My Disney Experience Tests New “Find Merchandise” Tool
Disney just made it easier to shop at Walt Disney World. The My Disney Experience (MDE) app has quietly introduced “Find Merchandise,” a new test feature that helps guests locate products at the World of Disney store in Disney Springs. We expect that coverage to eventually expand to additional stores across the resort.
Right now, it’s part of a limited test. Only select MDE users will see the option appear on their app’s home screen. After tapping Try It Out, those users are taken to a landing page featuring three ways to browse: Search, Top Products, and Trending.
Search works really well. I fat-fingered “Geogu” and the app didn’t miss a beat, showing me every Baby Yoda product available in the Disney Springs store. The Top Products and Trending sections likely rely on curated data, though given the test’s small scale, Disney probably handpicked what appears there. We’ll be watching to see if those lists shift throughout the day.
After selecting a product, users can tap Check Shop Availability to see where it’s in stock. For now, that list begins and ends with World of Disney. This feature isn’t e-commerce – guests can’t purchase through the app – it’s purely informational.
Functionally, the new feature works well. It’s visually clean and easy to navigate, continuing a trend set by the recently upgraded dining reservation and My Plans tools. We did spot one small quirk: the search results page could use a back button. Right now, it only shows a close icon, which sends users all the way back to the MDE home screen instead of the Find Merchandise landing page. Still, this is a limited rollout, and those issues are exactly what these tests are meant to catch.
We don’t know how quickly the app’s product inventory will be updated. We hope that it’s as close to real-time as possible, given that guests will gladly hop a bus and travel across the resort for hard-to-get items.
“Find Merchandise” is a throwback to what was offered in the now-defunct Shop Disney Parks app. We can’t wait to see it spread to every store in Walt Disney World.
