Disney to Use Interactive Toy Line This Christmas

In an effort to cash in on what is expected to be a slow and difficult Christmas season for most retailers, Disney is aiming to use some of its more popular brands in new ways to generate revenue.

Available in a range of prices, the new holiday toys will try to attract sales with an emphasis on toys that are able to be used both online and off.

"Toys that . . . are part toy, part new technology, part interactive hookup -- those are the things I think that are going to be desirable," Andy Mooney, chairman of Disney's Consumer Products division, told Reuters in an interview.

With a $30 billion global licensing business and 334 retail locations, Mooney is "pretty optimistic about the holiday season," believing that consumers will tend towards toys branded with an image that they associate with value.

According to Reuters, toy analyst Anita Frazier said, "[Consumers] will be looking for more value - not necessarily a lower price but something that can deliver a big 'wow' factor." She also said that parents are more likely to be working from lists provided by children in an effort to limit impulse spending.

Disney Consumer Products' Creative Director for Toys, Len Mazzocco, told Reuters that Disney sold "huge" volumes of its singing Hannah Montana doll, and that singing High School Musical dolls with karaoke microphones are doing very well.

Another of its better-selling items are its line of toys based around its Club Penguin Virtual World. "The sales are off the charts. It's the biggest launch of a new toy line we've seen so far," said Chris Heatherly, vice president of technology and innovation at Disney Consumer Products, to Reuters. The toys begin at a $5.99 price point and include a code to be redeemed on the Web site that was said to unlock special features of the game.

At the other end of the price spectrum is an interactive robot based on the WALL-E movie character at $249.99, which is still selling well despite the high ticket price. Mazzocco said that early sales charts show that parents "are finding a way to go out for . . . the single big ticket item," and "for the second and third purchase, they are searching for that price point they are comfortable with."