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EchoThree76
08-15-2005, 01:55 AM
I was wondering if the stuff on that site can be bought at DL. Might be a little cheeper that way.

stan4d_steph
08-15-2005, 05:24 AM
Generally yes, the items for sale at the Laughing Place Store are available for purchase in the parks.

Stupid_American
08-15-2005, 06:41 AM
What is available at DL appears to be substantially cheaper!

EchoThree76
08-15-2005, 07:23 AM
Phew....glad to hear it. I'd thought id have to sell another Kidney just to get that bumper sticker. :p

JeffG
08-15-2005, 07:38 AM
A fair amount of the merchandise that they sell is actually exclusive to Walt Disney World as they are based in Orlando.

-Jeff

olegc
08-15-2005, 10:30 AM
Remember - stores like Laughing place - or my favorite Mouse Shoppe, are essentially a shopping service that allows you to get your hands on park merchandise that otherwise you might not be able to get. It's an alternative to DelivEARS which offers similar service but over the phone - which means you can't see the merchandise first.

Usually the markup you see if for costs related to going to the park, shopping and buying, and storing items - as well as the website. (and, of course, some profit margin).

Lani
08-15-2005, 10:40 AM
Remember - stores like Laughing place - or my favorite Mouse Shoppe, are essentially a shopping service that allows you to get your hands on park merchandise that otherwise you might not be able to get. It's an alternative to DelivEARS which offers similar service but over the phone - which means you can't see the merchandise first.I think the LaughingPlace store actually _says_ explicitly that it's a shopping service. I'm not too familiar with shopping services so I don't know how common the practice is, but if you read the instructions over there, at least the way they used to do it is that you are told the regular retail price in the parks, and then you pay a service fee (maybe they call it a shopping fee? I don't remember) over and above that.

MouseShoppe, on the other hand, has been slowly expanding beyond the basic shopping service (AVP, one of the writers here on MousePlanet, is its proprietor). They used to sell mostly stuff from the parks, but they now sell all types of Disney stuff that's not necessarily easy to find/get in a single location -- AND that isn't all stuff from DisneyDirect, etc. Also, as far as I remember, MouseShoppe didn't go the "service fee" route, but simply calculated the cost into their regular prices.

Also, MouseShoppe has a sister store called CharmingShoppe, which has a regular retail store in Anaheim, if you're into that CharmingTails kind of thing (or is it CharmingTales?). Not my cup of tea, but I know some folks just love that adorable stuff.

SO... If you are really curious what the retail price is on an item, I guess the LP shop would give you a good idea. But I'm one of those "buy it now" folks like on eBay, and when I tried to read their fee policy I got a little confused. If I have to have something and I can't wait until I get to the parks, I just buy it from MouseShoppe since I'm just paying the price plus shipping.

Oh, and don't forget, Brian Bennett also has a store, called MouseMemories. He is based out of the Orlando area, and I recently bought a Stitch hole punch (you get an inch-tall cut-out of Stitch's silhouette). I think he does something similar; buy stuff at Downtown Disney and then resells them with a mark-up. I don't believe he uses a service fee, but instead just adds the mark-up to his price.