Welcome to the latest edition of The Magic, The Memories, and Merch!, the longest running monthly look at the Disney Outlet Stores in Orlando.  We have “Bargain” Ben Wszalek covering Vineland and myself – Discount Derek – at I-Drive (addresses are at the end of every report) and we are here to give you the Outlet Report you really want totally deserve. This month we even have some extra special assistance in Orlando courtesy of Outlet Intern @Dreamfinder_Guy. Of course Christela “Clearance” McC is also here with a look at some Outlet items from out in California.

Enough jibber jabber! Ready to see what we we found? Alright, let’s go!

First, let’s start off with a recurring theme that we have been seeing over the past few months. People going to the Disney Outlet Stores and thinking, “what happened?!!!”

 

Okay, with that out of the way let’s hit some merch. First up, a pair of items marking the end of IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth. Have to say that I was never a big fan of IllumiNations, but I also understand we’ll probably never get another show like it. Have to say that watching The Imagineering Story on Disney+ really hits the point home for what EPCOT was supposed to be compared to what it has become. Anyhoo, this glow in the dark shirt was originally $24.99, now $5.99.

The “farewell” hat was reduced to $5.99.

November at the Outlets means you’ll find plenty of Halloween themed items, including this “candy corn” spirit jersey. Reduced to $24.99.

This shirt was sold at this year’s Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party. Originally $34.99, now $9.99.

Can you imagine paying the original price of $9.99 for a SLAP BRACELET? That is next level bonkers. The top side of the slap bracelet has the Disney characters in Halloween outfits while the bottom side has the phrase “Are you SCARED of the park?” No. I’m scared of the PRICE.

Plenty of Halloween themed pins were available. Originally $17.99, now $6.99. I guess these are targeting people who “have” to collect everything because they are pretty awful. You “open” the pin to reveal the picture of the character who’s silhouette is on the front.

Such as Jafar…

Or Ursula. You know what, if Disney wants to sell really scary pins, how about making one for Flounder in that Little Mermaid live show.

There were several particularly AWFUL hats this month, including this Maleficent-themed “I’m a monster at heart” one. Originally $27.99, now $7.99.

Get a load of this. Originally $27.99, now $12.99.

Dooney and Bourke bag featuring the Sanderson sisters from Hocus Pocus. Originally $288, now $133.99. America must be a fascinating country to try and understand for anyone who lives outside of it. We have stories of massive college debt, homeless people, and countless people using places like GoFundMe to pay medical bills… yet we have plenty of bags like this for $300.

Bag themed to the Grape Soda pin from Pixar’s Up. Originally $75, now $34.99.

This Haunted Mansion bag had a lenticular photo of the hitchhiking ghosts on it. Originally $19.99, now $9.99.

Here’s something I don’t understand and maybe one of our fine women readers can clue me in. We have a pizza-themed bag here. Okay, maybe I could see a young kid walking around with this, but the originally price was $74.99! It’s been reduced to $36.99. There’s also anti-theft tags on it. WHO IS STEALING THIS BAG?!!!

Whoever can explain why any adult would buy the bag above, can they also explain how this Mad Tea Party is used? Seems like the most impractical purse/bag ever made. Originally $19.99, now $9.99.

More questions. My original guess is that this was a Dole Whip themed bag. But Dole Whips aren’t served with a cherry. Neither is just regular soft serve ice cream. So what is this supposed to be? Originally $19.99, now $9.99.

A Mickey Bar bag. Originally $19.99, now $9.99. As you can see, even Disney is billing them just as “Disney Souvenirs,” so maybe even they know they aren’t actually useful for anything in the Real World.

Speaking of Mickey Bars, here’s a giant plush of one. Originally $27.99, now $9.99. For those who don’t follow me on Twitter, Mickey Bars are my “trigger” ice cream because I pay more for them that any other place in the world.

Plush Mickey pretzel. I bought one of these for a Christmas present for the kiddos. Mickey pretzels are one of our go-to snacks at the parks. Originally $14.99, now $9.99.

