I’ve had a long time obsession with the Dole Whip. I’ve enjoyed many of them while visiting Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World Resort. I know I’m not the only one who loves a Dole Whip (or pineapple float or the amazing citrus swirl). I spoke with Disney Design Group artist Casey Jones about a newly released shirt featuring this heavenly treat.
“I think everyone I know loves a Dole Whip including me,” exclaimed Casey. “That is probably why I’m excited to see the release of [the Dole Whip] shirt. We used the success of the turkey leg shirt released last year as inspiration for a new collection of retro-style shirts.”
Besides the awesome Dole Whip, the softlines team also created a shirt based on another Disney Parks favorite – churros. Casey enlisted the help of the talented artist Richard Terpstra to design both shirts.
“Richard has a great eye for retro design,” said Casey. “I let him run with both the Dole Whip and churros designs. He actually created a few different versions of Dole Whip shirts including one that had a tiki drummer. The design for the churros shirt was based off a poster from the Casa de Fritos restaurant that opened in 1955 at Disneyland park. I love how Richard captured a cool retro vibe!”
Two other shirts were inspired by 1960s newspaper advertisements for Disneyland. These shirts feature specially designed characters that were inspired by the four theme parks found at Walt Disney World Resort and the various themed lands found in Disneyland park. I think my new favorite word is “friendlyable.” Disney Design Group Artist Doug Strayer and Richard Terpstra assisted with the designs.
Casey told me that a video shown at the D23 Expo last September inspired a new turkey leg shirt.
“There was a video shown at the D23 Expo featuring Tom Staggs, the chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts,” said Casey. “In the video, Tom worked as a cast member in many different roles including someone who sold turkey legs. As he presented the camera with a turkey leg, he said, ‘Nice and juicy.’ We immediately knew we found our tagline.”
Speaking of taglines, I almost forgot – it’s time to wake up the glee club (this one is coming soon!).
Comments
I would love a Dole Whip shirt; however, as a female, I prefer a ladies style fitted tshirt. Any chance of that making a debut?
And since I’m sure you’re dying to know what my little site thinks of park food, Dole Whips made the number one spot on my list of Top Snacks in WDW
Huzzah!
@Robb – Thank you for the comment. I feel fortunate that the Disney Parks Blog gives me an opportunity to respond to fellow fans. I’m thankful that people enjoy things as much as I do – it’s one reason I enjoy working here so much. I’m also glad to know that I’m not alone in my love for all things Dole Whip. 🙂
Steven – love the blog, and love that you respond to us.
I’ve been saying for the better part of a decade, that they need a Dole Whip shirt. So I’ll be grabbing this for sure when I’m there in June. It will help take the sting out of never being able to buy the Joy Division Waves shirt.
But I love these little idiosyncratic shirts. Sure they’re probably big sellers, but I can pass on the shirts with Mickey everywhere, or WDW 2012, and other obvious designs. But shirts like these, and the vintage / attraction ones (like the People Mover and Monorail shirts)… LOVE those.
I would love to see shirts with scenes from classic Disney cartoon shorts.Donald Duck at the Grand Canyon, the park ranger and Humphrey Bear,Lambert the Sheepish Lion……I could go on forever.Love the retro shirts.
Can we look forward to some more of Kevin’s designs in the future? His site has some amazing pieces for those of us that love nostalgia. His designs could anchor an entire shop.
WDWFanBoyTim
Steven, thanks so much for the product numbers. That did the trick; Dole Whip shirt on the way. Thanks for the help. These are some of the best designs I have seen in a long time, keep up the good work.
@Heather from NJ – You are thinking of a different shirt. 🙂 The one I mentioned wasn’t produced at this point. Sadly, I don’t know of any plans to release a ladies style of the shirts. But I will share your feedback with the softlines team.
@Tracy – There is both a Disneyland and a Walt Disney World version for the Dole Whip shirt.
@Gina – We are only offering the colors shown in the article. I’m thrilled to hear you liked the designs. The positive response has been overwhelming. Casey and I were talking today about the comments and we are delighted to hear that people are enjoying the designs!
