What Merch Opportunities are Disneyland Management Overlooking?

Rich T

Rich T

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I was watching an episode of the England-based Theme Park Worldwide vlog on Youtube (highly recommend: lots of fun and they take you to wonderful European parks and fairs you might never have heard of before as well as the big names) and saw this eye-opener:

Blackpool Pleasure Beach sells its old ride parts to customers. Wheel pieces, gears, gaskets, chain links... anything that's been replaced during regular maintenance. All tagged with their exact function and history.

Why doesn't Disney do this? Can you imagine going into a little mechanic shop on Main Street and paying fifteen bucks for a bolt from Splash Mountain that you could use as a paperweight? WHAT DISNEY FAN WOULDN'T LOVE THAT???? :D

What other merchandising opportunities do you think Disney's missing? They certainly seem interested in selling things (understatement), and it seems to me they could do more fan-pleasing things than trash the Main St. Cinema to sell generic t-shirts.
 
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SuddenStorm

SuddenStorm

Well-Known Member
Excellent idea for a thread! And I love your 'sell old spare parts' idea. Phil Sears sells pieces of Haunted Mansion wall paper on his site, with a coa, for about $20. Not quite what you're suggesting, but it's something.

Many of my suggestions are things they used to do, and don't now- so not original at all.

But let's go down the list of merchandise ideas they're missing out on:
  • Universal sells a mini plastic model of Hogwarts for about $30. Disney should have one for every single one of their popular attractions- Space Mountain, Matterhorn, Castle, Big Thunder, Splash.
  • The gift shop at the it's a small world exit should sell recreations of the dolls inside the ride.
  • Galaxy's Edge should sell a Star Tours accurate Rex at the droid shop.
  • The kiosks at the Disneyana currently sell weird artwork and Disney World promotional pieces. They should be selling the artwork for every attraction that's existed at Disneyland as well as famous art pieces found inside the park.
  • "Build Your Own Animatronic" style kits for children where they build a simple toy with limited movement. Gets them interested in technology and gets them doing something.
  • They should be cycling through high end scale models of famous park landmarks and vehicles at the Disneyana like they used too.
  • Individual frames of 35mm film near the Main Street Cinema of classic Disney films and shorts.
  • Park music. There needs to be a huge push to make more of the park music available online or in park.
 
Figments Friend

Figments Friend

Well-Known Member
I have always strongly felt that Disney missed the merch mark somewhat by not creating a train play set based on 'Big Thunder Mountain Railroad'.
Instant, easy money in the bank for them.
Kids would go absolutely NUTS for such a thing I would think...not to mention Park fans who love the Attraction.

A fun, large plastic molded set with play pieces kids can use with the iconic Mountain, various sized track pieces, and of course the iconic train and mine cars.
Plus bonus items such as stand up figures of the goat, maybe a few Rainbow Ridge buildings, or a tree or two.
Think of a plastic play set similar to those 'Thomas the Tank Engine' sets.....but it's 'Big Thunder' instead!

We see the overpriced play sets for the Park train, Monorail play sets, and the Castle sets.
How freaking COOL would it be to expand on that, and make a train set based on a famous Disney Attraction?

Why stop there.

How about play sets of other famous Attractions kids would love to play with.....and Park fans would likely sell their first born for -

Jungle Cruise play set -
Comes with plastic mat play area ( featuring 'rivers' and 'jungle' setting ), assorted 'wild animals', two launches, and related Disney character play figures.

Small World play set -
Similar to above, but with show building recreation as it's carrying case.

Haunted Mansion play set - instant sell out!
Mansion carrying case, with various play pieces. Use your imagination.

Splash Mountain play set - plastic molded 'mountain' that features a slide chute for 'plunging ' log vehicle(s) into the briar patch below.
Comes with related Disney character play figures.

-
 
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THE 1HAPPY HAUNT

THE 1HAPPY HAUNT

Well-Known Member
More Haunted Mansion, Splash. Mr. Toad and Lioncoln Merch. I would buy a GREAT MOMENTS WITH MR. LINCOLN t-shift if it was well done. Also let's pay respect to past, let's sell some shirts for rides no longer around like the People Mover, Rocket Rods, Rocket Jets. etc. lets sell some old school stuff.
 
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THE 1HAPPY HAUNT

THE 1HAPPY HAUNT

Well-Known Member
Rich T said:
I was watching an episode of the England-based Theme Park Worldwide vlog on Youtube (highly recommend: lots of fun and they take you to wonderful European parks and fairs you might never have heard of before as well as the big names) and saw this eye-opener:

Blackpool Pleasure Beach sells its old ride parts to customers. Wheel pieces, gears, gaskets, chain links... anything that's been replaced during regular maintenance. All tagged with their exact function and history.

Why doesn't Disney do this? Can you imagine going into a little mechanic shop on Main Street and paying fifteen bucks for a bolt from Splash Mountain that you could use as a paperweight? WHAT DISNEY FAN WOULDN'T LOVE THAT???? :D

What other merchandising opportunities do you think Disney's missing? They certainly seem interesting in selling things (understatement), and it seems to me they could do more fan-pleasing things than trash the Main St. Cinema to sell generic t-shirts.
Click to expand...
I love watching those guys. They have a great channel and always have fun and always give an unbiased and honest reaction and opinion. They are really fun to watch.
 
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THE 1HAPPY HAUNT

THE 1HAPPY HAUNT

Well-Known Member
Figments Friend said:
I have always strongly felt that Disney missed the merch mark somewhat by not creating a train play set based on 'Big Thunder Mountain Railroad'.
Instant, easy money in the bank for them.
Kids would go absolutely NUTS for such a thing I would think...not to mention Park fans who love the Attraction.

A fun, large plastic molded set with play pieces kids can use with the iconic Mountain, various sized track pieces, and of course the iconic train and mine cars.
Plus bonus items such as stand up figures of the goat, maybe a few Rainbow Ridge buildings, or a tree or two.
Think of a plastic play set similar to those 'Thomas the Tank Engine' sets.....but it's 'Big Thunder' instead!

We see the overpriced play sets for the Park train, Monorail play sets, and the Castle sets.
How freaking COOL would it be to expand on that, and make a train set based on a famous Disney Attraction?

Why stop there.

How about play sets of other famous Attractions kids would love to play with.....and Park fans would likely sell their first born for -

Jungle Cruise play set -
Comes with plastic mat play area ( featuring 'rivers' and 'jungle' setting ), assorted 'wild animals', two launches, and related Disney character play figures.

Small World play set -
Similar to above, but with show building recreation as it's carrying case.

Haunted Mansion play set - instant sell out!
Mansion carrying case, with various play pieces. Use your imagination.

Splash Mountain play set - plastic molded 'mountain' that features a slide chute for 'plunging ' log vehicle(s) into the briar patch below.
Comes with related Disney character play figures.

-
Click to expand...
Forget the kids, I would buy that Haunted Mansion Playset for myself! Great idea sir! Love it!
 
SuddenStorm

SuddenStorm

Well-Known Member
mickEblu said:
I’m glad I got the Tiki Room poster from there when I did. It’s 32 x 40, the biggest size they had at the time. I think they stopped doing the full size posters in the 90s or something?
Click to expand...

It's my understanding that they never sold the actual Park size posters, except for maybe a special event or two? But I'm probably wrong.
 
mickEblu

mickEblu

Well-Known Member
SuddenStorm said:
In that case, I want a Splash Mountain one!

It's a shame Disney doesn't sell the in park ones when they wear out and become faded.
Click to expand...

I know. They just end up at auctions for anywhere between 5 and 25k. The Splash Mountain poster would be on the cheaper side though.
 

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