where does disney fall short on merchanise

[W.E.D.]

A bit of a niche market, but my first thought was pets merch.

I would like this as well.

I voted for quality.

I have shirts from 2001, and earlier, that are still in near-perfect condition. I have shirts from my '11 visit that were falling apart within a year of purchase.

 

[puffkin]

I really like vintage park stuff (tshirts, housewares, posters, etc). They have done a few themes the last few years (like the It's a Small World stuff and the Orange Bird stuff), but I wish they would do more of that or have a whole store devoted to that type of stuff.

If boys was a choice, I would have picked that. My DS8 was pretty much done playing with most of the toys and stuff they sell by age 5. He is not allowed to wear character clothing to school so he dosn't have much of that after age 5/6. My son isn't really into Legos (and if he were I could get them cheaper elsewhere)....and outside of that there is just nothing really.

DS8 always goes with a pocketful of gift cards and usually spends next to nothing because there isn't much for his age group.

DH would say sports gear. Even when Team Mickey was there....he always went with such high hopes and never found anything.

And I am 5'9" and not really overweight or big on top or anything like that. I typically wear a Large/XL depending on cut. Nothing at WDW fits me. I have wasted so much money on stuff there time and time again that I no longer buy any clothes. Its just cut for much smaller women than me.

 

[Thumper_Man]

I voted Non-Clothing items, but would have also voted for Adults.

I got the impression that Disney thinks everyone owns nothing but iPads and iPhones. Was looking for a new phone cover for my Samsung Galaxy, not one to be found anywhere. All iPhone covers. DW wanted a new case for her Kindle, again, not one to be found anywhere. All for iPad. I don't know if they offer anything different now, been a while since we've been back.

Wanted new lanyards. All the same lanyards as the time we went the 2 years before. Nothing new really and pretty much the same selection in each store we went to. We bought a glow in the dark lanyard one year and now we have never seen it again. Good thing we bought it when we did. It was different and unique at the time.

Adults clothes. Again, same in every store. Like someone mentioned, I looked at all the men's shirts and didn't find anything appealing. Even at the resorts. DW found one T-shirt she liked and bought it. We used to buy stuff right away if we found something we really like, not knowing if we would come across them again. Last trip, we didn't bother buying anything until we got back to CBR. We knew they had everything we looked at there and we didn't have to lug it around the park, or worry about having it sent over.

 

[Rgonzalez79]

I would agree that the quality of the clothing has deteriorated somewhat over the years but I think the bigger issue is variety. It seems that every park sells the same merchandise that you can find in Downtown Disney except for a few regional items you find in Epcot and some of the newer things in Gaston's Tavern.

It was fun to find park-specific merchandise a few years back when you visited all four parks in one trip. I'm guessing production/development costs are cheaper when you limit variety but it does kind of take away from "finding" hidden gems when shopping in the parks.

 

[kidsgobears]

Need fake ear of corn that makes typewriter noises when you pretend to eat it.

 

[Lydia91]

I agree -- shopping at Disney was such a disappointment. When we went in 2013, I was ready to spend money (for myself, husband and two 3 year old daughters) and there was really nothing I wanted to spend it on.

After being at Disney for ten days, we came away with:

(1) Husband: Nothing

(2) Me: Silhouettes of my daughters for the house (total cost $16). The artistry and execution were disappointing. I have silhouettes of my daughters that I had done when they were babies and I was planning to hang the new Disney silhouettes by them. I couldn't because the low quality of execution of the Disney silhouettes was all too apparent when they were placed next to my existing ones.

(3) Daughters: Rapunzel dolls (shockingly these were decent quality compared to our other Disney princess dolls whose heads keep on popping off, clothing immediately shredded, etc.). Sleeping beauty jewelry boxes.

Lack of selection was horrible -- Grandma had given me money with the request to purchase jewelry boxes for them. There was literally one style that I could locate in DTD that was not horrendously priced -- and only one character option. If you wanted something other than a sleeping beauty jewelry box you were out of luck. The boxes we got them were $16 each but we felt the quality did not even meet that price. There was nothing in a "mid-range quality/mid-range price" level and I was willing to go up to $50 each for something that could have been a nice long-lasting memento for the girls.

