No trip to Walt Disney World or Disneyland is complete without a stop at The World of Disney. Whether it’s a dedicated shopping day at Disney Springs or a stop on the way to the tram at Downtown Disney, I think most of us have purchased a souvenir or two at The World of Disney stores. These are flagship stores for the company anchor the Disney Parks brand merchandise line that can only be found in the US Parks.
You might remember these stores as whimsical larger than life Disney Stores. Featuring giant characters and incredible theming. Specific theming with rooms that were, for example, Villians themed. A room that celebrated the Villians, the way we would decorate our homes, with portraits and careful sconces. An obvious characteristic of 90’s theme park design that could be found in the now defunct Disneyquest arcade and the Chuckie Cheese inspired children’s arcade, Club Disney. This style of theming became to many of us, what we expected when we entered a Disney retail or entertainment space outside the parks and for many fans of the US Disney parks, I know there was sadness for losing this classic Disney whimsy as these spaces have been revealed over the last year.
Disney Springs has been continually wowing me by adding immersive story details to what is basically an outdoor shopping mall. Only It isn’t just a mall. It’s a spring. And we know that because of immersive details found all around the shopping district.
I’m not a big shopper, so for me it’s made what used to be torturous a lot more palatable. I love a themed environment. The music is really fun at Disney Springs. The backstory and the bottles everywhere and the clear water? It makes me happy. Disney probably knows if I’m happy i’ll spend more money, and as a millenial with money to spend at the parks, Disney seems to be focusing on people like myself. We have all noticed an uptick in Disney’s attention to instagram worthy merchandise since homemade brands and smaller stores have popped up to create worthy contenders to Disney merchandise, Disney has often felt to many fans, as being behind the times. When the average millenial guest is sporting Minnie Ears from Etsy, a t-shirt from their favorite instagram influencer, shorts from another influencer, shoes painted by an Etsy artist and a backpack from Hot Topic, Disney has to have taken note and seems to finally be working with designers that understand this audience and are creating merchandise for them. They still have all the other classic merchandise too, so don’t worry if you’re not a millenial.
I was very curious to see the direction Disney Parks wanted to take its flagship merchandise locations. If this is to set the precedent for future endeavors around the parks in terms of story, what direction are we heading? And will we lose classic touches or will we gain deeper theming? Let’s start at Walt Disney World where I sent one of my favorite people, Diego Montoya, who still lives in Florida, to see a sneak peak of the store, which won’t officially open until Oct. 27th. A sneak preview of what’s to come!
The transformation begins with the store’s exterior which features new marquees and magical window displays. Both stores feature a “loft-style” atmosphere with such great visibility, you might fall in love with an item from across the room!
When I spoke to Diego about his thoughts on the unfinished space, he felt like the space felt stark and not as warm as it used to feel. We both decided to reserve our opinions until the space officially opens, because if we compare it to the Disneyland version, which I’m about to show you, I think we might agree that Walt Disney World got the short end of the stick, because Disneyland’s store is very well done. The Christmas merchandise that was rolled out this past Thursday is festive and features the nordic print that is used for “ugly sweaters” as well as the turn of the century motifs we’ve come to love for a Disney parks Christmas.
This past Friday, I was invited to explore the new space in Downtown Disney at the Disneyland resort before it opened to the public. I spoke with Kevin Lively, a Walt Disney Imagineering Staff Writer, while he excitedly told me the backstory for the re-imagined space. If you thought Disney Springs backstory was detailed, wait till you hear this:
“This space used to be a bus depot for the “Grand California Tours” which partnered with the Grand Californian hotel in Northern California to take people on local tours. The bus depot eventually shut down and in the 1940’s Walt was trying to find a new place to inspire his animators. He found a space in Disney Springs in Florida and in Northern California. He leased out the space for his animators to get away from the hustle and bustle of Los Angeles and Burbank and start working on what would be some of Disney’s most classic films. The animators worked in these warehouses for about 60 years, when in 1989 they decided to close them because they opened Disney-MGM Studios and had a dedicated animation space there. So this warehouse sat empty for years until it opened in 2001 as the World of Disney as part of California Adventure’s Grand Opening with the addition of Downtown Disney. When it came time to fix up the store this year for it’s rehab, they started taking down the drywall and these beautiful remnants of the past animation studio were revealed to the construction workers. Brick walls were revealed with forgotten signage for the bus depot. A wall of paint jars with some leftover magic had been previously drywalled over! And many sketches were unveiled. (Those pesky early 2000’s construction workers must not have cared about Disney history!) They used the 9 old men’s animator desks (that feature their sketches on the wood!) to create the checkout space and the space is decorated with artwork, animation cels and hand drawn details from Disney’s body of work through 1989″
As part of the re-opening, Mary-Anne Sharp told us a little about a special collection that is exclusively available at The World of Disney store:
“The Mickey Mouse Club collection, which is vintage inspired with a modern twist, features products inspired by the classic Mickey Mouse Club. The products have been elevated with additional detail, for example new Mickey Ears featuring, for the first time, a lining.”
This collection is only available for the next 30 days at The World of Disney and then it will be rolled out to the parks and resorts.
Downtown Disney’s The World of Disney also features a section devoted to all the new Christmas merchandise:
One thing I noticed is that the store is less gender focused now and more focused on grouping merchandise in ways that make sense. There is a 2018 Disney parks area, a T-shirt area, a Star Wars area, and many classic souvenirs areas. The layout is bright and big and open and you can really see all the merchandise.
Let’s talk about my favorite part. On a few parts of the brick walls, there are framed animation cels. Fairly innocuous, they don’t stand out. They just look like framed art. But if you watch them you’ll see fully animated pencil sketches and each 3 change after each comes alive. I could easily have stood there and watched the whole loop. They’re beautiful. Let’s hope that WDW’s World of Disney gets these and the ink pots too!
This set from Ralph Wrecks the Internet will likely be popular.
I went into attending this ready to dislike it because my childhood is growing up going to this store and the whimsical nature was a part of my childhood. But the fun backstory, the beautiful nature of the store and the careful attention to detail really wowed me! They didn’t have to give it a story. They didn’t have to pull from the 9 old men. They could have easily just made it a heartless store. But giving it a story gives us a clue to where Downtown Disney is headed and if it starts to look more like Disney Springs and continues to flesh itself out with incredible storytelling, I think the changes will age well as this continues to be the last stop for all of us on every day trip and every vacation. Where we get a souvenir so we can hold onto the magic we got that day a little longer.
So what do you think? Enough charm and story to make up for the lack of whimsy? Do the bright lights and open floor plan erase the memory of the old clunky store? Let us know in the comments and we’ll see you tomorrow for the update!!
Special thanks to my lovely photography assistant Diego for taking the reins and using everything I’ve taught him to help us out! And Thanks to Pinup Girl Clothing for outfitting us for the day so we could match like we always try to, even if we’re 3,000 miles apart. I’m usually dressed in their clothes because they’re American made, the quality makes them last forever and they’re woman owned! Not to mention they make clothes for all body types. The owner actually designs the plus sizes instead of just inflating a straight size so they fit your body in ways no other plus size clothes fit me. Couture for every body!
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