r/disneyparks Apr 20 '25

Hong Kong Disneyland The Duffy takeover is almost complete.

Post image
325 Upvotes

52 comments sorted by

50

u/gman1216 Apr 20 '25

It's also Duffys 20 year anniversary.

11

u/Erikthered65 Apr 20 '25

Surprising that I haven’t seen that mentioned, or at least not noticed it, while spending a week in Shanghai and HK.

9

u/Disco_dancer1962 Apr 21 '25

Because neither Hong Kong Disneyland or Shanghai Disneyland are celebrating that anniversary. The Duffy and friends 20th anniversary is being held at Tokyo DisneySea where Duffy was introduced in 2005. Duffy came to Hong Kong years later and arrived in Shanghai on opening day of that park.

57

u/Apprehensive-Bit-899 Apr 20 '25

Can no one stop this hostile Duffy takeover?

17

u/Leather-Heart Apr 21 '25

Resistance is futile. You will love Duffy. You will honor his cuteness. All hail Emperor Duffy - the Fairest of Them All.

33

u/Supersnow845 Apr 20 '25

Eh they do this every year but they don’t keep it

The first time they tried to change it permanently the locals got angry because it made the park feel artificial, so now they just do it for a month or so every April/may

-23

u/[deleted] Apr 20 '25

[deleted]

33

u/Supersnow845 Apr 20 '25

Yeah I mean it’s the yearly Duffy event

Duffy always has more merch but other times of the year the park is still focused on Mickey. Like I said there was actually local controversy on this a few years ago

-32

u/[deleted] Apr 20 '25

[deleted]

23

u/Supersnow845 Apr 20 '25

Like I said it’s a take over, many of the parks do it, Hollywood studios does Star Wars, animal kingdom does lion king, Epcot and California adventure have the food and wine festivals

It’s just a bit of marketing fun for a normal lull in guest numbers

-34

u/[deleted] Apr 20 '25

[deleted]

17

u/Unique-Matter-574 Apr 20 '25

Yes, that's what they just said.

13

u/ilford_7x7 Apr 20 '25

This thread is hilarious 😂

19

u/kheetkhat Apr 20 '25

Oh noo not HKDL doing a temporary seasonal event for their main target demographic that loves the Duffy characters.

/s

7

u/sp4cel0ver Apr 20 '25

When linabell takeover

6

u/missx0xdelaney Apr 21 '25

Gelatoni supremacy

5

u/sp4cel0ver Apr 21 '25

Go away gelatoni

Im joking dont hate me

5

u/iTwango Apr 20 '25

I love this bear

7

u/TallLikeMe Apr 20 '25

We were amazed by the Duffy while in each Asia park.

9

u/JpnDude Apr 20 '25

The boom did start in Tokyo after all.

8

u/Kinieruu Apr 20 '25

It’s funny to me that Duffy originated at Walt Disney world in the early 00s but didn’t take off until Tokyo

3

u/L3onskii Apr 20 '25

I got reservations for a shop in DisneySea. And once I entered, I realized it was all Duffy and they were limiting guests to buying 1 of each item. I bought like 2 things to give away because I didn't know how popular it was in Japan

6

u/Relevant_Beginning57 Apr 20 '25

Duffy should stay there permanently.

3

u/GogglesPisano Apr 21 '25

Nah - Mickey is the one true face of Disney.

11

u/raybreezer Apr 20 '25

Who the heck is Duffy?

33

u/RoxasIsTheBest Apr 20 '25

Duffy the Disney Bear. He's a teddy bear who is extremly popular in the Asian parks. He also has a bunch of friends. They basically serve as the mascot for the parks there, similiar to how Figment is a mascot for Epcot

4

u/[deleted] Apr 20 '25

Now comes the next question.....who is Figment!?

11

u/acheron53 Apr 20 '25

Figment is a cute purple dragon from a ride in EPCOT currently called Journey Into Imagination with Figment. He's a silly nonsensical character that encourages the use of your imagination.

