Fiberglass Statues at WDW

[UNCgolf]

Yeah. I don’t HATE the new look. I just find it boring and unimaginative.

That's essentially how I feel. I don't want it to be a cluttered mess, but I'd also prefer it not look like a generic, random store at a mall, which is how it currently looks (other than a few things, mainly at the checkout counters).

 

[donaldtoo]

Yes! I remember suburban mall Disney Stores in the 90s did, too…

View attachment 674959

I worked at our local mall Disney Store for 4+ years from August of ‘09-October of ‘13.
It was one of the mid-90’s “pink and green” stores with scenes and theming like the above.
I always thought what a shame it was gonna’ be when the store finally closed for good, that all that theming would be destroyed, because of company policy…………theoretically.
Anything that was broken, fixtures not needed anymore, a product deemed faulty, etc., was to be taken to the crusher out back, and destroyed. This process had to be witnessed by at least 2 CM’s, one being a manager.
When I first started there, we had a fixture next to the box office (cash wrap) that displayed differently themed Park passes (cards - both WDW and DLR), and gift cards.
We eventually quit offering the Park passes, and the gift cards went into a drawer behind the box office.
The display was to be destroyed.
Myself and our SM were breaking it down, as far as we could, to go in the crusher.
There was also a castle piece on the top of the display that slipped into a slot.
As I removed that piece, I sighed.
My SM tapped me on the shoulder and she told me to take it straight to my car.
The only thing I ever left that store with that I didn’t pay for.
When our oldest DD announced to us she was expecting our first grandchild several years ago, I gave it to her, and it has subsequently ended up in both of our granddaughters nurseries.
Sadly, that store closed several years ago, and who really knows what happened to all those scenes and theming…?!
What a shame, IMO, if it was all destroyed.

 

[yensidtlaw1969]

I wondered what had happened to them after the switch to Pandora. If they got scrapped or reused somewhere else...But another big placed that used huge fiberglass figures..World of Disney..

now it looks like this:
View attachment 675080

which gives vibes:

View attachment 675081

This version of World of Disney was pretty objectively weird, and I can understand why some found it off-putting. I felt it was creative to a fault, but I always enjoyed visiting given how unique it was and used to go out of my way to stop in:

This version of World of Disney is the antithesis of creative. It feels like a factory designed to extract money. I now no longer visit, even when I happen to be at Disney Springs, unless there's a piece of merch I simply cannot find elsewhere. But even then I spend a fraction of the time (and money) I used to spend at this store:

I won't pretend Fiberglass Statues were what made this space work for me, since I don't have any particular reverence for them. More than anything it was that the enviroment aspired to something - anything - where the new environment seems engineered to feel as "nowhere" as possible. I would have loved to see care and respect go into the redesigning of that landmark store. It should feel like a real destination and somehow they let it become one of the blandest spaces on property.

 

[Sir_Cliff]

They went from one extreme, Disney overload, to no Disney theming at all (beyond the merch)… given the choice of the two I prefer the new look, a couple characters scattered here and there would really make the store more interesting though.

Yeah. I don’t HATE the new look. I just find it boring and unimaginative.

That's essentially how I feel. I don't want it to be a cluttered mess, but I'd also prefer it not look like a generic, random store at a mall, which is how it currently looks (other than a few things, mainly at the checkout counters).

I feel very much the same way. I am generally positive about them stepping away from that 1990s/early-2000s style of throwing characters everywhere and going over-the-top. This version, though, is probably too minimalist and generic.

I don't get, for example, why they didn't keep some of those arts and crafts touches to at least give the store a little warmth and charm. I wonder whether they went a little overboard in trying to make it fit into the semi-industrial theme of Disney Springs? They do seem to have done a very similar makeover of World of Disney in Anaheim, though, so it may not be that.

I can see how people may find the display of merchandise a little too crowded, but World of Disney at Disneyland Paris did a reasonable job in my view with its Art Deco/travel motif in keeping some "Disney" touches without just shoving a bunch of fibreglass character statues all over the place. It also feels somewhat themed in the manner of the parks and gives it a bit of an old time department store rather than contemporary mall store feel:

 

[Shiriki_Utundu]

not needed anymore, a product deemed faulty, etc., was to be taken to the crusher out back, and destroyed. This process had to be witnessed by at least 2 CM’s, one being a manager.

an execution.......... Disney style

 

[Cmdr_Crimson]

an execution.......... Disney style

It's as sad as seeing the shoe get dipped...

 

[_caleb]

Any ideas about the first (or earliest) implementations of fiberglass character statues?

Most of these examples go back to the 90s, with Disney Store, the Value resorts, etc. Anyone know of anything before that?

 

[JIMINYCR]

Yeah- props were fiberglass:

But not a lot of just "here's a static Goofy staring in your general direction":

View attachment 674954

Goofy was always my DS's favorite so whenever we arrived at MK he would always sit next to this Goofy and we would do pics. We have a progression of photos as my DS grew up until one year the Goofy statue disappeared.