Monthly Archives: July 2013

The Cheapest Souvenirs at Disney World (less than $1!)

In a place as well known for being expensive as it is for Mickey Mouse, it’s easy to spend a fortune on souvenirs at Disney World.  I’ve read lots of articles on strategies for saving money on souvenirs, such as buying items outside of the parks, giving each child (or adult) an allowance that they can spend however they want, and waiting until the last day to purchase all souvenirs so that the items don’t add up to a huge expense a little at a time over the course of the week.

After visiting the parks many times, it’s easier for us to cut back on souvenirs, but even so we probably spent $75 on the last trip.  My husband got a new visor and (several) Minnie’s Bakeshop cookies to bring home and I got a scarf plus a few antenna toppers.  My daughter’s tastes are a little less expensive.  We gave her a $50 gift card to spend however she liked and it was split between pins for her pin trading and Goofy’s cherry sour balls (those are addictive!)
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The thing about hidden Mickeys…

Since we’ve been to Disney several times over the past few years, sometimes we get to the point of been-there-done-that, which takes away some of the magical feeling we love about Disney.  It doesn’t happen all the time, but it most recently happened on a long holiday weekend trip where we didn’t plan our daily itinerary very well and we ended up wandering around aimlessly and left disappointed.  When planning our latest vacation, which we had the luxury of staying for 8 days, we knew that we needed to plan some new experiences to keep us excited and engaged in the parks for an entire week.  My husband has always wanted to search for hidden Mickeys and we figured that was a good way to see something ‘new’ in the places we’ve seen many times.

So before leaving on our trip we purchased Hidden Mickeys: A Field Guide to Walt Disney World’s Best Kept Secrets by Steven M. Barrett.  I was excited because it was the newest version including the new Fantasyland – little did I know when I bought it, Fantasyland would be where we found the best one!

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