Duffy

Duffy the Disney Bear Passholder Exclusive T-shirt

15 October 2011 by Suzannah Otis Leave a Comment

Since first learning of Duffy the Disney Bear‘s popularity in Japan’s Tokyo Disney Sea, I’ve been a huge fan and supporter of his presence here in the US Disney parks. I love reporting on Duffy’s new outfits and special edition Duffy bears already in costume.

So of course I was in attendance today when 750 Walt Disney World Annual Passholders received a special t-shirt commemorating Duffy’s one-year anniversary in the parks here. Also part of this event was a Duffy book release and signing by the illustrator, Monty Maldovan. This new story book tells the tale of Duffy the Disney Bear and is sure to be a favorite around these parts. The illustrations are simply darling.

Monty Maldovan signs books for eager Duffy fans

I’m continually amazed at what Disney gives back to its guests and annual passholders and today was no exception. Of course, the best part was walking through the door to my little guy and giving him Duffy’s new shirt and book. He was SO excited. As you can see, so were Duffy and friends:

Big Duffy reads to newly-shirted Duffy, as some friends listen in*

Thanks once again to Disney Parks for a memorable day!

^{*This photo scene is an homage to one of my very favorite children’s books – Edith and Mr. Bear by the talented Dare Wright.}

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Aulani, Halloween and Epcot Food & Wine Festival Duffy the Disney Bear!

2 September 2011 by Suzannah Otis 2 Comments

A reliable source (aka one of my amazing Disney cast member friends) has just let me know that an all-new Duffy Bear will be released for the 16th annual Epcot International Food & Wine Festival! ~~The design of the Duffy must remain secret for now,~~ but hopefully he’ll be released a little before the opening day of the Festival, September 30th.

EDIT: Thanks to the all-powerful StitchKingdom for letting me know that Food & Wine Duffy was actually at the D23 Expo! I actually walked right by him and didn’t take any pics. Oops, bad blogger. Can I blame being overwhelmed by Disneyland goodness? 😉 In any event, thanks to StichKingdom.com, I can now share photos of the Food & Wine Duffy NOW!

Epcot Food and Wine Duffy — 2011 Epcot International Food & Wine Festival Duffy the Disney Bear - image courtesy of Stitchkingdom

Aulani Halloween and Food and Wine Duffy — From left to right the new Aulani DVC Resort Duffy, Halloween Duffy, Holiday Duffy and Food & Wine Festival Duffy!!! Image ©StitchKingdom

That’s right, not only is there a 2011 Epcot International Food & Wine Festival Duffy, there’s an Aulani Resort Duffy and Halloween and Holiday Duffy’s too! Collect them all! 😉

Speaking of Food & Wine, did you know that the Disney Food Blog Mini-Guide to the 2011 Epcot International Food & Wine Festival is on sale now? The best part is it’s all in a .PDF file so you can carry it on your smart phone or iPad where ever you go, while you dine around the world! I’ve seen this guide, and it is worth every penny.

See Photos of World Showcase Booths and Food Before You Arrive!

You’ll have access to menus and photos (including many food photos!) from the World Showcase booths. You’ll also get location, time, and price details for every single event, concert, and seminar at the Festival. Our exclusive and customized bonus sections will help make your trip to the Festival your best visit ever.

Take a look before your trip to decide what menu items and events your family will enjoy, then book early to make sure you’re one of the lucky attendees! Time is money on a Disney Vacation; get the most out of both!

Keep checking back for news on the Food & Wine-themed Duffy!!

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Celebrate the Fourth of July with Independence Day Duffy!

21 May 2011 by Suzannah Otis 1 Comment

Something I noticed park-wide this past week at Walt Disney World was the presence of red white and blue everywhere. Cookies, cupcakes, and other treats were the most noticeable, aside from these plush friends –

Fourth of July Duffy — Fourth of July Mickey Mouse joins his Duffy friendsth

Costumed 4th of July Duffy is on sale $30 these guys were spotted at World of Disney in the Downtown Disney Marketplace. I thought the cute old-school Mickey Mouse was adorable too! Hooray for the red white and blue! 😉

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PARK PHOTOS: Fun Antenna Toppers and Easter Duffy the Disney Bear

28 March 2011 by Suzannah Otis 4 Comments

Those following my twitter stream may recall my posting a picture of the fun new antenna toppers I found a few weeks back:

Disney Cars Monsters Inc Monorail antenna topper — Cars, St. Patrick's Day Mike W. from Monsters Inc. and a Monorail

Well now that St. Patrick’s Day is over, some more new antenna toppers were spotted in the parks by Disney fan Aurora:

Cars Monorail Flamingo Mohawk Disney antenna toppers — Cars, Monorail, Happy Flamingo with Mouse ears and a Mohawk Mickey!

