It depends what you want and what store you go into. Downtown Disney is a part of Disney, so the prices will pretty much be about the same, but not always. I ve gotten a light up toy for my little brother cheaper at Downtown Disney than in the actual park. Downtown Disney also has a $5 and under store... theres not much in there, but its still cheap. The little disney stores you will find along the roads and on international drive are much cheaper! a lot of the items do have a poorer quality, but not always. Iv e bought a really nice, warm jacket from a local disney shop. I actually like it better than the one I bought in the park. Disney is way overpriced on many of their items. If you see something in the park you like, Id say look around. dont buy it right away. reason being: you might see it cheaper in another store in the park, or a different park. It might be cheaper in Downtown Disney or it might be a different color/size/variety at a local disney store. figure out what you would want to bring home with you and look around before you buy the first item.sorry if thats confusing- email me if you want a better explanation.
The prices are the same everywhere. Buy in the theme parks. And if you are staying on Disney property, you can have them sent back to your resort. If you go off property, you can find may at varying prices, but they wont be the same, most I ve seen outside of Disney were cheap junk. For example, I saw a Mickey T-shirt for $10 less than in the parks, but is was very thin and it faded and stretched out after one or two washings.
since downtown disney is part of disney world and on property it will cost you the same amount for souvenirs as it would if you bought them in one of the theme parks or at one of the hotel gift shops. if you want cheap souvenirs then you ll have to go off disney world property to find them. from my experience though items bought off disney property are of poor quality. if you really want the souvenir such as a hooded sweatshirt to last a life time you ll want to get it in disney world.
It s cheaper to get them in those little souvenir shops you see everywhere around Orlando. I ve learned from experience :)