What happened to Disney Merchandise?

Hello everyone! This is my first time starting a discussion thread (hope I'm doing it right)......but I have to ask the question, and I'm sure someone will have an opinion on this...but what the heck happened to the quality & uniqueness of Disney branded merchandise? I am NOT that old and I remember back in the 90's when the Disney Catalog was in full swing.....I remember being SO excited when the new catalogs came out.....there was always at LEAST 10 things in the catalogs that I wanted for my very own....that I could never afford of course, but the excitement was there. WHAT HAPPENED?

I saw a "blink" of the "old" Disney merch for the Disneyland 50th, but now with the WDW 40th, it almost could be mistaken for the same merch....SHAG items & such...don't get me wrong, I DO like the vintage shag merch, but there used to do DIFFERENT merchandise for Disneyland & Walt Disney World - seems like that is never the case anymore. I also get that its more cost effective for Disney to do this things the way they currently are....but there's still a little part of me inside that is CRYING out to spend money on Disney merch now that I'm older & have a little extra cash (though not much - let's be serious).....but Disney's making it very easy for me to say "No Thank you."

Anyone else tired of the 2nd rate merch that is currently out there right now?

I also miss the catalogs. And I miss the old stores. I loved the darker look of the stores and the availability of adult merchandise. There always seemed something more Disney like in the original stores, with the characters in the windows and the amazing large figures that were up top on the displays. Now most of the time I leave the Disney store empty handed, everything looks cheaply done or just cheap kids toys. I loved the designer dolls and I also love the animators dolls, but everything else is just cheaply made items. It's really sad.

I miss the old Disney pins. Too bad Timm is gone as the Pinbassador.

I agree entirely.. ): I really think it's all just so uniform now and most everything is only geared towards small kids.. Of course Disney is about the kids, but us adults would like some unique stuff to get excited about too, right? I am disappointed with the Epcot Anniversary stuff I have seen so far, it looks pretty boring. I am hoping for some more unique and cool clothes or purses, etc, once the actual date arrives.

I think the biggest change is that they brought so many "outside" people into top level positions at Disney that management now believes that Disney is strictly a kids company. Obviously, kids have always been a huge part of Disney, but like Walt said, "You're dead if you aim only for kids. Adults are only kids grown up, anyway." So all decisions are based on selling to kids.

As to why the DL 50th merchandise and WDW 40th merchandise look so similar. Both lines were done by Kevin Kidney & Jody Daily, and so they reflect their style. I love their stuff so it's fine for me, but I can see how people might want to see something different. But I'm not sure I trust the people left at Disney, and I love Kevin & Jody, they are such sweeties.

hopemax said:

I think the biggest change is that they brought so many "outside" people into top level positions at Disney that management now believes that Disney is strictly a kids company. Obviously, kids have always been a huge part of Disney, but like Walt said, "You're dead if you aim only for kids. Adults are only kids grown up, anyway." So all decisions are based on selling to kids.As to why the DL 50th merchandise and WDW 40th merchandise look so similar. Both lines were done by Kevin Kidney & Jody Daily, and so they reflect their style. I love their stuff so it's fine for me, but I can see how people might want to see something different. But I'm not sure I trust the people left at Disney, and I love Kevin & Jody, they are such sweeties.

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Thanks for sharing, that is good to know.. it truly explains a lot.. It feels like every day there's a new kid sippy cup, doll(non collectors), dress up outfit, dish, etc.. Not much catering to us adults, though. ): (Honestly.. what is the Disney Store but a glorified toy store? At least my closest locations are. ALL plush, kid toys(not the collectibles), dress up stuff.. then one or two racks of t-shirts, a bit of vinyl stuff, that's it. =/) I guess that really makes sense.. but it definitely disappoints.

I too miss those days too plus they did more anyone remember mickey wafflers?

in the past 6 years I've only been buying very little just tiana and Up mechandise..

I saved all my disney catalogs and have every single issue and still like to look through them, also I find new things to search on ebay for. When I went to D23 in 2009 I went to the Disney Store talk and like someone else mentioned they have turned their focus away from adults and towards kids. If Disney would have only heard the things we were saying afterwards and how disgusted we were at what we were being told. I was always buying stuff from the catalog and in stores but now I rarely do because of the lack of collectible items, adult clothing, awesome furniture, kitchen items etc.

What's really a shame is that they could be selling so much more. I've been to WDW and DLR both this year, and the merchandise is SO not just oriented for kids. There was so much gorgeous clothing, handbags, jewelry... there was no way I could get everything I wanted, but I thought to myself, well, I'll get some of this online later. My biggest mistake! Almost NONE of what you can get in the park stores is available online or in non-park Disney Stores. I don't know why they'd make that decision; it seems like shooting themselves in the foot.

Vixy said:

What's really a shame is that they could be selling so much more. I've been to WDW and DLR both this year, and the merchandise is SO not just oriented for kids. There was so much gorgeous clothing, handbags, jewelry... there was no way I could get everything I wanted, but I thought to myself, well, I'll get some of this online later. My biggest mistake! Almost NONE of what you can get in the park stores is available online or in non-park Disney Stores. I don't know why they'd make that decision; it seems like shooting themselves in the foot.

