For the third time this month, the former ESPN Zone building at Downtown Disney District has held a reservation-only merchandise event to make available the limited-edition park-exclusive items that would have otherwise been available inside Disneyland and Disney California Adventure, had the Southern California theme parks remained open this year.
My appointment for this round of “Enchanting Extras” was for 11:00 AM yesterday morning, so I arrived at Downtown Disney around 10:15 to give myself some time to walk through the shopping area. Weekdays don’t tend to be quite as busy as weekends, obviously, so it’s always nice to have a relatively peaceful stroll around the only section of Disneyland Resort currently accessible to guests.
Despite the fairly low crowd level, there were still sizable lineups to join the virtual queues for the Star Wars Trading Post (formerly Wonderground Gallery) and World of Disney stores– the latter stretching all the way into the esplanade between the resort’s two parks.
Speaking of the esplanade, I did make my way over to the main entrances for Disneyland and Disney California Adventure just to say hello and check on any progress being made to reopen these happy places. But it seems as though we regular attendees of the Happiest Place On Earth will have to wait at the very least a little while longer to get back inside.
When my time came to line up at ESPN Zone, I walked back through Downtown Disney and joined the already-lengthy queue. Cast Members walked down the line to check people in using their reservations and photo IDs. They also shared a price sheet displaying the variety of pins that would be available once we found ourselves at the interior checkout stations.
I had planned to spend about $50-$60 at this event, so once I was brought inside I chose the very attractive pins featuring Peter Pan and the Matterhorn, a two-pack containing Merlin and the titular Sword in the Stone, and Pinocchio against the backdrop of Monstro the whale from the Storybook Land Canal Boats.
Also available as part of the “It’s a Small Fantasyland” Disneyland pin release were Alice in Wonderland, Dumbo the Flying Elephant, a hula girl with the iconic “it’s a small world” clock, a jumbo pin depicting Princess Aurora and Prince Philip in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle, a boxed set with an exclusive Snow White against King Arthur Carrousel pin, a framed set with an exclusive Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride pin, and a Fantasyland Couples Mini Pin Set featuring Snow White and Prince Florian, Cinderella and Prince Charming, Aladdin and Princess Jasmine, Belle and the Beast, Ariel and Prince Eric, Princess Tiana and Prince Naveen, Princess Rapunzel and Flynn Rider, and Aurora and Prince Philip. There’s also a Mad Tea Party Mystery Pin Set with the possibility of getting Alice, the Mad Hatter, the March Hare, the Cheshire Cat, the Caterpillar, the Queen of Hearts, Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum, or the White Rabbit. Lastly, a Villains Boxed Set includes the Queen of Hearts, Maleficent, the Evil Queen, and Captain Hook– all against silhouettes of various food carts you would see around Fantasyland.
For more information on future Enchanting Extras merchandise events, be sure to visit the official Disneyland Resort website.