Shopping: See It, Buy It!
Purchasing souvenirs is a large component of vacationing – for both your wallet and your time – and Disney is no exception. With four different parks and numerous resorts, locations for shopping are plentiful. You may expect to find the same stuffed animals, shirts, ears, and more at each gift shop – I mean, how much unique merchandise can Disney have? The answer is a lot and each shop carries different inventory! Because of the mammoth assortment of locations and options, my main tip for shopping at Walt Disney World (WDW) is that when you see something you want, buy it.
On our last trip, my son talked incessantly – even before we arrived at WDW – about how he wanted to get an Olaf plush as a souvenir. Throughout our vacation, I saw a stuffed Olaf a few times but we were always on our way to something else. In retrospect, I should have taken the five minutes to stop and pick it up. Instead, what resulted was stressful and inconvenient. On the last day of our trip as we were leaving the park, I realized we hadn’t obtained the one thing he wanted and popped into the Emporium at Magic Kingdom (MK). The Emporium is known for being one of the largest shops in the parks with a wide assortment of items, but you know what they didn’t have – Olaf. At the end of an already long day, I had to trek to the back of the park to the one gift shop behind the castle that I knew I had seen Olaf at and hoped he was still there. I was tired and stressed and seriously got lucky – I knew a place I had seen Olaf in the park I was already in and they had it in stock. Don’t put yourself in this situation! See it, buy it.
Shopping With Others
Buying things when you see them sounds easy enough… unless the people you are shopping for are with you! I have a few suggestions to aid you in this endeavor. If you have little kids in a stroller who see something they like, as you roll by pick the items up and hold the stuff near you and behind the handle bar so it is out of view. Another recommendation is to grab a reusable shopping tote to purchase. Not only is this a more sustainable idea, but the bag both makes for a nice souvenir (or gift bag) and a discrete item holder. The bag is especially useful if you are planning to purchase many things and comes in a variety of sizes and prices so you can pick the one that works best for your shopping list.
Most shopping locations in the parks offer Mobile Checkout, which means you can scan items as you go on your mobile device and tuck them into a reusable shopping bag. This fantastic method eliminates the need to stand in line and having to pull out all of your selections for your group to see as the cashier scans them. If you’re still worried about shopping for others while with them, consider when you plan to give them the items. Occasionally Dave or the kids have accidentally seen the stuff I’m buying, but by the time that I actually gift them (usually birthdays or holidays, weeks or months away) they have completely forgotten!
Of course, there’s also the option to leave your party members and go shopping solo. Send your family off to explore the characters waving from the Main Street Train Station or to pose for surprise PhotoPass pictures while you pop into the Emporium shops to grab secret souvenirs. It will be extra quick if you use the Mobile Shopping feature!
Return It Later
If you make a purchase and change your mind later, you can return it. Be sure to keep your receipts if you think this may be something you need to do. If it’s something I’m not using right away, I like to keep the merchandise tucked away in its bag with the receipt until it’s time to pack. This both guarantees that no one will accidentally spoil a gift by seeing it and keeps everything necessary together if I need to return or exchange it. If you’re super organized and have the space, you could keep all the receipts in your wallet – but you will also run the risk of dropping or losing them. Disney is really good with returns and exchanges (especially if something is broken), so don’t stress if this is what you end up doing!
Purchase Online Later
If you find yourself having a bout of regret over not grabbing something or discovering it was sold-out before you were able to get it, there are a few options to explore. While some items can be purchased online, most of the contents of the gift shops don’t make it to the ShopDisney site. This is especially true for event-related merchandise such as EPCOT (EP) festivals and MK parties. Check regularly online as inventory and availability is constantly changing. You try Disney Merchandise Guest Services to request items via phone or email with a shipping fee, but they may not be able to assist you and the response time can be quite slow. Another popular method is utilizing local personal shoppers, but be mindful that they are not associated with Disney. Personal shoppers are regular park guests that visit Disney properties to pick up items for you with an additional fee to cover their time. Overall, there is no guarantee to any of these methods and you still may not be able to obtain the souvenirs you were hoping for.
Unique Shops
The reason it’s so important to “buy it when you see it” is because each gift shop carries a distinct selection of merchandise. To enhance the sense of immersion into the unique lands inside the parks and at resorts, Disney has limited the sale of associated merchandise to those spots. This means you won’t find the same selection of items beyond these locations. Here are some prime examples:
- Land or Ride related gift shops located near ride exits or in unique themed spaces
- Pandora/Avatar, EPCOT’s World Showcase, Toy Story Land, Runaway Railway, Tomorrowland, Tower of Terror, Pirates of the Caribbean, all of the shops in Galaxy’s Edge, and more.
- Park related merchandise is themed to that specific theme park.
- Notably Animal Kingdom and EPCOT.
- Resort merchandise is themed to that specific hotel.
- May include specialty shop product line exclusives.
- Specialty Shops include specific tailored offerings such as art or fashion.
- Dress Shop, Marketplace Co-op, Art of Disney, etc.
On one of our adventures to Galaxy’s Edge or Batuu in Hollywood Studios, my daughter very much wanted a Baby Yoda Grogu plush and selected one there. While other areas of the park had plenty of different Grogu styles, here there was only one option and it had a handmade aesthetic to match the land. Once we purchased him, I noticed that we never saw that plush again anywhere outside that shop. There was a plethora of Baby Yoda merchandise at most resort gift shops and a few parks, but never that same one.
Repeat: But It When You See It!
So what can you find consistently at most shops? Inventory at most gift shops will contain generic WDW items that aren’t specific to a park and the classic characters. Beyond that, anything is possible! On our most recent visit, I noticed the gift shop at the Contemporary Resort was stocked with Star Wars items, but the shop over at the Polynesian Resort didn’t have any items from the galaxy far, far away. Both shops were stocked with classic Magic Kingdom anniversary apparel and accessories, but the selection did vary and was not consistent between them. Over at Wilderness Lodge, I found a princess Minnie ear hat that I had not seen anywhere else in our travels.
While you may see the same souvenirs pop up in multiple places, there’s no knowing if you’ll be able to find the things you’re looking for again. Take a few minutes out of your day and buy it when you see it!
— Jennelle