Welcome to Disney and Steiff

It all began in the fall of 1988, when WDW hosted its 1st Annual Teddy Bear Convention. For it's first entry Disney and Steiff agreed to make 2000 bears which is the main reason why the ear tag of the 1988 Disney/Steiff Convention bear says LE 2000.  Because the attendance at the event wasn't too great, they put a ribbon on the bear which said limited edition of 1000 pieces. Because they didn't sell all of them, they decided to cut off the part of the ribbon that had the edition size on it.

We know this to be true, as we have seen a bear with an uncut ribbon, but all others I have seen up to know have a cut off ribbon. Everybody believes that at the end far less than a thousand were sold and that the real number is around 500. Even what sometimes happens when an edition is not sold, that the same bear is issued in some other way has not happened with the first Disney bear. So to conclude there are approximately 500 bears produced of the 1st WDW Disney bear.

So that started it, and the love affair collectors have had over the years has flourished to the point where it is today. We believe that the Disney/Steiff Convention pieces, make up one of the greatest collections we know of. This site is dedicated to those pieces and everything related to the conventions as they happen each year.