Currently a souvenier shortage in parks, WoD

[mickey&missy]

CaptainJessicaSparrow & Experiement626 I truely feel bad for you guys right now!

I seen people be soooo nasty to CM's. I can't imagine how people are being right now!

[ibelieveindisneymagic]

Wow! This is crazy! I can only imagine how horrible some people must be. Perhaps the distubution management should come to the stores and take the heat from the customers...it might give them some incentive to get this solved quickly.

[lwhan4]

We're arriving Friday - 2/8 . Should we be expecting a lot of bare shelves or are just certain items out of stock?

[beksy]

We're arriving Saturday for our 1st trip in years and are definitely shopaholics (or at least I am! ) so I was wondering the same thing.

[crltkcagle]

I hope things get better soon captain jessica. I will be there for a trip in september so where do i find you? I love to meet fellow intercoters!

[MickeyChick]

Huh? We were there from 1/25 to 2/1 and didn't notice any real issues. They didn't have normal mouse ears at the Chapeau but we found them at a Kiosc just in front of the train station. We brought them over and Chapeau embroidered our names on them

Oh there was one other weird issue. We wanted to get a set of small-sized Mickey and Minnie dolls in the YoaMD outfits (the sparkly blue ones) and most places had large Mickey and small Minnie or small Mickey and large Minnie. I told a cast member at the Emporium, I think, what I was looking for and they found it for me.

Just cause it's cute, I have to tell the story... my sweetie's ex wouldn't let their kids come with us on the trip, but we're planning to bring them next year. So as an intro to the park and a special souvenir, we bought the dolls and took pictures of them all over the parks. I'm going to put the pictures in a 2008 photo album and give it to them with the dolls.

[CaptainJessicaSparrow]

Huh? We were there from 1/25 to 2/1 and didn't notice any real issues. They didn't have normal mouse ears at the Chapeau but we found them at a Kiosc just in front of the train station. We brought them over and Chapeau embroidered our names on them.

That's because we are really good at hiding it. If you ever see the Emporium when we have what's supposed to be out, you can clearly see a difference in the layout and setup of the merchandise.

There isn't a huge wall full of castles and two train sets set on a shelf with overlapping. There isn't two walls in the Princess room dedicated to pink ear hats. There is usually a wall full of various Princess dolls, there is usually a variety of sizes (most are limited only to one or two sizes). There isn't 100 spots were the same merchandise is located.

Trust me, you won't see bare shelves because we've either filled it with the only items we have in stock or we've removed them (which has been the case - we recently removed an entire fixture due to lack of merchandise).

The example you gave with the plush is a result of the merchandise shortage - we aren't getting what we need at the same time. There are sets of small plush for both Mickey and Minnie. We just aren't receiving them...along with the Pluto dreams plush. Or pirates swords...or regular Goofy hats. It's stuff that once you think about it, you realize it otherwise you don't noticed.

But as someone who works there, you notice.

See, and everyone here is always wanting to know about the backstage magic!

[Aggie97]

Just returned from WDW last night... we definitely saw how the merchandise presentation was different and much more sparse. I really noticed a shortage in the availability of sweatshirts and fleece pullovers. There were four different styles I was interested in, and I could not find a size L or XL in any of them, after looking at every shop that sells clothing at all four parks, DTD, and five different resorts. I've never had that happen before! I feel bad for the CMs. I remember working at The Gap in college -- how nasty people were when we were sold out of everything on Christmas Eve day -- and I can only imagine how bad it can get at WDW!

[Dopey's Girl]

Hopefully they can get these issues resolved soon (like before march first when I check in!)...that has to be cutting into profits pretty badly!

Thanks to all you CM's out there for taking care of everyone when they get crabby! As someone who worked retail (toys for 9 years) I know how crazy people can get when they shop!

[CaptainJessicaSparrow]

It's better than it was, we're getting stuff in (finally) but from a CM point of view, it's still pretty bad.

We're still missing a lot of merchandise. But a lof of our key items are back in (including all sizes Ear Hats!)

I know our inventory has been pushed back into April (it was originally suppoed to be Jan) so I'm not sure if that is a sign as to how long they anticipate this continuing for or not.

[RoosMomKanga]

See my trip report "Just Us: Shopping" for our experiences/purchases this week.

CaptainJessicaSparrow thanks again for the shipping info. We used it!

[DigitalDaredevil]

I was there a few weeks ago and noticed that the shirt selection was horrible. They did not have the sizes. I did see some larger sizes like 3x which was a nice change, but large and xlarge were nowhere to be found. I checked several stores, DTD and the parks and ended up settling for items that I preferred in different styles. The other styles were available but not in the sizes we needed. I hope they clear this mess up soon. It seems that a company like WDW would not drop the ball like this.
WDW also seemed to drop the ball on the MGM / Hollywood Studios changeover. I did not see one pin, shirt, or item available that had the new logo. People would be chomping at the bit to buy the first items of the changeover. the only thing I found were the new park maps and they were finally getting around to changing the signage along the roadways.

[CaptSmee]

Wow, I never thought I would live to see the day!

What a crazy thing to be happening!

How the heck do they run out of mouse ears??? That has to be a staple at WDW!!!

[branvy]

Yikes! I wonder if the person responsible for this mess is the same person in charge of the oh-so-reliable Disney websites

[DDuck66]

Just a quick update. I went to DHS on Sunday March 2nd, and the merchandise seemed to be a little better. They even had a DD shirt in a
2XL that I had been looking for since January. The supply of coffee was still low but the did have the Disney Blend in both regular and decaf. Hopefully when we go for a week in May, it will be sorted out.

[DisneyDudet]

I did notice that when I ordered 3 shirts from Disney (Monorail shirts, with the Spanish door spiel), it took longer than normal. I knew before ordering that they were out, but they acted like they had some in stock. I finally got them and they are great!

I hope this shortage ends soon. makes me sad that people cannot go get some of the things they've been waiting all their life for.

[ncscgirl2005]

Just cause it's cute, I have to tell the story... my sweetie's ex wouldn't let their kids come with us on the trip, but we're planning to bring them next year. So as an intro to the park and a special souvenir, we bought the dolls and took pictures of them all over the parks. I'm going to put the pictures in a 2008 photo album and give it to them with the dolls.

Cute idea.

[disneyvivi1980]

I haven't been to WDW since September 2005 and I was looking forward to get the blue YOMD mouse ears, do you think I'll be able to get them in mid-April?

I'm also getting a Fort Wilderness throw I photographed in 2005 and regret not getting at the time...

Hope this issue will be solved sooner rather than later.

[CaptainJessicaSparrow]

For the most part, the issue has been resolved. Most of our merchandise is back in stock, in most sizes. There are still a few times when there is less than others in the parks. You should be able to find the YOMD hats in the stores by then.

[disneyvivi1980]

Thank you CaptainJessicaSparrow!

Could you please, I'm sorry I forgot, where you work exactly. I will try to go and see you when I'm getting down in a month...

Thank you again!