Originally Posted By vbdad55 ^^^^^^^^^^^ as an avid Donald Duck collector (actually have a guest bedroom done comploetely in Donad's)- from the paint on the wall - to Big Figs - to Trevor Carlton Oils -- and I feel your pain. When one goes to WDW now with money saved to buy anything - there is nothing. Art of Disney likely still would have had the Armani piece and the new release from WDCC - however not sure your daughters age and these are not 'toys' if you will. That round mushii -- I ended up getting it from ebay from someone in Japan. the heads of merchadise are a box of rocks IMHO
Originally Posted By vbdad55 Did you look in the shop next to Philharmagic ? Sometimes they actually have cute stuff-- last time there I already had what I wanted from the year before and they had nothing new-, but it's better than most shops at WDW these days theming wise
Originally Posted By CarolinaDisneyDad vbdad55, We didn't look there, we did look almost everywhere in all 4 parks and dtd. She is only 11 so art wasn't on the radar. 7 years ago she bought a donald beak with a duck caller in it and blew it for months. But, this kind of stuff just isn't there anymore. She would have loved a bobble-head. Donald is one of the big four. I'm shocked they don't seem to realize that they need a variety of merchandise
Originally Posted By vbdad55 the shop there is almost entirely Donald - I think you would have found a shirt there- and they hav about 4-5 different kids of Donald plush - themed around his role in Philharmagic...
Originally Posted By CarolinaDisneyDad THANKS, Hopefully she will still want it next year. I will make sure to look there. He is one of my favorites too!
Originally Posted By FenwayGirl I'm with you CarolinaDisneyDad....I spent zero dollars on souveniers my last trip. I just didn't see anything that interested me.
Originally Posted By HMButler79 "look for the next coming to DAK in the near future."" Wait what!? Is that even possible? The whole Safari Village section already IS a giant WoD/Emporium rip albeit split between 2 buildings. The ONLY place i can find AK Merch. is in Harambe Marketplace!
Originally Posted By -em >>the shop there is almost entirely Donald<< Used to be- Last I checked alot had become generic cause alot of the donald line had been discontinued...
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo As a kid, I always dreamt I would grow up to be comfortable and able to afford all the Disney merchandise I longed for as a kid. Now, there is so little. There are some high end pieces and a lot of generic junk. And what is worse, they sell the same rubbish across the three non Asian resorts, most annoying. My wife always remarks that I never buy myself anything when we go to WDW/DLP etc. My rationale, we already have the good stuff or the quality is not there. So now we tend to buy stuff for the kids (with their growth spurts - it's the only way Disney get merchandise money from me). It's not that I don't want to buy stuff, I gladly would, but I am tired of Mickey and the Nightmare stuff is either feminine or juvenile. Not a lot of other options out there for a guy. DLP have had the same range of neck ties for about 10 years now!!!
Originally Posted By CarolinaDisneyDad same here Dave, My wife ususally buys me something for christmas when we go. But this year there just wasn't anything I wanted. Well maybe a character painting but it was too much.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 >>the shop there is almost entirely Donald<< Used to be- Last I checked alot had become generic cause alot of the donald line had been discontinued... UGH - figures
Originally Posted By Ursula <I just found a very unique Space Mnt guys t-shirt at Vault Disney at the DL resort in Downtown Disney. The sku is 0001502640 6.I do not know if this store is in WDW DD or if they can be ordered on-line but a phone call might work. I will look for my receipt.Anyway it is black with "SM" and "Tomorrowland" words with the outline of the building and the spaceships with 3 astronauts in each.I think it was reasonably priced considering it was in Vault Disney.Let me know if you want more info.> You are VERY sweet to offer this up. I did see this in our Vailt Disney in Anaslime and sadly, they don't carry my size!
