The Best Places to get Authentic but Cheap disney SOUVENIRS

                                                                                                Above photo taken from disney.com

Now that I'm starting to hear birds chirping in the morning (though I know it's just a false spring, and too early for that yet!) two things are on my mind! Gardening and YARD SALES! There is nothing quite so much fun and treasure hunting on a Saturday morning, which is why I try to stop in at least once every other week to my favorite Goodwill store. Why? And what does that have to do with the best prices on authentic Disney merchandise? I'm going to answer that question, with another question! 

How many times have you gone on vacation and bought a shirt, or a mug, or some other thing that you or your kid wanted, and when you returned home, you didn't really want it anymore? Fast forward a year or so, and it's been sitting unloved, so you donate it, or set it out for a yard sale. Haven't you ever seen that? I know I have! All sorts of beach mementos, and, as crazy as some of those people are, Disney ones too! 

Even though by car we are about 13 hours away from Disney World, In the last year I have found brand new with the tags on Disney Parks shirts in my size and my kids, brand new Disney Parks light up toys with the tags still on (okay, though one of them did start smoking in my hand and soon thereafter go thrown out!) and at least once a month I see Disney refillable mugs, coffee mugs and toys galore! I'm not a Tower of Terror kind of girl, but two weeks back at Goodwill I saw a brand new ToT mug, very classy looking that I'm sure made someone very happy! Every month it seems I run across some Disney Parks, or Disney store toys, clothes, or other neat collectibles. 

While I will always, always buy my things in the park that catch  my eye, sometimes I forget to buy something, (the 3 back of mini Disney Buses we each thought the other bought, which thankfully, we found at a yard sale a few months later and are still played with) or maybe I hesitate on buying something because I am not sure I want to spend that much. For example, those awesome looking Disney fans/misters just about everyone seems to have. Ahhh!! Just what you need on a hot day, right? On our first visit, though I thought it might be nice to have one, I wasn't wanting to carry it. Our second visit, I thought again, it might be nice to have, but at $17 each, and having two kids so I'd have to buy two, that was an awful lot to both spend, and carry because I wasn't convinced they were really wanted, and we all know mom turns into the pack mule). Our last trip, it was cloudy and with the exception of the last day, (in June!) it never got above 90, so we were all okay and didn't even think of needing them! But guess what we will have next time, at a fraction of the price? 

I just love to shop around and see what others don't want anymore to add something new to my Disney collection! Keeping your eyes open can find you some awesome deals! 

Here are my favorite finds from this past month! An almost new Disney Store Lightning McQueen suitcase ($5) 2 Yellow Rapid Refill Mugs (we had every color from 2014/2015 but yellow, they were out last visit) ($1 each)  2 Disney Parks fans/misters ($2 each) and the popcorn bucket, was actually a gift, but it was a $1 yard sale find! If you look in the photo of the Rapid Refill mugs, between two green mugs, you'll see a regular mug in there too. It was a 25th anniversary mug, (I think! Downstairs is sooo far away and I'm too lazy to look!) that I got last summer, still brand new in it's Disney Parks Box for a quarter. I'm hoping those people have a few more Disney things I can get this summer! 

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If you don't regularly look at yard sales or thrift stores you might be surprised as to what you can find! If you do already look, I'll bet you've run across some treasures, too! What did you find recently? ​