Disney Merch Strategy: Eevee Plush, Interactive Popcorn Buckets, and DCA's Ferris Wheel History

Disney Cruise Line's Eevee Plush Debut

• 🚢 A new Eevee plush, inspired by towel animals, is launching exclusively on Disney Cruise Line ships starting February 8th.
• 🧸 The plush features Eevee wearing a Mickey ear hat with a gold embroidered cruise ship logo, a tribute to the emotional cruise line commercial from the previous year.

Interactive Popcorn Buckets and Collectible Strategy

• 🎡 To commemorate Disney California Adventure's 25th anniversary, a new interactive popcorn bucket shaped like the Pixar Pal-A-Round (formerly Sun Wheel/Mickey Wheel) will be released on February 6th.
• 💡 This bucket features swinging gondolas and interactive lighting effects using "Magic Inside" technology, designed to attract attention and collector interest.
• 🎨 EPCOT's Festival of the Arts is also releasing an interactive Figment popcorn bucket for $29, featuring a removable, color-changing paintbrush, continuing the trend of highly sought-after collectible merchandise.

Disney's Crackdown on Resellers

• 🚫 Disney has implemented an all-sales-final policy at Character Warehouses and cast member stores as of February 1st, eliminating refunds and exchanges.
• 🛍️ This move aims to combat the widespread practice of live-streaming sales and bulk purchasing by resellers, which has made shopping difficult for regular customers.
• ⚖️ While intended to curb reselling, the policy has also impacted legitimate shoppers seeking exchanges for sizing or other issues, sparking debate among fans.

High Fashion Meets Disney: The Cinderella Doll

• 👠 Victor & Rolf have collaborated with Disney to create a collector Cinderella doll debuting during Paris Fashion Week, targeting adult collectors and fashion enthusiasts.
• ✨ The doll features Cinderella in a modern haute couture gown with the phrase "I came, I saw, I left early" and wears high-fashion heels instead of glass slippers, with a smartphone accessory frozen at 11:59 PM.
• 🎬 This doll is part of a larger strategy, potentially linked to the "Disney Princess: Create Your World" documentary series, signaling Disney's push into the luxury collectibles market.

The Misunderstood History of DCA's "Ferris Wheel"

• 🎡 The Pixar Pal-A-Round at Disney California Adventure is technically an eccentric wheel, inspired by Coney Island's Wonder Wheel, with 16 of its 24 gondolas sliding back and forth.
• 🎢 Originally the Sun Wheel, then the Mickey Wheel, its design has been controversial since DCA's inception, with some fans believing Walt Disney disliked such rides.
• 💡 However, historical evidence suggests Walt did not hate Ferris wheels; concept art for Disneyland's Fantasyland included a Ferris wheel, and his father Elias worked on the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, which debuted the first Ferris wheel.
• 🏰 The myth may stem from Marty Sklar's dislike of circus acts like the "Globe of Death" at Disneyland, leading to the creation of the Partners statue to prevent similar attractions near Sleeping Beauty Castle.
• 🎠 Early Disneyland concept art also showed a Sorcerer Mickey hat flanked by two working Ferris wheels, intended to be part of an attraction, but this was abandoned due to manufacturing and deadline challenges.