Disney outlet shopping in Orlando during Covid

[loswest]

I have five children who have all been saving so they can buy stuff during our upcoming WDW trip. We arrive late Monday night and I’m planning on taking them shopping on Tuesday (non-park day for us and we will have a rental car).

Where do you recommend we take them shopping/outlet shopping/all things Disney shopping?

I’ve read a little about the two Disney Character Warehouses on Vineland Ave. & International Drive. Do you prefer one over the other? Are there other stores where my kids can find “Disney” things at below Disney Park prices? Your favorite place to shop? And, for those stores that have virtual queues, what time do we need to arrive to get in the queue?

 

[fifthdimensiondweller]

Hey there!

Different people will tell you different things about the two Orlando locations for Character Warehouse and which is better. Vineland is larger, but lately it seems International has had better stuff. My biggest advice on choosing would be to go on YouTube and search "Disney Character Warehouse vineland/ international" and then sort by the most recent uploads (you may have to go through a few to find a high quality video). There are uploads almost every day by someone filming what's currently in each location. That might give you a better idea of which location to pick based on what your family is looking for (although it changes daily so don't depend on it 100%, more just meant to give you an idea). Usually though, they're pretty similar.

As far as the virtual queue, I'd arrive in the morning sometime if you can. Weekdays are better than weekends for obvious reasons. The wait is usually about an hour and a half lately in my experience, so my advice would be either come hungry and put your number in then go get a bite to eat in the food court or else make that your first stop and then go enjoy the rest of the shops (both malls are quite huge so plenty to do) while you wait. Just make sure you have the text sent to someone who is willing to constantly be paying attention to their phone. I think once you get the text you only have like 15 minutes to get back to the store right now because of the high demand. MIL almost missed our text the other day!

A lot of the little beach style shops have nice Disney items as well, but honestly I'd say the Character Warehouse is by far the best value because it's all straight from the parks.

Have a WONDERFUL visit!

ETA: When you're on youtube searching, make sure you don't look at videos from the sawgrass mills location in Miami by mistake. It would still give you a good idea, but won't be totally accurate!

 

[HadesFan]

We've found that the International location usually had a better selection, one of the cast members told us that a lot of the people staying near Disney don't want to drive that far (and some don't have cars with them). We went a couple of weeks ago, they had stopped taking names at 6 pm one night, we could not get in. We were able to get in that same night at the Vineland location. (This was on a Monday). Good luck, just go early!

 

[Shanna-like-Banana]

whichever place you pick, go to that store upon arrival and get on their virtual list. Look up the shopping center and you can most likely see which other stores have virtual lists as well, some you can sign up before hand.


When DD & I went the wait was about an hour when we checked in, so we shopped around, got the notification and went back to that store.

 

[delmar411]

If they really just want stuffies or t-shirts then any Walmart or Target will have a large selection of Disney and Universal merch. There will also be squeeze breezes at better pricing, mugs, key chains, etc. Also any 'junk' shop along the 192 corridor will have those things too. The vineland road outlets have the Character warehouse too for discounted park merch.

It really depends on what they are looking for.

 

[Missingmypooh]

We find good Christmas gifts at the character warehouse, but for theme parks, we do the targets closest to the parks. We’re locals and find that if a reseller clears out the warehouse (or just a few over ambitious families) that pickings are scarce.
Likewise, target (and even Walmart’s) offerings are geared towards tourists and stay nicely stocked with ears, hats, clothing and souvenirs.

 

[Beth D]

Note that while the local Target or Walmart both carry Disney & Universal souvenirs, there is quite a bit of difference in the goods. The outlets carry leftover/unsold/overstock merchandise from the parks & cruise ships. Target & Walmarts offerings are designed for them to fit the price of their main demographics. For example, I have found Star Wars Dooney & Bourke purses in the outlets, along with Nike Mickey jackets. At the big box stores you will find a wide variety of quality souvenirs to wear in the parks or to bring home, but not the same potential for “treasures at outlet prices”.

Just keep that in mind when you plan your shopping! Both are good, but they are very different experiences!

 

[loswest]

Thank you, everyone! We went shopping on Tuesday and headed to the Vineland location. We got there at 10:15am and were able to enter the store ~1 hr later. Most of the other outlet stores opened at 11am so we just walked circles window shopping and sat on benches in the shade until they called us back. My kids had so much fun looking for souvenirs and my husband who was working virtually that morning and couldn't come with us was very impressed with all that we got. We also stopped by a Target on our way home from the outlets and were impressed by the variety they had. So THANK YOU for all the suggestions! It was so helpful!

 

[LovesTimone]

Local here...

Glad you got some goodies...and some deals to go along with it...

Being a local I go to both... sometimes the merch. is very different between the stores, sometimes pretty much the same... I'm thinking about heading over to both of them next week to check out what they have...

When we have friends that come to visit we, most of them will head to Vineland as it is closer to the house of the mouse, and cheaper to grab a uber over there and back...

 

[Duck143]

Anyone have any advice for getting into the Vineland Store on a Friday around 5pm? I want to stop after our flight comes in. How is the store, wait, late afternoon?

 

[Cynt]

We did this in October. We were so disappointed. We didn't purchase anything. Wasted a Lyft trip there and back from OKW. We will not do this again. We were anticipating purchasing a bunch of stuff. The pickins were slim and nothing peeked our interest. The next day we went to Disney Springs and had a field day. And the crazy thing is we didn't see anyone coming out with sacks full of stuff. So we weren't the only ones disappointed.

 

[Aimeedyan]

Anyone have any advice for getting into the Vineland Store on a Friday around 5pm? I want to stop after our flight comes in. How is the store, wait, late afternoon?

We stopped by tonight around 6pm and the virtual line was already closed for the night. It was the only reason why we went (and finding parking there is HARD sometimes) so I was bummed.

 

[BethanyMouse]

This is great info. Can you get on the virtual line before arrival or do you have to physically be there?

I have heard that there is a great SUPER target to visit- any idea which one that is?