Percentage of time shopping at WDW

We really like to look at all the new merchandise, though we never buy very much.

Art of Disney of one of my favorite stores; I always have to go, though I rarely buy!

I'm not that much of a shopper. I'm usually already a bit stressed about what I'm spending on the trip, so I'm not anxious to add to it. That being said, everyone's cool Disney collections are making me jealous.

We usually designate one day for DTD and other shopping. Usually towards the end, that way we can axe it if we haven't gotten everything else we want to do in.

It's also a good idea to designate a day toward the end of the trip to shopping if you have an Annual Pass. You can get all of your shopping done at World of Disney in one day and make use of that big, fat 10% discount.

The only problem with that is if you want something at a specialty shop (like a shop in World Showcase, something resort-specific) that you can't find anywhere else on property!

I detest shopping. In fact, I always wish I had a personal shopper to buy my clothes for me. I also don't like stuff cluttering up my house, so the only souvenirs I ever bring back are my photos and my memories.

Not even a pair of mouse ears?!?

Everytime we fly in for a trip, we go to the Character Warehouse at the Outlet Mall first thing, even before we go to WDW. You can never tell from one day to the next what they'll have and they occasionally have some decent stuff at a bargain. We usually go back the final day or on the way to the airport for a final check.

As for the shops, we "guerilla shop" them in every park and at Downtown. That is, we go through them fairly quickly, and we don't miss many of them. We do that just to see what might jump out at us.

Some of you may find the following suggestion as not for you, and at one time I would have joined your ranks.

Over the years, I've always had a fairly good supply of Mickey Mouse golf type shirts, including those from the resorts, cruise line, etc. As Disney did more and more merchandising partnerships with people like Hilfiger, etc., the price on these got higher and higher.

Most of the time, I wear these shirts infrequently, on occasion in summer and definitely when going on a Disney outing. Last summer, before our trip, I began scouting Ebay for these items. I bet I bought ten or more items for what I would normally have paid for two. I had a few for myself, and gave some to my father. I bought Mickey Mouse golf wear, WDW items and several cruise line items.

Every single one I bought was in excellent condition and probably half indicated they'd never been worn, some even having the tags still on them.

If the thought of used clothing doesn't bother you (and you are immune to their cooties), you might want to check it out.

I figure most of the clothing I wear has been tried on by someone else at least once right? Bring on the EBay clothes! In this economy I can't afford to be picky anyway.

Nope.

Oh wait, I stand corrected. I did buy something on my last trip--a shirt from the House of Blues. I do wear that quite a bit. I went into the store to get out of the rain. It was pouring.

Wishes can come true (for a small fee!)

Is that Disney park merchandise, or Disney licensed stuff?

Mostly park and hotel merchandise. They get a lot of stuff when it has about run it's course (sales wise) at WDW and they clear it out at the mall. Thats why we usually go a couple of times while we're there, as they may get something and only have a limited number of them, so they go fast.

It's in the Outlet Mall at the end of International Drive. Used to be called Belz I think, but the name has changed.

I remember hearing about the Belz outlets! I've never been, but might check it out next time. Discounted hotel merchandise would be great. Love that stuff.

BTW, the other day after I posted about buying on Ebay, I did a search on "Mickey Mouse Polos" there. At that time, I think they had 55 different shirts listed, most ten bucks or less.

It will be interesting to see how, as the economy "unwinds" all it's debt, what kind of wondrous things you can find on EBay.

I love Ebay. I've bought quite a few things for personal use and business, and sold a few more.

I've also bought two cars and sold one on there.

It is a great service if you're looking for speciality or limited need items, or vehicles.

Wow, what are the advantages of buying and selling cars on there? Do you limit the car purchaser to just people in your area?

The advantage of buying is that you can find exactly what you want, wherever it is, finding all the inventory wherever it is. If you want something generic, you can limit yourself to nearby sellers. If you want something specific, you can go coast to coast to find it.

I drive an old Jaguar, so when I wrecked mine during the ice storm I could find one almost exactly like the one I'd just wrecked. At different times, I was following 8 or 9 cars, and was seriously looking at ones in Hollywood, Chicago and the one I eventually bought in Washington, DC. There were others as well.

Had I bought locally, or even within a hundred miles, I probably would have had very few selections. This way, I had cars out the wazoo to look at.

Same with the one I sold. We had a mint condition Nissan 300ZX Turbo that we sold. We put it on Ebay on a Sunday afternoon and by Monday 10AM it was sold. Guy flew in the next morning, we met him at the airport, he took off and drove home with the car.

As for distance, I bought my car at a Ford dealer in Virginia, which claims to sell more cars on Ebay than any other dealer. I asked the guy what was the farthest anyone had ever come to buy a car from him. It was a $2,000 Chevrolet Impala, that a guy from California bought. He bought the car, flew cross country and drove it back!

Is that what you do/would do as well?

Well, I really wanted the car that was in Hollywood, but timing just didn't make sense for me to fly out there and then drive 2,000 miles back. As it was, I bought the one in DC, flew up there on a Thursday night, and drove it home Friday. It was 750 miles, but well worth the trip.

Not to be nosy, but what kind of savings percentage wise do you reap, including the flight? Or is it just a case where there's simply no acceptable local substitute?

Don't know exacts, but by waiting until the last second to bid, I was able to get the car at about a thousand dollars less than what I was willing to pay. Rest of the trip up there to get it cost me about $375 or so, including the airfare and hotel.

Bottom line though, I couldn't have found the car I wanted in this area, so the primary use of Ebay was not for savings.

Yeah, I wasn't even sure they actually sold cars in Kentucky. You primarily use horses and carts right?

We got cars right after we got that new fangled 'lectricity. Back about 1992.

Who needs technology when you've got such lovely scenery anyway.