Welcome to the latest edition of The Magic, The Memories, and Merch! the longest running monthly look at the Disney Outlet Stores in Orlando. Outlet Intern Julia Mascardo and I had a once-in-a-lifetime month at the stores with some items we’ve been been waiting for a long time include next level bonkers plush, Skyway salt and pepper shakers, and that creepy Belle doll that went viral earlier this year. Just an amazing month of surprises.

Ready to see what we found? Let’s go!

The first item this month made me question my very existence. This unbelievably AWESOME Fort Wilderness RV camper keychain (with a flashlight coming out of the headlight!!!) made it to the Outlets. This very same keychain was part of my SATURDAY SIX on the Best Resort Specific Merchandise at Disney World. Yet, here it is at the Outlets. Maybe I’m the crazy one. For years I’ve been asking a simple question: who would possibly be buying some of this stuff? But now I have to ask if maybe I’m the outlier. I will do some deep soul searching and get back to you next month. Originally $9.99, now $3.99

–

The next item was another surprise with a super cool retro plate featuring the classic attraction Journey Into Imagination, the Dreamfinder, and even better, EPCOT CENTER. It is a relatively small plate, but good for appetizers, hors d’oeuvres, or Epcot Food & Wine entrees. Originally $12.99, now $4.99.

And you know I got this EPCOT CENTER plate featuring Spaceship Earth (one of my all time favorite WDW attractions.) Same price as Dreamfinder plate.

–

Speaking of retro-inspired merch, here is a coffee cup featuring a bunch of cool old timey attraction posters. Originally $12.95, now $5.99.

I think it was just last month when I described the very few themed salt and pepper shakers that I would actually buy and wouldn’t you know it, one arrived. This cool Skyway Set was, I believe, originally $19.95 and now $9.99. I picked up one.

Sometimes I have to pinch myself to make sure I’m not dreaming. Earlier this year, a picture of the world’s worst looking Emma-Watson-as-Belle doll went viral on Twitter. As many people have pointed out, it looks more like Justin Beiber in drag than anything else. I almost cried tears of joy actually seeing this arrive at the Outlets. Originally $34.95, now $19.99.

I have been waiting at least a year for these next level bonkers plush to arrive and they finally made it. They look weird enough, but if you pull say the right arm of Goofy, his left leg starts to retract into his body. IT IS ABSOLUTELY BONKERS. I love it. Bought one of both. Not sure of original price but they were reduced to $9.99.

Leprechaun Mickey plush for St Patrick’s Day. Although as you can see his pot of gold is empty because he just had to renew his Annual Pass. Originally $16.99, reduced to $9.99.

Valentine’s Day Minnie. It probably makes more sense if you have this one and the Valentine’s Day Mickey (not at the Outlet.) I’ve seen that one and Mickey is dressed up as Cupid and has a facial expression like he just visited one of Florida’s new medicinal marijuana stores. Originally $16.99, now $9.99.

I bought the complete set of Lion Guard plush for full price in early December for the kiddos, so you can imagine how happy I am to see another one make it to the Outlets. Bunga was originally $14.95, reduced to $5.99.

This is weird right? It’s not just me is it? Toy Story pajamas for Duffy the bear with a alien doll for Duffy to hold? Reduced to $12.99.

I get nightmares even seeing one of these Metal Earth things, but several designs made it to the Outlets for Rogue One. They were all originally $16.99, reduced to $7.99.

Cute Boba Fett photo frame. Reduced to $6.99. Seeing this reminded me of Boba Fett super fan @thedisneychef. Her twitter account seems to go viral more times than Donald Trump and this month she also recounted the most amazing break-up story at Disney World that you will ever read: check it out. And after you read that amazing story, I have the twist ending.

Star Wars Rogue One hat, although it looks like it came from the Andre Agassi collection of painter’s caps in the early 90s. Originally $24.99, now $4.99.

Here’s another item that made me smile wider than The Grinch after he hatches his plan to steal Christmas. EXACTLY a year ago this month, a bunch of cool Star Wars/Disney Attraction Poster mashup items arrived at World of Disney. I had a friendly debate with theme park scallywag Tom Corless. I said that while I absolutely loved all the items, they were surely going to be going to the Outlets. Tom disagreed. Well, the t-shirts I’m about to show you below mark the last item from the run to make it the Outlets and it joins all the others including dog chains and glassware. I won’t pretend to know 1/1000th the WDW history as Tom, but merchandise that’s not going to sell? That I can go toe to toe with anyone.

