Duffy the Disney Bear

"The Bear of Happiness and Luck."

- Duffy the Disney Bear's storybook tag.

Duffy the Disney Bear (ダッフィー) is a Disney Character that can be found at Tokyo DisneySea, Disney California Adventure Park, Epcot, and Hong Kong Disneyland.

Background
Duffy first appeared as "The Disney Bear" in 2002 as a marketing gimmick to promote the opening of the Once Upon The Toy store in Walt Disney World's Downtown Disney. This bear already had the Mickey-silhouetted face, plus Mickey marks on his feet and left hip. However, he had no name and a fairly market-centered backstory, in which Mickey's generic teddy bear is magically imprinted with Mickey's face and brought to life by Tinker Bell's pixie dust. The artwork features cameos by lots of characters who have nothing to do with the story. It should be noted, too, that the highly simplistic, graphic style used to draw the Disney Bear was replaced with a much softer, richer hand-drawn illustrative style for Duffy's Tokyo storybook.

These Disney Bears were released in a rainbow of colors - Valentine red, pink, green, blue, lavender, grey, black, white, chocolate, caramel and honey gold. However, they were never a hit. Having failed to really find their market, by 2004 most of them ended up at Disney outlet stores, long forgotten.

That same year, the Disney Bear launched at the Tokyo Disney Resort as part of that year's Christmas events on December 1st and was instantly popular. At Christmas of 2005, after just one year of successful sales of plush bears and just a smattering of seasonal costumes, the Oriental Land Company decided to fully invest in this teddy bear character the fans had taken such a liking to. They made the him an official part of the park and named him "Duffy," and created an all-new original story to introduce his background. OLC gave him a whole section of the park as a merchandising character. He would go on to "steal the stage" at the restaurant theater (Cape Cod Cook-off) from none other than Donald Duck, replacing "Donald Duck's Boat Builders" with "My Friend Duffy," a show inspired by - but not faithful to the story presented in The Bear of Happiness & Luck. TDS posted signs using the same artwork from the storybook to claim Cape Cod as "Duffy's Hometown." The story had all the hallmarks of Disney - mysterious magic, the power of love and friendship, the wonder of exploration and adventure...and it gave real context to the name, in that Duffy was a hand-made gift that Mickey kept in a duffel bag on his journeys.

In addition to grounding the character in both the parks and a fictional sense of place, the story also made it clear that Duffy was primarily about two things - photos and fashion. OLC put "Photo Points" around the park where guests could snap pictures of or with their Duffys. This was all in response to what fans did with Duffy during that first year. Duffy is a reflection of the fans every bit as much as a product of some marketing team - that collaboration was the "secret sauce" that finally made the concept work. Fans were taking tons of photos. Fans were building thriving cottage industry sewing and selling their own Duffy clothes. Fans were loving this little bear. Then, for the Tokyo Disney Resort 25th Anniversary events beginning in 2008, instead of just a few seasonal costumes, they created one new Cast Member costume every single month, which got people's attention. This was the year that really brought Duffy into the mainstream.

Where can you find Duffy?
Duffy items are traditionally exclusively available at Aunt Peg's Village Store in Cape Cod and McDuck's Department Store in American Waterfront at Tokyo DisneySea. Last year Galleria Disney near the park entrance and The Sleepy Whale in Mermaid Lagoon were added, bringing the total up to four.

October 14, 2010 marked Duffy's debut/return at the U.S. Disney parks. Duffy items are exclusively available at Treasures in Paradise at Paradise Pier in Disney California Adventure at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim.

Apparently at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Duffy goods are available all over the park, though theming is more closely connected with Epcot.

Where can you meet Duffy?
Up until the opening of the Cape Cod Village Greeting Place in July 2011 (officially 7/8 but there were several days of "previews"), Duffy's meet 'n greet spots varied throughout Tokyo DisneySea. His first greeting spot was on Cape Cod's small pier, with the Hurricane Point lighthouse in the background. This later became a Duffy Photo Point, and is the site where you can find the "Cape Cod is Duffy's Hometown" signage. Originally Duffy greetings had no set times or schedule; guests just had to wait and see. At Christmas, he would come more regularly and an official greeting spot developed at the corner of Donald's Boat Builders and across from the Transit Steamer Line Cape Cod docks. In spring 2010, this temporarily changed for one year, as Duffy started to greet fans at the gazebo in the plaza across from the Broadway Theater in American Waterfront. Within the year, it was decided that putting Duffy so far away from Cape Cod was a bad move, and Duffy's Village Greeting Place opened in 2011 with more elaborate Duffy theming than anyone had ever seen. Also over the course of the same year, Boat Builders has since become My Friend Duffy, completing Cape Cod's transformation 100% into a true "mini-Duffyland." He can now be found greeting his friends inside the Cape Cod Village Greeting Place, while Shellie May uses the old greeting spot just outside My Friend Duffy and across from the Village Greeting Place.

