The Magic, The Memories, and Merch! June 2014 Photo Report of the Disney Outlet Store

Welcome to the one year anniversary of The Magic, The Memories, and Merch! When I pitched the idea of a monthly photo report of the Disney Outlet Store to the Powers That Be, I was told it couldn’t be done. That it wouldn’t be done. And now after reading a year’s worth of articles from your humble author, most agree that it shouldn’t have been done. But without it, how would you – Dear Reader – be able to experience the wonder of Mickey’s Personal Disney Assistant, A print of Daisy Duck in the style of Johannes Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring painting, or a shirt with Darth Maul getting a rainbow painted on his face? It’s schadenfreude writ large, and I want to thank each and every one of you for being along the journey with me. Now let’s hit the outlet!

Walt Disney famously said “I only hope that we don’t lose sight of one thing – that it was all started by a mouse-stache.” Or something like that. I’m not good with quotes. Originally $3.95, these are now $1.99.

There was a ton of Flower & Garden Festival merchandise this month, including these lawn gnomes. The gnome riding the snail ones reminded me of the racing snail in the movie The Neverending Story.

I really enjoyed these artistic ladybugs and got a couple for our garden at home.

These Flower & Garden reusable tote bags came in a set of three for $2.99 (originally $12.95). One bag had a Minnie Mouse topiary, one had Mickey, and the other had Donald.

Maybe I’m watching too many movies, but this floppy straw hat with Mickey ears reminded me of the pith helmet that Dark Helmet wears in Spaceballs, and I have no idea why. Originally $34.95, this was $12.99.

These cute Flower and Garden ball caps $8.99, marked down from $24.95.

I’m not a big fan of these photo-montage shirts. Originally $24.95, now $8.99.

However, I did like this one with the Mickey lawn company on the back. Also $8.99 marked down from $24.95.

Flower and Garden magnets. This is pretty much the exact same design they had for last year’s festival. Although next year I will give a standing ovation if they just reuse the exact same photos and just switch the order around again. That, or just use a sharpie and cross out 2014 and write 2015. Either way would work for me.

Is it me or does this Donald Duck windchime look demonic? Originally only $11.95, now $8.99.

More lawn gnomes. Maybe I’m crazy, but wouldn’t a natural tie-in be lawn dwarfs? Especially with the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train opening up this year!

Very artistic lawn sticks. I actually bought the blue bird one in front. Various prices, the bird was $8.99.

An Easter Egg themed map of Epcot’s World Showcase. These were just $0.99, and I bought several. I love maps of every park and wish there more of them that you could buy.

I believe these assorted character eggs were also used for various Easter related activities at Epcot and other places at WDW this year.

Another addition to the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster bad merchandise collection. RnR Coaster is a first ballot Hall of Famer in The Magic, The Memories, and Merch! pantheon of awful merchandise. Apparently the boys at Aerosmith sign off on items even George Lucas would think twice about. Originally $36.95, now $19.99.

These may be the greatest shirts I have ever seen in my entire life. If you look closely at the picture, you’ll see that the moon is cracked for some reason. Has to be some weird reference to the Three Wolf Tee, right?

 

I am now going to spend hours coming up with an elaborately back story for this shirt, one where the asteroid that hit Earth actually hit the moon and cracked it, allowing dinosaurs to continue living in a world in which the oceans were all screwed up. Someone call James Cameron! I think I just cracked the spine on the Avatar sequel scripts!

Really good looking Lightning McQueen and Mater plush for $4.99, marked down from $16.99. Very high quality.

TONS of Doc McStuffins plush were at the outlet. This was a first.

Lambie, Stuffy, and Hallie. The fact that I knew the names of all three of these without having to research them tells you everything you need to know about my life.

Last month Animal from The Muppets made his debut at the Outlets, and this month Fozzie Bear joins him.

I think these “Fairy Tale Beginnings” dolls are awful looking compared to some of the other princess collections that are out there (my favorite is the Animator’s Collection). Originally $16.95, these were all $6.95, and they had pretty much everyone but Anna and Elsa.

 

Lots of Mickey and Minnie Mouse plush. I don’t get the draw of the black and white plush at all.

I was shocked, SHOCKED to see this “Beware of the Yeti” shirt. Didn’t it just come out? Now $9.99, marked down from $21.95, and I grabbed one of these.

Another Mickey Mouse shirt that looks like it must have been tied into one of the new Mickey Mouse shorts on the Disney Channel, similar to the Yeti one above. I can’t help but think of Universal’s Red Oven Pizza Bakery seeing that bike, though.

I wish I could have been at the meeting when someone pitched this shirt idea. It’s not horrendous, but there is nothing about it that I can see making someone want to buy it at full price ($36.95!!). There are usually hundreds of shirts at the outlets, and many of them are similar to this one in that there is nothing insane about them (like the dinosaur one), but there is nothing good about them either. They are just there. This particular one is now $14.99.

It seems each month a different World Showcase shirt from Epcot’s 30th anniversary goes into the rotation.

A Jessica Rabbit shirt. $12.99, marked down from $24.95.

