My Fave Disneyland Merch
I have loved Disney ever since I was a kid. I remember at the end of a Disney VHS they used to play adverts for Walt Disney World and I would have given ANYTHING to go there! Before I had the chance to go to Walt Disney World I had been to Disneyland Paris quite a few times and always managed to spend more than enough money on the merchandise. I had never bought any Disneyland clothing until I went in 2006 and it was like opening a whole can of worms. When I was eventually lucky enough to get my ass to Walt Disney World a few years later, I really did go wild with the merchandise……. there was no holding me back! I think the final count of t-shirts I came back with was 30, while not all of them were from a Disney park, a large number of them were. In typical theme park style, the exit through the gift shop works a TREAT on me, I really am a sucker for a gift shop.
I am a lover of all types of bad and VERY bad tat and luckily for me, eBay and Depop are a HUB for unwanted tat including Disney merchandise. I really do love the merchandise from the 1990s, and because it wasn’t actually THAT long ago, the condition can still be quite good. My dream is to have a t-shirt from all of my favourite Disney rides, which is easier said than done due to the popularity of some Disney attractions. My AAAALL time favourite Disney Parks attraction has to be The Tower of Terror. I must say I am a thrill seeker when it comes to theme park rides and The Tower of Terror never gets any less nerving to ride. I am also a HUGE fan of the Classic Disneyland attractions such as The Haunted Mansion, It’s a Small World, The Enchanted Tiki Room, The Matterhorn Bobsleds and The Pirates of The Caribbean and these are the rides I don’t actually have any merchandise for. The 1990s input of attractions in the parks such as Star Tours, Indiana Jones Adventure and Rock ’n’ Rollercoaster are also some of my faves but I feel the merchandise is a little on the wrong side of bad taste for me. The Rock ‘n’ Rollercoaster merch is all a little too Rock Band, as in something a 50-year-old Aerosmith fan would wear still holding on to the early 1990s. The Star Tours merchandise can be either really amazing or a little too Star Wars focused, as in the type of t-shirt your dad would wear with Yoda on the front that you could get from George ASDA LOL. I do also find the Disneyland Paris t-shirts lack a bit of interest. I long for the ultimate tack of the US parks merchandise but I don’t think the European market shares my enthusiasm for this kind of tat haha.
I have managed to get myself a pretty extensive Disney Parks merchandise collection by using eBay and Depop (obviously, not all of it is featured in this blog sadly). I have recently managed to get my hands on a sun visor from the Disneyland Paris hotel, Newport Bay Club……… STILL IN THE WRAPPER!!! I bagged this beauty for £3 in an eBay auction, I think because it doesn’t SCREAM Disneyland it was overlooked. I did also get an Animal Kingdom opening year t-shirt from eBay. It is an oversized, beige crew neck t-shirt with the original Animal Kingdom logo on the front. I can’t remember how much I paid for this one but I know it wasn’t much at all. One of the most dangerous items of merchandise I started a collection of is Disney Parks Mr Potato Head accessories. I have spent waaaaaay more than I’d like to admit on these and the collection grew soooooo huge I had to invest in a special storage solution for them all haha. I first come across these fabulous accessories on my 2017 trip to Disneyland Paris. It was the end of the day, I had spent more than enough in the park and I discovered a pick and mix Mr Potato Head section in the Main Street Emporium. I stupidly didn’t buy any because they did not have any eyes left in stock but as soon as I got home I eBay-ed them and the rest is history haha. Now the accessories you could buy really blew my mind, you could get all kinds of Disney character hairstyles, shoes, eyes, you could get attractions such as the Mad Hatter’s Tea Cups and Dumbo The Flying Elephant carts to park tickets, pin lanyards and Mickey Balloons and soft toys.
The Tower of Terror, in my eyes, definitely has the best merch……. ESPECIALLY the t-shirts, the only downside to this is the price tends to be pretty high and they always seem to be located in the US so the delivery usually costs just as much as the t-shirt. This Tower of Terror tee is my all-time favourite from my collection. I love the image, colours, and that it is also printed on the back. The fit of the t-shirt is PERFECT, as I HATE a baggy or drooping neck on a t-shirt………. crew neck all the way, please!! I have worn this one sooooo many times and I have actually had to mend some of the seams as they have come away, which I don’t actually mind as it is so easy to do and means it can last a little longer!
