Kevin's Mini-Rant ... A Standing O!

[WaltD4Me]

I hope Disney was listenining to the email show...especially Kevin's mini-rant about the homogenization of theme park items. I hate that what they have done too. I hate the Disney World/Disneyland items and I hate that it is so difficult to find items specific to a particular park or land.

I collect Disney World coffee mugs and last year I searched high and low to find a Disney MGM Studios mug because I knew the name was going to be changing. I found attraction mugs, Tower of Terror, RNR, ect...but not a MGM Studios mug. I even asked and was told they hadn't had them for quite awhile...and not in anticipation of the name change, everything was just Disney World generic mugs that I saw everywhere. Animal Kingdom does offer quite a few things specific to Animal Kingdom, but special and unique items are harder and harder to find. The shops on Main Street used to have alot of completely different items than the WOD store at DTD, sadly though that isn't the case anymore and it's really a shame IMHO.

 

[Nooshkin]

We went to Disneyland in March '07 and I had set aside a fair amount of money just for spending on souvenirs or items for my Mickey themed kitchen. I came home with hundreds of unspent dollars! First of all, at that time I found very few items that were not pirates or Tink themed. But my biggest disappointment was seeing the same merchandise in store after store after store. I always loved the unique shops in the different "lands". The hotel gift shops used to be places to find some fun things too but they're kind of generic now. We last went to WDW in Oct '07 and it was a little better but still alot of the same things over and over. What's the point of funneling us through a gift shop at the end of a ride if we're just going to see the same stuff all the other stores have? I'd like to see more unique stores. I loved the old Jessica's on Pleasure Island in the '90's and the Perfumerie at DL. And how about a good Villains store. (I know there's one at the Studios but they don't always have a great selection.) Hey Disney! You're not doing a good enough job at getting all my money!

 

[FireDancer]

I miss the specialty shops too. You still have a little of it at DTD with the Christmas Shoppe and there are items only available at the World of Disney Store. In Disney’s defense I would imagine that homogenization is much cheaper. In the end I think it gets forgotten a lot that Disney is a publicly traded company with 1.8+ Billion shares outstanding and in the end the most important number that exists is the earning per share that they post at the end of the fiscal year.

I do not envy the unique problem of balancing the magic with the bottom line that the Disney board has to do but I think they do an overall good job.

 

[WaltD4Me]

I miss the specialty shops too. You still have a little of it at DTD with the Christmas Shoppe and there are items only available at the World of Disney Store. In Disney’s defense I would imagine that homogenization is much cheaper. In the end I think it gets forgotten a lot that Disney is a publicly traded company with 1.8+ Billion shares outstanding and in the end the most important number that exists is the earning per share that they post at the end of the fiscal year.

It may be cheaper, but at the same time, I also know I'm spending less.

I used to come home with 5-6 coffee mugs at least (yes, I have a problem) last trip just 2....because they are all the same everywhere! I also had no problem buying an Epcot sweatshirt and Magic Kingdom sweatshirt, last trip I didn't buy a sweatshirt at all, because I didn't just want the same Disney World ones that everyone else was buying.

 

[FireDancer]

I guess a balance just has to be reached. Maybe they can do the homogenized souvenirs at the smaller shops in the parks and have a set group that are available everywhere. The, in the “Specialty” shops in each park they can have some specific souvenirs. They can do the same at the World of Disney. Have s subset of souvenirs that are only available there.

 

[abish19]

I've heard too that Disney may make it possible in the near future to purchase Walt Disney World theme park merchandise from home, using the Disney Shopping website. On the one hand, I like this idea, as I inevitably get home and realize I can't live without that Mickey trivet, or whatever it was. But again, I think this points to the homogenization concept: if you make a lot of money selling this in the parks, just imagine how much we can make selling it ONLINE!!!! There is some value in knowing that you purchased a gift for someone, or bought an item for yourself, and that you could ONLY get it at WDW.

