anyone else notice merchandise quality poor?

[inglewoodmouse]

Not necessarily the merchandise at Disneyland but in general i have seen allot of very poorly made toys and other Disney branded products lately. Sad to say maybe even 99 cent store material. Really bugs me because when i thought of Disney i thought quality. I guess time changes everything.

 

[Disneyland1084]

Who knows. Most of their stuff is made in China, not the USA. When I first went to DL in 1984, my parents bought my sister and I giant Mickey and Minnie dolls. We still have them. They're great quality and were made in the USA. Toys in general I think were made with a lot better quality back then. My mom kept my Fisher Price pre-school set from 1981. It's still hard as a rock today. Today too many things are made out of cheap plastic.

 

[dragonflycurls]

I was pretty bummed when I spent $50 on a sweater at Disneyland and it snags on EVERYTHING. ugh.

 

[ILUVALASKA]

The decline is everywhere. Poor selection of merchandise, poor quality, smaller food portions yet high prices, and on and on. Unless we complain, it will get worse.

 

[Gisele]

Yea, what he or she said. Sorry luv, but can't tell by your moniker.

 

[starshine514]

We've noticed some issues as well. The only advice I can give is to save your receipts. We bought my DD one of the princess sets with the pop-off princess heads (weird, I know) and the neck that holds the head on broke off within a week, rendering the set useless. I emailed them and asked about obtaining a replacement doll. They asked for a bunch of info from my receipt and sent DD a whole new set. Now I know - save those receipts!

I dropped DD's favorite Mickey waterbottle yesterday and broke it. We bought it at the Pooh store at Disneyland and now we no longer have APs, so I have no idea when (or if) I'm going to be able to replace it. I won't bother them with that one, since it was clearly negligence on my part that broke it. I do wish it had been a bit sturdier, though!

 

[ExcitedSam]

I was really really disappointed with the black ears you can get your name embroidered on. The ear parts are such cheap plastic I couldn't bring myself to buy them even though it was my must have item to get, I got some as a small child from my Nanna (which started my Disney obsession!) I'm still disappointed about that.

 

[disneydreamerbelle]

Things seem to have tanked in the last year. In fact I was actually contemplating sending an email with pics of all the broken pieces we have. The cars and planes from target have held up well, however, every one purchased from the Disney store or the parks has broken within a day or two.

I would think that this would be a huge liability for them with small prices breaking off and being a choking hazard.

 

[Huff]

A few years ago I bought a very nice hoodie with tigger embroidered and Disneyland embroidered in large letters. Recently I wanted another but the new ones have only partial embroidered patterns mixed with iron on lettering at a higher price. I passed on it.

 

[kailuagirl]

I bought my DD a dumbo necklace, first time she wore it, the dumbo pendant fell off never to be found. Paid $15 bucks for that thing and she is heartbroken. We bought it on our last trip in October and she waited and waited to wear it for fear something would happen to it, as Dumbo is her favorite and so hard to find anything with him on it. And sure enough it fell off. Sad little girl.

 

[Gisele]

I bought my DD a dumbo necklace, first time she wore it, the dumbo pendant fell off never to be found. Paid $15 bucks for that thing and she is heartbroken. We bought it on our last trip in October and she waited and waited to wear it for fear something would happen to it, as Dumbo is her favorite and so hard to find anything with him on it. And sure enough it fell off. Sad little girl.

Man that is just sad! Hopefully a good quality, sturdy replacement will be found. If I can find something that may be suitable, I'll let you know.

 

[kailuagirl]

It was the cutest thing too! Dumbo was pretty big, maybe and inch and half and kinda thick silicon'ish. It was our last day and I said we need to find you something really special and poof there it was and she was like look mama (she's 6). Major dumbo fan for 3 years now. Lesson to be learned, check all clasps and tighten them in the future.

 

[Gisele]

Yep, I love Dumbo too, have since I was a child.
What did her necklace look like?

 

[CaptainEIEIO]

I have noticed that some, not all, of their t-shirts are made of the thinner material now. I like the thick t-shirts and when I find a shirt I like the print on the first thing I check after that is the thickness and if its a thin one I don't buy it. The thin ones just are a cheaper quality t-shirt. And it seems more and more of them are the thin ones.

 

[DizMe]

Not only are the shirts thin material, but they're skinny!!!! Haven't they noticed who's shopping for those shirts??

