Orlando and Sanibel Island Shopping Report - Autumn 2016 - *COMPLETE*

[Guest]

Hello all!

I put a bit of money on a pre-paid card AND did a few orders to Mockingjay pre-Brexit - so we came home with more than a few ( ) bits and pieces. Today's post is our "haul" (awful word) from Disney's Character Warehouse (Vineland).


And...I couldn't get all the photos to rotate, so sorry if you have to cock your head!


I am SO happy we went to the Outlet before we did any shopping in the parks/hotels. It was very easy to resist theme park prices, knowing I had already gotten my "fix".


We could have gotten an Uber - I think it would have cost ten dollars or so in each direction - but decided to try out the free Mears shuttle instead. Without park tickets, I decided to save the cash and burn the time, if that makes sense.


On Disney property, the shuttle picks up guests from the Swan and the Dolphin (at two separate stops). We (again) grabbed a bus over to Hollywood Studios and then walked to the Swan from there. See Day 4 in my trip report if you want to see photos of the route.

At the Swan, we stopped by the concierge desk to check where exactly the bus stopped. The concierge was nice enough to give us special discount vouchers that could be used at the outlets (these were DIFFERENT coupons than the ones you get from Mears for using the shuttle, so it’s worth having a friendly chat with the concierge at the Swan/Dolphin).


The Outlet Shuttle picks you up from the main Swan bus stop (where you wait for WDW park buses) at 10:45 AM. It is impossible to miss:

The Swan was the first stop for the shuttle; we then stopped at the Dolphin, the Gaylord Palms,

a MASSIVE Marriott and Floridays.

We collected the grand total of...four other people. Hmm...this did not make me hopeful as regards the success of the shuttle in the long-term…


We (finally) arrived at the Outlets around 11:35.

Our first stop was the Disney outlet:

I’ve never been to a Disney outlet before, but I know that people say it’s often a case of feast or famine. Well...we feasted! I am (only a little bit) embarrassed to say that we were in that shop for TWO HOURS.


It was All Saints’ Day (1 November) so I was hoping there would be a few little Halloween bits and pieces to be had. The Halloween things we had seen in the park/hotels had been adorable - but SO expensive.


There was A LOT of Halloween merch - we only bought a small fraction.


Boy’s glow in the dark t-shirt (was $25, we paid $6):

Halloween lanyards (were $15 each, we paid $6):

Halloween “Magic Bandits” (were $9 each, we paid $1):

Halloween candy bowl (was $15, we paid $5):

There were also ADORABLE “Boo to You” mugs and plates (ceramic) - but I knew I already had a lot of breakables in my Mockingjay order - so I resisted.

HOWEVER, as of today (16/1/17) these are still available on disneystore - for £2.25 each! I bought eight yesterday…


We also got a bunch of tsum tsums (DS loves these).


“Pirates of the Caribbean” ones:

“Tangled” ones:

“Jungle Book”:

All the tsum tsums are normally $6 each (! ) in America - we paid $1.


There was a MOUNTAIN of Disneyland 60th Anniversary merchandise...and I wanted it all. But I restrained myself and only bought:


Crystal-encrusted ears (were $200, we paid $40):

“Diamond” pin lanyards/pouches (were $25, we paid $5):

We also bought:


Hand-painted Empire State Building Christmas bauble: (was $24, we paid $4):

Handmade German Mickey Mouse Christmas ornament (was $24, we paid $4):

I love Norway shirt - for my Norwegian mother! (was $50, we paid $15):

SERIOUSLY, who would pay $50 for that?!


“Pirates of the Caribbean” knee-high socks (were $13, we paid $3):

Boy’s “Polynesian Resort” Hawaiian shirt (was $35, we paid $15):

Boy’s Disney Cruise long-sleeved t-shirt (was $30, we paid $7):

Adventureland napkins (were $7-8 each, we paid $3):

“Chip” mug (was $22, we paid $7):

They had mountains of these Chip mugs - just ask!


Magic Kingdom wipe-clean tote bag (was $25, we paid $13):

Disney pins (were $9-17 each, we paid $3-7):

I love the limited edition “Alice” pins! And who could say no to Admiral Ackbar?!


Disney art postcards (were $5, we paid $2):

That's it for today! Hope you've enjoyed it.

[Nesbits]

Great! I love a shopping haul. (I sometimes watch them on YouTube - did I say that)

That shop is good, hubby got Pj botttoms for $4

[Guest]

Originally Posted by Nesbits

Great! I love a shopping haul. (I sometimes watch them on YouTube - did I say that)

That shop is good, hubby got Pj botttoms for $4

See more...

