Just Back from WDW and Disappointed--Every Shop Has Exactly the Same Merchandise?!

[Buntington]

We just returned from a 6 day trip to WDW. Prior to the trip, I had read some posts on this board about Disney resorting to more generic merchandise and getting rid of resort/park specific merchandise, but I had no idea how bad it really was until we got there. It seemed like every store had exactly the same (and very limited) selection of merchandise. They used to have a big kitchen store in MK--now there is only a small number of generic kitchen items, and they're at every store. I was excited to shop at the Figment store after we went on the Imagination ride, only to find that there were only two shelves of Figment items, and the rest of the store was filled with generic Mickey stuff that you could find at all of the other shops as well. Same thing with the Muppet shop--there were hardly any Muppet items! The only unique items were in the World Showcase, and even then, they have replaced a lot of the unique items from each country with items that were made in China or are Disney-fied in some way. I ended up not using a lot of the souvenir money that I'd brought because I just didn't want any of the merchandise.

Does anyone know why they have switched to the generic merchandise? To cut costs, I assume, but if so, why didn't they do that a long time ago? We went to WDW almost every year for 20 years prior to 2004, and the merchandise was always great. I'm shocked and dismayed by the change. A major part of the WDW experience for me was always the shopping, and now I really won't look forward to that at all when we visit in the future.

 

[Hallowishes]

i am sorry to hear that! i am a shopaholic! and always look forward to shopping on my trips to wdw. did you shop in downtown disney at all? i love tren-d, i find that have some unique merchandise that i dont see at any of the parks. also, at the store at the grand floridian .. i cant think of the name of the gift shop there but i thought it was pretty good!

 

[Buntington]

i am sorry to hear that! i am a shopaholic! and always look forward to shopping on my trips to wdw. did you shop in downtown disney at all? i love tren-d, i find that have some unique merchandise that i dont see at any of the parks. also, at the store at the grand floridian .. i cant think of the name of the gift shop there but i thought it was pretty good!

Downtown Disney was actually the last place we visited on our trip. I had saved most of my souvenir money, hoping that we'd find some unique items there, but alas! We got to World of Disney and it was huge--but they had exactly the same items that were stocked in all of the other shops we had already been to in MK, EP, resorts, etc. Now, the Grand Floridian does have that soap shop and a clothing shop, but none of that stuff is Disney/character/resort-related, which is what we were looking for--something to commemorate our trip! I mean, why would I go to Disney and pay $30 for generic soap that doesn't even have something on it to commemorate Disney in some way? We did look at TrenD and they had the same Disney shirts that other stores had, and then a selection of non-Disney clothes that really didn't interest me at all.

Don't get me wrong, we still really enjoyed our trip. The food, parks, resort, etc. were great. But I'm a bit of a shopaholic too, and I didn't get my fix at Disney at all.

 

[LoveKermit]

i am sorry to hear that! i am a shopaholic! and always look forward to shopping on my trips to wdw. did you shop in downtown disney at all? i love tren-d, i find that have some unique merchandise that i dont see at any of the parks. also, at the store at the grand floridian .. i cant think of the name of the gift shop there but i thought it was pretty good!

Tren-D still has original clothes. Most of the jewelry, though, can be found elsewhere. And the D & B bags are everywhere now.

Same with the shop at the GF. The women's shop still has RL and bathing suits and stuff. But the gift shop on the 2nd floor, has much of the same as the OP is discussing. The resort shops are all very similar.

But, for us, that keeps us from having to trek back "to that one store at that one place." So, in some ways, it adds some convenience. But in other ways, we did zip through some stores because it was the same as we had seen.

 

[TLSnell1981]

The merchandise is generic and so is the food. Saves me a lot of money..very little I care to purchase. Disney has been dumbing down, a few years now...cheapening the joint, while keeping prices inflated.

 

[CAJUNWDWFAN]

the trend to generic merchandise started 3-4 years ago. There are some ride/resort specific items but not nearly as much as there used to be. The homoginization is pretty bad.

 

[AmberHeartsDisney]

To me its easier to have stuff more then once. Because im forever forgetting where i seen this or that. lately ive just been going to world of disney and buying it all on one shot.

 

[Steve's Girl]

We too have been disappointed with the merchandise the last few years. So, lately my souvenir has been a new bottle of perfume from France every year. It is unique in that every morning when I put it on it reminds me of Disney. But, it is not a Disney branded item. This year, I may look at a jewelry item at the Contemporary gift shop. Otherwise, there isn't much that interests me any more.

 

[Obiajulu]

For shoppers, this is good news.