Tag: magicbands

New Dooney & Bourke Haunted Mansion merchandise now available

A new Dooney & Bourke Haunted Mansion collection is now available online and at Disney Parks!

The collection was first released as a Parks exclusive, alongside a Princess Tiana collection. As reported by the Disney Parks Blog, a release party was held on July 22 in the Marketplace Co-Op at Disney Springs.

dooney & bourke haunted mansion

The handbag artwork was created by Paola Gutierrez, Senior Graphic Designer with Disney Consumer Products and Interactive Media Creative Group, and comes in a rich purple hue with a repeating pattern featuring the Haunted Mansion’s Madame Leota. Three bags are available, a Shopper ($268), Letter carrier ($198), and Wristlet ($98).

dooney & bourke haunted mansion

The letter carrier was my favorite bag in this new collection, seen here at the Marketplace Co-op.

Important to note: pictures on the Disney Blog and elsewhere on the net made the bags, and the band, look more of a blue-violet than a true purple, but as you can see in the photo above, taken at the Marketplace Co-Op at the first weekend of release, the actual bag is a rich, vibrant color.

The Madame Leota design also appears on a limited release retail MagicBand, presented in a specially designed box. As with all MagicBand 2’s, guests can use  their bands to enjoy their Disney vacation to the fullest, with “effortless theme-park entry, FastPass+ redemption and Disney PhotoPass , to skipping the front desk and going directly to your resort room.”

dooney & bourke haunted mansion

The new Dooney & Bourke Haunted Mansion collection can now be purchased at select merchandise locations at Disney Parks, on DisneyStore.com, or via the Shop Disney Parks app.

Walt Disney World 45th Anniversary products releasing this month

Magic Kingdom celebrates its 45th Anniversary on October 1, 2016. Some great news for Disney fans who like to shop: in commemoration, there are some exciting new 45th Anniversary products releasing this month at  Magic Kingdom and, for select items, the Shop Disney Parks app.

Two new Dooney & Bourke handbags in a special 45th Anniversary design will premiere through the Shop Disney Parks app on September 15, and will be available for purchase at the Emporium on Main Street, U.S.A. starting September 22.

45th Anniversary Dooney & Bourke

New Magic Kingdom 45th Anniversary commemorative items out at Disney this month! Click To Tweet

More from the Disney Parks blog:

Many of the logo products, including apparel, open edition pins, home goods and more, will be released in select locations at Magic Kingdom on September 22. Best places to check for these logo items include the following locations:

Main Street, U.S.A. – Emporium
Tomorrowland – Mickey’s Star Traders
Storybook Circus Area – Big Top Souvenirs
Frontierland – Briar Patch

We will be releasing several items on October 1 at the Emporium. Guests and Annual Passholderswill find “I Was There” shirts. We will also have a limited edition pin (edition size of 3,000), and a limited edition retail MagicBand (edition size 4,500).

45th Anniversary shirts and pin

RUMOR: New device to replace MagicBands?

There’ve always been a lot of rumors about Walt Disney World replacing or changing MagicBands, none of which have come to fruition. Today, though, thanks to some intel from MagicBand Collectors, there’s reason to think it might actually be happening.

A new post on the FCC’s system for MagicBand ID Q3E-MB-R1G2 shows some pictures of a prototype MagicBand puck that would fit into a changeable strap. This would allow guests to keep the same puck and interchange different straps as they would like.

MagicBands disk

[source: MagicBand Collectors. Visit their site for more images, including a size comparison with current MagicBands. The “puck” looks huge here, but actually appears to be approximately the size of a nickel.]

I’m hearing this is technology more like the FitBit step tracker — I don’t use one so I’m not familiar with the details in that regard. The idea is that you would snap this “puck” into a strap as either a bracelet or a necklace or perhaps a key fob. This would lower the cost of those straps (theoretically) because no chips would be embedded in each one, thus lowering production costs and IT support for Disney. Rumor has it that as guests’ accounts fill up with multiple MagicBands from multiple trips, this causes headaches and backup for Disney IT.

I personally see this is an all-new accessory revenue stream for Disney. Special light-up necklaces to hold your “puck” for nighttime or parties, new graphic designs for every character and every season — the possibilities for merchandising are endless, and no longer limited by needing that special chip in each decorative version.  Right now Disney fans and park visitors love to buy limited edition MagicBands or ones featuring their favorite characters. In the future, you might be able to buy all kinds of items to hold your “puck”.

Will Disney replace MagicBands with a new wearable device? This rumor might be for real. Click To Tweet

My thoughts: well, the thing is, I like MagicBands the way they are. I know a lot of park visitors don’t, but I think it’s fun to wear one. I’ve never had a technical problem with mine and I love the convenience. So this is a problem I didn’t think needed fixing, but it might be more of a back-end issue than something users can see. My first and foremost thought, though, is that it seems ridiculously easy to lose these, and thereby create headaches for everyone involved getting them replaced. I don’t know how easy or difficult it will be to “pop” them in and out of wearable straps, but there’s always a chance, with something removable, of it coming loose. More to the point, there are going to be plenty of visitors who don’t like wearing anything, or hate feeling cluttered, and just shove the disk in their pockets — thereby making them as losable as loose change. Since I’m not one of those people it’s not my problem to solve, but I can’t help thinking it’ll be a future factor.

There are currently no official announcements as to when we may see these in the parks — this is just in the rumor stage. But with the FCC filing, we know something is being tested at least — according to MagicBand Collectors, there has been a working prototype already tested behind the scenes.