Tips about Rain and Souvenirs

The small Disney shopping bag is perfect for holding a raincoat. It packs easily into backpacks and can also even be threaded through a belt. Like others, I always save every shopping bag until we go home just in case we need it for something, but when we have to purchase a new raincoat, I'm always glad there is a little one stored in our room. - Lori Wedeking
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My 4-year-old daughter wanted to find gifts for all 12 children in her preschool class. We went to the Disney shops and found sets of crayons in the shapes of various Disney characters. These crayons come 12-15 in a pack, so we broke up the set and gave each child their own special crayon. We added to that the crazy Mickey straws that we could purchase, or sometimes were given for free, at the food court at Port Orleans Riverside. Then, when we got home, we realized that we were able to scrounge together 12 Disney World shopping/gift bags! Each child was thrilled to have his/her own package direct from Mickey! - Evalynn Kuehner
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I am an 11-year-old girl who has visited WDW at least 35 times, and I found the best Disney World product for us Disney nuts. It is the Walt Disney World Resort Scavenger Hunt. It is only $4.00 in the Magic Kingdom Emporium on Main Street. It has questions like: What is the name of the mill on Tom Sawyer Island? What are they auctioning in Frontierland? If you WANT to know everything about Disney, or think you DO know everything, then this is for you. My family and I thought that we knew Disney, but we were so wrong! I thought you would like to know about this awesome product. - Chris B.
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I read the tip about using the WDW shopping bags for packing and had to add this -- I also bring home several of those from each trip and save them. When I have my garage sale each year, I like to give those to the kids who come in and buy a little toy or something. They are so excited to get the WDW bags and, of course, many of them have never been to WDW, so it is a special treat for them just to have that bag. - Diane
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I am 35 and made my first trip to Disney two years ago. It was spectacular, and we are going for our fourth trip in October. I always get a gold charm for a charm bracelet I have had for years. I have a Mickey, Tigger and Tinker Bell charm. This year I am going to put the charms on their own special Disney bracelet. I hope it will become a family heirloom one day. - Lucretia German
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Scotchgard those canvas sneakers before you leave home for WDW! Apply several coats, and allow plenty of drying time between applications. Dry feet make those sudden Florida downpours a whole lot more bearable! - Mary Mitchell
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Antenna Toppers -- They make a good identifier for a rental car in a parking lot. - Monte Kremin
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One of our favorite souvenir items from Walt Disney World is picture frames. We have gotten quite a collection over the years. It is a wonderful way to remember your trip and you can fill them with pictures of your trip and look at them every day. We also have a collection of magnets, license plates and beach towels. - Deb Curl
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We ran to a local Wal-Mart, and rather than buying those simple "$1" ponchos which never get back the same way, we bought the heavier, more expensive ponchos. However, as we got home, we realized that yellow ponchos in a rainy day at WDW won't really stand out - especially if we're looking for one another in our family so I printed off a "script" letter on my computer large enough to fill a single piece of paper. Then I carefully traced it onto each poncho, and using a black permanent marker, colored in the letter. Now, when it rains (and did it ever last August) all we have to do is look for our letter on the back of a poncho is a sea of ponchos! It worked great! - Bill Eisenstot

EDITOR'S NOTE: Disney has discontinued sales of the yellow ponchos (the new ones are clear) but there are still many people wearing them when it rains.
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During the summer months you know how it rains everyday in FL. Wearing sneakers or sandals can get ruined or really mushy if you get caught in one of Florida's afternoon thunderstorms. Well if you carry with you to the parks your water shoes (like the ones from Wal-Mart) and put them on during a torrential thunderstorm you won't be so opposed to getting your feet wet or going out in the storm. After the storm, you can don your regular shoes that are nice and dry and continue on with your day or evening feeling comfortable. The water shoes are lightweight, easy to carry around even after they get wet, plus they dry a whole lot faster than your sneakers or sandals. - Kim Evans of Maryland
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During the course of our Disney vacation, we accumulated a huge number of plastic Disney bags. Instead of throwing them away after we removed our purchases, we kept them in a drawer in our room and used them to wrap and cushion breakable items that we were carrying on the plane on the wayhome. - Erin
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I agree whole hearty about getting one "nice" gift / souvenir. My DW and I for years always got the "usual" stuff to bring home. T-Shirts, hats, etc. Nice stuff to remember our trip but would always seem to get put away and never really used. On our last trip we decided to try something a little different. We had always wanted a coo-coo clock so when we were in EPCOT we bought a very nice clock in Germany. It was expensive but they shipped it home for us (it arrived the day after we got home) and it now proudly hangs in our kitchen. It is a constant reminder of our trip. - Jim B
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Disney has such a large selection of coin banks. We bought one toward the end of our trip but next time we will buy it on the first day. THEN as we get back to our room or camper each night, all change will go into the bank to begin our savings fund for our next trip. I found that halfway thru this trip I was lugging around a huge change purse of coins that added a heavy load to my backpack. Buying a bank the first day will not only give us a fun sense of "when we come back again" but i won't be lugging all those nickels & dimes around trying to pawn them off on kiosk vendors paying for my stuff. - Amy Miles
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For a cheap and suitcase friendly souvenir I love the antenna toppers. You can buy a patriotic one or even Christmas ones. They are so cute. I think they are $3.00 - $4.00. Stacey
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During our trip, we got caught in one of those rain storms. What saved the day and our souvenirs, brochures, guidebooks and everything else in our backpack was a good 3 coats of ScotchGuard that I had applied to our backpack when we had purchased it for the trip.

After having waited in the rain 1/2 hour and watching Illuminations without an umbrella or poncho, and walking to the parking lot, the inside of our basic $15 backpack was as dry as could be! Not only were our paper goods dry, so was my wallet and our camera and extra film which I had forgotten to put in a ziplock bag.

ScotchGuard (or any other spray on fabric protector/waterproofer) is available in office supply stores, craft stores and places like PepBoys. One thing that also saved our stuff was the fact that the zippers on our backpack were covered by a hem or flap that also helped keep out the water, but with all the water I had to wring out of my clothes, I know that can of ScotchGuard saved our day! - Regina Aaron

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