In Disney California Adventure at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, Duffy's greeting spot can be found near the entrance to Treasures in Paradise in Paradise Pier.

In EPCOT at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Duffy can be found right across Disney Traders (Plaza Towers East) (recognized by the Duffy decorations all over the store, outside and inside) and near the entrance to World Showcase.

Tokyo DisneySea stories
The Bear of Happiness and Luck

One day, as Mickey was about to set sail for one of his long adventures, Minnie thought he should have a special keepsake to remind him how much he was loved while he was out at sea. Mickey is Minnie’s favorite mouse, so she gave him a teddy bear she had hand-made with her whole heart. Minnie wrote a rosy “Bon Voyage!” message and carefully dropped it into a small glass bottle. She gently tied the little bottle round the bear’s petite neck, capped it with a cork and sealed it with a kiss for luck. Voila!

Minnie presented the bear to Mickey at the pier by the old lighthouse on a blustery day. Mickey smiled brightly, and placed the teddy lovingly into his duffel bag. “I’ll call you Duffy!” And the two were off to begin a wonder-full journey.

One night out at sea, Mickey was dog-tired from navigating all day. He decided to go to bed early and fell fast asleep.

Duffy appeared in Mickey’s dream, wearing a sailor’s uniform and smiling. The happy little bear opened Minnie’s message in the bottle and showed it to Mickey:

DEAR MICKEY, THIS BEAR IS MEANT TO BRING YOU LOTS OF HAPPINESS AND LUCK. LOVE, Minnie

Mickey smiled in his sleep, and awoke feeling totally reenergized and cheerful.

Mysteriously, upon waking, Mickey found Minnie’s message in his own hand! But he was sure that it had been in the bottle and sealed tight when he fell asleep! Not only that, but somehow Duffy had got dressed and was wearing the very same sailor’s uniform from the dream!

When Mickey returned home from his voyage, he told Minnie and his friends about his surprising and inspiriting dream come true. They all agreed, but Goofy said it best: “Gawrsh, that Duffy sure is one special teddy bear!”

Everyone wanted one of Minnie’s special Duffy bears. So she did her best to make them, one by one, for all of her friends. The waiting list was so long; Duffy was just too popular! There were too many orders, and Minnie couldn’t keep up. So her friends said, “We’ll help, Minnie!” And they all worked together, Minnie and all of her friends, making the lovely teddy bears. Each one charmed with a message in a bottle from the heart – we can’t forget that!

A lot of people love Duffy now… From children to princesses, to explorers and adventurers like Mickey. Everyone feels happier when Duffy’s around! People especially love taking photos with Duffy. They say when anyone sees these pictures, the smiles in the portrait overflow to the viewer! When snapping photographs of cherished memories, you always find your warmest, brightest smile when you’re with the bear of happiness and luck!

There’s even a rumor that sometimes you can find Duffy by himself, strolling along the pier in his sailor uniform, perhaps returning from his own adventures… But how can this be?! He’s just a teddy bear, right? Nobody understands it, but you should try to meet him yourself! Can you think of a new adventure for you and Duffy? Then you’ll be saying, too, “That Duffy sure is one special teddy bear!”

Duffy's Halloween Dream

It's almost Halloween. Duffy and ShellieMay helped to bring in the pumpkins all day.

"Look! A comet!" said ShellieMay. "It looks like a star-shooting broom!" said Duffy.

Duffy dreamed about riding a Halloween comet through the night sky with ShellieMay.

Disney Parks story
One day, Mickey Mouse was getting ready to set sail on a long sea voyage. Minnie Mouse made him a special teddy bear to take with him so he would never be lonely. Minnie presented her hand sewn bear to Mickey in a duffel bag. Mickey loved the bear and named him Duffy.

As Mickey and Duffy sailed on their journey, they visited all sorts of exciting places and make new friends along the way. At the end of their travels, they sailed back home for a wonderful reunion with Minnie.

Mickey and Duffy shared their magical memories and photos with Minnie, who was thrilled that Duffy was such a great friend and companion for Mickey.