We’re down to our last 30 days before we go. Woot! I’m starting to get the stuff together for us to take for the parks. I was checking out Amazon, but was wondering if there was a better place to buy the extras we take with us. Specifically,autograph books and lanyards. I know I can get some pins on ebay or amazon, as well, and plan on stopping at the dollar store for glow bracelets, etc. Anything else like that I should be picking up for the kiddos, 5 and 8 years old? and from where?
Thanks!
I’m following this to hopefully pick up helpful tips. Have you already picked up ponchos? If so, do you mind sharing where you got them from? I’m trying to put together a list of items we haven’t got for our trip yet. So far, we have a portable charger for our phones, got the kids and us new shoes a few months ago to break in, anti-chaffing sticks to help with those uncomfortable times ;). For my to do list, I have ponchos and autograph books and perhaps ant mosquito bands.
I haven’t gotten ponchos yet. I’m hoping to find them at the dollar store, otherwise I’ll get a cheap pack off amazon. they have a pack of 8 for $12 or something.
we just bought ponchos on amazon -10 pack for 13 dollars. Also if you have a Disney store near you they have autographs book there for 9.95 and I got a coupon yesterday for 25% between July 14-17. They have a page for the signature and then a page for the picture- really cool. We are just going to buy the lanyards at Disney. WE also got a 25 pack of pins for 23 dollars that the kids can trade on amazon. We have 40 more days!!! Getting my stuff together.
I got our autograph book in the dollar bin at Target. They carry tons of Disney stuff, though the supply is not consistent. Ponchos on amazon.
We got some ponchos at IKEA prior to our last Disney trip and they were great - and they looked distinctive which was helpful in finding our people in a crowd of clear plastic 
Following this too! I’ve never found any good autograph books before our trips (and am not patient or crafty enough to make any!) so we’ve bought them as soon as we got to the hotel every time lol. Didn’t think to bring ponchos on our first trip and it rained our first night in MK so we ended up buying them at the Disney poncho price! BUT…we’ve packed them every year and reused them so that’s ok…right?
OK, so I found a really fun book for DD8 that we will use instead of an autograph book:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1508804656/ref=crt_ewc_title_gw_5?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER
It’s a Disney trip journal! There’s places for passport stamps, autographs, writing space for journaling, planning space, etc. I’ll just do a little Mickey one for little brother, but this is great for grade school kids! Thought I’d share.
Still no good leads on the other stuff. Going to hit dollar store this weekend and then buy the rest on amazon, I guess.
Not to be debbie downer but those pins being sold on amazon for such a cheap price are a scam and are fake. You run the chance of not being able to trade them since they are fakes. Read the reviews on amazon and you will see what i am talking about. Me and my kids love pin trading in the parks just be aware they are expensive.
Thanks for the heads up. I will keep looking.
I got my landyard from the party store for about $1. I chose to get the autograph book at the gift shop there, because they had the ones where you can put the picture next to the autograph. They are available at the disney store web sitee also. Don’t forget to get a big pen with the autograph book. They are easier for the characters to hold.Poncho’s were available at Meijer for $1. We had the anker portable charger and it worked well. I bought pins from Disneypinfreak and didn’t have any issues with trading.
Ponchos I always get at Walmart. Better quality than dollar store but still affordable
This is what we do too. We don’t head to a park on our first day - we arrive afternoon to evening and would rather take it easy, explore the resort, perhaps DS and bed early - so one of our first stops is always the hotel gift shop which always carries the photo autograph books described above (as well as the one without spots for photos). Saves us having to order them and remember to pack them. And who doesn’t love the gift shop?!
We always bring jumbo sharpies. The non-face characters have an easier time holding the larger ones
Absolutely! We love stopping in the WL Mercantile when we arrive. And several times during our trip, lol…
We found some great Disney lanyards at Hot Topic, and they often have sales. Ponchos and misting fans at Walmart. I agree the Disney journals & autograph books are really cool, and probably worth the price. However, we always use index cards and slip them into a photo album right next to the picture with the character. This trip we found a spiral bound book of 4x6 colored index cards at Target. The book made it easier for the characters to hold. We didn’t have any trouble trading the pins we bought on ebay. Hope that helps!