Besides just merchandise, I sometimes feel like Disney's overdoing it on the commercialization, period. Case in point: the new "Nemo" rooms at the Caribbean Beach Resort. Can't we just have some pleasantly "Caribbean" styled rooms? Not Disney characters or heavy Disney theming (if you want something with more of that you can try All Star Movies)...I love Nemo as much as anyone, but I can't figure that out. The Pirates-themed rooms make MUCH more sense, and follow the tradition of other hotels of providing rooms specifically themed for children.

SO - Nobody really wanted MY rant! But I loved Kevin's, and I agree whole-heartedly.

 

[WaltD4Me]

And a little OT, but I will tell you something Disney REALLY missed the boat on.

Scrapbooking supplies! I'm telling you, they would make a FORTUNE if they put out exclusive park and attraction specific scrapbooking stuff. I only scrapbook Disney pretty much any more and I can't tell you what a disappointment that Memories Store at DTD is. The stuff is low quality and again, rather generic. I spend quite a bit on Disney scrapping stuff, but I don't spend it at Disney. And every scrapbooker I know says the same thing.

 

[DSNY4ever]

Agreed, I hope Disney was listening. The more of us that speak up, the better. I also agreed with pretty much everything they said for that question- Someone from Disney had to be listening!

 

[tggrrstarr]

And a little OT, but I will tell you something Disney REALLY missed the boat on.

Scrapbooking supplies! I'm telling you, they would make a FORTUNE if they put out exclusive park and attraction specific scrapbooking stuff. I only scrapbook Disney pretty much any more and I can't tell you what a disappointment that Memories Store at DTD is. The stuff is low quality and again, rather generic. I spend quite a bit on Disney scrapping stuff, but I don't spend it at Disney. And every scrapbooker I know says the same thing.

OMG! I agree! I cannot even believe they call that store at DTD a scrapbooking store!

And I really do get annoyed at seeing the same stuff at every store. Why go to the specialty kitchen or pet store at DTD if even my hotel giftshop has the exact same stuff? Although, last time I was in the pet store, it had been reduced to a small section on the wall! Almost the whole store was filled with generic disney souveniers.

 

[wilde_oscar]

And a little OT, but I will tell you something Disney REALLY missed the boat on.

Scrapbooking supplies! I'm telling you, they would make a FORTUNE if they put out exclusive park and attraction specific scrapbooking stuff. I only scrapbook Disney pretty much any more and I can't tell you what a disappointment that Memories Store at DTD is. The stuff is low quality and again, rather generic. I spend quite a bit on Disney scrapping stuff, but I don't spend it at Disney. And every scrapbooker I know says the same thing.

doesn't the scrap booking store in DTD have a bunch of stuff like that? I think it is connected to the art of disney store?

 

[WaltD4Me]

doesn't the scrap booking store in DTD have a bunch of stuff like that? I think it is connected to the art of disney store?

Yes it has a bunch of stuff. Not much stuff worth buying, but it's got a bunch of stuff in it. One friend saved up and took $200 to WDW just for that store and came out with $180 of it still left.

Disney needs to make stuff that is unique and specific to the parks, resorts and attractions. If they put of a wall of of stickers in there that focused on the resorts and rides/attractions, they could charge just about anything and it would sell out in a day. Right now, it's mostly general Princess and Fab 5 stuff that you can get just about anywhere....and cheaper.

 

[YellowMickeyPonchos]

And a little OT, but I will tell you something Disney REALLY missed the boat on.

Scrapbooking supplies! I'm telling you, they would make a FORTUNE if they put out exclusive park and attraction specific scrapbooking stuff. I only scrapbook Disney pretty much any more and I can't tell you what a disappointment that Memories Store at DTD is. The stuff is low quality and again, rather generic. I spend quite a bit on Disney scrapping stuff, but I don't spend it at Disney. And every scrapbooker I know says the same thing.

