Shopping Disneyland now and then...

[Lore]

Disney marketing is in overdrive with the Pirate's game of Life, Haunted Mansion Clue, and other unique items, but how does shopping the park compare with say the Disneyland of the past? It certainly seems to be turning around after the Pressler era of the same candy and plush toys everywhere, but it doesn't seem to have fully recovered yet.

Pre-Pressler Main Street had a greater variety of goods many of which could only be found on Main Street. Pooh was a turn of the century story and Pooh could be found only on main street and Fantasyland. The coin Arcade was a nicely themed real coin arcade. New Orleans Square had the One of a Kind Antique Shop where you could browse and buy actual antiques from the period. I use to love that store. I guess I could go through each land, but I'll stop and just say that each land seemed far more unique and themed in it's shopping and food selection and while it's much better now then in previous years, there's still a sameness throughout the park and poorly themed carts everywhere.

[Small Panda After All]

The one thing that I do love is that New Orleans Square still has quite a few original shops. Yes, there's the generic Christmas ornament shop, but there's also the Radko shop. My cousin's engagement ring and wedding bands came from the jewelry shop. I'm saving up some money to get something from there, because I love the antique rings and necklaces there.

On all teh other lands I agree with you, though. Although it seems like Disney may be on an upswing because they are getting more creative items in (like the games and the retro 50th stuff and the Nightmare stuff). Maybe it's a sign that we'll be getting more specialized area shops back?

[Barbaraann]

I noticed something when I was at Disneyland. They seem to have more actual shops on Main Street. When I was in Walt Disney World, it seemed that their Main Street was just one big souvenir stand.

Just my opinion

[Churro]

I used to love shopping at Disneyland.Each land had it's own unique shops for sure. I remember the Indy store having unique items like an Indy watch I bought for DH. He also had a baseball hat that was Indiana Jones themed, but last tiime we went back they were nowhere to be found.... Plus he lost his that trip.
I miss several shops in NOS. The glass shop where you caould have stuff engraved, the food store that was where the Nightmare store is now, and I LOVED the antique shop there .
I tried to find a shirt for every ride like you used to be able to find , but to no avail. I thought it was a great thing when they opened the Villians shop but it closed before I could visit
I will say I was impressed to find scrapbooking supplies at the Photo Shop!
Hopefully we will see more of a return of those unique shops.

[Mousey Girl]

I think the glass engraving store is still there (at least it was in November).

[One of a Kind]

Really miss the unique stores of Main Street and NOS....... (And from there came my user name .... )

Going down in a few weeks for the first time in a few years and really hoping to see some diversity in the shops like the old days.

[robotpirates]

Hopefully, they'll bring back the diversity and unique shopping that DL used to offer. It's coming back slowly. At least they're not taking away the unique shops that are left in NOS!

[Asterix]

We were just talking about this a few weeks ago! It would be so great if they could keep the nice park merchandise they've been doing such a good job with, and combine that with all the themed shopping they used to have.

[Max Fischer]

Speaking of shopping, do you guys know where they will be selling those cool retro maps? Is that the kind of thing they will make tons of, or will it be like a limited edition? I have decided to decorate my place with some DLR stuff, so I can't wait.

[Yendorb]

Back in the day, the people in the watch shop could change a battery, the perfumery made one of a kind perfumes, the people in the shops weren't interchangable because they had to be trained in what they sold.

I really miss that

[MickeyJCA]

Back in the late 80's/early 90's I used to view Disneyland as my prefered shopping location. If I needed a unique gift for a birthday or some other occasion I always knew I could find something at Disneyland.

The 2 big stores were the Emporium on Main Street and the Character Shop/Star Trader in Tomorrowland. They had the best selection of Disney and Disneyland merchandise.

The other stores around The Park would carry specialty Disney items themed to the area along with other things that you could only find in those areas. You couldn't buy Pooh and Princess every time you turned a corner.

I liked it a lot better because the shopping experience was more diverse and it tended to separate the Lands a bit more.