No More Resort Merchandise?

[yitbos96bb]

This has been going on for quite some time and there have been many threads about it and they had a long discussion about it on the DIS Unplugged Podcast, too.

Only the deluxe resorts and some DVC have resort specific merchandise - all values and mods are going generic. It saves WDW money from the manufacturers (differentiation = higher production costs = higher wholesale cost to Disney) but it certainly still sucks for those of us who would like some variety.

God Forbid Disney keeps thing special. Too much homegenization... Dining, Merchandise. I remember when all the stores at a theme park having tons of exclusive merchandise was a point of pride. Now the merchandising people are soul less and lazy... and the "Janitor" as Pete calls her is running WDW into the ground. I mean look at how much better a lot of the Disneyland offerings is to WDW. There are tons of recent items I see on EBAY I have NEVER seen at WDW.

 

[Golf4food]

It is very sad to see the same stuff in every shop... And Disney wonders why merchandise sales are slow? How many "Disney Parks" shirts does one person need??

Any why in Mickey's name does everything have to have the current year on it!?!?!?!?!?!? Drives me nuts.

 

[OldsDr]

Any why in Mickey's name does everything have to have the current year on it!?!?!?!?!?!? Drives me nuts.

This is probably how they are planning on getting people to buy the same T-shirt year after year. It will be marketed as a brand new Tshirt, because it has a different year on it

 

[Maistre Gracey]

This is probably how they are planning on getting people to buy the same T-shirt year after year. It will be marketed as a brand new Tshirt, because it has a different year on it

Yup.. I saw a CM putting "10" stickers over the "09" on some sweatshirts.

Just kidding, but the idea has probably been floated in Burbank.

MG

 

[KYMickey]

There are tons of recent items I see on EBAY I have NEVER seen at WDW.

That's probably because they are not authentic! Seems like every place you turn these days there a fake items from almost any place and Disney is certainly not immune.

 

[DISNEMOM]

The last time I was at disney I noticed how the merchandise is becoming more generic. The shopping at all the different stores/resorts and finding unique items (and buying them!) was one of my favorite things to do. I really miss the home store they used to have at dtd as well!

 

[Snowgod]

I find that it is not only resort specific merchandise that is gone, it also things like the Nice Reyn Spooner shirts I used to collect. In the past I could find very nice t-shirts and such that were high quality and unique. No longer is that the case. If it was limited edition collectables you could be sure that they would keep there value. Today, they over produce pins to the point that they are no longer really collectable. Same with everything else.

 

[yitbos96bb]

That's probably because they are not authentic! Seems like every place you turn these days there a fake items from almost any place and Disney is certainly not immune.

No these are authentic. I've seen many of the ones I was interested in on several different sites including fan sites.

 

[TLPL]

It desn't make any sense to me at all. Resort specific merchandise is just like any merchandise, give customers more choice to choose from. Let's say they have T-shirts with different resort specific logo designs on them, people may try to collect them as they are different, and hence generate more sales. If Disney only offer the same 1 design at all resorts, if the custmer already bought one from one location, they sure won't buy another of the exact same design even if it available some place else, because customer already have bought it, hence less sales. SO I don't see how this will save Disney money. It will just decrease sales.

 

[hygienejean]

If this rumor is correct and the cutbacks extend to the Deluxe DVC properties, I'm definitely bummed. Looks like I will have to get over to the Boardwalk on our upcoming trip (We're staying at Wilderness) just to secure some B-Walk specific merchandise. That's our home DVC resort and all I have at present from there is a ceramic coffee mug (has graphic on it like the below and is still in active use in our kitchen, I may now retire it to a collectible cabinet before it gets broken!!!)

We were there a few weeks ago and I couldn't find any thing (except pins!) that had a BW specific logo. Clothing or anything else. I went to the general store as well as the sundry shop. They do seem to be pushing DVC anything. They had a few t-shirts with a gigantic DVC across the whole shirt. No thanks! I love DVC but not that much!

 

[doconeill]

It desn't make any sense to me at all. Resort specific merchandise is just like any merchandise, give customers more choice to choose from. Let's say they have T-shirts with different resort specific logo designs on them, people may try to collect them as they are different, and hence generate more sales. If Disney only offer the same 1 design at all resorts, if the custmer already bought one from one location, they sure won't buy another of the exact same design even if it available some place else, because customer already have bought it, hence less sales. SO I don't see how this will save Disney money. It will just decrease sales.