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You can call WDW merchandising 1-877-560-6477 or Disneyland Delivears 1-800-362-4533 and order park merchandise and they will ship it to you. If you have a Disney Visa Disneyland will give you 10% off (WDW won't) It helps if you have the sku #, but if you don't all you need to do is describe the item and if you remember the store you saw it in helps too.

I would actually have to respectfully disagree....I am highly less likely to purchase something in the parks that is offered online or in the Disney Store....why buy something to commemorate your vacation that someone who doesn't even have to leave their living room can purchase? The ONLY exception to that would be the limited merch that used to be sold in the Disney Catalogs like some other mice-chatter's mentioned....but then you couldn't purchase hardly any of the catalog stuff out of the parks...maybe one or two items, they often sold out before they could end up in the Art of Disney shops.....so maybe that was a bad example.
This also goes back to the different merchandise for the different parks issue. I am actually highly jealous of the Tokoy Disney & Disney Paris because they have very unique merch right now (and they won't ship overseas to the US)......alas...if Disney has decided to market to children, then we're out of luck for now. I have noticed that the few items that are very cool that ARE available online sell out in like a day....if that...so it's the ebayer's against the true Disney collectors. Boo....


Thanks for all the commentary everyone!

@miste2blue I agree completely EXCEPT ! Here in France yes, from the parks there are so many beautiful things. However, the Disney store supply is atrocious. My closest Disney store is Lyon, a major city in France. We have NO pins (not even exaggerating, they tell you to go to the parks), NO vinylmation, NO snowglobes, NO designer dolls, NO adult clothing, NO earhats or figurines or anything exciting whatsoever.
The other day I considered myself lucky when I found a kids size
13 tshirt that would fit me!

Sure, those who are both rich enough and close enough to DLRP an get their merchandise when they want - Great!
But there are even things that the UK Disney store has that we just don't get. Shipping isn't possible from there to France either...
i admit that I'm disappointed with the merchandise in our Disney stores. But I think that the merchandise in the park is still pretty top notch at the moment.

I'll sit here and dream of living in the US for all your merchandise haha

I miss the "old" Disney store too - or rather I'd prefer to use the word "Retro," not old lol. When anyone could go in and still find something they like. Now it's only little kids stuff - that is - IF there is a Disney Store in your area. There isn't one around me at all.

I totally understand how annoying it is if Disney Online sells Park merchandise. It's supposed to be Exclusive to the park only! On the other hand, I know how hard it is when you want something or trying to track it down and can't find it. So I have mixed feelings on it. I'd LOVE to buy Tokyo Disney merchandise. You can order stuff from the Parks by calling the Deliverears number, the problem is that they can't always locate what you are looking for without the SKU number. Not sure about overseas stuff.

I ordered a Jessica Rabbit Motorcycle shirt a few months ago, straight from the park - and I have to say I was NOT at all impressed. I went on a rant about it on my site because the shirt material was SO thin and cheap - and they charged $25 for the shirt. To top it off the shirt had a Hanes underwear logo inside. Hanes shirts cost five bucks at most! I have shirts from Target made of better material. This was an underwear quality shirt. I was furious, but since I have not seen it all over eBay I have decided to keep it.

There were also Small versions of the Big Figures that came out. I know people who bought the Jessica figure and all of them complained about how sloppy the figure was made. The paint was terrible and it had bubbles and holes in lots of places. I saw photos and couldn't believe Disney allowed them for sale.

I used to get so excited going to DS in the 90s, the first time I went I bought my first Tyco Ariel doll which was a DS exclusive. Even in the mid to late 90s you could get everything there - books, WDCC ornaments, snow globes, clothing to fit teens & adults! Now it just seems to be boys corner and princess glitter glitter everywhere.

As primarily a promotional glass collector, there's hardly anything for us any longer. I never find any good character glasses that are real glass... just plastic stuff. At least pins are readily available.

Kozi said:

Thanks for sharing, that is good to know.. it truly explains a lot.. It feels like every day there's a new kid sippy cup, doll(non collectors), dress up outfit, dish, etc.. Not much catering to us adults, though. ): (Honestly.. what is the Disney Store but a glorified toy store? At least my closest locations are. ALL plush, kid toys(not the collectibles), dress up stuff.. then one or two racks of t-shirts, a bit of vinyl stuff, that's it. =/) I guess that really makes sense.. but it definitely disappoints.

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I have to agree with the posters above, I hardly walk into the disneystore anymore and not walk out empty handed, its very rare to find something that is made for adults lately besides the limited dolls. I used to love looking at the items that I would love to buy if only I could afford.

Also that the other parks around the world have so much better items, look at disneystore for the uk or japan, even the resorts there, I think that with the disneyparks, alot of items went to the disneystore as well and it ended a lot of the individuality that we used to love just a few years ago...

I hate to admit it but I think I have more disney items imported then I do from the us. store at the moment.

the true problem is people keep buying so disney doesn't change their product, because why fix something when it is selling?

I miss the ways the stores looked:

Though this one has yet to be remolded!


And now :<