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Frequently Asked Questions about Disney Parks Merchandise

The official Disney Parks blog recently published a helpful post for any fans of Disney merchandise: answers to the most frequently asked questions about shopping at the Disney parks.  If you like to collect all the unique swag that you can from the parks, this post is just for you.  Let’s look at the points. The first is that some merchandise is completely unique to the Disney Parks.  While the Disney Store and other affiliates do sell some pieces in locations all around the world, there are some things that you can only get if you’re in one of the … Continue reading →

Disney Logo Change

When I went to see “The Muppets” I was so excited for my favorite puppet troop’s long-awaited big screen revival that I didn’t notice something interesting. In fact, I didn’t even realize that this something had happened until December, when all of a sudden a ton of news stories broke about it (perhaps I wasn’t the only one who didn’t notice right away). Disney’s changed its famous pre-film logo again. This time, instead of giving it another animated overhaul, they’ve changed the name. Rather than saying “Walt Disney Pictures,” it just reads “Disney.” The funny thing is, even when I … Continue reading →

Winter & Spring Disney Deals

I know we’re all thinking about Christmas right now, but if you’d like to take a trip to a Disney Park in the near future, now’s actually time to focus your thoughts instead on the first few months of next year. The Disney Parks rarely hold deals for the busy holiday season, but they’ve already begun posting savings on their websites for the winter months of 2012. Disney World loves its free dining plans. If you book a vacation to the Florida park in the next week (by December 17), you can earn a free dining plan applicable between January … Continue reading →

A Disney Christmas

It seems like this year Disney’s not rolling out anything special for Christmas. Decorations and celebrations at the parks started at least as soon as Thanksgiving passed, if not earlier, and the Christmas Day Parade filmed at the beginning of December. Holiday-themed posts are rare on the official Disney Parks blog. With Christmas starting so early around Disney, by the time the actual dates for the holidays roll around there isn’t much to report. Even Disney’s televised Christmas special retreads last year’s material. However, that might not be such a bad thing. I loved the premise of “Prep & Landing” … Continue reading →

Disney a Most Trusted Company

Last week I mentioned that Forbes Magazine named the Walt Disney Corporation as the world’s third most trusted company. I promised I’d elucidate the idea further. The parameters of the study, which was actually carried out by the Reputation Institute (a company which “helps corporate clients manage their images”), declared these companies the ones that “consumers like, trust, and respect the most.” Disney, following Google and Sony, earned a global reputation score of 77.97. Unfortunately the study doesn’t specify what that’s out of; I’m assuming out of 100 but list topper Google only ranked a 78.62 so it might be … Continue reading →

Disney Reviving the Radio Serial

Every year at Christmas the cable channel TBS plays the same movie for 24 hours straight, starting around midday on Christmas Eve and ending on Christmas afternoon. Though a large portion of the film relies on an increasingly outdated nostalgia, it’s still a Christmas classic; one that, thanks to its devoted following, has created a new nostalgia specifically for the world of the movie itself, thus cementing its place as part of the annual Christmas experience. One of young Ralphie’s many misadventures in “A Christmas Story” centers on his devotion to the “Little Orphan Annie” radio show. Ralphie never misses … Continue reading →

Disneyland Scholarships

The month-long period between mid-May and mid-June seems full of one thing: graduates. Starting with college graduations in the middle of May and continuing with the high school graduations scattered throughout June, it seems there’s a fete for a graduate everywhere we turn this time of year. Of course Disney, as famous as is it for throwing huge celebrations, has to get in on the fun. Every year the Disneyland Resort grants 10 high school seniors $5,000 each in scholarships to help further their education. The Disneyland Scholarship Program is about more than just good grades. Students who want to … Continue reading →

Would You Buy Walt Disney Signature Products?

I’ve talked a lot about the Disney merchandise permeating our lives, about the “must have” mania it can sometimes inspire, or just the fun experience of being a collector it can involve. I’ve mentioned some of the bizarre merchandise Disney offers, but I haven’t really gone into just how much Disney there is that we don’t recognize. Obviously a company as large as Disney owns several properties that don’t brandish their Mouse Ears: television channels ABC and ESPN, the newly-acquired Marvel, even the publishing company Hyperion. But that’s not what I’m talking about. Today I’m interested in the brands bearing … Continue reading →

Bizarre Disney Merchandise

How’s this for bizarre Disney merchandise: scratch and sniff Mickey Mouse Popcorn Ears. That’s right, you read it. I’d repeat it if I were speaking aloud so you could hear it again, but in this instance, you can just head back to the previous sentence and reread. If only I had a picture I could show you here. Instead, I’ll have to describe it: picture the typical Mouseketeer hat, the simple black felt cap with two round black ears on either side. Instead of the felt cap being black, it displays, the whole way around its base, an image of … Continue reading →

The Disney Toy Company

The LA Times has recently run a number of articles on the new philosophies of the Walt Disney Corporation, as determined by CEO Bob Iger. One of the latest summarizes Iger’s position the best: he’s all about the merchandising. Case in point: “The Proposal.” The Sandra Bullock-Ryan Reynolds romantic comedy from last year grossed millions, making back the cost of its production in spades. So, inevitably, the suits behind the film suggested a sequel. But because the film comes from Touchstone Pictures, which is a subsidiary of Disney, Iger ultimately calls the shots (should he so choose) on this sort … Continue reading →