Every year, around this time, we see the release of Disney’s PRIDE Collection of merchandise. I marked it on my calendar for today with a big question mark, expecting there to be some news of the colorful new collection, if not a few pieces starting to trickle through; and yet, nothing. Every year, news, previews, and sometimes even the full collection are released well before official PRIDE Month in June. This week, seeing a release date for Disney’s American Collection, before any news of PRIDE, has me wondering what is happening. We saw one rogue item arrive (I suspect by accident) far too early, and then nothing but radio silence on the rainbow celebration.
Disney! What is going on? You know I am a control freak, I can barely handle this. First, you leave me out to dry without the usual release of Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party deets until just yesterday, now you are freezing me out on early access to PRIDE merch? The confusion is strong on this one. As much as I try to avoid the more extreme opinions about inclusion, or lack of inclusion, as if the assumptions we decide to jump to are as simple as the reality, I am left wondering if this is a sign of something bigger in the works, or perhaps Disney downplaying the once famed celebration within the USA theme parks. Not as a singular event, of course, it seems to be following the trend of more scarce information this year. We are seeing the same tight-lipped approach to the EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival, only just yesterday releasing this year’s dates, and there is a distinct lack of Halfway to Halloween excitement that usually begins to haunt us from around mid-April.
All hurt feelings aside, Disney vacations aren’t the quickest things to plan, especially when you are coming from the far corners of the globe (yes, I did that on purpose). When special celebration dates that you are counting on aren’t released, it does make it very difficult to get your vacation affairs in order.
Is there a bigger mystery afoot when it comes to Disney’s new strong and silent approach to sharing new event information?
