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disappointing Merch

chainedbanana

chainedbanana

Hyper Poster
So far this year I've been to to Alton, Efteling, Shanghai and Hong Kong Disneyland - a small selection of what you could argue are some of the best theme parks in the world - and what I've found across the board is the disappointing Merch! ......to be honest Alton had the best offerings of the lot, especially the new Wicker man shop!

And in all these places - what I've been looking for is custom park centric or ride-specific merch of a decent standard!..... and I've found hardly anything! Where is the well designed home-where, interactive toys, figurines or prints of ride posters (looking at your disney). or souvenir guides filled with artwork, or nicely designed backpacks, holdalls, passport covers etc?

everything is generic and plasticy

last year at Phantatsialand I basically walked into their main gift shop on a high (because Phantasialand) - with what was potentially and open wallet mentality (I would have just scooped up things without looking at the price) - but found nothing I remotely wanted!!! I was ready to flash the euro - but meh!

I also often find all the best designed apparel is on kids t-shirts - without adult size alternative! lol

One thing I DID find at Efteling was themed room fragrance based on a couple of rides - which was genius!..... but that was about the limit of their offerings!

I know it's all about what the GP will buy and not enthusiasts - but I do think parks need to up their game, especially Disney, whose brand IS quality!

Where do you think has the best Merch? whats the best bit of merch you've seen?
 
I was similarly disappointed in Phatasialand merch!! I was so keen to buy something epic... in the end I got a small 'Matamba' painted pebble and a Talocan mug. I think that was it though!
 
Ride posters would be lovely. Normally settle for a nice postcard.

chainedbanana said:
last year at Phantatsialand I basically walked into their main gift shop on a high
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Never been in the Phantasialand shop, always too busy being kicked out of the park (because Phantasialand).

chainedbanana said:
One thing I DID find at Efteling was themed room fragrance based on a couple of rides - which was genius!..... but that was about the limit of their offerings!
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Efteling CD by far the best thing.

chainedbanana said:
I also often find all the best designed apparel is on kids t-shirts - without adult size alternative!
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Seem to remember that for Mystic Manor. Spite.
 
Honestly, I'm not gonna lie; The Steel Vengeance merch is a bit trash. They're either too bland, too juvenile, or just not my style. I ended up just going with the basic stats shirt.
 
Phantasialand's merch is fairly poor. The only decent things are the sound tracks and Talocan t shirts!!

I remember the merch in Japan being poor. Most parks just had biscuits in ride shaped boxes!
 
I was disappointed at the lack of merchandise with the park logo on at Efteling. It was just shocking. Blackpool Pleasure Beach have seriously stepped up their merchandise game this year.

My favourite merchandise from parks has to be a Shiriki Utundu bobblehead and Journey to the Center of the Earth miniature ride vehicle from Tokyo DisneySea. Other than those I normally try to buy a keychain with the park logo from each place I visit.
 
HeartlineCoaster said:
Ride posters would be lovely. Normally settle for a nice postcard.


Never been in the Phantasialand shop, always too busy being kicked out of the park (because Phantasialand).


Efteling CD by far the best thing.

Yup:- CD's are best - and Efteling, Europa and many other european parks are good at them!


Seem to remember that for Mystic Manor. Spite.
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Yes - Mystic Manor lol
 
Zek_Teh_Kek said:
Honestly, I'm not gonna lie; The Steel Vengeance merch is a bit trash. They're either too bland, too juvenile, or just not my style. I ended up just going with the basic stats shirt.
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That is a shame, is the rest of CP's merch better? Hoping to pick up some nice tidbits.

I will chip in and say I had the same experience with Phanta, and basically everywhere in Europe that I've done recently tbh. They all seem to love to stock branded IP stuff (Plopsa was the worst for this!) but I feel like Joe public would like the ride stuff if they made it. It seems to work for merlin in the UK.
 
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Hansa Park had some nice unusual stuff. I bought a pair of garden secateurs with polished wooden handles, and a piece of oak bark hand carved into the shape of a rabbit. No, really.
Also, back in the day when it was under the stewardship of Universal, Port Aventura had some amazing merch, really high end stuff. I particularly remember some gorgeous clothing in the Wildy Westy bit - genuine cowboy hats, boots, belts n stuff. Too pricey for this peasant, unfortunately.

At the other end of the scale, both Phantasialand and Liseberg had disappointing merch. I was ready and willing to part with cash but just couldn't find anything I wanted.

Nah, as much as it grieves me to say this, I think Merlin parks probably have the best souvenirs. I do love an oversized mug!
 
