If there’s anything we can all agree on, it’s that Disney World souvenirs can cost a pretty penny! While some may consider certain merchandise worth the splurge, other items leave us scratching our heads as we wonder how long it’s going to take us to fill up our piggy banks to be able to afford it!
EPCOT Food and Wine Dooney and Bourke bags
We polled our readers the other day asking if they’ve ever splurged on a balloon at Disney World (‘cuz they ain’t cheap!), and we were surprised in the best way possible to hear your responses!
Out of the total number of responses we received, 30% of those polled said that they have definitely splurged in the past on a balloon in Disney World!
Our survey results!
When you think about how much a Mickey balloon costs (a whopping $14!), it can sometimes be difficult to justify dropping that much money on something that isn’t intended to last very long.
Magic Kingdom
As much as we would like these balloons to last forever, over the course of your Disney World vacation, you may find that the balloon loses air every day, leaving nothing but an empty shell barely hovering above the ground in your hotel room at the end of your vacation (what a sad, sad image to have in your head!). Or you have a hard time figuring out how to take it home.
Mickey Balloons in Disney Springs
One reader agrees with the average lifespan of a Disney balloon by responding, “It’s a tradition of mine! Every trip I get a balloon, enjoy it in the room through the trip, and at the end of the trip, deflate it with a straw, fold it up, and save it for reasons unknown to me.”
Baby Yoda Balloon in the Bunch!
There’s plenty of other souvenirs you can purchase for $14, including keychains, magnets, and other items that will DEFINITELY outlive a balloon. But some of you are super CREATIVE when it comes to repurposing your balloons.
One reader responded to our poll by saying that “Since we live in Illinois and couldn’t take it home with us, we cut the end carefully to deflate it and when we got home stretched it across a canvas and hung it in our daughters’ room! Since she loved it so much!”
Balloons!
Still, there’s something special about those Disney balloons! They were one of the things we were the most EXCITED to see on Disney Springs’ grand reopening day back in May. Our hearts also skipped a beat when we saw the Halloween Mickey balloons for the first time this year!
One reader told us an incredibly sweet story reiterating just how much these balloons mean to folks: “My daughter got one for her 6th birthday. We took lots of pictures. She kept it the whole trip, then on our last day, she gave it to another little girl walking down Main St since she knew it couldn’t come on the plane.”
Balloons on Main Street, U.S.A.
Another response seemed to tell the other side of the same story! “We got lucky last trip and a little girl who was leaving the day we arrived gave my daughter her balloon. It made her day. Then the day we checked out we asked a cast member to pass it on to the next kid checking in! So fun to pay it forward for others to enjoy!”
Magic Kingdom
Whether you’re an avid collector of Disney World balloons or you like to simply admire them on Main Street U.S.A., there’s no denying that they are a quintessential souvenir throughout the parks (except for Animal Kingdom…you won’t find any balloons there!).
Click here to take a look at some of the FREE souvenirs Disney World has given out in the past!
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During the Year of a Million Dreams, my wife and I were riding Expedition Everest on the morning of our final day (the first stop in visiting all four parks that day!). When we pulled in to the station, a group of castmembers ran out and gave each of us on the train a lanyard with fastpasses to every ride in Animal Kingdom! As we were heading out of the park, we found a young couple wearing their newlywed ears and gave them our fastpasses. My wife and I have always thought that Disney can bring out the best kind of happiness in people, and I think it may have made us happier to gift those passes to that young couple than it may have been for them to receive them. I hope they had a fun honeymoon!
We have amazing photos of my daughter on her first trip to WDW with a balloon on Main Street and now we have a son too so when we are able to get back there we will certainly be buying them again and they won’t want to share it. The balloons are expensive but something we always know we will be paying for and it’s lovely to see the children’s little faces when they have one. The ‘pay it forward’ balloon has also happened to us and my daughter was amazed she ended up with two!
My dream has always been to have a Mickey balloon, ever since I was a little kid. On our last trip three weeks ago, my nephew started asking me about bucket lists, and I told him about the Mickey balloon. The entire trip, he was saving $20 in his pocket so he could get me one. It was so sweet.
Tree, that is the sweetest. Thanks for sharing!
Erik, thanks for sharing! Great story.
We will buy one to have in the room with us. Then we we checkout we either find another family with kids or just leave it in the elevator. Great way to spread some magic and make someone’s day better.
Such a sweet article and great stories. I’ve never gotten a balloon and decided this next trip I am! So it was interesting that I found this article. Now I can’t wait to share the magic when it’s my turn to give it away. Oh, and I’m 59 years old.
We live in the uk but have been to Disney World a few times and always get a balloon which we deflate and bring home with us. My mum reinflated one for my 18th birthday it was a great surprise.
So sweet, Abigail!
Seems to me we paid $15 each when we bought our granddaughters balloons in 2019. They flew in from TX and they gave their balloons to some kids sitting on a bench at All Star Music the morning they flew back home.