Disney Now Merchandising A Magic Kingdom
The World of Disney megastore, which opened last week at the massive Disney World theme park complex, is as long as a football field and is the largest in the growing worldwide chain of Disney stores. And every item in the 50,000-square-foot features a character from the Disney pantheon.
Disney's retailing machine extends through the theme parks and includes 530 outlets in shopping malls and department stores and on city blocks in 11 countries, and is believed to add millions of dollars each year to the Burbank, California- based entertainment giant's bulging coffers.
Unveiled last Wednesday night in a burst of fireworks and confetti during a press junket for the Florida theme park's 25th anniversary, World of Disney, strategically located in the Disney Village Marketplace near hotels and Disney's Pleasure Island entertainment district, will be used as a model for future stores, executives said.
Laurie Miller, vice- president of product development, and other Disney officials refused to give revenue projections for World of Disney or other sales statistics, but she said the store was expected to outperform the current sales volume champion: the Emporium in Disney World's Magic Kingdom.
The giant new outlet is much more than the typical Disney souvenir shop. Using a series of themed rooms radiating from a central display area, the store has an adult atmosphere and features sleek, Euro-styled products.
The Enchanted Dining Room sells colour-coordinated kitchen items such as Mickey-shaped waffle irons and $40 Cafe Mickey coffee presses. Flavored vinegars, sauces and dressings are also available.
; a bottle of salad dressing from Disney's Polynesian resort goes $6.00.
The store's modernistic Villains Room, decorated with a holographic portrait of Cruella de Vil from the classic cartoon 101 Dalmations, sells home accessories such as plates and bowls with Mickey rendered in the cubist style of Picasso, at $75 apiece. The room also features beaded evening purses for more than $1,600.
The store's men's, women's, children's and infants' rooms feature clothing displayed as it might be at a department store. Among the sleepwear in the Magic room was a $105 set of silk Mickey pajamas.
Disney officials said the company asked brand-name designers to come up with special products for World of Disney, which may be offered in other Disney stores.
The designer Nicole Miller created Mickey accessories, including $65 tote bags and $40 umbrellas for the store and other upscale Disney outlets.
Business has been good for Nicole Miller since it signed a licensing agreement with Mickey & Co., one of the Disney labels, said Howard Ziskin, who runs the designer's accessory division.
We shipped the first items in November and we've done three-quarters of a million (dollars) since then. That's pretty good for three (Disney) stores, he said.
Shopping has become an integral part of the Disney World experience, with tourists scheduling shopping trips in addition to visits to the complex's three giant theme parks.
Joan and George Soper of Abington, Mass., were celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary at Disney World last week. They said they decided to use the Disney Discount Card, which Mrs. Soper obtained back home, to go shopping before setting foot in a theme park.
We came in and knew we had half the day to hit this place and get all our souvenirs first, said Mrs. Soper, her arms laden with plastic shopping bags. That way you don't have to lug them around all day at the park. If you don't find something you're looking for, you can always come back later.
Chuck Champlin, chief spokesman for Disney's Consumer Products Division, said in a telephone interview that the company's products were more a collection of cultural icons than merely souvenirs.
There's potentially a Mickey line in everything. It's just a matter of finding someone who will do it in good taste, said Champlin, who recently organised two designer showhouses to expose the public to the new Disney house and garden lines.
We've explored concepts of Mickey-designed car interiors, a complete sculpted Donald Duck vacuum cleaner with the bill against the floor sucking up the dirt. Even a Mickey Mouse ceiling fan with his arms and legs outstretched as the blades. You're only limited by your imagination.