Spirited News, Observations & Thoughts IV

[Midlife Mouse]

When it works like I suspect it was intended to work, it will be much more convenient then a card.

On our recent trip, we luddites with our paper FastPasses were often held up in the line by families with the wristbands. The problem is that young children have a hard time matching up the specific contact point on the band with the sensor, so the cast member and/or parent end up spending some time with each kid, helping them get it right. Unless they change the technology so that no particular point on the band must be aligned with the sensor, this problem won't get any better.

 

[SirLink]

You cant sell merchandise to bling out your card.

You could though different printing on said card, you want Mickey/Minnie etc. no up-charge. However you want Hercules on your card well that will be an extra $10, you want a Greek column border around the outside of your card $2.50 extra.

Like why isn't there a Tiki Birds shop in Adventureland where I can get a programmed talking Tiki-Bird-robot-thing in a variety of different birds.

 

[Midlife Mouse]

Like why isn't there a Tiki Birds shop in Adventureland where I can get a programmed talking Tiki-Bird-robot-thing in a variety of different birds.

Because the Tiki Room was built before the assumption that all attractions should "exit through the gift shop."

 

[Goofyernmost]

Because the Tiki Room was built before the assumption that all attractions should "exit through the gift shop."

The first one at Disneyland was, but by the time they built the WDW one, show to gift shop was a regular thing. Somebody must have been napping when they passed the plans around.

 

[Midlife Mouse]

The first one at Disneyland was, but by the time they built the WDW one, show to gift shop was a regular thing. Somebody must have been napping when they passed the plans around.

But there's no merch exit on Haunted Mansion, Jungle Cruise, Peter Pan, Small World, Hall of Presidents, et al. It was a much less common practice when the park was built.

 

[SirLink]

Because the Tiki Room was built before the assumption that all attractions should "exit through the gift shop."

So that doesn't exclude the notion that there shouldn't be a shop dedicated to just Tiki Room merchandise and less generic jungle animals and plastic snakes though. I would pay a good $150 for Tiki Birds Toucan that could interact with me the user and sing Tiki Room songs.

 

[Midlife Mouse]

So that doesn't exclude the notion that there shouldn't be a shop dedicated to just Tiki Room merchandise and less generic jungle animals and plastic snakes though. I would pay a good $150 for Tiki Birds Toucan that could interact with me the user and sing Tiki Room songs.

Totally agree. There are two shops on the other side of Aladdin's Flying Eyesores that could carry them.

I've always been surprised that they don't stock Small World's "rubber heads" somewhere in the park.

 

[Beholder]

Totally agree. There are two shops on the other side of Aladdin's Flying Eyesores that could carry them.

I've always been surprised that they don't stock Small World's "rubber heads" somewhere in the park.

Sort of illustrates the multitude of missed merchandising opportunities that Disney leaves on the table. They seem so obsessed with finding the perfect money making franchise, when they have plenty of things in house that would work great. Originality, quality and well thought out ideas will win out over generic, cheap and lazy concepts any day.

 

[Funmeister]

First off I am all for individualized merchandise. The fact is the generic "across the board" boring crap that is in every gift shop make$ more bu$ine$$ $en$e. It always amazed me how some that worked in Creative Merchandise kept their jobs by literally changing two numbers in a logo or graphic (changing 2012 to 2013) and keep the same line for three or four years. There was a time when Disney, like some major retailers, had a real creative team and buyers that would search to the ends of the Earth to find those unique items that would sell.

Now it is the (with all due respect) "Cafe Press" style of creating merchandise. Create a run of the mill logo or picture and print it on low quality generic merchandise. Not too long ago I was walking through Tomorrowland by Buzz Lightyear and the Cast Members did not even take the time to remove the "Windy City Novelties" tags from the non-branded glow merchandise. At least create the illusion it is something magical from Disney. BTW the folks at WCN are great! Check them out sometime.

It is much cheaper to print 1,000,000 plastic merchandise bags or "Disney Parks" t-shirts than 100,000 Space Mountain shirts, 100,000 BTM shirts, 100,000 Fantasmic shirts....or Disney Parks bags versus WDW or even MK, Epcot, DHS, DAK, Disneyland and DCA.

Anyone remember when Epcot first opened the company used semi-glossy paper bags and Magic Kingdom had it's own design different from Epcot...EPCOT? From what I remember the MK bag had an various shades of orange and yellow on a white bag and EPCOT used purples and grey on white?

 

[Midlife Mouse]

With the rise of print-on-demand, one can hope this is just a blip. Customization is the future. Imagine having POD t-shirts printed in-store, with the guests' choice of not only color, cut and design, but also the option to personalize.

 

[aladdin2007]

First off I am all for individualized merchandise. The fact is the generic "across the board" boring crap that is in every gift shop make$ more bu$ine$$ $en$e. It always amazed me how some that worked in Creative Merchandise kept their jobs by literally changing two numbers in a logo or graphic (changing 2012 to 2013) and keep the same line for three or four years. There was a time when Disney, like some major retailers, had a real creative team and buyers that would search to the ends of the Earth to find those unique items that would sell.

Now it is the (with all due respect) "Cafe Press" style of creating merchandise. Create a run of the mill logo or picture and print it on low quality generic merchandise. Not too long ago I was walking through Tomorrowland by Buzz Lightyear and the Cast Members did not even take the time to remove the "Windy City Novelties" tags from the non-branded glow merchandise. At least create the illusion it is something magical from Disney. BTW the folks at WCN are great! Check them out sometime.