I expect that some things are going to be low quality, but what I really hate is that it's very hard to find anything that is unique now. There used to be so many shops with unique, fun merchandise but now almost everything is generic Disney. A lot of it us cute, but I miss the days when you could find very unexpected items, like a gold ceramic parrot in NOS or a porcelain Cheshire cat made by Royal Doulton.

However, it isn't just Disney. Quality everywhere has gone down the tubes. It's just that you pay so much for the low quality at Disney that it's more annoying.

 

[Disney Lvr of Old]

I definitely agree with OP. While at Disney we replaced~ POTC toy gun 4 times , Star Wars Guido and Luigi cars 3 times and the bubble making gun twice.

The CM's were wonderful every time and replaced no questions asked but it was sort of crazy IMO. And I swear my DS isn't rough with his toys!

 

[MadMim]

Yes! Ive been collecting Christmas mugs for years, and this years is especially *cheaper* quality. I also have an elaborate Mickey balloon complete with scarf & winter hat. Its so beautiful I use it as a Christmas decoration. You dont see anything like that anymore.

 

[Pesky]

Absolutely! I was sure I would be dropping a pretty penny on Disney merchandise throughout the parks and quite frankly, I was just so astonished at the poor quality of things I would pick up that we hardly bought anything. I still have my tigger doll from 30 years ago and it looks great! Not sure things from today would hold up as well.

 

[Sherry E]

I've definitely noticed the thin t-shirts. I used to buy a lot of black t-shirts with assorted Mickey graphics on them years ago (like back in the '80s and '90s), and those were made of sturdier material and lasted a long time. Then, for a while there was a shortage of black t-shirts! All kinds of red shirts and blue shirts and pink shirts, but not much in the way of black. I was happy to see them make a return in 2012-ish or so. But alas, these days, while there may be some cute designs on the current crop of black t-shirts, the material is so thin that it doesn't even seem like it would last a full year if worn a lot.

For the holiday season there used to be some really cute things -- mini-gingerbread Castle ornaments, mini-gingerbread picture frames, gingerbread Mickey and Minnie magnets, etc. A lot of those items -- at least the ones that were really well-made -- seem to have vanished.

And when they release something collectible -- like the mini-Jingle Cruise posters -- they only hand them out to guests for 2 days and don't sell them in any stores?

On a positive note, though, I think that Disney still comes up with some occasional good ideas -- their Mickey nutcrackers from 2012 and 2013 are great. And I love that they are once again selling big Disneyland food magnets! Back in 1993 or so, I got a set of large magnets at the Gag Factory in Toontown -- a big Mickey lollipop, a big Mickey ice cream bar and a big chocolate-covered Mickey pretzel. I always thought there should be a waffle too. Maybe even a mouse-shaped cookie. Now, 20 years later, DLR (and WDW) is selling a Mickey waffle magnet (which is comparable in size to the 3 magnets I got back in '93). I think there may be a Mickey-shaped (not frosted) pretzel magnet too, but I didn't find that one. And I think they also have a Mickey rice krispy treat magnet. I love those food magnets!

I heard from a CM at Trolley Treats that the famous gingerbread cookies with Mouse ears had been temporarily discontinued in 2013 and she wasn't sure if they would get anymore in stock for the holidays, and they did get more in (thankfully). I don't know if those cookies are going to disappear in 2014, but if so...I hope DLR makes a magnet out of them!

 

[I❤MICKEY]

I agree about the poor quality - especially for the prices. My son and nephew both received the Mater Monster Trucks from Santa. A few trucks broken. My niece got the monsters inc play set. Boo broke off her base taking her out of the package. She hadn't even played with her yet. Ordered an ornament online and it arrived broken. Called but it was out of stock. Refunded my money but no replacement. Just nuts.

And I love that they are once again selling big Disneyland food magnets! Back in 1993 or so, I got a set of large magnets at the Gag Factory in Toontown -- a big Mickey lollipop, a big Mickey ice cream bar and a big chocolate-covered Mickey pretzel. I always thought there should be a waffle too. Maybe even a mouse-shaped cookie. Now, 20 years later, DLR (and WDW) is selling a Mickey waffle magnet (which is comparable in size to the 3 magnets I got back in '93). I think there may be a Mickey-shaped (not frosted) pretzel magnet too, but I didn't find that one. And I think they also have a Mickey rice krispy treat magnet. I love those food magnets!

I too was so excited about these magnets but was so disappointed that the magnet is not strong enough to hold anything. Really they are just for decoration on a fridge or in my case cubicle. Can't even hold one piece of paper. Disappointed. But they look cute.