@Scott – It was my pleasure. Woohoo! And I will share your comments with the team.
Please make these in women’s sizes too!
Hi Steven,
Do these shirts come in other colors or only as shown? I am particularly interested in the Disneyland Park People shirt. Love these designs and I am so glad to see the return of park specific merchandise!
Love the Dole Whip shirt. I’ll being getting the churro shirt for my daughter – her favorite snack!
The Tiki Room t-shirt is really cool, and i hope they are going to have a Dole Whip version for WDW!!!
I’m with Dan – sign me up for a corn dog shirt! I’ll take the Corn Dog Castle at DCA or the Red Wagon at Disneyland!
I am lucky to own Richard’s Dole Whip shirt with the tiki drummer, it’s fantastic!! Please add ladies silhouettes in this design! I’d love to add it to my collection!
hah hah when I saw this the other day and held it up, my boyfriend was like, “Are we both getting one?” lol LOVE me some Dole Whip. And the shirt is an amazing shade of yellow/gold! The “Glee” Club shirt may have to happen as well. And I was trying SO HARD to not buy any more shirts until the Carsland shirts are released at the end of the month!! I have no willpower when it comes to park merchandise!!
The “Friendlyable” shirts are my favorite, as those are instantly recognizeable as based on the famous series of newspaper ads for Disneyland that ran in local SoCal newspapers from 1959-1962.
I wonder if there wasn’t a series of advertising that Disney World used in the early 1970’s that could be used for the Florida shirts, instead of using Disneyland artwork from 1960 when a park in Florida hadn’t even been thought of by Walt yet?
But I’m heading to Disneyland this weekend and will be looking to pick up a Friendlyable shirt for myself, size Large! Thank you for creating fresh, hip merchandise that is specific to each coast!
Love the Dole Whip. LOVE the idea of Dole Whip AND Tikis! Please consider releasing it.
Will the Dole Whip shirt be available at The Polynesian or at Downtown Disney?
Love these new designs! I have been looking forward to some Richard tees for a long time and have wanted the Dole Whip tee he designed on his blog! I am really excited for Glee Club tee. @Steve Miller, its great to see a member of management interacting with the blog readers! A couple suggestions: A Mint Julep tee, a tee with the plaque as you pass under the Rail Road @Disneyland, a New Orleans Square Train Station Tee that is primarily dots and dashes spelling out Walt’s opening day speech!
Just got off the phone with merchandise guest services and they said they couldn’t locate these shirts. Really would love to order the Dole Whip shirt for a birthday gift for someone, it is literally their favorite treat. Any suggestions?
@Scott – I’m sorry to hear of your challenge. I am posting the item numbers below for the shirts pictured in the article. I hope this will help you, and please wish your friend a happy birthday!
Dole Whip – Walt Disney World
Small – 400006383976
Medium – 400006383983
Large – 400006383990
X-Large – 400006384003
2X-Large – 400006384010
Dole Whip – Disneyland
Small – 400006384027
Medium – 400006384034
Large – 400006384041
X-Large – 400006384058
2X-Large – 400006384065
Churros – Walt Disney World
Small – 400006263582
Medium – 400006263599
Large – 400006263605
X-Large – 400006263612
2X-Large – 400006263629
Churros – Disneyland
Small – 400006263537
Medium – 400006263544
Large – 400006263551
X-Large – 400006263568
2X-Large – 400006263575
Turkey Leg – Walt Disney World
Small – 400006318077
Medium – 400006318084
Large – 400006318091
X-Large – 400006318107
2X-Large – 400006318114
Turkey Leg – Disneyland
Small – 400006318015
Medium – 400006318022
Large – 400006318039
X-Large – 400006318053
2X-Large – 400006318060
Friendlyable – Walt Disney World
Small – 400006211491
Medium – 400006211507
Large – 400006211514
X-Large – 400006211521
2X-Large – 400006211538
Friendlyable – Disneyland
Small – 400006211545
Medium – 400006211552
Large – 400006211569
X-Large – 400006211576
2X-Large – 400006211583
Park People – Walt Disney World
Small – 400006211392
Medium – 400006211408
Large – 400006211415
X-Large – 400006211422
2X-Large – 400006211439
Park People – Disneyland
Small – 400006211446
Medium – 400006211453
Large – 400006211460
X-Large – 400006211477
2X-Large – 400006211484
I will definitely be purchasing one of these on Wednesday for my Birthday!!!