I was THIS CLOSE to picking up the plush pizza slice. Originally $27.99, now $9.99.

Plush Dole Whip swirl. This was a “scented” plush, like how they had Lotso bear plush smell like Strawberries when Toy Story 3 came out. Originally $27.99, now $9.99.

Dole Whip dress for kids or adults like @JLap64 of the Disney Moms Panel. Note no cherries on any of these Dole Whips. Originally $78, now $24.99.

Dole Whip Mickey ears. Originally $19.99, now $7.99. Imagine walking the parks and seeing someone wear this.

Much better looking Rainbow ears. Originally $19.99, now $7.99.

Mardi Gras-themed Mickey headband. Originally $19.99, now $7.99.

Ready for an onslaught of Disney hats? All were reduced to $7.99. First up are a couple themed to Mickey Mouse.

I liked this Timothy J Mouse one.

This Mad Tea Party one is certainly something.

I appreciate a good pun, and this Dumbo hat delivers.

Love Finding Nemo, don’t love this hat. Would make a great luggage tag design though. This hat was reduced all the way down to $4.99.

Back up to $7.99 for this Queen of Hearts one targeting the Millennial crowd.

Another cute one featuring Flower from Bambi.

This Beast hat below may be the worst hat Disney ever made. Almost like something you could win in some cheap carnival game at your state fair.

Genie hat. I like the detail of the earring.

In a previous edition of the Outlet Report we covered the cool Genie lamp tea set that were originally $60 being brought down to $24.99. They also have a more golden Genie Lamp that is $59.99. Not sure of original price but probably close to $100. Note the typo on Aladin.

 

Let’s take a quick run out to CALIFORNIA and see what @ChristelaMcC found in the Outlets closer to Disneyland. Keep in mind that Christela had a baby THIS VERY MONTH, yet her dedication to you – Dear Reader – had her out at the Outlets. That is the type of dedication and work ethic generally only seen in Florida theme park bloggers, so for this month Christela is an honorary Floridian and gets all the perks and privileges that comes with (premium parking at Publix, the right to keep your turn signal while driving on for two hours, and membership into the Bath Salt of the Month Club).

Unfortunately for those at the California outlets, they got a sneak peek of what we are about to be deluged with down here in Florida: 2019 branded items.

First up is the lanyard and pin starter set. I like the simplicity of the 2019 pin designs. Originally $29.99, marked down to $8.99. The lanyard pouch. Original price $8.99, marked down to $1.99. With the effective end of most people using actual Disney “tickets” and paper Fast Passes being a thing of of the past, I’m not quite sure what most Disney guests would need a lanyard pouch for.

 

2019 cinch bag. Original price $19.99, marked down to $7.99. We can definitely appreciate that this is themed to Disneyland and not “Disney Parks” in general. It’s nice seeing thins like Monstro and Grizzly Peak in the designs.

Not a snow globe in general, but I like this one. Originally $16.99, down to $3.99 The 2019 photo frame original price category TEAL, marked down to $3.99.

The 2019 backpack is certainly too “busy” for my taste, but again I like that it’s branded to Disneyland specifically. Originally $39.99, marked down to $10.99

No idea who is buying stuff like the 2019 light up lanyards. Original price category ORANGE, marked down to $7.99

2019 Disneyland keychain with space mountain, fun wheel, grizzly peak and castle charms. Original price category RED, marked down to $3.99.

Nana Limited Edition plush. Original price $27.99, marked down to $8.99.

“Limited to the amount we can sell.”

That’s it from California. Before we head back to Florida we would like to send a big CONGRATS to Christela and thank her for adding another person into this world who will shortly be standing in front of us in line at the Outlets.

Okay, we’re back in Sunny Florida. We’ll start off with our plush, which is a Food & Wine Minnie Mouse.Originally $16.99, now $9.99.

There’s a cottage industry on Etsy filled with people who took the concept of Disney buttons and made their own version. So then Disney went and made their own version on those people’s buttons. It’s like the movie Inception for bad merchandise. Originally $9.99, now $1.99.