Looking at Christmas ornaments as well the selection was horrible. Nothing on offer for any number of characters. I took something up to the register, but put it back when I realized I was just buying it to buy "something" rather than because I wanted it on my Christmas tree.

 

[AliceandAriel]

where do you feel disney falls short on merchandise? you can pick more than one in the poll. the spouse and i are curious. please comment as well.

edited to say: i messed up my poll. it should have had 12 options and multiple choice. sorry!

Since I couldn't do multiple choice… I'll just explain in my post.

IF I was able to pick two, it would have been Adults and Quality.

Adults don't get nearly as cool clothing as some of the kids/teens stuff you see. How hard is it to design some Disney fun apparel for adults? Ones that don't just have character in the corner of the shirt. How about some fancy stuff? Lace? Tops that have 'character clothing' on the t-shirt (think the Buzz Lightyear and Woody shirts for boys) but how about Snow White, Rapunzel, Cinderella, Ariel, Merida? I mean, it isn't HARD.

Mouse ears are impossible. I have a slightly large head, so I know YMMV with this, but I almost never find mouse ears that fit, let alone are COMFY. And those hat ones are hideous. I don't want a strap under my chin like I'm 5 and can't keep anything on. It's why I'm making my own mouse ears for October. And their plenty cheaper to boot!

Quality wise, there's really nothing. The only thing I thought was 'quality' was the Minnie Mouse hoodie I picked up in February. But my washer destroyed the softness in one wash, so that's on me, I think.

Personally, I think the dolls and plushies from the DisneyStore are of a better value AND quality than the ones in the parks. They're not even the same ones! The dolls from the parks (last time I checked) couldn't even bend their arms or legs at the elbows and knees. But the DS ones do. What's up with that? Not to mention the faces of the dolls in the parks look… weird. Like cheap WalMart Disney dolls weird.

Shopping for apparel, let alone anything for adults, is such a hassle in the parks. It's inspired me to find Disney attire elsewhere, or make my own. I'm sure they don't notice, as I still spend the money on other things in the parks (namely snacks to take home, like goofy candy co. stuff, or chip and dale snacks) but it is a disappointment that you can't find any good apparel there. Or anything, really.

 

[krosmith]

Teen merchandise. it's hard to find my sons size.

Adult merchandise - plus sizes that are true to size.

Christmas merchandise - in addition to ornaments.

 

[Micca]

A bit of a niche market, but my first thought was pets merch.

Funny you would mention that. Years ago we bought a pack of cat toys. They were Figaro, Cheshire Cat, etc. Our cats LOVED these toys and played with them until they fell apart. Went to WDW looking for a replacement set and they had been deleted from the inventory. People are crazy for their pets, you'd think the market for pet merch would be pretty decent.

 

[nkosiek]

I agree with the adult merchandise, especially sports items. I also think they need more varied character items. I'm a HUGE Donald fan but finding anything more than the same 3 tee-shirts is almost impossible. Also most of their stuff is in stock for 12-18 months sometimes longer. Someone talked about Hawaiian shirts...I'd love a new one, but they've had the same 2 for almost 3 years now. Considering how many guys I see wearing them when I go down each summer you'd think you could have a few more.

 

[Sevey13]

I was in a bit of a pickle when I was at WDW a few weeks ago in that I actively wanted to buy some souvenirs, but nothing really struck my interest. There was so little variety in the shirts. I could get the same thing in Magic Kingdom and Epcot and Animal Kingdom in all the major stores. There was only one "Nostalgia" Epcot shirt, and almost no "Nostalgia" Epcot Merch (no magnets, pints, etc.). Wandering through a lot of the smaller shops, I felt like, unless I was someone who liked really kitchy jewelry, baubles for Christmas trees with Stitch inserted in the middle of it, or the grotesque Vinylmation (seriously, am I the only one who things they just look weird and unappealing?), there was really precious little to buy. Give me some interesting, unique shirts to pick from. Give me a nice sweatshirt. Give me some nice magnets with a little class. But they really didn't have any of this stuff. Frankly, I was disappointed because I wanted a few things to adorn my house or include in my wardrobe.

So instead I kept my money.

 

[ThereAndBackAgain]

CHRISTMAS MERCHANDISE
Disney releases it so early that it is always gone by the time we arrive on December 1st or 2nd. Also, they do not manage the distribution of it well. Especially party merchandise.