So anyway, this incredibly cool Tattoine shirt – that is based of the Autopia attraction poster, was originally $24.99, reduced to $12.99. All the prices of the shirts are the same.

I think this is a Jyn Erso costume from Rogue One. Originally $54.99, now $29.99.

Some Marvel t-shirts arrived at the Outlet this month including this drawing by Erik Larsen. For those of you discovering Spider-Man now that Disney owns Marvel, I recommend you read the comic book runs by Todd McFarlane and Erik Larsen, who both got me to switch my allegiance from Captain America being “my guy” to Spidey (now thanks to the movies it’s back to Cap.) Originally $36, now $14.99.

Here is a Dr. Strange shirt for women. This would seem to be a very niche market. Originally $32.99, now $12.99.

Captain America shirt featuring the art of Jack “King” Kirby, one of Captain America’s creators. Originally $21.95, now $9.99. I gave some Spider-man recommendations above and here is some of my personal favorite Cap stuff including the Mike Zeck run I grew up on and then the amazing Ed Brubaker stuff including Winter Solider. Hey, the more comics you read the more you’ll get what’s coming into the Disney parks in the next 5-20 years!

Walt Disney himself loved trains but I’m not even sure he could like this WDW railroad shirt. Has to be from the 28 and Main line. Originally $34.99, now $9.99.

I though this was a Little Mermaid shirt but it’s actually for The Pirate’s League. We had the kiddos do this last year and the boy was a pirate while the girl was a mermaid. They loved it. Shirt was reduced to $9.99.

Frozen shirt, originally $36.95, now $14.99.

Cute line of women’s shirts featuring Mickey, Donald, and Minnie. Originally $29.99, now $19.99.

There was a shirt celebrating the 25th anniversary of DVC. Originally $32.99, now $7.99.

Readers of the SATURDAY SIX know how much I loved EPCOT’s Festival of the Arts, and this hat is the first item from that Festival which has made it to the Outlets (I bought the Tervis which said “inaugural” on it so if that arrives in the coming months I’m going to scream.) The hat was originally $26.99, now $7.99.

Direct from Cars Land out in DCA comes this Radiator Springs hat. Reduced to $6.99.

One of the neat things you can do during some of the EPCOT festivals are fun little scavenger hunts. Here is the board you would buy for the Remy’s Ratatouille Hide & Squeak event during Food and Wine. The gimmick of the scavenger hunt is you walk around World Showcase and put the appropriate stickers on where they are found in the various countries. Then when you are done you take the completed map back to Port of Entry shop and get a free pin. No pins come with this map, but the original $8.99 price has been reduced to $2.99. This is one of those items that makes absolutely no sense to buy if it is over a dollar.

If you were looking for a bandana set for your dog, you’re in luck this month. There was even one of my favorite designs featuring the Theme Park Food Blogger. Each was originally $17.99 marked down to $6.99.

Has any part of the theme park souvenir game been more rocked than the snowglobe category? Thanks to the TSA, I don’t think many people buy snowglobes anymore because they can’t travel with them. Here is a Pirates of the Caribbean snow globe featuring an all time bad pun with “A parrot’s life for me.” Originally $19.95, now $7.99.

Picked up one of these Pinocchio notebooks. Love this style. Originally $6.95, now $3.99.

Old school wood blocks and cart toy for kids. Originally $24.95, now $14.99.

I bought one of these Bambi coffee cups for my girlfriend. I’m not sure why it had that rubber topping with the butterfly though. Originally $17.99, now $5.99.

Similar cup featuring Minnie Mouse. Same price.

Love this art style on the Aladdin coffee cup. Originally $14.95, now $4.99

This 28 and Main coffee cup is dedicated to Capt Hook. I guess you’re appealing to the hardcore adult male Peter Pan fanbase here. Good luck with that. Originally $14.95, now $4.99.

Disney has a lot of this “black and white” style stuff for the kitchen. This “A Cup of Magic” coffee cup was originally $14.95, now $5.99.

Talk about shocking, a SECOND item from Fort Wilderness? Wow, that’s a first. This insulated cup was originally $19.95, now $5.99.

