5 Fun Shopping Experiences at Disneyland

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The first thing you think of when planning a trip out to Disneyland may not be shopping, but it should rank pretty high up there.  Shopping at any Disney park is a whole experience upon itself and it deserves an entire day – not that you have one from your busy vacation to spare……

Various stores are peppered throughout the Disney Parks, inviting you to come and see what they offer.  Many stores offer some of the same things that you see all over the park.  But many of them also offer very unique merchandise – and you need to grab it when you see it.

This summer, while visiting Disneyland and California Adventure parks, we saw lots & lots of fun things to buy, some even making an experience out of the purchasing process.  So we thought it’d be fun to share them with you.

Here are 5 Fun Shopping Experiences at Disneyland:

1. Mouse Ears: The quintessential Disney souvenir has gotten fancy!!  No longer do you have to go for the plain Mouseketeers ears we grew up with.  These guys are fancy!  With this variety, I guarantee every child will find one to match his or her favorite character!

2. Pins: A few trips back, my children were introduced to the infamous trading pins and spent their entire trip trading/looking for pins they loved.  Lucky for those pin-lovers, Disney pins can be found in every store and on every Cast Member.  We always end up spending way more than we said we would on pins, but my children love it!

3. Christmas Ornaments: What Christmas tree doesn’t need a fun Disney ornament to remind you of your trip??  Disney  had some gorgeous, handmade ornaments that were stunning, and some fun whimsical ones like these – those ears just seem to pop up everywhere!

4. Make Your Own R2D2: Here’s a unique finding that kept my children, especially the 10-year–old son occupied for a while.  You exit Star Tours at Disneyland through an incredible gift shop filled with Star Wars merchandise – everything from Ewok backpacks to Toy Story Cars dressed at Star Wars characters (those were adorable).  But it’s was the big display of “make your own R2D2” that stopped them in their tracks!

5. Ridemakerz: By far, the coolest shopping experience we had while at Disney actually happened the night before we visited the parks.  We spent the evening in Downtown Disney and came across Ridemakerz.  This store allows the children to build their own remote control car, from scratch.  Pick out the body style, wheels, rims, remote, sounds, and more.  And then work one-on-one with a “builder” to put the car together yourself.  It was cool y’all – a bit pricey but definitely a memorable experience!

And I would be remiss if I didn’t take a moment to mention that Disney makes the coolest hats – take a look at some of the fun ones we found:

With the right amount of timing, you can have your treasures delivered to your room (if you are staying on property) or to a merchandise center at the front of the park.  Can’t use the excuse of not wanting to carry it around all day – so grab that Little Mermaid costume when you see it – you may not find it elsewhere!

And y’all, this is just the tip of the iceburg – there are so many more cool things to buy!! And I haven’t even touched on the amazing theming of the shops – it’s not every day you get to look through Lizzie’s Curios in Cars Land!!

So if you are the shopping type, I encourage you to take the time and look around – it really is a fun experience!