More buttons. Same price.

Mary Poppins pin set. Originally 14.99, now $6.99.

This pin set is based on Disney video games on the old Nintendo Entertainment System. You can see Goof Troop and TaleSpin below done in “8 bit” graphics. Pretty cool. What doesn’t make sense is the controller that “hangs” off.  Just odd. Reduced to $6.99.

Frozen character crayon set. Originally $19.99, now $7.99.  Not sure if the Orange Anna crayon is a “spoiler” for Frozen 2.

More Disney pillow pets (they are called something like Dream Lites.) Here we have Sven from Frozen and Dumbo. Both were reduced to $14.99. Picked up a Dumbo for one of the kiddos.

Plush Marshmallow from Frozen. Originally $24.99, now $16.99.

Over five years ago I did my first ever “live tweeting from the Magic Kingdom” under the @TouringPlans Twitter handle. Everything was fine until I got to the Merchant of Venus gift shop in Tomorrowland and referred to the plush below as Pink Stitch. Long story short, that was the last time I live tweeted from the @TouringPlans account. Originally $27.99, now $9.99.

Here we go. One of my all time FAVORITE characters in all of Disney lore is the “dog with a key” from Pirates of the Caribbean. If he’s on a piece of merchandise, I’ll buy it, that’s my policy. Here we have the dog Wishable. I think this was originally $9.99, but now only $2.99.

This Cinderella Castle water globe was originally $54.99, now $19.99. There wasn’t one out of the box so I don’t know if it works like a “snow globe” or if it’s literally just a castle inside a dome of water that you look into. Who knows. What we do know is that even this castle is bigger than the real one inside the Disneyland park out in California.

Here’s another item that I was SO CLOSE on buying. A pirate ship playset featuring Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy and Pluto in pirate outfits. This was originally $54.99, reduced to $24.99. I think it if was down to $19.99 I wouldn’t have thought twice.

Looking closely at the back of the box now I see Pluto is dressed as the “dog with a keys” character so you can probably imagine THE REGRET I FEEL NOW.

How ridiculous does this look. Kids watch the movies and cartoons and know what things should look like. In no Star Wars movie is there a tie fighter where the pilot is standing halfway outside the ship. Originally $29.99, now $14.99.

Plenty of Star Wars stuff at the Outlets, most of it pretty bad.

Let’s start off with Vinylmation featuring The Last Jedi. I didn’t even know they were still making Vinylmation. The “Mickey mold” is just horrendous for stuff like this because they just add on the ears and don’t know what to do with them. Originally $14.99, now $6.99.

High end Star Wars action figures from the “black” series. These were REDUCED to $19.99, so who knows what they originally cost.

The two figures below were die-cast metal. Originally $29.99, now $12.99. You can make the case that there would be a market for C3-PO figures, but that droid on the right? WHHAAAAAAAAAT?!!!!

Here’s a couple magnet sets. Both were originally $9.99 reduced to $1.99. Set on the left is themed to Minnie Mouse and trying to imagine the potential serial killer perfectly sane person that would want a magnet of Minnie’s skirt. I bought the “Mickey kitchen” set on the right for a stocking stuffer.

Several MagicBands arrived, each reduced to $7.99. First up, Fox & the Hound.

And we got Emperor’s New Groove.

Anger from Inside Out.

I’m sure there is a story behind this Disney key set, but I don’t know it. Reduced to $4.99.

I was actually pleasantly surprised with the new “live action” Lion King remake. I was watching the movie wondering how they would be able to do the “dress up in drag and do the hulu” moment, and I audibly laughed out loud when that scene came on. Just an insane idea and I loved it. Not sure why ANYONE would want the Funko Pops below based on the movie, but they were originally $14.99, now $6.99.

This postcard is GORGEOUS. The print is called “Belle in the library” by artist Hediun June Kim. It was the non-discounted price of $5.99.

