Taking souvenirs home from Walt Disney World is one of the things I always look forward to on my Disney vacations. There is so much cool merchandise in the parks, and taking something home is a great way to carry on the magic of your vacation long after it has ended. Speaking from experience, I know how easy it is to wind up with so many souvenirs that overstuff your suitcase to the point of being unusable. Didn’t bring an empty suitcase with you for that purpose? No worries! Because you can ship stuff home from Disney World! And it is easier than you think!
You can ship stuff home from Disney World either directly from the gift shop where you purchased it, or from your Disney resort for a small handling fee. You could also plan ahead and bring a prepaid USPS flat rate box with you to ship items home in at the end of your trip.
Shipping items home from Disney can be a lifesaver. Not only if you bought more items than your available suitcase space allows. But also if you don’t want to be bogged down carrying your souvenirs in the airport, or be responsible if an item breaks in transit. Keep reading for all of your shipping options at Walt Disney World, and one alternative that could even save you the hassle of shipping altogether.
Here are all of the shipping options currently available at Walt Disney World and Disney Resort Hotels:
1. Ship Things Home Directly From The Gift Shop or Store at the Time of Purchase
Did you know you can have Disney ship home the items you purchase from ANY Disney gift shop? They will package up the items for you and take care of all of the mailing. This is an especially great option if you’re buying fragile items (like Christmas ornaments, for example). Because Disney will insure the items when they mail them. So if anything breaks in transit, they will replace it for free.
Here’s what to do if you want to ship things home directly from the gift shop at time of purchase:
- Make your purchases like normal.
- While checking out, let the cashier know that you want to mail these items home.
- The cashier will then have you fill out all of the shipping information and will have you make the payment to ship the items home.
- Afterwards, the cashier will give you a copy of the shipping receipt so that you can track the package.
In my experience Disney typically ships via UPS from the gift shops, but it can vary, of course. This option for shipping is available to anyone buying something from a Disney gift shop. You do not have to be staying onsite in order to take advantage of this.
2. Ship Things Home From Your Disney Resort
There are two methods for shipping things home from your Disney resort, based on which resort you are staying at. If your resort has a business center, you can easily mail things home from there (or from the front desk). Otherwise, if your resort does not have a business center, you can still mail things home, but you will have to do so from the resort gift shop. Let me explain…
Shipping From Disney Resorts With a Business Center:
These six Disney resorts have a business center:
- Yacht and Beach Club Resorts
- The BoardWalk Inn
- Contemporary Resort
- Coronado Springs Resort
- Grand Floridian Resort
- Swan and Dolphin Hotel
From these six resorts, you can mail your packages home from their business center, or from their resort front desk. According to my research, you will need to package the items yourself in most cases. The resort should be able to find you an empty box at these business center locations. Which you can then fill up and bring back to ship. However, I recommend calling your resort front desk before starting the shipping process, because I know they have packaged up items for guests in the past. So call ahead to the front desk to know your best option.
When you ship packages home from a resort via the business center, you will need to pay for a package handling fee. The handling fee is determined based on package weight and type. Click here for the link to the Disney website with all of the up-to-date information regarding handling fees. The package handling fee does not include postage, which is paid separately.
Shipping From Disney Resorts Without a Business Center:
If you’re staying at a Disney resort that does not have a business center, which is the majority of them, there is still another option for you. You can mail things home from the resort gift shop, even if you did not purchase the items there. As long as all of the items you are shipping were purchased at Disney and are Disney items (not items bought from any third parties), the resort gift shop can mail them home for you.
Here’s what to do to take advantage of shipping via this method:
- Save all of the receipts from each Disney item purchase you make throughout your trip.
- When you’re ready to ship, bring the items you want to ship AND their receipts, to your resort gift shop.
- Explain to the cashier that you want to mail all of these items home. Be prepared to wait a bit, because in order for them to do this, they will need to basically return all of the items. And then resell them again in one single transaction, where they can then set up the shipping.
- You’ll provide the shipping details, pay for the shipping costs, and then will be given the shipping receipt with tracking information.
Mailing things home from your resort gift shop this way avoids having to pay for the package handling fee as well. An added bonus!
