Christmas store decline

[hockey mom]

Has anyone else noticed that the merchandise in the downtown Disney Christmas store has gone way down hill.

I used to spend hours in the store spending cash- now its a 10 min. walk through.

The stockings and caps used to be thick and plush and now they are like thin felt. Also the selection is minimal.

This was my favorite store and I want the old one back.

 

[t_catt11]

Sadly, this is the way of most WDW merchandising. Better revenue/cash flow from selling cheap crap, so a shocking proportion of all mechandise is just that... cheap crap.

I have a tee shirt purchased on our very first WDW trip, back in 2003. After many, many, many wears, I've finally retired it... but the material is still thicker and of noticeably better quality than any of the shirts I've bought on my last couple of trips (and it cost less). I literally cannot find a shirt of similar quality, because WDW does not sell them.

Please do voice your opinion: wdw.guest.communications@disneyworld.com. The thing is, it will take a lot of people doing so before WDW ever takes notice.

 

[momof2n2]

I noticed this in 2011. I was so disappointed. It had been 3.5 years in the interim and the Christmas store was the place I noticed it the most. Rather than trying to limit what I bought, I was hard pressed to find something nice enough to buy.

 

[JRawkSteady]

Yeah, there has been a HUGE decline in most merchandise spots. The Animal Kingdom Lodge shop (Zawadi Marketplace) had NO AKL mugs! In fact, they didn't have much AKL specific merchandise at all! It was replaced by vinylmation and pins and princess stuff and other things that you could get in ANY park/resort. And at a closer look, most attractions had very little merch specific to the attraction itself. It's all placed with generic stuff you see in every park. I was so sad to walk into Mouse Gears and see such little Epcot merchandise. I was disgusted to walk into the Imagination store and see ALMOST ZERO Figment merchandise.

It looks like they are trying to cut down on merchandise, but still keep the same amount of store locations resulting in just generic unimaginative merch.

 

[Tormania]

Sadly I don't think this affects just Disney, but our entire society as well. Far too many people are only concerned about the cost of an item and give no regards to the QUALITY of the item. Businesses take note of this, offer cheap crap and the majority of the masses just buy it all up.

Those of us with discriminating tastes are left out in the cold as the higher quality products simply disappear into the past.

 

[Minnie222]

I love Christmas things and had really took a long time to look through the Christmas Stores in MK and HS during our March Break trip. Yes, I purposely asked for the Christmas store hours during March!!

I was sort of destined to buy something, because I want something to remember our trip on the Christmas tree.

After spending 20 minutes in each store, I left empty handed. Things are either too cheaply made or too generic, or grossly overpriced. I like the different themed mouse ears ornament, but just can't justify the high price for it. I was very disappointed.

 

[ArwenMarie]

As far as the merchandise in general, yeah, it's all become homogenized. I always buy a mug or two because that's my thing I collect as souvenirs, but that's it.

 

[hockey mom]

Thanks for the link- I will gladly voice my opinion.

The Christmas store used to be my first stop and now I dont care to even go back in.

Good to know I am not alone in wanting better, selective merchandise.

 

[hoosll]

Christmas items used to be my biggest expense on trips but now I just breeze through and buy nothing. I used to love buying a resort ornament each year ... nope, no longer. Even buying a dated ornament is hard as they just are awful.

I have bought a couple of the "ears" ornaments. I was willing to spend the money when they were selling them as limited edition items ... then when you see them EVERYWHERE then you know that even if they are numbered ... somebody is not quite telling the truth .... blasphemy!

When we were there in Feb, it seemed like there were more resort-specific items than the last few years when everything was "Disney parks" but still not like the "old days" - I can remember when there were really high end well made items for sale in a little store next to Pirates ...

 

[ArwenMarie]

Just remembered, I did buy two glass Christmas ornaments in Germany in World Showcase that I loved...a Minnie and a Donald. They say they are made in Germany, so hopefully the quality will be ok. Those were the only holiday items that caught my eye on our whole ten day trip this past August.

 

[carrie1626]

Sadly I don't think this affects just Disney, but our entire society as well. Far too many people are only concerned about the cost of an item and give no regards to the QUALITY of the item. Businesses take note of this, offer cheap crap and the majority of the masses just buy it all up.

Those of us with discriminating tastes are left out in the cold as the higher quality products simply disappear into the past.

Absolutely true!! It's not just WDW Co.

I can say the same thing for MLB merchandise. Tees bought 6/7 years ago are better quality materials than anything bought now.