Speaking of Who Framed Roger Rabbit shirts, check this out. Roger’s Piano Bar and Nightclub shirt. HOW GREAT IS THIS?!!  $14.99, marked down from $24.95. I don’t understand how they couldn’t be selling these by the truckload at the new Marketplace Co-op store. I love everything about it.

This St. Patrick’s Day shirt was originally $32.95, but now it is $14.99. The “2014” on it should bring that price down to $4.99. Seriously, who is buying this in the summer at $15 a pop? The same people who bought a Journey Into Imagination Christmas shirt that shipped in February, I guess.

I liked seeing resort merch, and this Animal Kingdom Lodge shirt was marked down to $12.99 (from $24.95)

Meanwhile this Animal Kingdom Lodge hoodie was originally $49.95 but is now $24.99.

And speaking of the Animal Kingdom, how awesome are these shot glasses featuring Kilimanjaro Safaris, Kali River Rapids, and Expedition Everest?! Originally $24.95, these were marked down to $10.99, and you better believe I bought them, especially after the article Six Reasons Animal Kingdom is NOT a Half Day Park.

Originally $24.95, this Canadian Mickey bag is now $9.99.

Coldstream Guard magnets. $2.99 each.

Epcot’s Rose & Crown shirt. Originally $21.95, now $14.99. Rose & Crown did quite well on my list of the Top Six Theme Park Bars.

Wrought iron puzzles. $10.99 each. The puzzle I couldn’t figure out is where in WDW these were originally sold. Is there an Amish pavilion in World Showcase I don’t know about?

Mickey Mouse and Disneyland tins for $1.99 each.

It’s a little known fact that TouringPlans’ own Guy Selga uses one of  these to hold all his unused FASTPASSes to Luigi’s Flying Tires.

Soarin’ Over California coffee mugs. $5.95. Whey can’t we ever get Indiana Jones, Radiator Springs Racers, or Haunted Mansion Holiday merchandise?!!!

Epcot fanboys would have loved this month pin selections.

They must have found a warehouse full of unsold Epcot 30th Anniversary merchandise.

 

 

Donald and Daisy Duck in Pirates of the Caribbean garb.

This Splash Mountain pin almost looks like one Universal would use for Halloween Horror Nights. If everything blue were red, it would legitimately look like Donald, Goofy and Mickey were being murdered by some haunted mountain.

Epcot 30th Anniversary lanyard.  I bought one for $2.99.

While not discounted, MagicBands and their related merchandise are taking up a larger area of the store.

These CoverBands aren’t even remotely good looking. How does this happen with the resources Disney has available?!

Typhoon Lagoon beach towel. All beach towels are $9.99 (originally $19.95).

Mickey winter hat and gloves. $4.99 each. When I took this picture, I believe the weather at the time in Orlando was 100 degrees with 300% humidity.

Does the State of Florida have the death penalty? If not it should be implemented for whomever designed this Vinylmation Mickey Ears. $3.99. I’m gonna be lenient with whoever buys one. Life without parole.

I cannot make heads or tails of this Disney California Adventure vinylmation. Is it supposed to be a red car trolley? This is one of those rare vinylmations that isn’t $4.99; it’s only $3.99. It’s weird that there are even levels within bad vinylmations, almost like Police Academy sequels and Ernest P. Worrell movies.

I ended the day by seeing one of the coolest pieces of art I have ever seen at the Disney Outlet Stores. Check out this canvas artwork of the Festival of Fantasy parade. Unfortunately you can’t buy it, they are dropped off by the Disney parks people to give outlet employees a talking point in order to help sell park tickets (and MagicBands, etc.). I thought this was gorgeous and would love to have it hanging on the wall of my man cave.

Here’a quick little story for those of you interested in my travels to provide you with this Pulitzer Razzie-award nominated material each and every month. My drive to Orlando is via the Florida turnpike, where every 40 miles or so there is a large rest area. Once you get within 100 miles of Orlando, the rest areas have displays with brochures of all the theme parks and tourist attractions of Orlando. The vending machines also have a whole bunch of Disney-related toys.

There are at least 20 vending machines, all offering different items (about half were dedicated to Disney with the other half including brands like Hello Kitty, Spongebob, and the NFL), but what I loved was seeing these voodoo dolls featuring DC Comics characters.

This I had to try. Tokens are $2 each, or 3 for $5. Hit the jackpot. These are wonderful.

There are actually two Disney outlet stores in Orlando. Both are in Orlando Premium Outlet shopping complexes, and they are called Disney’s Character Warehouse, presumably because The Land Of Misfit Toys was already trademarked. There is one Character Warehouse located on International Drive close to Universal Studios (4951 International Dr, Orlando, FL 32819), and the other is on Vineland Avenue, right across I-4 near the exits to Disney World (8200 Vineland Ave, Orlando, FL 32821). For this edition of MMM, we went to the location near Universal.

Previous editions of Magic, Memories and Merch: July 2013, August 2013, September 2013, October 2013, November 2013, December 2013, January 2014, February 2014, March 2014, April 2014, and May 2014.

If you liked what you read here, you may enjoy THE SATURDAY SIX articles every week on the TouringPlans.com blog, as well as the Pardon the Pixie Dust podcast.