Duffy the Disney Bear in the Tokyo DisneySea show My Friend Duffy.
Duffy the Disney Bear is a Disney character that can be found at the Tokyo Disney Resort, Disneyland and Disney California Adventure Park in California, Walt Disney World in Florida, Hong Kong Disneyland and Disneyland Paris. As the story goes, Minnie Mouse created Duffy for Mickey Mouse as he was packing for a long voyage at sea. Duffy is available for purchase and at "meet and greets." Duffy is seen a lot in the Disney Parks where kids carry them around,
Although originally created for and briefly sold at the Disney World Once Upon a Toy shop in Orlando in 2002, Duffy only became popular after OLC executives adopted the character, gave it a name and a backstory, and aggressively marketed it in the Tokyo DisneySea park. Japanese fans took to it and some of them started to carry around multiple Duffy plush bears during their visits to the park. The My Friend Duffy show replaced a Donald Duck-themed show at the American Waterfront Cape Cod Cook-Off hamburger restaurant in 2010.
Duffy was previously known as "The Disney Bear" with an entirely different backstory. The original story found on the tag of the first released bear's ear said that Mickey brought his favorite bear to Magic Kingdom Park. Mickey sat in front of the castle wishing that he had a friend with him to share the excitement and magic of the park. Tinker Bell appears and sprinkles pixie dust on Mickey's bear, bringing it to life. Mickey then hugs the bear and a Mickey-shape appears on the bear's face, forever bonding Mickey and his new friend.
Duffy the Disney Bear joined the American Disney parks on October 14, 2010. He was welcomed at Epcot in Walt Disney World and Disney California Adventure Park at Disneyland Resort.[1] He then joined Hong Kong Disneyland Resort on November 19, 2010. He was welcomed at Main Street, U.S.A. in Hong Kong Disneyland Park.[2] He joined Disneyland Paris on June 2011. He made his official debut in Disneyland Paris at Disneyland Park on November 7, 2011, for its holiday season. He has his own character greeting area and photo location in Town Square. He has a character greeting location at Disneyland Hotel and at Disney's Newport Bay Club Hotel. He participates in the daily daytime parade "Disney's Once Upon a Dream Parade" in the Christmas unit "Dreams of Christmas". He is also at the daily nighttime show "Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony".
Duffy is featured in the video game Kinect Disneyland Adventures, where players can interact with him although he doesn't speak.
Duffy is unique among Disney characters in that he was not first featured in a Disney movie or TV show until he made his television debut in the 2010 Disney Parks Christmas Day Parade. He also is on his own Bedtime Story Channel in Walt Disney World.
On 13 December 2012 Duffy debuted in the Disney Store in the U.K., as well as the Disney Stores in the United States.
References[]
External links[]
- Official Tokyo DisneySea site for Duffy the Disney Bear (Japanese)
- Duffy the Disney Bear on MouseInfo wiki
- Duffy the Disney Bear lands on U.S. shores, Los Angeles Times
- Duffy the Disney Bear: Mickey's New Friend, bed-time story book
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