I was STUNNED at the bargains to be had at the Character Warehouse - I don't think I've EVER spent two hours in a shop before (not even when I bought my wedding suit!).

I also ( )watch hauls on YouTube (my DH works nights, that's my excuse...).

Thanks for stopping by!

[Bellesdream]

Wow I love your 'haul' I know my two will be star struck once we get anywhere near the park shops. I need to show them this so they can see how far their money can go! We fly back on 1st nov so may miss the Halloween bargains 😣
Loving your trip reports 😀

[Guest]

Originally Posted by Bellesdream

Wow I love your 'haul' I know my two will be star struck once we get anywhere near the park shops. I need to show them this so they can see how far their money can go! We fly back on 1st nov so may miss the Halloween bargains 😣
Loving your trip reports 😀

See more...

Thanks so much.

I am SO glad we went to the Outlet before the parks - the only Disney things we ended up buying at "full price" were a comic book and some (surprise, surprise) pins.

They must put something in the water at WDW - some of the things I think about buying there...

[KarenG]

I'm really glad you enjoyed a feast and not a famine as we've definitely experienced both in the past.

Our best bargains this time around were an imported Maleficent hoodie (with horns ) which I absolutely know I will never wear at home but will fit in perfectly in, ahem, Disney parks. It was priced at $90 (ridiculous) and we paid $16. The other was Irregular Choice C3PO shoes, priced at (extremely ridiculous) $140 but bought for $20. DD was very happy with those.

Your pin haul was excellent!

[Guest]

Originally Posted by KarenG

I'm really glad you enjoyed a feast and not a famine as we've definitely experienced both in the past.

Our best bargains this time around were an imported Maleficent hoodie (with horns ) which I absolutely know I will never wear at home but will fit in perfectly in, ahem, Disney parks. It was priced at $90 (ridiculous) and we paid $16. The other was Irregular Choice C3PO shoes, priced at (extremely ridiculous) $140 but bought for $20. DD was very happy with those.

Your pin haul was excellent!

See more...

I am PROPERLY jealous of those C3PO shoes. I saw the R2D2 ones - but they were more than $200! Not happening...

It's so funny that you wrote about things you can only wear at Disney - I'm just putting that in my trippie. Only at Disney would I wear a giant Winnie the Pooh bow, or indeed a hoodie with horns!

We were very pleased indeed with our pins. They are like currency for kids!

Thanks for following along...

[Guest]

After a week at the beach down on Sanibel Island - we headed back to Orlando. Our first morning back, Lisa from Mockingjay met us at the hotel with our "haul".


I’m not going to write a lot about Mockingjay - I know people have had VASTLY different experiences with levels of service - but I will say this: WE couldn’t have had a better experience. I had more than twenty parcels delivered - everything I ordered was delivered to me on the day and at the time we arranged - all for $30.


Moving (swiftly) on to the loot…



Some of these pictures are sideways - sorry!


I ordered a few things from the American Disney Store - they seem to have a 40% off sale every weekend (unlike the Disney Store here…). And you can often combine the discount with clearance prices or coupon codes. So I was pretty happy with our little haul - much of which was Disney Parks merch (and SOME of which was still being sold for full price at WDW)…


“Castle” mug ($4.99):

Saratoga Springs Christmas ornament ($10):

Aulani Christmas ornament ($10):

White Rabbit clock ($14):

Haunted Mansion napkins ($4 each):

Haunted Mansion plates ($5 each):

Disneyland 60th Anniversary jigsaw ($10):

Disneyland 60th Anniversary plate ($5):

Mickey Mouse & 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea shirts (for Poot) - $25 for the pair:

I ordered a PILE of sporting goods/”team” clothes from Amazon and Fanatics.com.



Notre Dame socks ($4):

Notre Dame hat ($8):

Notre Dame Columbia fleece ($10):

Minnesota Wild socks ($4):

I got these adorable “WIld” mittens for DM, DAuntie & me - $3 per pair:

Minnesota Twins cap ($5):

Minnesota Twins “Foam Hand” ($20):

Minnesota Twins gloves ($3 per pair):

Minnesota Twins espadrilles ($30):

Minnesota Vikings Jacket (was $96 - I paid $20):

And a large assortment of Minnesota sports shirts - some for me and some for Poot:

These were all between $3 and $10. If you are willing to wear last year’s designs - you can save BIG on stuff like this.


I paid full price ($50) for this North Stars ladies’ jumper:

We also got Poot a Louisville Slugger practice bat ($10 - and it came with a ball!):

And a pack of whiffle balls ($5 - sorry no picture!)



