Well, we just came back from a 7 day Disney trip. During the trip, when visiting Norway @ Epcot I decided to look for an Olaf plush. I love the character (as does my family). Frankly, I was naive not to realize I was apparently one of millions of people looking for this plush toy and started immediately hearing the numerous stories from cast members at Disney discussing how impossible this item was to keep in stock. They would get a few or even hundreds in at a given time and within hours they were gone. If it was a small shipment, it was minutes.
So, I am a collector by nature. Hearing of something "really hard to get" just gets me more excited to find it. It becomes a quest. If you are not a collector, you will just not understand that feeling. The hunt is more exciting then buying the actual item. So I became determined to find a plush Olaf.
So, I started hunting. Downtown Disney, all the major stores across all the parks, etc. It was clear after a few days, I would not find a plush Olaf on Disney property without extreme luck.
So, when I got home, I immediately went to our local Disney store and JC Penny. I was frustrated to find the same story. If they ever did get the Olaf plush, it was gone very quickly.
So, I started chatting with the JC Penny manager in the toy section. He was sharing all of his stories of Frozen and how crazy that movie had been for the store. He also pointed to a 5' (that is 5+ feet tall!) Olaf plush every JC Penny was given. It was a look of stress and frustration. So many parents and kids attack that huge plush it was a constant battle to keep it clean, keep it from falling on kids, etc. I could tell, in his eyes, he wanted it to go. So I thought, what the heck, I offered him a really low price (70% off) and he took it! Ok, it was still pretty expensive but much less then full retail. He just wanted it gone. He put it in the system has a generic "Disney plush" just so central would not ship him another one.
So, in the end, I ended up with a 5'+ plush Olaf for our basement. Sure, a little larger then I expected / wanted, but still an Olaf plush. The collector in me is satisfied
So, if you ever need a super large Olaf in your life, you might try and find a stressed out JC Penny toy manager and offer to take it off their hands!
So, I am a collector by nature. Hearing of something "really hard to get" just gets me more excited to find it. It becomes a quest. If you are not a collector, you will just not understand that feeling. The hunt is more exciting then buying the actual item. So I became determined to find a plush Olaf.
So, I started hunting. Downtown Disney, all the major stores across all the parks, etc. It was clear after a few days, I would not find a plush Olaf on Disney property without extreme luck.
So, when I got home, I immediately went to our local Disney store and JC Penny. I was frustrated to find the same story. If they ever did get the Olaf plush, it was gone very quickly.
So, I started chatting with the JC Penny manager in the toy section. He was sharing all of his stories of Frozen and how crazy that movie had been for the store. He also pointed to a 5' (that is 5+ feet tall!) Olaf plush every JC Penny was given. It was a look of stress and frustration. So many parents and kids attack that huge plush it was a constant battle to keep it clean, keep it from falling on kids, etc. I could tell, in his eyes, he wanted it to go. So I thought, what the heck, I offered him a really low price (70% off) and he took it! Ok, it was still pretty expensive but much less then full retail. He just wanted it gone. He put it in the system has a generic "Disney plush" just so central would not ship him another one.
So, in the end, I ended up with a 5'+ plush Olaf for our basement. Sure, a little larger then I expected / wanted, but still an Olaf plush. The collector in me is satisfied
So, if you ever need a super large Olaf in your life, you might try and find a stressed out JC Penny toy manager and offer to take it off their hands!
. I happened to be at our local 
