Walt Disney World is selling mysteriously non-branded, third-party Tower of Terror merchandise.
Fake Tower of Terror Merchandise
Though third-party merchandise is common at Disney Parks, it’s not usually based specifically on an attraction. Third-party items are usually clothing or souvenirs that one might also find at Target, Walmart, or tourist-area shops. You can also find generic pirate merchandise in the Pirates of the Caribbean gift shop, and generic Mount Everest merchandise in the Serka Zone Bazaar at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. These new items, however, are obviously directly based on The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, yet don’t state the name of the ride or feature any actual ride imagery.
There are shirts, a hoodie, and ball caps, made by different manufacturers. We couldn’t find the items available online from another seller, but it’s also unclear if they were commissioned by Disney. They have the manufacturer’s tags instead of Disney Parks labels.
They feature references to Sunset Boulevard, the 13th floor, and the year 1939, but no mention of the Hollywood Tower Hotel. The designs of the elevator doors, floor indicator, and buttons are different from the actual attraction. The primary reason you would know this is Tower of Terror merchandise is because it’s in the Tower of Terror gift shop.
The merchandise isn’t a cohesive collection, though some items feature similar designs or references. Their arrival comes with a restock of the bellhop Stitch plush, which is actually branded with the “HTH” Hollywood Tower Hotel logo.
When we walk into an attraction gift shop, we expect to see actual branded merchandise for the ride we just rode, not vague references. So why is Disney ordering and selling merchandise for a ride without including their own IP on it? This seems like something an independent fan or an Etsy designer might make, not the owner of the property.
A few years ago, Disney started to stray away from merchandise featuring the name Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. Since then, items have usually been branded for the Hollywood Tower Hotel, seemingly to avoid CBS licensing fees related to “The Twilight Zone.”
There is a real Hollywood Tower in Los Angeles, which partially inspired the look of the ride. Maybe the real Hollywood Tower decided they didn’t like their name becoming more strongly associated with the drop ride, but that seems weird to enact 30 years after the attraction opened.
As for supply issues, it’s possible Disney was running out of Tower of Terror merchandise and had to rush these items to fill the store. But why would that happen?
Neither answer explains why Disney wouldn’t put any Disney Parks branding on the items. We don’t think this is indicative of a trend of Disney making cheap unbranded merchandise, but it is odd. Or maybe it’s worse than it seems and the art on these products is AI generated…
The answer may be lost somewhere in the 5th Dimension, but this particular merchandise decision remains one of the most bizarre in the entire history of Walt Disney World.
What do you think? Let us know in the comments.
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