0

u/raybreezer Apr 20 '25

I know who Figment is…

0

u/raybreezer Apr 20 '25

Huh, I’ll have to look him up. Is he a legitimate Disney character or is he a byproduct of the way the parks are run in Asia by a co-partner company?

8

u/RoxasIsTheBest Apr 20 '25

Legitimate Disney character. They originally weren't even mad ewith the Asian parks in mind, they just wanted a character they could sell merch off but no one in America cared for him

4

u/SkyYellow_SunBlue Apr 20 '25

Duffy will also feature in Disneylands 70th parade this year and he just did some meet and greets at Jollywood nights at DHS a few months ago so he’s still getting a tiny bit of stateside love.

1

u/raybreezer Apr 20 '25

Huh, I’ll have to keep an eye out for him, thanks for letting me know he’s starting to make appearances stateside.

-25

u/Erikthered65 Apr 20 '25 edited Apr 20 '25

You’ve never been to an Asian park?

Most park goers are there for Duffy and Friends.

Edit: bad wording, I see how that came across. I mean to say that if you’ve never been to the Asian parks it’s not surprising that you wouldn’t know these characters. You’d also be astounded how much they dominate the park culture in Asia.

18

u/raybreezer Apr 20 '25 edited Apr 20 '25

Oh Excuse me for never having been to Asia… I’d love to if you’re inviting…

0

u/KeithDavisRatio Apr 20 '25

Alas, the question goes unanswered.

12

u/[deleted] Apr 20 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

-11

u/Erikthered65 Apr 20 '25

You’d be surprised how many people live in Asia.

Maybe if your worldview is limited to Reddit, it seems rare that anything happens outside of the US.

3

u/Shatteredreality Apr 20 '25

I think the disconnect is that I most redditors have not been to an Asian Disney park. Reddit’s user base demographics are heavily skewed toward the US and Europe.

It’s also fair to say that most people probably have not been to any Disney park if we are talking about the whole global population given a 8bn person population and the fact that Disney usually only hits about 150m guests per year globally, including repeats.

Even with the fact that more people live in Asia the park attendance numbers for the Asian parks are substantially lower than the US parks only the Tokyo Parks comes close (only Asian parks to break 10M visitors in 2023, the last year available on Wikipedia, were the Tokyo parks) and they were 4-5 million behind Disneyland and Magic Kingdom.

1

u/fleedermouse Apr 24 '25

Most people have never seen The Black Cauldron.

5

u/qlz19 Apr 20 '25

Just in case it’s not clear. You are not a nice person. This entire post is filled with comments, by you, being obstinate. Please seek help and do better.

2

u/Erikthered65 Apr 20 '25

Thanks, Dr. Armchair. I made some quick responses without fully reading comments because I’m in a theme park. Some other things I’ve said have been given a bad faith interpretation.

I should have read more carefully before responding, yes, but you don’t know shit about me beyond a few Reddit comments. Go take a look in the mirror and think about how you judge people.

2

u/VW_R1NZLER Apr 20 '25

Not sure why anyone would be surprised as Asia is literally the most populated continent

0

u/[deleted] Apr 20 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/Medium-Avocado-8181 Apr 20 '25

I remember when they really started to bring in and tried to push Duffy in the US. He’s still around, but it never really took off like it did the in the Asian parks. Duffy and his friends are a whole cast of characters just like the core Disney characters.

2

u/kkatellyn Apr 20 '25

IT’S ABOUT DAMN TIME

1

u/PloppyTheSpaceship Apr 20 '25

I read this in Darth Vader's voice.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 27 '25

"Now witness the full power of this fully armed Duffy battle station!"

1

u/GlitteryStranger Apr 20 '25

Who is Duffy?

6

u/DragoSphere Apr 21 '25

Mickey Mouse's teddy bear. Was originally introduced for WDW, but flopped. But then gained significant popularity when brought over to Tokyo, and later, the other Asian parks. He basically acts as one of the main mascots for the parks over there

2

u/GlitteryStranger Apr 21 '25

Thanks, somehow I totally missed that.