Credit: DisneyA recent report suggests a big part of the Disneyland Resort experience may have lost its magic for guests. According to recent visitors, merchandise offerings at Disneyland Park, Downtown Disney, and Disney California Adventure Park are so lacking in variety and quality that they can be compared to Walmart.
Picking the perfect souvenir is one of the best parts of a Disney Parks vacation. Will it be a trading pin and a Spirit Jersey? Maybe a Mickey Mouse plush and a Loungefly backpack? It’s always a delight to bring something home to remember the most magical trip.
Unfortunately, that wish hasn’t come true for recent Disneyland Resort guests. Reddit user u/LilPickleBoii recalled loving every part of their first-ever visit to Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure Park… except the merchandise.
“I left empty handed after a 3 day trip,” the guest began. “… I found the selection to be very underwhelming for the premium pricetag.”
“I felt like a huge amount of the offerings were repeats from store to store, like on the surface the 50 stores seem unique but in reality they had the same 5 Coco things, the same Jack Skellington shirt etc.,” they continued. “I get why this is the case logistically but d**n it made it extremely easy to hold on to my money.”
“Also the quality was visibly very meh, like I anticipated high prices and yeah they were high but nothing much seemed to be a step up from like… Walmart,” they added.
The guest wasn’t alone.
“The girl I went with literally has Disney merch all over her dorm and she too left with NOTHING!” they wrote. “She really wanted was a Disney 100 tumblr or mug and after 3 days she couldn’t really find anything.”
“The shops in the parks used to have much more diverse merchandise, even 6-8 years ago,” u/BettyFosterRamsey replied. “The rule of thumb was to buy what you saw when you saw it because you might not find it again at another shop. Also, the pricing has gotten insane. Now the shops just feel like extensions of the Shop Disney website, instead of having unique items only found at the parks.”
“I wish the different stores had different things to offer character wise,” u/ImReallyAMermaid_21 echoed. “I feel like I always see Mickey and his gang which makes sense and then it just seemed like when I was at the parks in 2019 most of the store was newer movies. I hardly saw any women’s clothing that was any of the older princesses and hardly saw any lion king.”
“It’s sad that the personality has been sucked out of the park with regards to retail,” u/staplerinjelle agreed.
Disneyland Resort is already working on new souvenirs. Production teams closed multiple areas at Disneyland Park this week to film 2024 merchandise advertisements. But fans weren’t thrilled about what’s to come, either.
“There has never been a cute color scheme for the annual merch ever,” one said. “It’s always ugly.”
“When will Disney in America step up their merch game?” another asked.
Are you happy with Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World Resort merchandise? Share your thoughts with Inside the Magic in the comments.
Please note that the story outlined in this article is based on personal Disney Parks guest experiences. No two guest experiences are alike, and this article does not necessarily align with Inside the Magic’s personal views on Disney Park operations.