I just returned from a fabulous trip to Disneyland and Club 33 this week and my nitpicky brain picked up on something that I had not thought about in a good while- bags.
Show of hands! Who misses bag individuality in the park? I sure do! I will let my Disney dork flag wave and admit that I actually do keep most of my Disneyland shopping bags (because I keep everything from that place), but I will say that I’m not a fan of them. I was especially disappointed that even Club 33 doesn’t have their own merchandise bag; they have their own tissue paper, but not bag.
Normally, I preach the need for the flow and cohesion of storytelling in the park, but this is one time where I do not like it. I would really love to see some specialty, land-specific bags back. Granted, some of the individual bags came from the lessee establishments, but I feel that it would really create more of a realistic experience, especially to Main Street. It might also subconsciously divide Disneyland up so that it didn’t all feel like one large shopping experience. While we’re on the topic, I would also like the return of land-specific merchandise. But, that’s another blog entry.
To refresh everyone’s memories of merchandise bags of the past, I stumbled on this wonderful Disneyland Flickr Pool and found the following artifacts of consumerism (unless otherwise credited), before it all went to one design around 1990 for the 35th anniversary. Great stuff!
My personal favorite, circa late 70s-80s. I actually made stationery out of this. Word files look a lot more fun now! Photo credit.
It just makes your purchase from the Art Corner a little more special! :)
Bags from the 1970s. Photo credit.
Original bag from the 1950s. Love the atomic styling of it!
This is also one of my favorites! Look at the charm!!
Yep, they had their own, too! Photo credit.
Small wonder what decade this represents!
The individuality spilled out into the Disneyland Hotel, too!
This is also a great bag! I can only assume that perhaps it contained a little something from the One-of-a-Kind shop?
The styling on this bag is great. I love the red accents!
For your psychedelic purchase. Photo credit.
This bag is also from the 60’s. Be sure to enlarge it so you can see the wonderful line drawings. Photo credit.
Looks to me like 2 delicious churros would fit in here! Great piece from the 1970s.
And, just for fun, because I found it in my travels, a bag from the 1964 World’s Fair. Photo credit.