Actually, Disney Merchandising got on the scapbooking bandwagon about 5-7 years ago (just as the scrapbooking community and trend was going mainstream) and then discontinued their merchandising after they didn't have a very good response. I can remember the wall and 2 full 4-sided display units full of supplies at WoD here at DL. Slowly, the 2 units disappeared and then the wall display got progressively smaller. Now it's down to a very small section. If something doesn't sell in a pre-determined period, it gets blown off for something else. I fear this is definitely what happened.

Perhaps I can give some insight in to the process. Merchandise is developed a good 1-2 years before it goes on sale. That's why it looks somewhat pitiful when stores didn't forecast correctly and are jumping on "fad bandwagons" - producing emergency merchandise too late - obviously on the downward slope at the end of a dying trend. Perhaps they felt that scrapbooking was heading back to the speciality stores and it's niche market - that the mainstream public wasn't jumping on the trend. If that's the case, then it's more cost effective to invest in the minimum to support the market.

I also miss the variety of items that I could find when I started going to WDW as an adult in 1989. They really knew how to turn a person into a collector back then.....

Nancy

 

[luke]

At least the merchandise is slightly varied tho, we have noticed that on each trip to Disneyland Paris, they're selling identical things to what they were selling on our first trip there, 8 years ago!!!

 

[WaltD4Me]

Actually, Disney Merchandising got on the scapbooking bandwagon about 5-7 years ago (just as the scrapbooking community and trend was going mainstream) and then discontinued their merchandising after they didn't have a very good response. I can remember the wall and 2 full 4-sided display units full of supplies at WoD here at DL. Slowly, the 2 units disappeared and then the wall display got progressively smaller. Now it's down to a very small section. If something doesn't sell in a pre-determined period, it gets blown off for something else.

I remember when they jumped on the bandwagon, I remember when the Memories store opened at DTD, but from the start the merchandise was disappointing. You could get a Mickey and Princess stickers anywhere and Disney just put out more Mickey and Princess stuff, there was nothing special or different. If they had done Magic Kingdom, Epcot, DHS, Animal Kingdom sets/themes their response would have very different.

Ok, I've highjacked my own thread.....back to the homaginazation discussion.

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

for Disney scrap supplies we all buy from disneyscrapper.com and mousememories.com

Disney is most definitely missing the mark on this, I complain every time we are there. I especially complain about not being able to get refills for the Disney scrapbooks, I pull them out and put all new ones in. Do they really think that someone is only going to scrap a 20 page book for Disney?? My first book is actually broken down into 2 books, 90 pages and 360+ photos

Did ya'll know we have a scrap forum here on them DIS. Just scroll down the main page to the Creative Community, there are links to other scrap sites that sell Disney stuff. As well as pages that we all make and post.

I am also not fond of the same merchandise being everywhere, this last trip we spent about 1/2 of our souvenir fund. Although my utmost favorite souvenir is the most personal of them all and a great deal to boot, the silhouettes of my boys in their chimney sweeps costumes and DD in her Snow White costume.

 

[PDJPrinceCharming]

Its insane really. You can buy the same POTC & NBC merch at all the stores. The pins used to vary but that isn't the case any longer. The same generic stuff at the parks, resorts & DTD. I would like some more park specific stuff & more specialty stores actually having special merch plus one more thing. We need some more Fantasmic merch. I can barely find anything & I was looking for a shirt which apparently does not exist. Don't get me started on the HSM stuff for adults, I know it's not the target demo but it should be available as i'd love to be rockin' the "I Majored in Vacation" shirt around town.

 

[WaltD4Me]

Has anyone actually been in the new Mickey store at the Contemporary? The design looks very cool, but that used to be awesome shop with some really unique things...I always made a point of stopping there, just wondering if they filled it up with alot of the same stuff as everywhere else?

 

[FireDancer]

Disney is most definitely missing the mark on this.

Not entirely, they get royalties on everything Disney that is sold weather they sell it in their stores or not. Unless of course it is made in parts of China, but then you get Disney merchandise make of roofies an lead paint.