New Disney Resorts-Specific Merchandise Unveiled

As you will know, we usually don't post news regarding merchandise, but this time we want to report some new Disney hotels-specific merchandise that was just featured on the Disney Parks Blog. Take a look:

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Disney Resort Icons Inspire New Merchandise Arriving This Summer at Disney Parks

I love staying at a Disney Resort hotel. I’ve stayed at nearly all of them in Walt Disney World and Disneyland Resorts. The first Disney hotel my family stayed at was Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa in summer 1992. There is something magical about staying at a Disney Resort (I love that blast of cool air when entering a hotel lobby). My favorite place is Disney’s Polynesian Resort as I like pretending I’m on a tropical island somewhere in the South Pacific (and they have a Dole Whip machine!). New merchandise featuring a few favorite Disney Resort hotels is arriving this summer. I recently gave you a sneak preview of these new items in an article about summer merchandise. This time, I caught up with Disney Design Group artist Tim Whalen who created the artwork for this new resort logo program.

“We wanted a different point of view from the character artwork we introduced in spring 2012,” explained Tim. “Some time has passed since we had non-character resort themed merchandise for some of our most popular hotels. For this new program, I chose symbols or architectural details that represented each resort. In a way, the details are like characters that guests may immediately recognize when staying at those specific hotels.”

Those iconic details include a lighthouse representing Disney’s Old Key West Resort, a turtle for Disney’s Vero Beach Resort, a beach chair for Disney’s Hilton Head Island Resort and racing horses for Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa. Tim told me that he added a Hidden Mickey to each of the designs.

The completed artwork was then applied to a variety of new items including apparel, drinkware, magnets, key chains and window decals.

I asked Tim about his favorite design.

“I think I like the clean look of the design for Disney’s Hilton Head Island Resort,” answered Tim. “I have stayed at the resort in South Carolina. It’s such a relaxing place to get away from it all.”

Which is your favorite Disney Resort to stay at during a Disney vacation?

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As we stated before, we usually don't focus so much on merchandise, but in the past few years Disney has been removing some of the resorts-specific items around the Walt Disney World Resort to make way for more general items. We are glad to see them going back to the old mentality. After all, everyone loves to take home at least something to remind them of the resort they stayed at.

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