New Starbucks Disney World 50th Anniversary Tumblers & Christmas Ornaments

Starbucks has released a new series of mugs and Christmas ornaments for Walt Disney World’s 50th Anniversary, featuring old and new attractions and characters from Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom. For this post, we check out each of the tumblers, share photos, and offer thoughts.

For starters, huge props to the merchandise team behind these Starbucks mugs. The visual style of each is based on an iconic “Vacation Kingdom of the World” era shopping bag. (Technically, two of them–there were different designs for Magic Kingdom and EPCOT Center.) I did a little bit of research trying to figure out when these bags were used, and could only land on the mid-1980s.

Obviously, the timeline is after EPCOT Center but before the Disney-MGM Studios, so we can narrow the range to 1982 to 1988. They were definitely in use during the mid-1980s, as my parents accrued some of these bags from my first trip as a child. Perhaps other longtime Walt Disney World fans can help narrow the window during which these bags were used–I’m guessing it was at least a few years…

There’s a ton of great Walt Disney World 50th Anniversary merchandise, in particular the Vintage collection (pretty much all of it), which is available at Marketplace Co-Op at Disney Springs. While we don’t normally buy or post much about merchandise, we made an exception for that. At some point, I’d like to do a dedicated post to that line, but this Starbucks mug post has already been significantly delayed, so I might just skip that unless there’s a ton of demand for it.

We also regularly cover the various lines of Starbucks mugs, as we’ve slowly been won over by and become “collectors” of these mugs. It’s been a gradual process. For years, we avoided purchasing them while traveling because Starbucks is so ubiquitous; the mugs seemed like the antithesis of the type of unique, local items we liked to find while visiting various cities around the world.

Note that the Starbucks mugs covered here are just one of several new lines for Walt Disney World’s 50th Anniversary. In addition to this, there’s also a new set of “Been There” mugs that incorporate a “50” into the design but otherwise follow the familiar formula. It looks like there will also be a set of similar Christmas mugs, as those have already popped up at Disneyland. We haven’t seen them at Walt Disney World yet, though.

Finally, there is/was the above spiky purple (?) tumbler that I believe was the subject of literal fights in the Emporium on October 1, 2021. I’m going to bite my tongue on that, and simply say that if you like the look of that mug and took the opportunity to give $50 to Disney for it, I’m happy for you. (Unless you rained blows upon someone for it–there’s gotta be a better way!)

As a practical matter, if you’re looking to pick up all of these new Starbucks mugs at once, your best bet is World of Disney at Disney Springs. They’re located on an end-cap around the corner from the coffee mugs section.

Each park’s mug, its ornament, and the “Been There” designs is also sold in main gift shop of each park. In terms of strategy, we’d recommend picking them up as you see them, as more sell outs remain a possibility, especially as holiday shopping crowds pick up at Disney Springs. While supply is plentiful right now, supply chain issues continue to plague Walt Disney World merchandise–these could sell out one day and then not be available for another month or two.

We’ll keep you posted on the latest developments on Starbucks mugs at Walt Disney World. Anyway, here’s a park by park look at the new designs…

First up is Magic Kingdom. This is my favorite iteration of this park’s design ever. It’s the most faithful to the shopping bag design, and does an excellent job of highlighting the Magic Kingdom, old and new. The tumbler is incredibly well balanced, both in terms of design and representation.

Attractions include Haunted Mansion, Dumbo the Flying Elephant, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Jungle Cruise, Tron Lightcycle Run, Tomorrowland Speedway, and Country Bear Jamboree. Of course, this scores big points from me for featuring Big Al.

Next, we have Animal Kingdom’s mug. I don’t know what these new Starbucks tumblers are called. Other lines have had names, like “You Are Here” or “Been There” but Starbucks has released more and more Disney mug lines that don’t have city counterparts. I guess we could call these the “bag cups.” It has a certain understated stupidity to it.

Imagery on the Animal Kingdom tumbler includes Kilimanjaro Safaris, Expedition Everest, Dinosaur, Festival of the Lion King, Expedition Everest, and of course, critters. Despite this obviously representing Animal Kingdom, this mug is “Irish Mickey Mouse” to me.

The tumbler for Disney’s Hollywood Studios also features all of the recent additions that park, from Toy Story Land to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. Also present is Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, the newest attraction at Walt Disney World. Dinosaur Gertie is also represented, and the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror once again gets park icon treatment.

Not to nitpick, but the character model for Mickey Mouse seems different here. Rather than using the classic 1970s Mickey Mouse, it appears to be the modern Mickey. Oh well, still cool.

We save the most interesting for last with EPCOT. There have been several good Starbucks and Disney collaborations for EPCOT, and I can’t decide whether this is great or not.

On the one hand, it has a lot of things I love about Epcot. Figment taking center stage in lieu of Mickey Mouse is pretty cool, and I can even get behind Remy making a cameo. On the other hand, Olaf is very prominent. It almost feels like I’m being trolled with his toothy grin. It’s probably asking too much, but I really wish this one would’ve been a tad more faithful to the original EPCOT Center shopping bag design–but with this much Figment.

Here’s the full lineup of these retro-inspired Starbucks mugs for Walt Disney World’s 50th Anniversary. Now, a couple of things that are worth noting. First, these are not dishwasher safe. That normally would make them an instant no-go for us, but we still couldn’t resist the Magic Kingdom mug.

Second, unlike the “You Are Here” or “Been There” collections, these tumblers do not come packaged in the sturdy boxes co-branded with the Disney Parks logo. On the one hand, less waste is nice…but we did save those boxes (for some reason).

There are also a bunch of the same tumblers in ornament sizes.

Personally, I’m not a fan of these and it perplexes me why anyone would want to adorn their Christmas tree with coffee cups. Then again, our Christmas tree is full of Country Bear plush badges, so I’m probably not one to talk. I’m glad this product exists for those who enjoy it. (That diplomatic enough?)

There’s also a set of pins to go along with the tumblers and Christmas ornaments.

In terms of pricing, the tumblers are $24.99 and the ornaments are $14.99. That’s as compared to $22.99 for the “Been There” Starbucks mugs at Walt Disney World (that’s up from $19.99 just last year). Tumblers tend to be more expensive, but at least it’s not as pricey as that spiky purple thing.

Overall, the new retro-inspired Starbucks tumbler designs are pretty awesome. Just the fact that the designers were allowed to dig back and pay homage to the past–and a shopping bag, no less–is really cool. It feels like the perfect marriage between niche and mainstream merchandise; hopefully these are still around the next time you visit Walt Disney World if you’re a Starbucks fan!

Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!

Your Thoughts

What do you think of the new Walt Disney World 50th Anniversary Starbucks tumblers? Do you prefer these, the Been There, or the You Are Here mugs? Have a favorite park amongst the bunch? Are you a fan of the coffee cup ornaments? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!

19 Responses to “New Starbucks Disney World 50th Anniversary Tumblers & Christmas Ornaments”
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