They are currently operating under the mentality that by homogenizing all the merchandise, they can buy in greater bulk at a lower price and therefore higher margin on the sales. It's the "Wal-Mart-ification" of Disney.

Here is a twist on your repeated purchase point - how long do these things last, like a shirt? Certainly shirts for kids don't last long as they outgrow them. So next trip, you've got to buy another one...certainly the number of repeat purchases go down, but they may be made up by the increased margin.

Of course, the other way to maintain the margin without getting the merch cheaper is to increase the retail cost, and they could have done that if they wanted (and we'd probably still complain, but not as loudly), so there are probably some other factors at work as well.

 

[hoverpumpkin]

Oh dear. Germany no longer has cuckoo clocks?

I am worried because the last time I was at WDW was 2004 - I wanted a knit hat from Norway and couldn't afford it, so swore I would buy it during our trip this July. Now I bet they won't even carry them anymore.

 

[ConcKahuna]

Don't you know, people are requesting more Disney merchandise.

That means they have to take out everything unique and special and replace it with the same old generic stuff, so that people don't have to be bothered to go into the parks for stuff.

Same kind of reasoning they gave when they closed PI

 

[MassJester]

I think this is a real shame. I used to look forward to the shopping because of the variety. During my last trip I'm not sure I bought much of anything at all -- although I suppose that did result in my saving a fair amount of money.

 

[Cogswel_Cogs]

I think this stinks. They really do some stupid things. One of the things that was fun was having stuff from different resorts we have stayed at. I hope they calculated the amount of people they will lose dissintersted in staying at additional resorts. Don't they realize if they put the same stuff in every store the place kinda becomes boring.

 

[TinkerKell-ey]

The generic feel of the merchandise is depressing. I noticed it a bit over the past couple years (last special resort shirt I have is from Dixie Landings!!!) But I saw it 'big time' in Feb. One example: we stayed at BCV and I asked about a pin in the gift shop--they were sold out and no one knew if they were ever getting more?? (I buy one for every resort stay, at least I used to...) The big deal was the super cute Beach Club Resort w/Mickey sitting in a beach chair t-shirt I bought for my son. It was on clearance for $6.99!!! It was a deal-absolutely, but it confirmed to me just what you're saying--unique and specialty items are not going to be a part of the WDW experience any longer

 

[CaptainNemo]

Just got back yesterday from the Contemporary, they have NO resort merchandise. The Polynesian however had lots. They had several styles of t-shirts, a beach towel and other home type merchandise. The Grand Floridian also had resort merchandise. The cast member at the Polynesian had no idea that other resorts were discontinuing their merchandise. Other recent trips to Pop Century and the Yacht Club have also resulted in no resort merchandise.
It is quite sad.

 

[Cogswel_Cogs]

The generic feel of the merchandise is depressing. I noticed it a bit over the past couple years (last special resort shirt I have is from Dixie Landings!!!) But I saw it 'big time' in Feb. One example: we stayed at BCV and I asked about a pin in the gift shop--they were sold out and no one knew if they were ever getting more?? (I buy one for every resort stay, at least I used to...) The big deal was the super cute Beach Club Resort w/Mickey sitting in a beach chair t-shirt I bought for my son. It was on clearance for $6.99!!! It was a deal-absolutely, but it confirmed to me just what you're saying--unique and specialty items are not going to be a part of the WDW experience any longer

You hit the nail right on the head. You can't but the same shirt four times?
I really am think about next time I go down their not staying on site.
And I have the last four times.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

we stayed at BCV and I asked about a pin in the gift shop--they were sold out and no one knew if they were ever getting more?? (I buy one for every resort stay, at least I used to...)

When it comes to resort pins if the stores of the resort where you are staying at are sold out of them, it's a very good chance you can find them at other resorts or Disney's Pin Traders in Downtown Disney and the various pin locations in the 4 parks. So the pins are not resort specific items.

 

[TinkerKell-ey]

CR Resort Fan . . . so I might have found a BCR-pin somewhere else (even another resort)? I guess that would've worked--I never thought to look for it somewhere else. It just doesn't seem right somehow. Call me crazy the 'where I bought it' is important too (although it still would be from WDW). (I buy a Pandora-type bead on every trip I take and had a hard time finding one at DL ... I came home and ordered one from an Anaheim jewelry store (when I could have bought the same thing locally!!) just so it came from "near-DL"