 kids, we gave them each a $50 Disney gift card when we announced the trip, and they each now have $120 in gift cards - they've gotten $20 or $25 here and there from friends and family as Christmas and birthday gifts, they'll each have $50 to $100 in cash saved from allowance, and their grandparents (3 sets) will prob slip them each some cash before we go... so, they'll each end up with $200-$300 available to them, but that doesn't mean they have to use it all... we also have WDW as a port of call, and they've only been to DL in the past. They'll have way more than they need, but I'm not gonna bankroll it ;) I find mine do better when it's "their" money.

In Downtown Disney there is a lego store. Honestly, there are soooo many things to buy that fit so many different tastes, ethnicitys, backgrounds, etc., that there will be plenty for your children to choose from! Love Disney!!

$100 is not much in Disney. The average price of a souveniour is $20. They have enamel pins that you purchase and can trade with employees through all the parks. The pins are beautiful and it's fun to do. You were them on a lanyard. It's $25 just to buy a basic starter kit. The pins range from $8-$20. The ones my kids liked best were $12 a piece. So $100 doesn't buy much if you do the pins. We were in Disney 7 weeks ago. If you don't go on a lot of vacations and this is a really special trip, I'd bring more just in case. I hope you have a wonderful vacation.

Don't wait until the last day . If they see something buy it because you don't always see it again . Your daughter will probably love the charm bracelets that you design yourself. They are on a separate table with all the individual charms. They will probably want something that lights up too. They sell them at night before the parade/fireworks . You can always bring some glow sticks to save some money . My kids never play with their glow toys when they get home . Have a magical trip !