It is much cheaper to print 1,000,000 plastic merchandise bags or "Disney Parks" t-shirts than 100,000 Space Mountain shirts, 100,000 BTM shirts, 100,000 Fantasmic shirts....or Disney Parks bags versus WDW or even MK, Epcot, DHS, DAK, Disneyland and DCA.

Anyone remember when Epcot first opened the company used semi-glossy paper bags and Magic Kingdom had it's own design different from Epcot...EPCOT? From what I remember the MK bag had an various shades of orange and yellow on a white bag and EPCOT used purples and grey on white?

Very true I remember those, whats worse is both Disney World and Disneyland all have the same bags now under the DisneyParks branding junk they are determined to do. Also when you bought something that was boxed it would be in a fun designed Disney World specific themed box, now your lucky if you even get a plain ol white box. They have done away with so many magical touches like that that made Disney, Disney.

 

[CDavid]

Sort of illustrates the multitude of missed merchandising opportunities that Disney leaves on the table. They seem so obsessed with finding the perfect money making franchise, when they have plenty of things in house that would work great. Originality, quality and well thought out ideas will win out over generic, cheap and lazy concepts any day.

Indeed, Disney routinely leaves dollars on the table in missed merchandise opportunities in order to save pennies by offering the same Disney parks merchandise in virtually every shop.

 

[CDavid]

It is much cheaper to print 1,000,000 plastic merchandise bags or "Disney Parks" t-shirts than 100,000 Space Mountain shirts, 100,000 BTM shirts, 100,000 Fantasmic shirts....or Disney Parks bags versus WDW or even MK, Epcot, DHS, DAK, Disneyland and DCA.

But how much cheaper, really? Hard to believe its a huge difference when you are still talking large quantities purchased at a time (10,000 of an item, say, not a hundred of one design and fifty of another). Even if its a dollar or two - which I highly doubt - I would much rather pay a couple dollars more (even at Disney's already inflated prices) for a unique design than save a dollar for a generic item.

 

[tirian]

Indeed, Disney routinely leaves dollars on the table in missed merchandise opportunities in order to save pennies by offering the same Disney parks merchandise in virtually every shop.

Generic merchandise

Outrageous prices

That sums it up well.

Fans always seem to post great ideas online. Some ideas I remember include the aforementioned IASW rubberheads (perhaps by Pop Figures?) plus inexpensive attraction posters (instead of pricey art prints); attraction-specific T-shirts; digital downloads (all BGM and attraction soundtracks, professional attraction photos, nostalgia images); Pooh-branded honey treats; cowboy gear; and park-exclusive collections of the old cartoons.

The primary thing is, this stuff has to be affordable and desirable. Almost every time Disney releases something that's attraction-specific, it's an expensive collectible that starts its shelf life at the Art of Disney and ends up at outlet malls. Disney needs to offer a broader range of price points, especially because very few people will drop hundreds of dollars in Art of Disney, regardless of whether or not they can afford the merch. When it's all said and done, even those in the upper 1% can't justify $85 for a POTC poster.

 

[GoofGoof]

On our recent trip, we luddites with our paper FastPasses were often held up in the line by families with the wristbands. The problem is that young children have a hard time matching up the specific contact point on the band with the sensor, so the cast member and/or parent end up spending some time with each kid, helping them get it right. Unless they change the technology so that no particular point on the band must be aligned with the sensor, this problem won't get any better.

Just an observation and a little bit of a pet peeve of mine, but does it really matter if it slows down the line? Unless the ride is a walk on you will eventually be stopped at some point waiting so if the people in front of you breezed through or if it took a minute what's the difference? You would end in exactly the same spot either way. If the ride is a walk on then no need for FP anyway.

I have noticed this on rides like Kali River Rapids with long stretched out queues even before the magic bands. On my last trip we had to stop and let a family pass us in the queue since they were "up our butts" almost running (parents and kids both). We eventually hit the part where the line stopped and they were directly in front of us. Ended up on the boat with us too. I wanted to make a snarky comment about how all that rushing really got them ahead in the line, but the "boss" told me to let it go.

 

[GoofGoof]

Yes, you always have the option of a card just like now. The only problem arises when there are a few features available that the bands can do which the cards cannot, so if you want to take advantage of those, you'll have a band in your pocket.

What features only work with the band? I am really not sure if my kids will keep the bands on, but if there are things the cards can't do that they might like I will probably use your idea of bands in the pocket.

 

[Midlife Mouse]

Just an observation and a little bit of a pet peeve of mine, but does it really matter if it slows down the line?

It didn't bother me. It was just an observation that the bands aren't really designed with little kids in mind. And it was a significantly slower process than taking the paper FastPasses. Since Disney is usually very good at maximizing crowdflow, this surpised me a bit. That's all.

We don't get in a huge hurry in the parks. What's the fun in that?

 

[GoofGoof]

It didn't bother me. It was just an observation that the bands aren't really designed with little kids in mind. And it was a significantly slower process than taking the paper FastPasses. Since Disney is usually very good at maximizing crowdflow, this surpised me a bit. That's all.

We don't get in a huge hurry in the parks. What's the fun in that?

I think the novelty will wear off pretty fast for little kids. My kids will definitely want the bands, but after using them a few times they are probably going to want me to carry them. Add it to the list of things I'm lugging around.

 

[englanddg]

I think the novelty will wear off pretty fast for little kids. My kids will definitely want the bands, but after using them a few times they are probably going to want me to carry them. Add it to the list of things I'm lugging around.

When we were doing FP+ stuff, the kiddo loved the band. But, yeah...when I first heard of the idea I was like...um, no way my kid is gonna wear that all day. She didn't.

 

[Midlife Mouse]

Add it to the list of things I'm lugging around.

I hate that we've outgrown the stroller years. The stroller was like the pack mule of our trips.