QUALITY
Shirts from Walmart and Target last longer.

This. All the way. Both the Christmas merchandise and the quality.


I've bought several ornaments however if I see one that I like I have to get it then because I may not find it again. I waited almost 2 yrs for the Bernard and Miss bianca I managed to grab this past Christmas and I refuse to buy the ornaments on ebay at the ridiculous pricing. And it takes the fun out of the holidays buying everything so early.


And the last t-shirt I purchased washed out and frayed at the bottom very quickly. I really do have a t-shirt from Target that has lasted almost 2-3 yrs.

 

[pennylynn]

The things that I miss the most is postcards. I used to buy lots of them every trip but now there's so little variety I haven't bought any for the last few trips. One other thing is tea pots in England. I always used to buy either a tea pot or cup and saucer. The last two trips there hasn't been anything that I liked. Very little choice and nothing as nice as what they used to have. Oh well, it saves me money.

 

[chloelovesdisney]

I didn't vote, my choice would be resort themed merchandise. I like to stay in a different resort on each trip and would really like some souvenirs specific to each resort. I used to be able to get some fun items in the resort gift shop and over the years it has dwindled down to nothing. For a while they were telling me they were just sold out but now they tell me they don't carry it.

Other than that, I also agree with pet merchandise. Several years ago I got a couple of very nice collar/leash sets for my dog and some cute toys. I haven't seen anything like it since, the few items I've seen have not been nearly as nice.

In general they miss the boat for boys merchandise, they are really partial to girls. Can you imagine the crowds for a Toy Story character meal? Why oh why don't they do something like that.

 

[M5ward]

There used to be a change over in merchandise so that each time you went, there was new stuff to choose from. Now it seems that it"s always the same things each time.

 

[tarcc]

You should have added resort specific merchandise,I'll buy a AKL or WL shirt before I buy a generic looking park shirt.They've reduced their resort merchandise to where it's rare to non existent.Another place I was amazed at the poor choices of merchandise are the waterparks,you can't compare the amount of items available at TL or BB to Sea World's waterpark Aquatica,Aquatica blew them out of the water.Now that I start thinking about it,another area they're lacking is pet merchandise,I looked at Mousegear at Epcot and World of Disney at DTD and I don't believe they carry anything for pets.

THIS

 

[FeralCatRogue]

I put sizes true to size, when i go to buy a t-shirt for me and it won't even fit my plush stitch, then there's an issue when that's listed as adult size.
I understand odd sizes in the epcot china pazillion store since it's imported and they are upfront that the sizes are below normal sizes, but the disney itself merchandise is where it's odd to find that.

 

[SRUAlmn]

A bit of a niche market, but my first thought was pets merch.

That was one of mine, too. I miss the former pet store in DTD (not that it ever had a lot, but it was better than nothing.)

I also agree about the resort specific merchandise (especially mugs!) It was one of my favorite things to buy on every trip. Like a PP said, I'd buy resort items before anything else. We also would buy a Christmas ornament with our resort for that year on every trip. Our whole tree is filled with each resort we've stayed at and the year we stayed there, and I LOVED that. Sadly, they stopped selling them and I was heartbroken that our tradition had to stop.

I also feel the adult clothing has become much less quality and a little cheesy. I would wear Disney clothes all the time (even when not on vacation,) but not when they're so loud and tacky. I also think their sizing is way off and every clothing item I've ever purchased shrinks drastically the first time you wash it

 

[disneyfantotheend]

Voted quality, but I feel they fall short in many areas. Selection, variety, adult clothing, and many many more.

 

[SRUAlmn]

And I am 5'9" and not really overweight or big on top or anything like that. I typically wear a Large/XL depending on cut. Nothing at WDW fits me. I have wasted so much money on stuff there time and time again that I no longer buy any clothes. Its just cut for much smaller women than me.

I'm exactly the same size and I totally agree! I bought the red Minnie tank with the bows all over it last summer and I had to buy an XXL and it just fits me. I almost didn't buy it because it bothered me that I had to get a much larger size than usual. I finally realized I bought it because I was so desperate to just buy SOMETHING. I had so much saved up money to burn and nothing to burn it on.