I love the new additions! The flamingo is one of my favorites as you may remember from my post about the lawn flamingo Disney sells too! The punk rock Mickey head with mohawk, pierced ear and sunglasses is cute too. Just wait till you see the back!

Mohawk Mickey antenna topper — A "Mom" tattoo!

And more new merchandise – for the upcoming Easter holiday, Duffy the Disney Bear is all decked out in an Easter Bunny costume, complete with fuzzy slippers. Will Duffy replace Peter Cottontail?? Thanks to Shelley C. for the photo!

I think the bunny slippers really make this Easter Duffy Bear!

If you’re in the parks and spot something unique or cute that you’d like me to share, just drop me a photo at zanna@zannaland.com or tweet me @zannaland and I’ll be happy to post it here with credit to you of course! 🙂

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WDW 40th Anniversary Merchandise & New Duffy Costumes

18 January 2011 by Suzannah Otis 6 Comments

On a recent visit to the Magic Kingdom, I was super excited by all the wonderful Walt Disney World 40th Anniversary merchandise, and wanted to share some with you. Check out all the new items below (click to enlarge photos):

40th Ladies t-shirt — WDW 40th picture frames and ladies Castle projection T-shirt

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Cupid Duffy Flies into Disney for Valentine’s Day

3 January 2011 by Suzannah Otis 3 Comments

In keeping with Disney’s promise to have a Duffy for every season, Valentine’s Day Duffy is out and I must say, with his little fluffy wings, he’s quite adorable! The costumed Duffy’s are $25 and a little smaller than the regular sized Duffy. The costumes are attached and do not come off. You could probably put the separate costumes on top of the attached costumes, but since they are made for slightly larger bears, they will be a little big.

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Duffy the Disney Bear Arrives in Epcot-Photo Tour of Everything Duffy

14 October 2010 by Suzannah Otis 5 Comments

Today saw the arrival of Duffy the Disney Bear to his new home at Epcot’s World Showcase. Fans, media and Disney Cast Members alike queued up to welcome Duffy, get their picture taken and perhaps even pick up a Duffy plush bear to take home. Duffy’s meet and greet area is in a newly constructed *shaded* gazebo overlooking the flagship merchandise shop – “Everything Duffy.”

Walt Disney World Ambassador Vanessa Rosas introduced Vice President of Epcot, Dan Cockerell who then welcomed Mickey (dressed in his sea captain outfit) and Duffy from the nearby Friendship boat landing. After singing the official Duffy song and cutting the ribbon, Duffy headed over to the first of his two appearances: 12:20pm – 2:30pm and 3:45pm – 7:00pm. Be sure to check the official times guide or with Guest Relations to see when Duffy is appearing during your visit.

Speaking with Disney Trading Project Manager and all around cool guy, Steven Miller (who let me know today he’s taking on more projects, including Duffy – awesome!), he expressed the excitement about bringing Duffy on board and the many new things to come in the next few months. He was just shown a mock-up of the promised Duffy Ear Hat and said it looks great. Can’t wait to see it!

It was a good sign for potential success that all the World Showcase-themed costumes were sold out in a matter of hours! More are on the way and “Everything Duffy” Cast Members told us there will be a Halloween costume coming soon along with the other Duffy holiday and celebration costumes we mentioned previously on ZannaLand.

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Facts On Duffy The Disney Bear’s Move to Epcot’s World Showcase Oct 14

20 September 2010 by Suzannah Otis 13 Comments

Saturday, September 18th saw the Walt Disney World Annual Passholder preview of Duffy the Disney Bear and his move from Japan’s Tokyo Disney Sea to our very own Epcot World Showcase. Duffy is getting some mixed reviews among die-hard EPCOT Center fans that would rather see money spent on new or improved attractions. Call me a sentimental girl, but I for one am excited for Duffy’s arrival and supportive of the treatment he’s getting as he get introduced to the rest of Walt Disney World.

