Duffy The Disney Bear: Passholder Event at DCA

Yesterday, Disneyland passholders were treated to a private presentation revealing details about Duffy The Disney Bear’s upcoming presence at Disney California Adventure.  Although I am actually in the US right now, I could not get down to Disneyland this weekend for the event, so I sent my parents who are both passholders to obtain information for my Disney Theme Parks column.

Thankfully, Mom is great at note taking and obtained pretty detailed information about the entire event.  The following recap is thanks to her!

The event was held at Stage 17 inside DCA, the old building for the Who Wants to be a Millionaire attraction.  Apparently the event was not entirely full as passholders who were not registered came up to inquire what was going on and were told they could join the 2pm presentation if they wanted, however the couple declined as they had a young child with them.

Attendees were given wristbands and vouchers for treats and once inside, they were reminded that no photos and no recording devices were allowed.

The stage was set with director’s chairs, decorative flowers, large screens, and Duffy posters hanging above.  The host of the event was Jason Palmer who appeared on stage carrying his own Duffy Bear that he takes everywhere with him.

Jason recruited a volunteer, Sage, an eight year old boy from Carson, California to come up on stage.  Jason informed the guests that the presentation would be filled with lots of bear puns and and Sage’s job was to keep track of the number of puns and apparently be in charge of sound effects during the presentation.

The story began with Jason explaining that Mickey Mouse set out on a windy day and Minnie was in tears finding out Mickey was going on a trip.  She got out her sewing machine and made a bear to keep Mickey company on his journey.  Mickey shouted with glee and since he came in a duffel bag, Mickey named him Duffy.  They set off on their journey and visited places all over the world like Paris and Mexico (I see the tie in to all the new costumes coming here).

The first guest was Quinn Shurian, Disney Ambassador.  Quinn showed the dressed bears that are coming.   From my mother’s notes, it seems there will be smaller, 12 inch dressed bears for holidays, and then costumes for the 17 inch Duffy Bear.  Some of the holiday Duffy Bears included St. Patty’s Day, Bunny Duffy (Easter) and Holiday Duffy (Christmas).  Some of the costumes shown included Mexico and China.  There is a My 1st Duffy that pretty much looks like the current release bear at the parks now.

Some of the Duffy Facts relayed (here come the bear puns):

Duffy will debut at Treasures in Bearadise Pier (Treasures in Paradise Pier).  Right now, Duffy is subearvising photo locations in DCA.  They are going to have locations set up where you can photograph Duffy, just like at Tokyo.  Bear necessities will be sold at Treasures.  He added that even though there will be shoes, Duffy prefers to go bearfoot.  (Killing me with the bear puns here!)

Apparently Quinn also shared that his Duffy is going to a soccer game and will be in the Anaheim Fall Festival, riding on a float with Quinn.

The next guest up was Dara Trujillo, Manager of Merchandising, Synergy and Strategy & Overall Domestic and International Brand Management.  She shared that Minnie searched all over the world for the squishiest fabric for Duffy, which is why he is so soft.  She showed all the hidden Mickeys on Duffy, and referred to the one on his behind as a “birthmark”

Dara also shared that Duffy is quite tech savvy, he will have his own Facebook page (both my Duffy and Shellie May already do!) and that Duffy will be tweeting for the Disney Parks.   She also took the opportunity to throw in a bear pun on a  Blackbeary and IPaw’d.

There will be special photo ops in the park and it will show on Facebook where Duffy has been.  There will be photo locations around the park where you can photo your Duffy, just like TDS.  Interesting to see they are giving Duffy a social media presence – sounds as though they are picking up in a lot of ways that Tokyo Disney might not be capitalizing on (at least that I can find in English).

Next, Dara asked the audience if they knew what Duffy’s favorite food was – she said it’s fruit (groan for insertion of more bear puns here) — strawbearries, raspbearries, blackbearries, bluebearries, and so on.

That was the segue into what Duffy foods they will be offering.  So far, there will be the rice krispy treat and a chocolate cake with ganache icing.  Later on, there will be a molded mug and a popcorn bucket (sometime in the fall).  They also plan to bring out a menu activity placemat featuring Duffy.

Attendees were also treated to a sneak peak of other merchandise — in March there will be a special flocked pin, a limited edition ear hat and they plan to change the mold for the Vinylmation figures from Mickey to Duffy.   And apparently, Duffy is going to be in the ABC Christmas Parade on his own float!

When Duffy debuts on October 14, there will be a place to meet Duffy on Paradise Pier.  She said they will be handing out “I just hugged Duffy the Disney Bear” stickers.  Not sure how long that will go on for.

They are bringing some merchandise over from Tokyo — the 28″ Duffy, a magnet, a key chain, and a zipper pouch.  The 12″ pre-dressed Duffy Bears are going to be US exclusives (groan for the pocketbook and the lack of display space at home!)

At the end of the presentation, Jason gave Sage his own Duffy Bear!  They also announced one member of the audience would receive a bear and one seat had an envelope taped to it – a lady just a few rows behind my parents was the lucky winner.

Jason then announced Duffy was at the presentation and then Duffy came out and up on stage.  The presentation then ended with them saying, “Where will you take your Duffy?” which was the last image projected on the screens.

After the presentation, attendees were invited to look at all the merchandise and they were allowed to purchase one Duffy Bear and a sailor outfit.  The bears will retail for $25 it sounds like and the outfits (at least the sailor) was $15.  From the photos she took, I definitely think the quality is not up to TDR par, but given the price difference, I cannot say I am all that surprised.  This will make them more affordable to those who cannot swing the Tokyo prices — I have to admit when I was at TDS last week, I spent quite a chunk on Duffy stuff.  The Halloween outfits retailed for more than Duffy and Shellie May!

My mom took quite a number of photos for me, which I appreciate.  I have asked her to take some close up photos of this Duffy’s tags and storybook, which I will post when I receive.  It appears she had quite a lot of fun with the new Duffy Bears.  She and her best friend each purchased a bear and sailor outfit for themselves, and my Dad purchased one for me as well.  I have not been told which one of the three bears is mine yet!   I think I have created addicts as they took their new bears and wandered on the property taking photos!

I wish I could’ve gone as I heard there was one girl in attendance from Tokyo who brought her naked Duffy along.   Had I been there, I would’ve had all my bears (4 Duffys and 1 Shellie May lol).  I am actually traveling with 7 bears right now — bringing back a Duffy and Shellie May from Tokyo for Mom, so now she will already have 3 full size bears to dress!)

Thanks again to Mom for supplying me with all this info and the pictures!  Still working on editing all the photos I took last week at Disneyland Paris, Tokyo Disney, and Hong Kong Disneyland – hope to have them up later this week, so please check back — starting a new photo heavy blog is definitely time consuming!

Please check out the video from the OC Register’s coverage of the Duffy the Disney Bear presentations yesterday:  OC Register Video on Duffy the Disney Bear