3. Bring Your Own USPS Flat Rate Box From Home and to Mail on Your Trip
Here’s a tip that I learned from the dedicated Disney fans over at Disboards online forum…Bring your own pre-paid USPS flat rate box with you on your vacation to mail things home in! When you ship things home using this method, you do not have to pay the Disney package handling fee because everything was already prepaid by you in advance.
Here’s what to do to be able to ship things home from Disney via USPS Flat Rate Priority Mail:
- Purchase a USPS Priority Mail Flat Rate box from your local USPS location at home prior to leaving for Disney. Pre-pay for the postage on the box with USPS before leaving.
- Pack the Flat Rate box in your suitcase, laid flat on the bottom. Also be sure to pack some packaging tape. Most resorts won’t have packaging tape easily accessible, and if they do it is usually not the best quality.
- Buy all of the Disney merchandise you want!
- Package up the box near the end of your trip, or once you have enough items to fill it. Seal the box with the tape you brought. And then bring it to the resort front desk. They will then put it in the mail for you.
One tip I suggest is using dirty clothes as packaging filler if you need to secure loose items in the box. That saves room in your suitcase for more breakable items, or even more merch!!
Also, this method could really work from any hotel. So if you’re staying off-site, this is an option for you as well.
4. Closest Off-site Locations To Ship Things Home from Disney
The final option for shipping things home from Disney World is of course to mail them from an offsite post office or shipping location. Certainly this option is less convenient, unless you have a rental car or drove to Disney on your own. You can of course ship things home via the other three methods listed above as well, if you choose.
These are the closest off-site shipping locations to the Walt Disney World Resort:
- FedEx Office Print and Ship Center at 8701 World Center Dr, Orlando, FL 32821
- Located inside the Orlando World Center Marriott, about 10 minute drive from EPCOT
- The UPS Store at 7862 W Irlo Bronson Memorial Hwy, Kissimmee, FL 34747
- Located about a 10 minute drive from Hollywood Studios
- USPS at 601 Market St, Kissimmee, FL 34747
- Located about a 10 minute drive from Hollywood Studios
Don’t Want to Bother With Shipping Stuff Home From Disney? Try The Shop Disney App Instead
If you don’t want to bother with shipping things home at all, check out the Shop Disney app instead! The Shop Disney app, which is separate from the My Disney Experience app, allows you to purchase many of the same in-park items online to be mailed directly to your home. So if bag space is limited or you just don’t want to carry your stuff around the park all day, check out this app.
When I’m at Disney, I like to pull up the app and keep a cart running with all of the things I want. I will add new things each day as I come across them in the parks. By the end of my trip, I then purchase the whole cart in one go. Everything then ships to my house, with essentially no work on my end. And the best part – after you spend $75.00 on the Shop Disney app shipping is free!
There is one caveat with this method though. Which is that you can’t find 100% of the items in the park on the Shop Disney app. While you can find the most popular items and more and more things are added everyday, occasionally there will be something you can’t find on the app. In that case, you can either ship it home using the info above in this article, or you can pack it home in your suitcase. If you’ve been using the Shop Disney app for the rest of your purchases, you should now have extra room in your suitcase for the items you can’t find on the app.
Can I ship a light saber home?
Yes, you can ship a light saber home. They will give you options to do so when you purchase the light saber, or you can follow one of the other options listed in this post to do so as well.
Thanks for reading!
I saw you used to be able to cold ship certain items from The Ganachery. Do you k ow if this type of thing is still possible? I have a chocolate lover at home who can’t come with us in November.
Hi Michelle,
Thanks for reading and the reply! You used to be able to purchase chocolate cold shipped from the Ganachery on the Shop Disney app, but that has since been removed. I am not familiar with the store shipping things on their own outside of the app. They may, but it’s not advertised at all, so I’d say chances are probably slim on that right now. Though they do have chocloates pre-packaged in travel friendly boxes and bags. But it won’t be temperature controlled obviously, so may be difficult to travel with. So, not the best answer for your situation, but I hope it helps! Enjoy!
This article has been an absolute gem! Thank you so much! Our family of 6 leaves this week for our long awaited Disney vaca, and I was at a loss as to what to do about sending stuff home. We’re having quite a bit of grocery items sent ahead. The thought only occurred to me tonight that we might have extra water bottles, energy drinks, poptarts, and whatnot left over at the end of our trip. Again, thank you thank you thank you! I never knew that USPS flat rate boxes could be prepaid. 😄