One of the shining examples of finding a preloved bargain on the apps is this vintage 1990 Disneyland tee. It was released as part of the 35th anniversary of the park and the colours are simply a dream come true!! Not only are the colours a dream but it has an image of the castle (the best castle in my eyes from aaaall the parks) but it also has the main mouse, MICKEY! the colours of the design really do look unreal against the white of the jersey. I say this is one of the shining examples of a find from a preloved app because I only paid £9.99 for it. Now anyone can see that that is an absolute steal for a 1990s Disneyland tee! I honestly don’t know what the seller was thinking of, selling it for such a low price, I mean I’d have paid at least triple for it. As they say “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure”. I have worn this t-shirt quite a few times and the Daz white effect is slowly wearing off sadly and wearing a “real” gold necklace hasn’t helped to keep it looking fresh. Considering it is 31 years old, I think it is still looking pretty darn good!
Pins are a huge thing in the US parks and lucky enough for me, pins are a huge thing to me too……. a match made in heaven (or financial hell). I have managed to get (at least) one pin from each of the Disney Parks I have been to, including one from Disneyland Paris even though pins aren’t as HUGE a thing at that park. One of my all-time favourite Disney characters is Ursula from The Little Mermaid so it comes as no huge surprise that she appears on quite a few of my pins. I do have two featuring the same ride, Ariel’s Undersea Adventure, just from different parks. When it comes to pins I tend to go for either a more simplistic design or a more is more kind of design.
I do enjoy searching eBay for Disneyland merchandise, and I can easily spend a good hour scrolling through page after page of listed items looking for that perfect little gem. The best feeling is when something pops up that you had never thought about searching for, and this California Adventure souvenir watch. Watches are one of those items that you would have seen in every gift shop at every theme park but not something you see as much in recent years. I only ended up paying £5.00 for this watch as the seller refunded me some of the cost because it needed a new battery………… KAAA CHING! The second watch I managed to get my mitts on is this 40th anniversary for Disneyland. I won it at auction for a mere £3.50 and I couldn’t have been happier with it! I usually am not a HUUUUUGE fan of the colour brown but I do not mind it as much on this watch with the gold face and, obviously, Mickey Mouse swinging from the second-hand helps! The background I used for the watches pic I set them against a vintage Walt Disney World Caribbean Beach Resort sweatshirt I found on eBay. Now, this was an amazing find as I only paid £19.99 and it was in PERFECT condition and still had the original price tag attached. It has been 6 years since I last went to Walt Disney World and there is NOOOOO way on Earth you would have been able to find a Disney sweatshirt, on-site, for $30!
In the American parks, the Mickey ear caps are such a big thing. To me, these are one of, if not the most iconic items of merchandise to come out of the Disney parks or ANY theme park. The caps used to be worn by the Mouseketeers on the Mickey Mouse Club in the 1950s and from then on the felt circular caps with plastic ears have become the go-to souvenirs ever since. I have a pair of ears from Walt Disney World, Disneyland Resort, and also Disneyland Paris. I was lucky enough to be able to get my Instagram name embroidered on the back of the caps on the ears from the US parks. The first time I visited Walt Disney World I bought a friend a customized pair of ears as a souvenir and stupidly didn’t get myself some, it wasn’t until the year after when I paid a visit to Disneyland Resort I ran straight over to the gift shop that did the ears and then wore them the entire day!! The ears from Disneyland Paris I bought way back in 2007 and they only had either a silver or gold pair…….. so I naturally went for the gold. Sadly the elastic has gone on these ears which must be to do with the age of them but other than that they look as good as new! I did manage to bag a vintage Disneyland sun visor with a soft toy Mickey Mouse head on the front. These are exactly the type of thing I want to see in a theme park gift shop; fun, bold and pretty unwearable LOL. You will be able to see my entire collection of the vintage character 3D hats in my ‘Disneyland Character Hats’ blog that when live on November 20th. This collection really is the cherry on top of my Disney Parks merch and I will treasure them FOREVER! They really do sum up the Disney Parks from the 1990s and I would have spent hours as a child goggling at pictures of the parks from that era wishing I could get there and blow all of my parent’s hard-earned cash haha!
Look 1
Blazer - ASOS
Chain Necklace - ASOS
‘Van Cartier’ Necklace - Etsy
T-shirt - eBay
Jeans - ASOS
Belt - Moschino
Mag- Moschino
Boots - ASOS
Look 2
Denim Jacket - Ebay
T-Shirt - eBay
Belt - Moschino
Trousers - ASOS
Mickey Backpack - Primark
Trainers - Balenciaga