It all began with a photo frame… and then the onslaught began! With less than 18 days to go until the 15th officially gets underway, they aren’t taking any chances in the merchandise department. You want pens, postcards, placemats, playing cards? They’re all covered. And you forgot to bring enough clothes for your anniversary dream? Don’t worry – you can practically get a whole new, 15th Anniversary wardrobe.
It’s no secret that Disney anniversary merchandise is a guaranteed sell – products from the 5th Anniversary were some of the best selling in the resort’s history, and even the limited items for the 10th flew off the shelves before the year was out. For the 50th Anniversary of Disneyland celebrations in California, fans waited in line hours for first-pick at exclusive merchandise. After being on an offensive to increase guest spending in the last two years, Disneyland Resort Paris is going for the big one. Soon, you might be able to live entirely off of products emblazoned with the number “15” – the merchandise line is truly that big.
Whilst Walt Disney Studios is still reported to be fairly dry, Disneyland Park has been met with a tidal wave of new products in recent days, many of which Scrooge from DisneyMagicInteractive.com captured on camera…
Left-right/top-bottom: Photo frame, mouse ears hat, cola sweets, cake/sweets tin, mug and cup, photo album, table placemat, A3 poster, adult t-shirt, girls’ top, kids’ sweatshirt, white kids’ t-shirt, blue kids’ t-shirt, pen, autograph and scrapbook, notebook and pen.
And just a couple of days later, Scrooge adds even more to the collection:
Left-right/top-bottom: Postcard, bookmark, keychain, wallet, magnet, colouring book and pens, packaging close-up, playing cards, mobile accessory, tin, shoulder bag, baseball caps, light-up necklace, photo frame magnet, mini snowglobes, colouring pencils, plastic folder.
It’s true that many of the items here are lower-value products, and so far there appears to be little for the dedicated fan. As the countdown continues, though, more and more products appear. Aside from the limited editions of the Pin Trading line, there have even been rumours of such top-line merchandise as snowglobes based on the floats of Disney’s Once Upon a Dream Parade.
The boutiques themselves are also gearing up the big launch, hoping that, at this very moment in just 18 days’ time, all these items will be flying off the shelves faster than they can say “just like we dreamed it!”.
As usual, it’s the old-fashioned stores of Main Street USA that are first to receive their new anniversary overlay. After a sweeping series of refurbishments and remodelling to almost all of the street’s boutiques in recent years, the stores are more ready than ever for an extra influx of merchandise hunters.
Special decorations and point-of-sale locations starring Lumière have already arrived at The Storybook Store and elsewhere, whilst the last-chance Plaza East & West Boutiques were first to receive their 15th Anniversary-themeing for clothing rails, shelves and more. All the branding is in a more enchanting and less modern style to the general 15th marketing – one that fits more than comfortably with that of the land itself, which bodes well for the similarly-styled banners and decorations due to arrive in the street itself soon.
Photos from Joel’s latest Photo Hunt show that the Emporium is now home to countless miniature banners amongst the old banknote-carrying system in the ceiling, hung on special, ornate gold frames and each decorated with a small golden tassel. But it’s not only the big Main Street stores ready for the April anniversary guests – the merchandise line has now reached smaller boutiques such as La Girafe Curieuse, seen above, where it is all on prominent display outside the store.
Merchandise photos by Scrooge on the forum of DisneyMagicInteractive.com
Final two photos by Joel.