 

[shyjade]

As far as the merchandise in general, yeah, it's all become homogenized. I always buy a mug or two because that's my thing I collect as souvenirs, but that's it.

I actually like this in a way (it all becoming homogenized). It seriously saves me a TON of money because there is very little I "must have" at Disney. The majority of what we buy is from the store in Japan (mostly dishes). I tend to buy things we will use year-round at home.

 

[minnie mum]

Just remembered, I did buy two glass Christmas ornaments in Germany in World Showcase that I loved...a Minnie and a Donald. They say they are made in Germany, so hopefully the quality will be ok. Those were the only holiday items that caught my eye on our whole ten day trip this past August.

But even the Christmas ornaments in the Germany shop have declined in variety and quality over the last few years. Christmas ornaments were always near the top of my list for WDW purchases, and we never failed to spend time in each of the shops in the various parks and DTD. But this year I had a very hard time finding anything that I wanted to buy. It was either really poor quality or grossly overpriced. I'm really ticked off with the PTBs who have reduced most WDW merchandise from what it was to dollar store crap at boutique prices.

 

[sb682]

Whenever I go on vacation, I buy a Christmas ornament as a souvenir. Since this year was our first trip as a family, as well as a trip to celebrate my son's birthday, I planned on getting an ornament or two. I remember the Christmas store in DtD had a huge variety of ornaments several years ago. When I went in last month, it seemed like there were several displays of the same exact ornaments scattered throughout the store, and nothing really appealed to me. I remember spending a good chunk of time in the Christmas store in Germany with my mom and sister, but now the selection is more limited there as well. I did manage to find something cute in Germany, but it was definitely expensive. It's really disappointing how Disney's cut back on the variety and quality of their merchandise.

 

[cheesemouse]

It looks like they are trying to cut down on merchandise, but still keep the same amount of store locations resulting in just generic unimaginative merch.

I feel like it is exactly THIS! Same number of places to buy something but it's all the same stuff.

 

[POOHsie]

I agree with everyone here. Probably, a crew of CPAs at Disney came up with this idea of fewer homogenized products, cheapest cost, mass produced, that could sell at any of their worldwide locations. Sounds like genius on paper.

However, there's no factor in their calculations for the buyer. We want selection, we know what quality feels like and looks like. We have elephant memories and we know where we've seen an item. The accountants can't hide their blatant money-grab. Buyers need to have a reason to buy merchandise. Just because it's from Disney -- that used to mean something. Now it means Disney is as predictable as K-Mart or Wal-Mart -- same cheap stuff in every store. It is a complete turn-off.

 

[dramadrew]

Oh that is sad to hear. I was really looking forward to the Christmas stores. There's one in the Magic Kingdom, correct? Has that gone down hill as well? Well, as someone else pointed out, if I do not find anything, at least I save money.

 

[stindall]

I feel like it is exactly THIS! Same number of places to buy something but it's all the same stuff.

Yeah that was really disappointing. It was really hard for me to get Christmas gifts this year because everything was the same in all of the stores! I wanted to get one thing for my family for when I got back and then one thing for everyone for Christmas and I couldn't find enough items that weren't generic crap. Really disappointing.

 

[ArwenMarie]

But even the Christmas ornaments in the Germany shop have declined in variety and quality over the last few years. Christmas ornaments were always near the top of my list for WDW purchases, and we never failed to spend time in each of the shops in the various parks and DTD. But this year I had a very hard time finding anything that I wanted to buy. It was either really poor quality or grossly overpriced. I'm really ticked off with the PTBs who have reduced most WDW merchandise from what it was to dollar store crap at boutique prices.

The ones I got are really pretty and had sentimental value to me. But yeah, they were pricey. I wouldn't be buying them every year.

 

[ArwenMarie]

I agree with everyone here. Probably, a crew of CPAs at Disney came up with this idea of fewer homogenized products, cheapest cost, mass produced, that could sell at any of their worldwide locations. Sounds like genius on paper.

However, there's no factor in their calculations for the buyer. We want selection, we know what quality feels like and looks like. We have elephant memories and we know where we've seen an item. The accountants can't hide their blatant money-grab. Buyers need to have a reason to buy merchandise. Just because it's from Disney -- that used to mean something. Now it means Disney is as predictable as K-Mart or Wal-Mart -- same cheap stuff in every store. It is a complete turn-off.

Yep, I totally agree with this. No one needs anything from WDW. It's all emotion, something strikes you and you want it. When all you feel is blah looking at the stuff..well, it's easy to save some money.