SilverArrow said:
That is a shame, is the rest of CP's merch better? Hoping to pick up some nice tidbits.
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Yes, as far as I know!
I got a cool Maverick shirt last year with a giant horse in front of the word Maverick, but the word is split into "MAVE" and "RICK" in a vertical alignment. I really like it!
I also know that Gatekeeper's and Valravn's shirts are great, as well as Millennium Force and TTD!
 
Merlin, Walibi and Movie Park Germany have the best selection of merch from my trips.

Phantasialand is the only park where I've bought a t-shirt from in the last 6 or so years (I tend to prefer subtle stuff, and their Klugheim one with the Taron ram logo fit the bill perfectly for me). They've got some okay stuff, but they could do SO much better.

Efteling really surprised me with how naff their selection was, though I guess the majority of their stuff is tailored to the younger market. Though I'm sucker for pin badges; if you actually end up visiting during the 3 week window when any of their decent ones are seemingly available of course...

All other parks I've visited feel like they're missing a trick with merch. It feels like such an easy thing to do and a great way to make extra money, but everywhere else just seems to disappoint.
 
@Howie if I remember rightly there's a shop near the entrance of Hansa Park that sells homeware thats completely unrelated to the park. So random!
Phantasialand was disappointing, it's the only park where i've considered buying a goon t-shirt but I left empty-handed because it was all ****.
I've always thought Disney was pretty good, there's always good ride related stuff in the exit shops.
IP merch is well annoying when you want to get something linked to the park or a specific ride, but seems to be the norm in a lot of parks now.
 
Rachel said:
@Howie if I remember rightly there's a shop near the entrance of Hansa Park that sells homeware thats completely unrelated to the park. So random!
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That's it - that must be where I got my secateurs from. I remember seeing sofa cushions and crockery sets in there too, loads of weird stuff.
But... how is it unrelated to the park though? I'm sure it was inside the park itself? Not that it matters really, just curious.
 
You want terrible merch head to the Chinese parks. Biggest load of ****e I've ever seen. Actually bootleg market tat sold EVERYWHERE. INCLUDING Disney. And barely a thing park branded - the only things I found with branding on were random items from seasonal events and for some reason a travel cushion with Fantawild branding? Everything else was the lowest of the low.
 
I thought BGW had surprisingly good tshirts (I got a vintage Loch Ness Monster shirt).

And I thought Hershey and KD were weirdly devoid of any park-related shirt that an adult could wear.
 
I was so disappointed there was no good Taron merch at Phantasialand or most German parks for that matter. I was ready to spend money but there was nothing to spend it on.
 
nadroJ said:
You want terrible merch head to the Chinese parks. Biggest load of :emoji_poop:e I've ever seen. Actually bootleg market tat sold EVERYWHERE. INCLUDING Disney. And barely a thing park branded - the only things I found with branding on were random items from seasonal events and for some reason a travel cushion with Fantawild branding? Everything else was the lowest of the low.
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I was JUST coming here to say the same thing. The Chinese parks are absolutely dreadful for souvenirs, even the big chains like Fantawild and Happy Valley. I think the "best" park-branded stuff I've seen at either has been an umbrella. Otherwise, the gift shops are just full - well, "full" is pushing it given the often half-empty shelves - of cheap, generic, plastic crap with no connection to the parks at all. Just s**ty toys that you could pick up at any Chinese street market.

I don't think I even stepped into a shop at Shanghai Disney, but Hong Kong isn't great compared to the American parks. You can find some nice bits and pieces in some of the smaller shops (decent Mystic Manor stationary and that music box is FAB, for example), but if you wait until the end of the day and hit the main shop on Main Street, it's very generic Disney merch with very little park-specific stuff. Their clothing is mostly HIDEOUS as well. If I want Disney t-shirts, I get much nicer ones at Uniqlo for a fraction of the price. Ugh, and the Ion Man shop? It's just full of generic Marvel toys. Dreadful.
 
Howie said:
That's it - that must be where I got my secateurs from. I remember seeing sofa cushions and crockery sets in there too, loads of weird stuff.
But... how is it unrelated to the park though? I'm sure it was inside the park itself? Not that it matters really, just curious.
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I mean unrelated in that the stuff they sell has nothing to do with the park itself. Like if you could get a sofa cushion with the Hansa Park logo on it then it would make sense but it was stuff I could get from literally any homeware shop on the high street.
 
I always try to pick up something from each park, usually a pin badge if possible, a ride T shirt if it makes my top 10 (or a really good flat), plus something a little different. Biggest disappointment was definitely Liseberg, the Helix tat was garbage and there was nothing else in the generic shops either.
PL I wasn't as annoyed about as I got the kids some stuff and their kids selection is pretty fab really, plus a couple of decent Chiapas things and the Talocan T shirt.

Dollywood is king, so much great Merch all over the park.
 
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