Help a great cause and get your holiday shopping done early at WDW’s United Way Benefit Sale

Angela Ragno

13 years ago

If you snooze, you lose.

That turn-of-phrase is appropriate in a lot of situations.
But none more so than on November 5^th. Where – if you decide to
sleep in that morning and then miss out on this year's United Way Benefit Sale
at the Downtown Disney Marketplace – you're not only going to miss out on your
chance to help a really worthy cause, you're also going to miss out on all
sorts of great bargains.

"What sort of bargains?," you ask. Well, how about 25% off
of select merchandise at such favorite WDW shopping spots as the Disney Days of
Christmas shoppe, Disney's Pin Traders, Mickey's Pantry, Once Upon a Toy, Team
Mickey, Tren-D and World of Disney.

I actually went to the inaugural version of this event (which
benefits the Heart of Florida United Way, with all proceeds going to the many
health & human service programs that HFUW supports throughout Orange,
Osceola and Seminole counties) last year. I bought my $5 voucher, which I then
traded in for a wristband that got me into all of the Downtown Disney Marketplace
stores which were taking part in this event.

Now I won't lie to you, folks. It was a little tough getting
up for a shopping event that starts at 5:30 a.m. Even here in sunny Central
Florida, it can kind of dark & frosty in the pre-dawn hours in early
November. But my Mom and I set the alarm for 4. More importantly, we bundled up
before we left the house that morning.

So what did we find when we pulled into the parking lot at the AMC Downtown
Disney 24? This being an event that was being held at Walt Disney World, are
you really surprised to hear that there was a line? To be specific, a line that
ran all the way down along the AMC theatre and was full of people anxious to
see what was available for purchase inside of that giant tent which had been
set up in the West Side Plaza.

Tren-D will be open and ready for bargain hunters who
are wearing their official United Way Benefit Sale
wristbands. Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc.
All rights reserved

But I didn't get up at the crack of dawn just to stand in
line. I came here to shop. Which is why my Mother and I got back in our car and drove over to the other end of the Downtown Disney Marketplace. We parked
in the old Village Marketplace parking lot and then made our way to Tren-D.
Which was having a special sale on Dooney & Bourke purses that morning.

Given that there really wasn't a line at Tren-D, I was able
to make my purchase relatively quickly. Then my Mom and I set out to explore
the other DTD shops which were open for that morning's United Way Benefit Sale.
And I'm so glad that I did. Given that many of the items that were only being
sold out of that tent in front of the AMC Downtown Disney 24 were also be
available for purchase in places like the World of Disney.

Which isn't to say that there's an unending supply of these sale
items. Last year, I made the mistake of thinking that I'd be able to go back to
the Disney Pin Traders shop later on that morning and still be able to take
advantage of their Disney-pins-for-a-dollar sale. No such luck. When I finally got
to Disney's Pin Traders, they had already sold through all of the merchandise
that this shop had deliberately marked down to help support this United Way Benefits
Sale event.

But that was my own fault, not Disney's. And given that my
Mother and I made multiple trips back to the car that morning to drop off all
of the great bargains that we'd found while wandering around the Downtown
Disney Marketplace, I'm certainly not going to complain about the one sales
item that I missed out on that morning … Well, not too much, anyway. Not with
thie $5.00 sets of Disney Cruise Line luggage and $10 Disney watches that I
was able to buy.

All told, my Mom and I made out like bandits that morning.
We got a lot of last year's Christmas shopping done early. We helped out a
great cause. We even found time – before the United Way Benefits Sale officially
wrapped up at 9:30 a.m. – to get a hot chocolate at Goofy's Candy Co. Which is
why I'm definitely planning on taking part in this year's event.

Just remember though, that the only way you can get access to all of the Downtown Disney Marketplace shops which will be taking part in this early morning sale (more importantly, the bargains to be found inside of these stores) is if you're wearing a United Way Benefits Sale wristband. And you can purchase a voucher that actually gets you this wristband online up until November 3rd for $5. After that, your only option is to buy a voucher onsite at DTD on the actual morning of the event.

For further information (like what sort of special
doorbuster bargains you can expect to find at this year's event), please visit
www.thebenefitsale.com.