Disneyland’s 70th Anniversary Is Celebrating an Icon You Might Never Have Heard Of

International Disney Parks sensation Duffy has made a comeback at Disneyland for the theme park’s 70th anniversary celebration. The bear took off at Tokyo Disney before expanding to the rest of the overseas parks, making it a must-have collectible alongside his friends.

Reservations for the shop at Tokyo DisneySea, where the latest versions of the adorable stuffed animals are available, quickly sell out. I recently asked my friend who lives in Japan to pick up one of the new characters, LinaBell, for my kid—and found out the hard way just how much of a hot item it is.

However, Duffy and his friend ShellieMay are making a special debut during the Celebrate Happy Calvacade at the Disneyland Resort, where they’ll be kicking off the Disney character mini-parade. io9 was there for their first appearance since Duffy’s brief meet and greet stint at Disney California Adventure back in 2010—years before his stateside popularity picked up after he became a viral success online.

Now celebrating 20 years as a character, he’s back with ShellieMay to take part in Disneyland’s anniversary. However, the parade will be the only capacity the characters will appear; Disney confirmed to io9 that they will not be participating in meet and greet opportunities, which is a bummer! Duffy has previously made brief appearances as Santa Duffy at Walt Disney World’s Jollywood Nights.

Duffy’s lore is based around the idea that he’s a stuffed teddy bear that Minnie Mouse gifted Mickey to take with him on his travels. ShellieMay was the bear Minnie made in kind to give Duffy a companion. Yes, kinda like the Bride of Frankenstein, but make it cutesy and magical. But what’s unique is that there’s a whole universe of adventures for Duffy and his friends. The bear has his own storylines with ShellieMay and the rest of the gang, which includes Gelatoni the painter cat, TippiBlue the messenger seagull, CookieAnn the baker dog, OluMel the beach life turtle, StellaLou the dancing rabbit, and most recently LinaBell the fox detective.

They’re sentient in a Toy Story way, it seems, with the magical bear and Mickey knowing that the other is in fact aware of its existence. Duffy goes off on his own journeys often and draws on the help of his friends along the way to make it home to Mickey.

Disney fans who visit the Tokyo Disney Resort in Japan or the parks in China often bring back Duffy or one of his pals as a special souvenir. Some icons are exclusive to certain parks. When Disney’s Hawaii resort Aulani debuted OluMel, it was a notable moment for the character, since Duffy has only mostly been available outside of the U.S.

Naturally, that’s only made Duffy and friends more highly prized by collectors, especially stateside. Olu the turtle has been known to make gift shop appearances in at Walt Disney World’s Polynesian Village Resort. I got lucky when a loved one managed to surprise me with CookieAnn from Mickey’s of Glendale, Disney’s Imagineering campus store, shortly after she debuted. And some fast-acting fans were able to nab Duffy items sold at the D23 Expo in 2022.

Duffy merchandise will appear at the Storyland Boutique at the Downtown Disney District for Disneyland’s 70th. As of publication the second Duffy and friends drop has yet to hit shelves. The first drop, probably to test the waters stateside, sold out for the most part with only a few items left in store when we checked. I’m determined to get my daughter a LinaBell and hope she makes an appearance on this coast soon.

Disneyland’s 70th Celebrations kick off Friday.

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