National Teddy Bear Day 🐻

Happy National Teddy Bear Day!!! 🐻 If you've hung around here at all, you know how much Eliot and I love Duffy the Disney Bear.  He's my favorite teddy bear... and I'm so glad that he's slowly working his way back to our Disney Parks here in the states.

Duffy has been around since 2002... well over 20 years!!!  And over time, he has been accompanied by his friends ShellieMay, Gelatoni, StellaLou, CookieAnn, 'Olu Mel and the newest friend, LinaBell.  Duffy and his friends are very popular at the Disney parks overseas... especially in Asia.  He's also one of the flagship characters over at Disney's Aulani Resort in Hawaii.  But ever since they removed Duffy from Epcot back in October of 2015, he hasn't really been at the US parks.  Until more recently... 

For the past few years, Santa Duffy has been one of the character meet and greets offered at the Jollywood Nights holiday party at Hollywood Studios.  Naturally, Eliot and I stood in the very long line in order to see him.  And it was totally worth it.  Eliot wore his Santa Duffy mouse ears, which Duffy loved and I almost sobbed finally getting to hug him again.  There's nothing quite like a hug from your favorite giant teddy bear.

Then, Duffy and ShellieMay were both featured in the Disneyland 70th calvacade.  I literally squealed when they first made the announcement.  When we saw them at Disneyland back in January, the tears immediately started welling up in my eyes.  I'm so happy to see Duffy back inside of a Disney park for everyone to see.  (And he knew it because I screamed "we love you Duffy" like a total psycho.)

Most recently, Eliot and I were able to get a photo with Duffy during the Springtime Surprise 5K back in April.  Since it was during a race, it wasn't a long interaction, but we were really happy to see him.  Plus, I was happy to see that he had a pretty long line and people wanted to see him.

And if anyone at Disney needs further proof of Duffy's popularity, Disney themselves literally just released a whole collection of merchandise at Mickey's of Glendale during the D23 Expo.  It seems like it was pretty popular, and they had a ton of stuff... from sweatshirts, to keychains, tote bags, hats and more.

Yes, Duffy is a pretty obscure Disney character... but so are Figment and Orange Bird if you think about it.  Until they were heavily featured in Epcot Festival merchandise, there were many people who had no idea who they were.  The people who know Duffy love him just like we all love Figment and Orange Bird.  And if Disney can continue to find places for Figment and Orange Bird, one can argue that there's room for Duffy and his friends as well.  And it's clear that the people want him.  (Hi! It's me, I'm people.)  

So Happy National Teddy Bear Day to my favorite teddy bear!!!  We love you Duffy... and I'm really hoping that you'll continue to find your way back to us... 🐻