Comments on: Disney on a Budget: Saving on Souvenirs

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By: mbf

mbf — Sun, 19 Aug 2012 22:47:37 +0000

Here’s a Cars Land tip. If you are dead set on one of those cute Lightning McQueen popcorn buckets, it might be a better value to go to Flo’s and order a kid’s meal with the souvenir bucket instead of the popcorn. Lunch and a souvenir in one. 😉

By: mbf

mbf — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 09:41:44 +0000

City Hall isn’t the only place to get buttons. 😉
Most ticket booths, main gates, and shops will have a supply. There are several different styles, so if it’s not your birthday, you can still get an “I’m Celebrating” or “Honorary Citizen” one. Also, the character breakfasts give out buttons.
Another freebie worth bringing home is the free maps/guides. You will be surprised at how much the parks change over the years.
If you ask to ride the Lilly Belle (railroad) or pilot the Mark Twain, you will receive a train ticket or a pilot certificate. You can also ask for a map of the Jungle Cruise from any skipper. I believe they still give out driver’s licenses at Autopia. All free.
You might forget to use your fastpasses, which is a shame, but they make good souvenirs. If you remember, stick your ticket in a second time to get an invalid one that you can put in your scrapbook instead.
Disney Visa customers can get a free photo op at California Adventure. I believe it’s 30 minutes after park opening for about an hour or two. They have a little backdrop and bring out a few different characters. It’s a short wait and they give you a voucher for a free 5×7 print. You can do this EVERY DAY. I have found, since I get the same characters over again, that some sympathetic cast members will let me choose a non-Visa photo. You also get a discount on merchandise purchases over $50, although Annual Passholders get a better discount (currently 20% no minimum). Take note of all the souvenirs you will want and get them at one time to take advantage of it. Also, if you are staying at the resort, they will deliver the packages to the bell desk. If not, you can walk them over to package check at the newsstand by the entrance. They will hold them for you so you don’t need to pay for a locker (merchandise only).
Don’t want to get your stuff wet? There are 2 hour lockers by Grizzly River Run which are free, but you have to move your stuff every 2 hours. My friend didn’t seem to have a problem with doing that.
There is a Character Warehouse near Disneyland in the city of Fullerton. You can find some good deals here if you look hard enough. Even better is if you know a cast member who can get you in to Company D, the employee center. Merchandise in there is routinely 50-75% off, and much of it is still being sold in the parks. I almost never pay full price.
The arcade at DCA (only operates nights) has souvenir tokens to match the theme. Last year was ElecTRONica and now is the MadTParty. Only costs a quarter.
The coin presses are awesome and cost between 51 cents and $1.25, usually (they have presses for pennies, nickels, and quarters). You can get a list of all the machines from City Hall. You can also get your fortune told by Esmeralda at the penny arcade for a quarter.
Find a delicious dish you wish you could make at home? City Hall has a big book of recipes from all over the park. Stop by and they will give you a copy.
Ghiradelli just opened at Pacific Wharf and they give out FREE samples of chocolate. Yes, those little chocolate squares. Across the way is the Boudin Sourdough Bread Factory. They give out samples as well.
I’ve even saved the napkins or confetti from parades.
If you are good at carnival games, you could win a plush at the Boardwalk for a pittance. I think I spent about $10 and came home with a good-sized Dumbo and a small Woody. Plus, it’s fun. 🙂
The Animation Academy at DCA has free drawing lessons every half hour or so. You get to learn how to draw a character and you can keep the drawing (the paper is very cool).

Well, I think that’s pretty exhaustive. I haven’t been to Cars Land yet, so I can’t give you any tips on that. ;P

By: Emily

Emily — Mon, 02 May 2011 07:36:49 +0000

Hey i love this thread , i just thought id let you know that im 14 and my family lives in Australia so when we go to disney ( which we have twice Disneyland and Euro Disney) its very expensive. One time that we went my parents Bought both my brother and myself 1 very large disney pencil case ( im talking like the ones big enough to fit an A4 peice of paper in easily. Inside the pencil case was a disney themed T-shirt ( mine had a dimonted Tink on it ) from Target or something , a disney themed pen a disney autograph book, disney ears ( with our names on them From the website) , a disney scrapbook & $100. $100 does sound like a bit much but when your in disney where things are riduculus its not much . We were alowed to spend the $100 as we pleased but that was it . The only other rule we had was that all of our souviniers had to b things we could take on the plane ( not the awesome balloons). Even though im a shopoholic i felt this was good because i had the things that feel like compulsary items ( if you get wat i mean ) before i got there. The things i bought were things that i really loved , the pencil case was also handy for storing small things like jewllery and if you wanted you could also include markers and a colouring book for the trip.