Originally Posted By bayrr326 Merchandise at WDW has become such a crapshoot lately. The only shirt I have bought lately was a mountain range shirt(SM,Splash and BTMRR) that I found at the outlet but never recalled seeing it in the parks and a retro Epcot Center shirt. It is ridiculous that there isn't more attraction specific and park specific merchandise. Even though I will admit my jaw dropped on the floor when I saw a monorail t shirt at World of Disney. I still need to pick that up.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo See that's what I am talking about. I am sure people want to buy souvenirs of their favorite attraction or land, or park. Not generic stuff I can buy cheaper on the net or at Walmart, or a Disney Park shirt that can be bought in any of the parks. Unbelievable.
Originally Posted By Ursula I did do "some" shopping in WDW. I wanted a Contemporary Resort Jacket. All they had was one ugly men's jacket. I don't worry about price, but the jacket was butt-ugly and was $74. And men's. Didn't buy it. I did buy the grey Mickey/Minnie fleece jacket with the hearts and WDW written on the sleeve. I'm not into hearts, but it was the only feminine jacket in my size that had WDW on it. I do love the new jewelry line and was the first person to buy a piece of it on the day it came out. I have the mouse ears necklace with the diamond in it. However, I didn't care much for the Mickey and Minnie versions. The detail just isn't there. I bought a HM shirt. I like it but it is generic enough to be from either WDW or DL. :/ I did replace my lost pink leopard mouse ears! YAY! What on earth happened to the Wilderness Lodge merchandise? They have this new logo in cursive writing...ugh, totally wrong, wrong, wrong. I usually drop cash in that store and didn't buy a thing this trip. I got the new Ursula pin! Thanks to 999Haunts who texted me a picutre of it! I bought some other things, too, but it was MUCH less than usual. I didn't even have to buy another suitcase or make my husband carry the giant shopping bag on the plane.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 <<One does not need to know anything about retail in order to work retail... Its all handed to ya (and not in a good way...)>> Good info to know em ... especially the above since pretty soon the only jobs left in America will be retail!
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 >>> believe that both ECVs and strollers should not be allowed in stores) to navigate without walls in between.<<< <<Sorry Spirit, I disagree here, if the person in the ECV is truly in need, then that would be against the law as it is discrimination. Also, as a dad, if the kid is asleep, shopping and eating are about the only two activities you can do. So, nope, I can't agree with you on this one.>> That's OK, Dave. I don't agree with what I wrote in hindsight ... well, I agree with it largely let's put it that way. Just like majority of people who use ECVs and double-wide strollers do so out of laziness (yeah, passing judgment on millions of people and not thinking twice about it!) when it comes to getting off an ECV (or getting their kids out) to enter a store, most opt not to. ... Again, this is a relatively last decade phenomenon and it results in jams, limbs getting run over and damage to display and walls, doors, frames etc ... Clearly there are some folks who can't get off them and walk, but we all know most can. And while sometimes a child is sleeping, most of the time the parent just doesn't want to keep an eye on them and it's easier for them to push the child around.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 <<It isn't the economy that is hurting merch sales it's the selection.>> I would say it is both, but I am not complaining ... even with friends offering me use of their 50% off holiday CM discount recently I barely bought anything. You don't want to know how much I used to spend at WDW on merchandise!
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 <<See that's what I am talking about. I am sure people want to buy souvenirs of their favorite attraction or land, or park. Not generic stuff I can buy cheaper on the net or at Walmart, or a Disney Park shirt that can be bought in any of the parks.>> Don't you know by now Dave that we aren't the 'typical' guests (this is a line used everytime someone at Disney realizes the damage they are doing to the 'brand' and brings up comments such as those on this thread) ... I have my house key on a DL Matterhorn key chain from the 1990s (and it isn't even a favorite attraction, I just liked the look of it) ... I still have Tomorrowland 1998 notecards that I sent out to friends the other day (oops, I might be sending you one!) ... I own thousands and thousands of dollars in Disney art. ... And I have a library of Disney books that goes back to my childhood (yeah, they had books back then, they were papyrus scrolls binded by reeds!) <<Unbelievable.>> It is. You want to show loyalty to a company and give them your money and they don't want it. That's un-American to me!
