I love sending holiday cards with handwritten greetings for good health and holiday cheer. One thing I always need is a good pen. I recently discovered some that are the perfect “kompanions” courtesy of Kevin-Michael Lezotte, Product Developer for stationery and electronic accessories. I’m talking Kooky pens and Kevin-Michael has been leading the development of these pens for Disney Parks.
“Here, smell these,” said Kevin-Michael as he showed me the two newest limited edition Kooky Kollections created for the holidays (yes, everything has a “K,” not a “C”). “The Mickey Mouse set smells like peppermint and the Donald Duck set smells like gingerbread.”
They did smell wonderful, like Christmas morning. I proceeded to spend the next hour smelling both sets. The scents come from little Mickey Mouse icons attached to each of the pens. The three-pen sets have an edition size of 5,000 each and will be sold at Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World Resort. Retail is $24.95 for each set and the ink is refillable (which is great since I write a lot).
I asked Kevin-Michael for a brief history of our relationship with Kooky pens.
“We introduced these pens about two years ago as a partnership with Courage Brands, Inc. who manufactures Kooky pens,” he explained. “It has been wonderful to bring fun, engaging and creative Disney designs to these pens. Since 2008, we have released more than 80 different designs, and we have many more on the way. They are also now found in Disneyland Resort Paris and Hong Kong Disneyland will release them in December.”
The artwork for the pens is created by Cody Reynolds and Costa Alavezos from Disney Design Group using a stylized template provided by Kooky. Kevin-Michael said it takes about a year to have a pen produced.
“We work about a year in advance,” said Kevin-Michael. “When selecting the various characters, we review company strategies and key initiatives. At the same time, we like mixing high affinity characters along with characters you don’t see that often. The goal is to give our guests lots of choices.”
Similar to Disney Pins, there are limited edition and limited release pens. The limited edition pens have a finite production number, whereas the limited release pens are sold for a period of time then retired. You can identify them by looking at the back of the pen or finding the small Mickey Mouse icon attached to select pens.
I asked Kevin-Michael if he has a favorite one.
“That’s a tough choice,” he sighed. “Today’s pens are incredibly different compared to when we started. There are now better treatments, applications, art styles and features, like those scented attachments. Yet, I also like simple designs like the pen featuring Mike Wazowski.”
I better return to writing my Christmas cards as the holidays are fast approaching. Before I go, what is your favorite Kooky pen?
Comments
@Lynda – I spoke with the Home and Decorative team. They are not being phased out. They showed me a few new designs coming. I’m thinking an article is due (as I have some great vintage ones in my personal collection).
@Marlee – There are a select number of Kooky pens on line including some of those new ones that smell. Visit: http://www.DisneyParks.com/Store and search “Kooky.”
My favorite is Nemo 😀
My favorite kooky pen is the green alien pen. The green aliens are my favorite disney character (besides Figment)! I seriously watch Toy Story just to see the alien part! Love the new holiday pens! Will they be available online?
My nieces LOVE LOVE LOVE their Kooky Pens! Since I have 3 nieces who collect them, the Limited Edition sets are great because I can get one and they can each choose their favorites. Of course, this can be a problem when they all have the same favorite! I’ll have to pick up the scented holiday sets for them before I head home for the Holidays.
Hi Steven, the pens are pretty neat.
I see you are in charge of all merchandising, so I have a question for you if you don’t mind. One of the items I collect on every trip is a shot glass (toothpick holder), and I was just there the week after thanksgiving @ WDW and had a hard time finding any, just a few with characters on them and that was pretty much it. Are they being fazed out? Thanks for your time.
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