I am also just really excited because i found out yesterday that we are going to disneyworld in january 2012. I hope that your trips are fun too. sorry to be asking a question but which hotel would be best for a family of 4 kids aged 14 & 9 preferbly ones that a great but on the cheaper side.

Thankyou

PS) i am so jelous of all you people who get to go so often because even though twice sounds like alot when your from overseas its not really considering we went to pais when i was 4 and Cali when i was 10 both on work trips which meant alot of siting around at hotels, meaning our disney time was limited . THis is the first time we get to go on our own accord YAY!

By: Maegen

Maegen — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 03:53:53 +0000

Thanks, Christy! I really appreciate your time, and I will definitely send people looking for Disney tips your way!

The Dole whips seem to be a real love it/hate it thing around the blogosphere. I’m definitely going to give them a try!

By: Christy

Christy — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 03:47:34 +0000

@Maegen – We absolutely buy food when we are in the park. We mostly buy the fun stuff like Dole Whips (A MUST!!), Mickey Mouse ice cream bars, and fun treats like that. We have even bought lunch and dinner on occasion.

I will say that the food we were served for lunch and dinner weren’t really that great and it was extremely over-priced. We have found that it makes more sense to pack a lunch rather than buy lunch there. That way it saves more money for the fun stuff like ice cream. We usually have a sack lunch in the park and then take a break and head out for a nice dinner or dinner back at our hotel. With small kids you may just want to head back to your hotel at lunch time anyway for a rest, so you could just eat back at the hotel.

There are lots of options just outside of the park too, so if you are up for a little walking you can eat at McDonalds, Quiznos, or several other nicer restaurants that are just outside the maingate.

We have only been to the House of Blues without our children. (Yep, we even go to Disney without the kids, we love it that much!) There are times when there are concerts, and you wouldn’t want to take your children then. You can view the concert calendar here: https://www.houseofblues.com/tickets/searchresults.php?mode=lview&venue=anaheim&uuin=ConcertCalendar
We did not have reservations, but it wasn’t really busy when we went.

By: Maegen

Maegen — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 03:23:03 +0000

Do you buy food at all when you’re in the park?

I know you mentioned bringing in some snacks, but I have a feeling my boys will want ice cream and so on….

Also, I took your advice and got restaurant.com certificates for House of Blues. Does it let kids in all the time? It looks like there are some hours when it’s 21 and up. Did you need reservations?

Sorry, these are probably all topics for a future post, but you’re quickly becoming my personal Disney guru!
Thanks for doing these!

By: Carolyn

Carolyn — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 22:27:56 +0000

I love your Disney posts! We are going this August with our 3 and 5 year olds (their first trip!) I love all your suggestions, stories & advise. Keep it coming!

By: Terry

Terry — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 02:02:21 +0000

We went to Disneyland in March w/granddaughter and found the
BEST priced souvenir was along Main Street – For $9.99 you can get two cut out profiles of your child then for another $9.99 an oval frame capturing my lovely granddaughter’s 5 year old profile! I plan to do the same when we take her baby sister when she’s 5! Beats glow-sticks! Be sure to bring along an autograph book to have the characters sign! Tell them your name and they’ll personalize it!
Also if it’s their first visit you can pick up a button at the City Hall saying “first visit” – the characters pay “special attention” to those visitors! Made my granddaughter’s trip very special!

By: Abby

Abby — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 22:10:33 +0000

I love the idea of letting kids know the amount of money they can spend and budgeting it. I really wish more parents used this method. I do this with my kids at Chuck E Cheese. I let them know these are your tokens when they are gone the are G-O-N-E.

One year for my son’s birthday my son invited two other boys along and I explained the way it worked. The other two boys ran off with their tokens came back in less than 5 minutes to tell me they needed more. I simply said – sorry the tokens are gone. They had wasted their tokens lickety split on those stupid games you stick your token in and see if you can win big prize and zip they were GONE. They spent the rest of the afternoon watching my son play his arcade games and no I am a big meany I didn’t even feel bad because I had let them know ahead of time. I think they thought I was kidding.

Okay jumping off my soap box great ideas Christy!

By: Christy

Christy — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 20:55:45 +0000

How exciting Mindy! Yes, City Hall is located inside Disneyland or Magic Kingdom at the very beginning of main street on the left hand side. If you have any specific questions, let me know I would be happy to help.

I will have several more posts over the next couple of months too!