Cute Mickey and Minnie flipflops. Originally $16.95, now $2.99. If I’m going to buy any flipflops at Disney it’s going to be those blue glow in the dark ones in Pandora.

A whole bunch of these bracelets came in. All were reduced to $5.99.

Kid’s hat featuring Figment. Originally $24.95, now $6.99.

Lord, grant me the strength…. a whole bunch of Mickey Ears arrived this month including this one featuring Pinocchio. Originally $21.99, now it is just $3.99.

Here is one featuring Peter Pan and Capt Hook fighting it out on the ship’s sales. Also reduced to $3.99.

Mohawk Mickey. Originally $17.95, now $3.99.

This one was described on the price tag as “erfshnquilt.” To me it looked like something a character from Pulp Fiction would wear when getting out of the box. Originally $24.95, now $4.99. Believe it or not I did not buy a single pair of any of these Mickey ears.

Cute Minnie Mouse hat. Originally $24.95, now $4.99.

Can you imagine thinking someone was going to buy this Mad Hatter hat? I mean c’mon man! I wonder if there is a segment at Disney merchandise where they are assigned to design things for the sole purpose for tax writeoffs or donations to third world countries. To me that’s the only thing that makes sense. Originally $24.95, now $9.99.

I spoke too soon, here is a Mad Hatter hat where you can look like the Johnny Depp version of the Mad Hatter. Originally $29.99, now $4.99. Johnny Depp has a literal addiction to spending money foolishly and even he wouldn’t buy this hat.

I love mashups of Disney Characters and Star Wars Characters, so was intrigued by these blind bag mini figures.

But after looking at the back I decided to pass as there’s only a couple of these I would actually want.

G’worsh! A cute little Goofy keychain. Reduced to $1.99.

I wonder if these Coca-Cola cards is the first item to ever come from the new Coke Store in Disney Springs? If so that could be cool as they have some items there I would love to see come to the Outlet. Originally $7.95, now $4.99.

Sparking slipper antennae topper. Reduced to $1.99.

Car magnet for this year’s Princess Half Marathon. Originally $9.99, now $2.99.

I love the idea of these animated flip book notepads, but they are such an awkward notepad that it just doesn’t work. Originally $6.99, reduced to $3.99.

I could not figure out what the heck this Minnie Mouse thing was despite “puzzling over how it works” (movie quote for my protege @elvenage). I finally just gave up. Maybe it’s just a hair tie? Who knows. Originally $3.95, now $1.99.

This Nightmare Before Christmas phone case is one of those things that sounds neat on paper, and even looks kinda cool at first glance, but is so impractical for us that you wonder how anyone can justify buying it. It’s huge. Reduced to $7.99.

I mean, that’s crazy.

Speaking of Jack Skellington, his MagicBand also arrived. Not sure what the discount was (if any.)

The “limited edition” Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party MagicBands were reduced almost 90%. Yikes.

Princess Holiday tree. Presented without commentary. Originally $29.95, now $14.99.

“Department 56” is a line of Disney themed Christmas Village things, including this one featuring Mickey’s House. Reduced to $59.99. That’s the REDUCED price. Not sure what would cost more, building a Disney Christmas village, or a Grinch Christmas village over at Universal. I think I’m going to have to get Len Testa to allow me to buy them all and figure out which is best.

I actually liked this Pluto-as-a-reindeer Mickey ears. Originally $21.99, now $4.99.

Christmas door hangers. Originally $24.95, now $5.99.

How bout this for weirdo ornaments. Clothing of Disney characters without the characters in them. Here is Alice and some villains. Originally $22.95, now $5.99.

Anna and Elsa. Same price.

And GOOFY AND DONALD? Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?!

We’ll close this month out with my new favorite item, the high heeled Christmas ornament and this month it is Jessie from Toy Story. If you’ve never been to a Disney Outlet Store, they can be PACKED. If you are a person who treasures their personal space like me, it’s something you just have to get over. To get this shot I actually broke two of these ornaments because I was sandwiched in between another customer and a cast member stocking shelves. So I took the shot, went to put them back on the shelf and then dropped them on the floor after the bump. Yes, I’m that guy. But I will suffer that embarrassment and loss of dignity for you, Dear Reader, because you deserve the very best.

This high heeled cowboy boot has been reduced to $5.99.

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). 

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, and April 2017.

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.

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).