Tenchi's Trip to....Downtown Disney again and Character Warehouses!

Hello there my lovely readers! For once a storm is not heading our way. Florida keeps dodging lots of bullets this year. It just seems like everyone else is freaking out and preparing for things. Stay safe o people who aren’t used to storms!

My money....it spends so fast....must...grow....a money tree.

Here is part two of Tenchi’s Adventures Out of Town! I thought I had more pictures but apparently I am either in them or the husband is a bit of a slacker. I think we will go with the slacker option. In any event here are our adventures to THREE Character Warehouses and Downtown Disney. Yay for stolen pictures via the internets!

Oh hi I see you Duffy.

Our first stop after getting late Tenchi packed and into the car was the Discount Disney Store in St. Augustine. XD Apparently had we gotten there when it opened at 9 am we would have gotten even more cheap pins. X__X But I couldn’t even get myself out of the house by 10 so that wasn’t going to happen. Our main purpose of going was as I stated to stock up on cheap Disney pins to trade later. One of our friends was just getting into the trading so we had to show her the ropes in what was a good deal. Thankfully for us there were actually 1.99 pins there this time! The friend got some..and my husband got the rest. X___X So many pins!!!!

I like the displays in the windows...even if it makes me look like tourist.

After driving to Orlando and stopping by the local Hello Kitty store it was time…for another Character Warehouse. There are three within Orlando and they are all in Outlet Centers. Said centers are always SUPER busy and full of out of the country tourists stocking up on discounted designer goods. We fought for parking and walked our happy selves to the Discount Disney Store. Given how close it was to Disney the pin deals were picked over. So we have the best discount store close to our house, well in terms of getting deals on pins. The Discount Store on Vineyard Ave. was a pretty decent size and had more vinylmation than our store. Also while we were there we showed our friend how to trade with cast members. Me thinks she will run out of pins fast. I managed to pick up a Christmas Duffy from last year to add to my collection so at least there was a purchase made as well as some pin trading.

That's not enough pins!

Speaking of pins…XD see this license plate? I thought it was a little funny. I don’t think a hard core pin trader just a silly coincidence. We also took pictures of the silly sign that said no swimming in the 2 inch deep ditch water. Some fishes were not following the rules.

Yay get what you pay for....I want to stay at the Art of Animation!

We hoped on over to our scary hotel Motel 6 which was about a mile away from Universal Studios. We were slightly further away last year and walked it but this year my knee has been giving me trouble and we had other people to contribute…I mean think about. Our hotel only cost 40 dollars so we thought paying for parking was okay. I would not recommend this hotel to anyone. To say the walls were paper thin would be making fun of paper. We will pay 20 a person next time and get a slightly better hotel. But we weren’t killed and didn’t get sick so I guess sleeping for 8 hours and leaving was worth it.

Wait we already went there!

So after a night of Halloween Fun we slept in and got ready for a busy day at Downtown Disney. To start this day off….we went to another Character Warehouse. This time we went to the Lake Buena Vista one, that one that is closest to Downtown Disney. This one was PACKED in terms of parking. I was like what is this madness?! But we got a spot and went on our way. My friend was so happy to find a Lumpy plushie in the store. I warned her he is becoming a rare character and to get him right away (I already had that particular one). This store was FULL of Tokidoki merchandise (which meant the store TrenD was empty of it) and I snagged a sorta jacket at 60 percent off. I think everyone found something to buy or trade with all this shop. Even though we were super close to Disney there were still some lovely pins to get.

Everyone was so jealous of my Halloween Duffy because it was sold out HAHA!

After playing the parking lot game again it was time to finally get to Downtown Disney. Or walking around a circle day. XD Not my fault, I was trying to show the newbie all sorts of things and then they decided they were hungry. PSHT now we got to back track and get food? Crazy people.

Just take all of my money!!

Our first stop was obviously…the pin shop. OF COURSE! We were glad we stocked up on pins at the other stores because they were out of the starter packs that were discounted last time. Probably because we bought them all? We did end up buying a few pins that were new and probably haven’t traded away. We were there from 12:30 to 8:30 and kept checking back to the pin board…and it finally was opened at 7:30. I am sure it was open for other times but come on folks. XD Open it up more often for people!

I collect what I want, not necessarily what is rare.

Here are some of the pins I traded for during the trip. Some are keepers, some are presents, and some I will think about. Downtown Disney is now full of Mickey Tron pins! XD I love all my Duffy pins. Didn’t find the cop head this time around but I got the Stitch shirt which was just as important to me. The husband and my friend were busy trading the entire day away while I took turns trading and shopping with my other friend. Got to spread the Tenchi around.

Oh hi time for noms?

Since we were spending all our cash on souvenirs we needed to eat somewhere on a budget. Onward to Earl of Sandwich. My two friends had never been there before. It was much busier than the last time we were there. Of course it was 9 am in the morning….but yes. Food times!

Lots of munchin time.

Does Duffy approve of my sammich? I had to get a second one because the husband forgot that I hate tomatoes. XO How could he forgot such an important fact? But they were really, really good. I liked it more than my breakfast sammich last time. I think that it wasn’t as toasted because it was so full in the restaurant. XD Gotta get the sammiches out faster. I had to save a table for our party because it was so full. I believe everyone enjoyed their meal but no one got dessert as we ate Ghirardelli later. Did you know they handed out free chocolate squares?! See I learn something new each time we go!

Wonder if that will ever get replaced....

A trip to Downtown Disney wouldn’t be complete if we didn’t go to the Lego Store. My husband needs to have some fun. Also I needed to buy his Christmas present. It was double points while we were there so maybe next time we go I can use those points to buy his birthday presents. I like buying in advance! He was trying to determine which boxes he wanted from the Monster Hunter’s set….and then got all but two. X___x That isn’t making decisions silly! But he had fun. Wish they had more statues in the store though, so much empty now.

Stitch spit on my husband!

Of course we had to go to the World of Disney store. It’s kinda hard not to given its size. Also it has the most cast members to pin trade with. And at 2:30 and 6:30 each day they bring out the pin book in the Jewelry Room. Got to check for that folks. As I said before people were jealous of my Duffy plushie…because almost ALL of the Halloween merchandise was gone. No one I didn’t get anything in 2011. You have to go early like we do to get the merchandise, even if it feels weird going to the parties way before the holiday.

My sorta jacket...with no sleeves.

There are tons of stores at Downtown Disney. My new favorite store TrenD had a new shirt similar to the balloon shirt I bought last time. I decided to get in next trip. I was a bit sad that they had no Tokidoki items but since I got a jacket earlier in the day I was okay. My friend loves this store now and I am surprised she didn’t walk away all broke!

Is this Duffy for sale?

It was super fun seeing all the Asian tourists being excited to see Duffy. Because while Duffy was…originally the Disney Bear they (Japan) really took Duffy and made him famous. So we had to steal him back and make some cash yes? Little Duffy and Big Duffy posing for some pictures. I almost bout the regular size Duffy but since my brother is moving to Japan later this year I will have him pick me up one with a Japan tag on it.

My house is just one big toy store.

So that was our day. A lot of shopping. We didn’t make it to the other side of Downtown Disney due to all the pin trading and back tracking. We love the idea of the T-shirt shop but have yet to buy one. We stopped and got some ice cream at one point. Overall we all spent lots of money and did a lot of walking to burn off all the dessert calories. Here is a bit of my purchases from the event. Downtown Disney is becoming one of my favorite places to visit. XD Now I just need to go back to work and make tons more money to go back again in November. Gotta collect them all…Disney pins!