The No-Meltdown Disney Souvenir Plan

Most parents know the feeling: physically removing a screaming toddler from a gift shop because no, you are not buying their 100th stuffed animal.

Disney gift shops are designed to suck you in and get you to buy things. It's almost diabolically brilliant to put a gift shop at the end of every ride, right when your kids are hopped up on dopamine (and let's be honest, this works on adults too).

My son W has never met a gift shop he didn't love. (He gets that from his Nana.) We figured out pretty quickly that our Disney trips were headed toward one of two outcomes: a) meltdowns at the end of most rides, or b) $300 worth of new stuffys.

So we made a plan for handling souvenirs and merch at Disney.

‍ Step 1: Make a plan. Figure out what works for your budget, your kid, and your suitcase space. We usually tell our kids they can pick out 1 new stuffy, 1 toy, and 1 shirt on the trip. That's what Mom and Dad will buy. (Side note- my kids ask for Disney gift cards for holidays so they can also use “their money” on the trip).

Step 2: Prep your kids with the plan. Start talking about it before the trip. Remind them each morning. And if your kid is especially young or especially persistent, remind them again right before you walk into a particularly compelling gift shop after a ride (looking at you, Pirates gift shop).‍ ‍

Step 3: When your kid inevitably starts browsing and asking for things — take a photo. Anytime my kids see something they want, I snap a picture of it. No "no," no negotiation, just "Ooh, let's take a photo so we remember it!"

Step 4: Near the end of the trip, review the photos together and have your kid pick out what they actually want. Then make a plan to go buy it and hope it's not back at the park farthest from you. (If it is, ask a Merchandise Cast Member to help you track it down somewhere closer.)

Bonus: Congratulations, you just got a head start on birthday and holiday shopping. Because I have photos of everything my kids want right now, I'll sneak out, buy a few things, bury them under my dirty laundry in the suitcase, and !bam! I'm ahead on gifts (with my Annual Pass discount, too). I'll also check DisneyStore.com to see if what they want is available there, then wait for one of their fairly regular sales.

‍I can't promise this plan is perfect for every kid — but it's worked well for us to keep the meltdowns to a minimum.

‍One note: we don't count bubble wands or those light-up parade toys in the 1-1-1 limit. (I should probably write a whole separate post on those.) Sometimes we just decide a glowing spinny thing is the price of keeping our sugar-high kids occupied through a parade, and that's okay.‍ ‍

Now if I could just figure out how to stick to this plan for my own shopping.