This postcard was also $5.99 and was also FANTASTIC. The title was “Magic on Main Street” by artist Fenway Fan.

The art is so good that the coffee mug with it was only reduced to $9.99 instead of the $5.99 the million other coffee mugs are priced at. Originally $15.99.

Mickey Mouse tumbler with built in straw. Originally $17.99, now $4.99.

Does the person who would buy the bookends below actually be someone who reads enough books that they need bookends? Let’s be real. Originally $34.99, now $14.99. These bookends should be holding up the notebooks that they find in John Doe’s apartment in Se7en.

Themed socks are all the rage this year. Originally $9.99, now $3.99.

Who’s ready for some Cruise Line merch from the Disney Wonder sailings to Alaska?! I absolutely adore Mickey in his fisherman (or whatever it is) outfit. This shirt was originally $21.99, now $10.99.

More stuff from ALASKA!

Alaska sailing coffee mugs. Originally $19.99, now $9.99.

If I were on the Alaska sailing, have to say I probably would have bought this E-Ticket magnet that looks like a tree stump. Even though I know that EVERY ITEM FROM THE CRUISE LINE ALWAYS GOES TO THE OUTLETS. Originally $14.99, now $5.99.

This is a cute fleece throw I would have grabbed if I didn’t already have way too many Disney fleece throws. Reduced to $9.99.

I guess this is the new logo of the Disney Cruise Line? Or maybe an old logo I never noticed? I’ll have to consult with Captain Cruiseline @TheDCLBlog to get an answer on this. Anyway this travel blanket was originally $59.99, now $35.99. If you’re wondering if I bought a “travel blanket” for $35, just know that I think we bought one off Southwest airlines on a previous flight for $5 and I feel I need to keep reusing that to justify the money.

I couldn’t even figure out what this was supposed to be. Maybe it’s some sort of medal they give you once you sail with Disney more than 100 times. Reduced to $5.99.

Jacket from the “Magic of Europe” sailing. The sleeves can be taken off the jacket. Originally $110, now $32.99. Almost bought it just on principle. Not every day I’d see a windbreaker that costs over $100. It would be like shopping for sneakers at the store in Disney Springs run by Michael Jordan’s son that already went out of business.

Did you ever think you’d see a uniform from PALO at the Disney Outlet Store? Originally $64.99, now $31.99. Apparently these are from a “Be Our Chef” gimmick that guests could do on the Disney Fantasy.

Would love to see more Roger Rabbit-themed merch, like this Jessica’s Diner shirt.  Originally $24.99, now $9.99.

LOVE this graphic of Mickey, Donald, Goofy and Pluto. It’s a Disney white shirt though, so you could basically put a magazine underneath it and still be able to read it. Originally $34.99, now $12.99.

The rare Toy Story Land shirt. Originally $24.99, now $12.99. Notice they didn’t show Wheezy’s microphone cord that has been fixed with duct tape.

Cute Monsters, Inc shirt. Originally $24.99, now $9.99.

Fantasyland sequin shirt. Originally $24.99, now $9.99. Might want to buy one of these for every one you know who thinks Rise of the Resistance is going to open up this week and run flawlessly.

Some princess-themed shirts. Belle shirt on left was originally $34.99, now $12.99 while Jasmine-themed shirt on right was originally $34.99, now $14.99.

Two more shirts for Jasmine and Belle, these were both originally $39.99, now $14.99.

Here’s a shirt for the all-time books. It says “In my defense I’m a princess” but the only way to read what it says would mean getting so close to the woman wearing it that you’d be #MeToo’d off the face of the planet. Originally $29.99, now $9.99.

Minnie Balloons tank top for kids. Originally $24.99, now $9.99.

Haunted Mansion t-shirt. “Cast Member” tag says Ghost Host. Originally $29.99, now $9.99.

1971 shirt from the Tom Corless Collection, originally $59.99, now $17.99. The perfect shirt to wear when at Animal Kingdom and requesting a personal ride vehicle at Dinosaur. White polo on the left was originally $44.99, now $12.99.

