DIS Dining.com poses the question: What is more fun then enjoying a food or drink item at Walt Disney World? That would have to be getting a souvenir along with it! There may be more of these than you imagine. It is also something that changes seasonally sometimes, while others change less often.
7. Drink Ad-Ons
There are a couple of items you can purchase along with drinks many places at Walt Disney World such as adding a Mickey Straw to your kids drink or one of those cool Glow Cubes in your evening cocktail.
6. Refillable drink mugs at the Water Parks
You can purchase an insulated mug at either Typhoon Lagoon or Blizzard Beach Water Park and use it for that day to get as many refills of soda, lemonade, punch, etc. as you like that day. If you happen to visit both water parks on the same day you only need to purchase one mug for that day and get refills at both parks. These Florida summers can get pretty hot and having unlimited cold drinks for the day and a nice souvenir mug to take home with you is a fairly good deal.
5. Popcorn buckets
Guests can purchase a plastic bucket with Disney character illustrations on the outside of it and a handle to carry it by, or attach to a stroller, and a lid to keep the wildlife from getting into your popcorn while it sits unattended in a stroller. This standard bucket makes a nice souvenir. Use it in the car or at the game to hold snacks. Ok, that is the standard bucket. But there are more extravagant popcorn buckets available too.
4. Dishes
Mickey Pants Sundae, or for the official name, at Plaza Ice Cream on Main Street U.S.A. in Magic Kingdom is served in a red plastic dish, big enough for two, decorated with two yellow buttons is just right for enjoying during the afternoon Festival of Fantasy Parade. You can rinse them off after enjoying the ice cream at the rest room right next to the Plaza Restaurant. The Tiki Bowl that you can enjoy a Dole Whip in is available at the Pineapple Lanai at the Polynesian Village resort.
3. Deluxe Popcorn Buckets
These are the buckets that serious Disney collectors like to get. They come in a variety of themes/designs, typically with some type of lid that is notorious for not wanting to stay on as you are walking around with it, but is the cutest thing ever! These are usually sold for a season, or maybe as long as a year, but the designs tend to change often. Collectors are always looking for the next one. For a while there were Dumbo the Elephant’s that were the cutest pachyderm buckets imaginable. More recently we had Mine Train Cars that were honoring the Seven Dwarf’s Mine Train and the ruby jewels on top lifted up to give you access to the popcorn. The newest is a Cinderella Carriage container and it comes with a strap! I love the Darth Vader one that comes out during Star Wars Weekends season, and it was joined with a Hans Solo Carbonite model. The Holiday Mickey buckets are adorable. There are special Mickey’s at the Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party and Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. Keep an eye on the styles coming out of Tokyo Disneyland as they seem to have the most designs and the cutest. We are glad to see the shoulder straps coming from Tokyo to Florida now.
2. Mugs
If you visit Gaston’s Tavern in New Fantasyland-Le Fou’s Brew comes in Belle’s Goblet or Gaston’s Mug. Belle’s Goblet is a golden plastic goblet perfect for tiny princesses or large ones. Gaston’s Mug is brown and has an illustration of Gaston/Le Fou and it has a handle and nice base that doesn’t tip over easily. They wash well in a dishwasher on the top shelf only. Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn & Café almost always have a souvenir mug available. They offered a Cowboy Boot Mug usually filled with a Root Beer Slush or frozen lemonade. Olaf Souvenir Cup during Frozen Summer Fun came with frozen drinks and there were adult drinks with Glow Cubes that can be switched off and used again at home just for fun. For a limited time there are plastic jugs honoring Country Bear Jamboree in Frontierland at the Magic Kingdom. They come with a bendy straw too. If you dine in Cinderella Castle you can purchase your drink in a special Goblet, just as you can find in Be Our Guest Restaurant with an impressive light-up goblet. Hollywood Studios sells beverages in Orange Safety Cones, from Cars, or during Star Wars Weekends we have had the pleasure of drinking icee drinks from R2D2 or Storm Troopers. In Epcot’s World Showcase you can collect tall plastic mugs with that country’s symbol on it to enjoy a brew sold there. Animal Kingdom has wonderful Ocarina Tumblers that you can actually play music on. Maybe you would like to drink from a Pirate Skull Mug at Tortuga Tavern in Magic Kingdom just across the plaza from Pirates of the Caribbean? Storybook Treats in Fantasyland offers special ice cream treats during the Holiday such as Holiday Swirl ice cream in a Christmas Mug. Those delicious Pineapple Floats in a Tiki Sipper tumbler or Dole Whips in a Tiki Bowl at Pineapple Lanai, Disney’s Polynesian Village and Sunshine Tree Terrace are a fun twist on the wildly popular dessert at Walt Disney World. Trader Sam’s Grotto has souvenir glasses from their specialty cocktails and this is the hottest new lounge at Disney’s Polynesian Village resort.
1. Rapid Fill Resort Mugs
Anyone who has stayed at a Walt Disney World resort over the last several years can probably tell you how much they have enjoyed the resorts’ Rapid Fill Mugs. In this case you purchase the mug and then get refills based on how many days you wish to use the mug. The good old days where you could refill to your hearts, or stomach’s, content during the length of your stay are gone, but these mugs are still one of the best souvenirs you can buy. These are durable, fit in your car cup holders, don’t break when they drop, and go through the top-shelf of your dishwasher hundreds of times. You can get more than soda’s in the mugs depending on which resort you are at, and you can also fill them up in the morning on your way out to the parks and when you run out you can still get water to drink from them at the water fountains. Bring along a carabineer and attach them to your backpack or stroller so you don’t have to handle them all day. The drink refills are for your resort or any of the Disney resorts, just not the parks. Disney collectors have been interested in these mugs from the beginning of the program and have enjoyed separate designs for each resort in two styles but now there is one design, one size, across all the resorts but the illustrations on the outsides now go through changes less often.
Now that you are in the know, “stay thirsty and hungry my friend”.