Though the Disneyland Resort theme parks remain closed, last week the popular Southern California destination announced a new reservation-only shopping opportunity that would allow guests to pick up some exclusive merchandise celebrating Disneyland’s 65th anniversary. This “Enchanting Extra” was held in the former ESPN Zone building in the resort’s Downtown Disney District shopping area over the past three days, August 31-September 2.
I was lucky enough to grab a reservation for Wednesday after the event was revealed, and I showed up yesterday to Downtown Disney ready to check out what items were available. Upon arriving at ESPN Zone, I found that a line had formed at the building’s entrance, though I was told I didn’t need to join the queue until 15 minutes before my scheduled appointment time, which was 1:00 PM.
I wandered through Downtown Disney until my time came around, then returned and joined the wait. It didn’t take very long to move up to the Cast Members doing check-in, who took my name and looked at my ID before assigning me to one of the checkout registers inside the building.
The exclusive items available during this “Enchanting Extras” shopping experience were the above-pictured Sleeping Beauty Castle snowglobe sipper and the below 65th anniversary Disneyland pins (limit two per pin, per customer). The sipper sold for $17.49 and the pins were $17.99 each, so I only purchased one of each. I chose the Donald Duck / Disneyland Railroad pin, but the other dozen pins also represented attractions that were open on Disneyland’s opening day in 1955.
Also available at this special shopping opportunity was the new Disneyland Resort Halloween shopping tote bag, though guests can pick that up at the nearby World of Disney flagship merchandise store as well.
Obviously the castle snowglobe sipper and attraction pins were meant to be sold as in-park exclusives during Disneyland’s 65th anniversary year, but it’s great that the resort found a way to make them available to guests, even if only through this reservation-only event.