Our whole family loves Dole Whips. We make our own at home. Cant wait to get a shirt of my own!!!
I love, love, love these designs!!! Any chance we could get these in some lady cut fits? :0) I love the retro! Makes me feel like a kid again! Who am I kidding? I’m still a kid stuck in a grown up body!!!
That Tiki Room shirt is fantastic! I hope that “Disneyland” and “Walt Disney World” is added to the shirt somewhere! Gotta show my Disney pride 🙂
Love the Dole Whip and the Churro shirt! And the Friendlyable shirt is awesome, too! I could fill my closet with these retro-type shirts–they’re my faves! Keep ’em coming!
Magic Kingdom pineapple dole whips are great and all, but the BEST place for one? That location has to be Captain Cook’s at the Polynesian. Once you serve yourself up a heaping self-serve bowl of the stuff, immediately head beachside to eat it while relaxing in a hammock! Until I make it out to Aulani that’s my Hawaiian heaven! 🙂
@Thomas – Great to see your name. I hope all is well in Indiana. I appreciate the feedback 🙂
@Robert – The best places to check for these shirts would be some of the bigger merchandise locations. They tend to carry more of an assortment of shirts. I’ve seen them in a variety of places in the Parks and Downtown Disney.
@Alison – So I’m not the only one who does that?! Captain Cook’s is my little Dole Whip heaven. Hope to see you there next time!
Dole Whip shirt = AWESOME. The Dole Whip is treasure that despite my milk allergy, I will roll the dice on every time. Mahalo, Steven!
Good thing I know someone heading down in a few weeks, that way I can have two of the shirts for my trip when I go down in June! I love the Turkey leg shirt and the Dole whip one!
I’m headed to Disney for Spring break in a few weeks. Where are the retro shirts being sold (the ones based on 1960s newspaper advertisements)? Those look pretty cool!
It’s great to see Richard’s incredible talents are now being put to use by Disney. I look forward to seeing more designs from him, and more unique designs like these, in general. The quality of merchandise has improved a lot in the last year and a half!
Love the Dole Whip shirt! That’s definitely on my wish list.
Found my souvenir for when I go to Disneyland in April!
Seriously, these shirts are awesome. Like a previous poster said, the more you use the old WDW design, the more I want! It’s a classic and should remain!
Richard’s designs are fantastic. To echo a previous poster, the more retro and attraction/item specific stuff you make, the more I’ll buy. It’s much more interesting than the generic “parks” merchandise.
@Tiffany The birds on the Glee Club shirt are made to look like the 5 birds on sign you see when exiting the Tiki Room at Disneyland. The sign has the 5 birds drinking out of a half cut pineapple with bamboo straws
@Jeffrey – The team is working on a variety of designs. I hope to cover some additional ones in future articles. Stay tuned.
@Patrick – Thank you for sharing the feedback. I often share the feedback from these articles with the development, planning and art teams.
@Erica – Glad you liked them. 🙂
@Jennifer – I know the exact sign you reference at the exit to Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room in Disneyland. I have taken a photo of that sign! All this talk of the Tiki Room makes me want to visit California again!
Awesome shirts… DDG, we need these cool designs on ladies’ silhouettes, pretty please! I know Richard can design some pretty amazing stuff for women. 😉
I’m loving this new collection of niche “Disney-isms”… keep ’em coming, and we will keep buying them!
I am a big fan of Disney Wear, the main concern I always have is that WDW never seems to produce sizes of 3x or 4x or if they choose to it is a very limited out of date selection. Any way to express my concern to try to get them to produce the larger sizes?
Thanks for reading, Patrick C of Ohio
AHHH! I love these shirts! I’ve been seeing them in the parks recently and can not wait until I can get them. Any word on more shirts like this coming out?
Would love to see a Corn Dog one!!