What is going on here?!! Originally $42.99, now $19.99.

Park Hop ‘Till You Drop hoodie. Price? Well, you see…

For some reason my phone was having a “delay” in taking pictures with my phone. I’d hit the button to take a photo, but it would be a couple seconds before the “snap” sound would be heard. Several times I had already started putting the item on the shelf. So my camera roll was filled with shots like this, and a couple I didn’t notice until too late.

These are “4 Piece Layette Set.” Today I found out the word “layette” exists. I don’t know what it means, but at least I know it exists. Both sets were originally $49.99, now $19.99.

Here’s a look inside the it’s a small world one.

And the Dumbo one.

Let’s end on an item that perfectly showcases my relationship with the Disney Outlet Store Photo Report.

In this metaphor, I’m Pinocchio.

Hold on, what is this sign on the outside at the Outlets?

My thoughts on seeing that sign?

SEE YOU NEXT MONTH!

There are actually two Disney outlet stores in Orlando. Both are in Orlando Premium Outlet shopping complexes, and they are called Disney’s Character Warehouse, presumably because The Land Of Misfit Toys was already trademarked. There is one Character Warehouse located on International Drive close to Universal Studios (4951 International Dr, Orlando, FL 32819), and the other is on Vineland Avenue, right across I-4 near the exits to Disney World (8200 Vineland Ave, Orlando, FL 32821). They do not ship. There are items at the Outlets that you can buy both in Disney stores along with the Shop Disney Parks app, but you will be paying full retail for the items. For our CALIFORNIA OUTLET trips, @ChristelaMcC goes to the Las Americas outlet in San Diego. It is located right off the last U.S. exit.

I often get asked “which store is better?” That depends. Vineland is close to Walt Disney World, while the I-Drive location is a hop, skip, and jump away from the Universal Orlando Resort. The Vineland Disney Outlet Store is much, MUCH bigger than the I-Drive location. However, the Vineland outlets in general are much, MUCH busier than I-Drive. Each have their pros and cons, and ultimately they carry much of the same items. For a Disney Outlet Store FAQ, check out this SATURDAY SIX Presents: Everything You Wanted To Know About The Disney Outlet Stores (But Were Afraid To Ask)

Previous editions of Magic, Memories, and Merch: July 2013, August 2013, September 2013, October 2013, November 2013, December 2013, January 2014, February 2014, March 2014, April 2014, May 2014, June 2014, July 2014, August 2014, September 2014, October 2014, November 2014, December 2015, January 2015, February 2015, March 2015, April 2015, May 2015. June 2015, July 2015, August 2015, September 2015, October 2015, November 2015. December 2015, January 2016, February 2016, March 2016, April 2016, May 2016, June 2016, July 2016, August 2016, September 2016, October 2016, November 2016, December 2016, January 2017, February 2017, March 2017, April 2017, May 2017, June 2017, July 2017: The FOUR YEAR ANNIVERSARY special, August 2017, September 2017, October 2017 (tribute to the O.O.G.), November 2017, December 2017, January 2018, February 2018, March 2018, April 2018, May 2018, June 2018, July 2018 (FIVE YEAR ANNIVERSARY special with the introduction of the OUTLET HALL OF FAME), August 2018, September 2018, October 2018, November 2018, and December 2018, January 2019, February 2019, March 2019, April 2019, May 2019, June 2019, and July 2019 (SIX YEAR ANNIVERSARY), August 2019 (major changes come to Outlets), September 2019 (camera hat) and October 2019.

We also did an edition of Magic, Memories, and Junk for a non-Disney owned Outlet Store, and for you merch addicts like myself, you may also enjoy a look at the official Disney merchandise available on the Disney Cruise Line, Castaway Cay, and at the Orlando International Airport. Want to see our favorite WDW resort-specific merchandise? Well, CLICK HERE!

If you liked what you read here, you may enjoy THE SATURDAY SIX articles every week on the TouringPlans.com blog and you can follow your humble author on Twitter (@derekbugan).