I look at it this way – as a young girl visiting EPCOT in the early 1980’s, if Figment was given the same love and attention that Duffy is receiving now, I’d have been as happy as, well, a little girl. This is not just some random bit of merchandise being promoted without any research or follow-through. Duffy has experienced great success among Japanese Disney fans and while I don’t anticipate he’ll be quite as popular here, I can appreciate that he has a “history” and is not just going to show up on store shelves. If you don’t like Duffy, there is no reason you have to partake in Duffy madness, but for those with a softspot for cute and cuddly characters, he is a welcome friend.

As ZannaLand reported earlier last week, Duffy merchandise will be plentiful in World Showcase. Here are the Duffy Fast Facts, as discovered Saturday:

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Duffy the Disney Bear to Have a Costume for Each World Showcase Country

16 September 2010 by Suzannah Otis 1 Comment

We’re going to dive right in with something reader Shelley C. discovered today about none other than Duffy the Disney Bear. As you may recall, Duffy will be appearing to passholders this Saturday in a special presentation welcoming him to Epcot. Many people wondered if Duffy would appear park-wide, in addition to the question of whether the existing “Disney Bear” that once appeared at Walt Disney World was still available. Shelley answers those questions for us here —

After seeing a picture of Duffy Bear taking up residence in the Emporium on Main Street on Twitter, I decided to head on down and check it out! When I got there, I found it quite curious that there were no Duffy or Disney Bears on the shelves. However, I had also noticed that over the past week the Disney Bears that were once available at Once Upon a Toy and World of Disney had vanished. I asked around, and found out a little more information about our Tokyo Disney Seas import.

According to a management cast member on Main Street, USA, Duffy is going to be primarily based in EPCOT, but have ties to the Disney Cruise Line. He will have outfits that represent each country of World Showcase, some everyday outfits (rain coats and such like Pal Mickey had), the sailor suit that he is seen sporting in most of the Annual Passholder emails, and a Disney Cruise Line uniform. They were vague about Duffy having his own “store” in EPCOT, but said that he would definitely be “around”. However, don’t get your hopes up to Shellie Mae anytime soon (Super Boo on this part).

We’ll have to wait until Saturday for more information, but a resort wide launch is planned for around October 14, 2010. Stay tuned…

~Shelley C.

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Duffy the Disney Bear Finds a Home in Epcot-Passholder Preview

27 August 2010 by Suzannah Otis 9 Comments

Duffy at Tokyo DisneySea — photo courtesy of cafetricot on flickr

Fans of Disney’s Tokyo DisneySea may be familiar with the very popular bear, Duffy, who graces the park as a character, plush toy and many, many other forms of merchandise. As the story goes, (you knew there was a story, right?) Mickey Mouse was about to leave on a long sea voyage. Minnie gave him a stuffed bear so he wouldn’t get lonely. Mickey kept the bear duffel bag, and the name “Duffy” was born. Aww.

Duffy has his very own Disney site in Japanese, an unofficial Facebook page, countless flickr photos and ebay auctions for bears, outfits and more. He was for sale, though not referred to as Duffy, simply “The Disney Bear” briefly at Walt Disney World, making character appearances during Teddy Bear Weekends here in Florida. I happened to have purchased one back when my 11 year old was first born. I think I loved him more than my son did. Since I have a a love for all things Japanese as well, I was pretty excited about Duffy coming here to Epcot. Update: read all about Duffy’s arrival this October.

The good news for annual passholders is they will get a sneak preview and special hour-long presentation all about Duffy on September 18, 2010, at 11am, 2pm and 6pm at the Odyssey restaurant in Epcot. Reservations for this event open Tuesday, Aug. 31, at DisneyWorld.com/passholder to all current Disney World passholders. However, Weekday Select and Epcot After 4 p.m. passholders will need valid admission to Epcot. To read more about the details, check out Kristen Ford’s story on The Daily Disney. Duffy should begin making regular appearances in World Showcase’s Japan pavilion in October.

I can’t wait to sign up and be there for Duffy madness to arrive here in Florida. Hopefully he will receive as warm a welcome as he did in his Japanese home. Okaeri nasai, Duffy!

Duffy the Disney Bear — My own Duffy, getting ready to surf the internets.

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Duffy

See Photos of World Showcase Booths and Food Before You Arrive!

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