Where's all the merchandise?

[doombuggy driver]

I totally agree! I had to buy a HM shirt off of ebay and it was from WDW. There is nothing new or exciting and certainly nothing ride specific. I used to work at Cedar Point in Ohio and they have shirts for all of the major rides. Would it kill management to have shirts for the rides at DL. I would definitely buy a HM, INDY, Matterhorn, IASW, SM or Splash any day over the generic stuff they are currently selling!!!!

[NapoleonD]

Three, why can't you get anything from Disneyland.com? Well.... ever hear of DelivEARS? The mail order type number we have that will get you anything we sell in the park? Look on the back of your receipt for that.

The problem with DelivEARS is, unless there is some catalog I'm not aware of, you have to know what you want. And if you haven't been to the park in a month or a year, DelivEARS becomes useless.

[Disney luv]

The last couple of time I’ve been to DL I didn’t really shop. But from the past I’ve seen too many Disney tie dye shirts. Nothing screams out AP like a tie dye shirt with a character printed on it. I don’t understand why people buy them, hell I don’t understand why people wear them. I find nothing attractive about the multi colors shirts. Its 2007 tie dye shirts were hot in the late 60’s early 70’s why can’t we just let go.
Thinking about the colors is making me nauseas.

[DisneyIPresume]

Hopefully in a mall where it belongs.

[DisneyIPresume]

I think the problem with merchandising today is lingering effects from the Pressler era. I read an interesting article in Business Week magazine that states that Pressler's problems with the Gap were based partly on his cost cutting measures, and giving these savings more priority over creativity.
For example, he decided to buy denim from a single vendor, which cut costs, but led to limitations on what the designers could do because all the denim they had to work with was all basically the same without much variation in texture or weave. This ultimately led to huge losses because it left the consumer without much choice. Pretty much his failure at the Gap was due to similar management styles he had while he was at Disney.

Disney is making a huge mistake. I would have think they learned their lesson, and they need only to look at Pressler and the Gap to reinforce this. They need to get more creative with their merchandise and not have so many stores in the parks. I think if they had creative merchandise that guests would want, sales would increase and they wouldn't have to have so many shops in the park in general.

[Nor Cal Tinkfan]

I thought it was just me and so I was hesitant to ask about this here. I used to love the fact there was different merchandise unique to the "land" and DCA. I was really disappointed to not see that this year. It may have been like that last year, but I didn't pay too much attention.

[bri719]

I have experienced the same ho hum merchandise for a while. Last year spent very little in souvenirs and this year I'll probably spend even less if anything at all. Makes me wonder who they think the target market is. It seems to be geared towards the average 8 year old. Problem is most peole who rarely visit the parks won't care about the uniqueness of the product. That may be where the bigger profits come, although I think that there is a large profit potential in delivering unique park specific merchandise. I would buy it.

I keep trying to find stuff I'd like but there's really not that much. World of Disney has a little better selection than the other shops, but most of which are just ... not good.

most of the Disneyland gear (which I'm most interested in) is not very nice but pretty pricey anyway. I almost bought a hoodie last time in the parks, but I wouldn't even want that DLP castle one because it's about as thin as a t-shirt, so it defeats the purpose of keeping you reasonably warm at night. they even sell almost all the same at California Adventure by the boardwalk, or Ariel's, or the stand close to the main entrance which I found odd. yes including pirate stuff

other than a few variations of mickey t-shirts there's not much else they sell in the park I would wear. but I'm not grabbing any for $28.00 (minus 10%) which is the price marked.

and I second the notion about the Star Wars gear... I'm not that huge of a SW geek, but last time I was in that shop I was like, hey where did it go?

[DisneyDude2006]

I lOVE when the 50th was around. There was so much cool merch.

[DisneyDude2006]

The problem with DelivEARS is, unless there is some catalog I'm not aware of, you have to know what you want. And if you haven't been to the park in a month or a year, DelivEARS becomes useless.

That;s so true. They also cost an arm and a leg for shipping. I got my Haunted Mansion sculpture, and they charged around $50 for shipping.

[bri719]

I totally agree! I had to buy a HM shirt off of ebay and it was from WDW. There is nothing new or exciting and certainly nothing ride specific. I used to work at Cedar Point in Ohio and they have shirts for all of the major rides. Would it kill management to have shirts for the rides at DL. I would definitely buy a HM, INDY, Matterhorn, IASW, SM or Splash any day over the generic stuff they are currently selling!!!!

heck I'd even buy a BTMRR shirt / sweatshirt. try finding THAT in the park!!

guess I'll have to make one myself. it's definitely going that way...

[bri719]

I think the problem with merchandising today is lingering effects from the Pressler era. I read an interesting article in Business Week magazine that states that Pressler's problems with the Gap were based partly on his cost cutting measures, and giving these savings more priority over creativity.
For example, he decided to buy denim from a single vendor, which cut costs, but led to limitations on what the designers could do because all the denim they had to work with was all basically the same without much variation in texture or weave. This ultimately led to huge losses because it left the consumer without much choice. Pretty much his failure at the Gap was due to similar management styles he had while he was at Disney.

Disney is making a huge mistake. I would have think they learned their lesson, and they need only to look at Pressler and the Gap to reinforce this. They need to get more creative with their merchandise and not have so many stores in the parks. I think if they had creative merchandise that guests would want, sales would increase and they wouldn't have to have so many shops in the park in general.

this is true... I found some nice work (dress casual) pants at the Gap about 6 months ago and was really surprised, but the fact is I hadn't really shopped there in years except for having bought a plain pocket t-shirt or socks.

now I know why I never found anything good until then.