@Katie – There is a Mickey Mouse ice cream bar shirt: http://www.disneystore.com/disney-store-official-site-for-disney-merchandise-ice-cream-bar-mickey-mouse-tee-for-men/mp/1295629/1000228/
@Robert – Until some of the designs are released via the Disney Parks online store in May, you can contact Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Merchandise Guest Services at 1-877-560-6477 or via email: merchandiseguestservices@disney.go.com
@Dan – I’m hungry now! I don’t know of any plans for a corn dog shirt.
LOVE Richard’s awesome retro designs! I saw the churro shirt in MouseGears a couple of weeks ago, and I immediately texted a photo to all of my friends. It is so awesome.
The more of the OLD Walt Disney World logo you use on stuff, the more merch I buy. It’s classic and clean and original. I’ll be picking these up w/in the next week or so.
Love these retro shirts. For those of us far away that can’t make it to the parks, is there a way we can order these? Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Will there be a Mickey Mouse ice cream bar shirt?
Also,I think it would be a great idea to come up with retro shirts with catchy phrases and unique designs specifically for the restaurants found throughout the parks. I know for some people, the restaurants are their favorite part of WDW and they would love to have an awesome t-shirt to “represent” their favorite eating spots. Do I hear Crystal Palace? Cinderella’s Royal Table? Sci-Fi Dine In Theater? Biergarten? Etc. Etc. Etc. ?
🙂 Definitely consider this!
I want a Dole Whip NOW!!!! However, I would settle for a Dole Whip t-shirt in a few days if it were made available online. These shirts are wonderful and, as Diana said, the unique shirts and merchandise are things that my family and I love. I don’t own a Disney Parks anything but have dozens of Walt Disney World specific souvenirs. Great job!!!!
The Dole Whip shirt is available now at the store just to the left of the Dole Whip stand in the Magic Kingdom – we bought one on Saturday.
Will the Dole Whip shirt be available at Walt Disney World as well? I noticed that one says Disneyland 🙂
@Nicole – Yes. There are Disneyland and Walt Disney World versions for the Churros and Dole Whip shirts. I opted to only show one of each style for the article.
I feel like a kid in a candy shop with all these awesome t-shirts…or maybe a Guest in line at Aloha Isle 🙂
Bravo to the Disney Design Group for these inventive new shirts. I hope we continue to see more inspired, themed design (and fewer generic shirts that are the same on both coasts – when I go all the way to Disneyland, I want to buy Disneyland merchandise, not “Disney Parks”) when it comes to merchandise in the parks. This is the type of merchandise that inspires me to open up my wallet during vacations :).
And luckily, I’ll be visiting WDW for a few days next month…looks like I’ll be coming home with some new t-shirts!
Nice. Good to see some designs from @DesignerLand. Hope we see more in the future.
Richard’s Dole Whip design with the tiki drummer was awesome. You guys should consider releasing that design, too.
@Ana – The challenge with a popcorn shirt is that I would end up eating it! 🙂 I learned this morning that there was a popcorn shirt once considered. It became the turkey leg shirt pictured in the article.
@Kristina – There are plans to release some of the shirts online in early May. Here is a breakdown of the current plan of what will be carried via the Disney Parks online store:
Dole Whip – Walt Disney World only
Churros – Disneyland only
Turkey Leg – Walt Disney World only
Friendlyable – Both Walt Disney World and Disneyland
Park People – Both Walt Disney World and Disneyland
Glee Club – No plans to sell that shirt at this time.
Another option would be to contact Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Merchandise Guest Services at 1-877-560-6477 or send an email to – merchandiseguestservices@disney.go.com
@Kevin – I spoke with the softlines team and there are no plans at this time to release the tiki room drummer style. It was pretty sweet though – printed on a brown shirt with the tiki drummer that was once made as a replica by Kevin Kidney and Jody Daily in 2006. I have that replica in my own tiki bar at home 🙂
Are these available online or in the parks only?
I thought the Dole Whip shirt was a must but a Tiki Room shirt! I will definitely be adding that to my t-shirt collection.
In the tiki tiki tiki tiki tiki room…
Love them! Can a Popcorn shirt be designed next? 🙂
Niiiiice!!!!
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