If you guys are really wondering why the DS pin assortment has changed, and among other things has made a casualty of the Mystery Sets, I can sort of explain.
It's called 'restructuring', and Disney loves to do it. I was there way back in '02 when they first sold the stores off to The Children's Place, which was confusing to everyone in the organization. I can only imagine how confusing it was to the customers. Back then there was also Disney Direct, Disney Auctions, and Disney Shopping. We even ran a little pin business through eBay. Long story short, it took many years of restructuring and more restructuring to bring the stores back into the fold, and streamline everything back into Disney Stores (retail, website, catalog). When I left in '09, the catalog was a memory and the merger with stores was still taking place, while at the same time a new management team was trying to change the brand of Disney Store. The online team moved into the same building with the stores team last year, and I think the catalog has returned in a smaller, mailer form.
I was the merch manager for pins until 2007, and there was one more after me when I moved to marketing. But she's gone now, and from what I don't think they have anyone on the team devoted to developing and producing pins anymore. We worked with a vendor right down the street from concept to design to production. Parks always had a much more massive pin business then us, but that sort of worked in our favor, as I could sneak some designs straight into production (I don't think anyone would've approved Jessica in Jamaica or in Rio at Carnival). But now, since there's no merch manager on the team dedicated to just pins, the person who is managing collectibles handles it, and I think they only get to pick from certain options, as opposed to sitting down and coming up with ideas for weekly and monthly releases.
Anyway, I doubt anyone has even read this far, but if you have, and want more details, I'm an open book about my time with the Mouse.
Dave