We got a MOUNTAIN of books ($.50 - $5.00) from the Book Outlet:

The ones for Poot were his tenth birthday presents. He was a happy chappy - you KNOW how he loves American books. But some of the books were for me, too. I especially like this one -

- which is full of recipes for cooking things OTHER than waffles in your waffle iron. SO MUCH will waffle!



Poot talking here: Some of my favourite books in the boxes were: Hurricane Juan: The Story of a Storm (this hurricane hit Halifax, NS in 2002), The River Cottage Field Guide to Mushrooms, When the Earth Shakes by Simon Winchester (a history of geological natural disasters), The Storm of the Century (this is about the Great Galveston Gale of 1900) and Alive!: True Stories of Brushes with Death.



We had a small Think Geek order to open.


Schroedinger’s Cat mugs (free with purchase):

This is now Poot’s favourite mug. It takes up too much space in the cabinet, and is awkward to drink from - but who cares?


Sherlock Holmes glow-in-the-dark mug ($6):

Star Trek Beach Towel ($8):

Don’t worry, though - I’m not getting rid of my classy Kellogg’s beach towels any time soon…this one lives at our house in France.


Star Wars Dinner Sets ($30 for four sets):

I LOVE these, though they are rather, um...plasticky. All the cutlery has “lightsaber” handles and the plates and placemats are all themed to a particular SW scene. Perfect for when you have unexpected young guests, no?


I also bought this massive, funky “steampunk” bracelet - I like chunky jewellry and was really pleased with it ($20).

Here’s a better picture of it:

And I got Poot this Harry Potter “fantasy pin”:

I couldn’t resist - it’s a S.P.E.W. pin!



It took THREE HOURS to open all the boxes, go through the things and break down the boxes so that housekeeping could take them out easily. I rang housekeeping to let them know there was a significant “pile” in our room. They were grateful, so I was glad I thought to do that.

[Guest]

The remaining purchases of the holiday were mostly souvenirs...


First was Poot's wand!


It turned out that Professor Slughorn’s wand (his first choice)...

...was not available as an interactive wand - so Poot went with Mad-Eye Moody’s wand instead:

I thought this a good choice - it’s a really big and heavy wand - it looks pretty macho. A good wand to grow into, as it were.


And yes, with the tax it was around $50. I hesitate to say we “got our money’s worth” (because, you know - FIFTY DOLLARS for a plastic stick) - but Poot REALLY enjoyed trying out all the spells. And the TMs working in Diagon Alley were just OUTSTANDING when it came to helping kids get the “motions” that accompanied the spells just right.

The final purchases for this trip were (surprise!) mostly pins:

From SeaWorld:

Poot wanted a Journey to Atlantis pin - but apparently they haven’t made those in years, so he had to settle for Antarctica. We were both pleased and surprised to discover that the backs of SW pins are shaped like whale flukes.

Souvenirs from Universal - Poot's going to narrate here:


Mother picked out a 1974 Wolverine pin (because she was born in that year and Wolverine was invented, too) -

- and bought the E.T. beach towel that she had looked at on our first day.

Then we went into Diagon Alley so that I could pick out my pin (with the $10 that Grandma gave me for my birthday) - I looked at ALL the pins, but most of them had that STUPID ™ LOGO on them! I wanted the chocolate frog pin - but it said “Chocolate Frog ™”! There was one that was even worse, though - it said Dumbledore’s Army ™ - and then the names of the kids in the army - but all with ™ after their names! It made the pins SO UGLY!

In the end, I bought a “Weasley & Weasley” Jumping Snakes pin - I like it because it looks like it could be a real thing!

Mother bought me some Chudley Cannons badges -

- and a Dragon’s Egg pin, too. That one is very beautiful!

MCO Disney Store souvenirs:

Poot had remembered that we had money left on the $200 Disney gift card - so our first stop was the airport Disney Store - where he picked out these TRULY HIDEOUS “Nightmare Before Christmas” playing card mystery pins ($14) -

- and I chose these ($14):

Then we stopped at the bookstore so I could get my American magazines...

We opened our mystery pins at the airport - we couldn't wait!


Poot got:

And I got:

I was pretty jazzed about my pins - as not only did they “match” - I got my year-animal!

I was born in 1974 - the year of the tiger. And these Chinese Zodiac pins are gorgeous - I think I want to try and collect the whole set.



And that's it! We came back with FOUR hold bags, and four carry-ons. I told DH "never again!", but...

[Skittl1321]

What an amazing haul!
Were postcards $1.99 each or was that a set?