Magic Kingdom closing two shops in January 2014

aladdin2007

aladdin2007

Well-Known Member
MarkTwain said:
Sorry to bump this up, but I had a few comments I wanted to add to this thread and no time until now to do it.



This is exactly what is happening, to my knowledge. I do not know of the exact plans for Heritage House, but I do know for certain that Yankee Trader will become a Haunted Mansion gift shop, and will accommodate Haunted Mansion photo sales. Many in the company see this as a waste of resources given the recent refurb of Yankee Trader and the surrounding area, much of which will need to be redone (again).

Heritage House, although actually mildly profitable, was still one of the slowest stores in Magic Kingdom (certainly the slowest in Frontierland/Liberty Square) and apparently wasn't satisfyingly profitable enough to continue operation. I've heard rumors of its closure for a while now but was hoping they wouldn't be true. I'm hearing that Yankee Trader could be relocated to Heritage House to become a more expanded kitchen shop. I'm not sure any of the people I'm talking to know for sure, but they would be the first to know and this is what they're speculating.




Photo sales are hard to give accurate information on, since all the money goes directly to Photopass (not the individual gift shops) and gets more complicated when you have to figure out how ride photo packages like Attractions+ and Memory Maker figure into sales. But generally speaking, you'd be very surprised. Despite the abundance of people snapping pictures of their ride photos, sales generally are very healthy, depending on the location. Obviously, Splash Mountain photo sales have an almost constant line while Test Track's tend to be more paltry. But at $18.95 to print a $0.25 piece of film paper, the ride photos do healthy business.



They've sold much of that even recently. They sold all of the colonial-type merchandise for Liberty Square, including the tri-cornered hats, as well as American flags, biographies of the presidents and books about the revolutionary war, and custom family crests from a counter operated by a third party. Personally, I find it a huge shame that such a shop will no longer be offered in Liberty Square. It is not always the job of every shop to be a profit center. If Disney was serious about Liberty Square being an east-coast equivalent to Disneyland's New Orleans Square (a losing battle, to be sure, so maybe they're not), they would understand the latter's emphasis niche and setting-appropriate shops. Heritage House was perhaps the best example of that and its closure will be a huge loss to Liberty Square.
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Yep very much a shame, the walmarting down continues.
 
nytimez

nytimez

Well-Known Member
MarkTwain said:
Heritage House, although actually mildly profitable, was still one of the slowest stores in Magic Kingdom (certainly the slowest in Frontierland/Liberty Square) and apparently wasn't satisfyingly profitable enough to continue operation.
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...and this is why every store is turning into 50 Shades of Duffy. You just can't beat the markup on pins, plush and t-shirts that cost pennies each to produce.

I'm starting to think the Walmart comparisons are wrong. WDW isn't turning into Walmart. It's turning into Dollar Tree, but without the dollar prices.
 
M

Mrs.Toad

Well-Known Member
Ugh, and I was still mourning Sid's…

The first thing I thought was, No, not THE ceiling! I love the fake jewel encrusted ceiling at the Seven Dwarf's store.
Er,maybe they can move it? lol.

I have also picked up some cool stuff from Heritage over the years. Still have my presidents' mug that looks all colonial and stuff...
 
jjnshane

jjnshane

Active Member
Rob562 said:
That would be cut down if Disney put into motion the patent they filed a few years ago for a system that would overlay an infrared "watermark" across the screen. It would be invisible to the human eye when viewing the screen, but when taking pics with a digital camera (which records more of the infrared range) the watermark would show up and "ruin" the photo.

-Rob
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I think they are doing this now. When I rode Space Mountain on Sunday they had grey text over the photo that said something like "Purchase your ride photo at the gift shop" -- While you could still see your photo through the text, my daughter and I both mentioned how the overlay would make it impractical to take a photo with your phone.
 
PhilharMagician

PhilharMagician

Well-Known Member
TP2000 said:
Anyone remember the 20th Century when Magic Kingdom Park had actual rides on the Rivers of America? Now in the 2010's the park has lots of closed buildings that the young'uns thought were only supposed to be gifts shops back in the 2000's. :cool:
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It has become the norm to find closed shops and restaurants along with boarded up buildings in theme parks and amusement parks also.

When I walk through the WDW parks I look at old rides and tell my daughter things like "wow you should have seen Horizons or World of Motion they were so fun". Thinking about it, I am sad that those rides are only a memory now, but at least they have given themselves for something new like TT or MS which are not the same but great experiences in their own right. What is tough is when I say to my daughter "you know that was the location of the Mike Fink Keel Boats, there was the dock for the Swan Boats that used to navigate the castle moat or there are the dock remains for the old Discovery Island". Those things really bother me that they have gone, left some of the carcass from the ride/show/restaurant/shop and closed the doors. Never upgraded, removed or rebuilt but continue in this state for years if not decades and typically deteriorate with time. :bawling:
 
Animaniac93-98

Animaniac93-98

Well-Known Member
Thinking about it more, it would not surprise me if they are adding FP+ and a more structured queue to the Aladdin/Jasmine meet and greet during the Bazar's down time.
 
dreamfinder

dreamfinder

Well-Known Member
jjnshane said:
I think they are doing this now. When I rode Space Mountain on Sunday they had grey text over the photo that said something like "Purchase your ride photo at the gift shop" -- While you could still see your photo through the text, my daughter and I both mentioned how the overlay would make it impractical to take a photo with your phone.
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The patent is for a system that won't be apparent to the naked eye, but when you try to take a picture of it, you get a big thing over the picture. They have been putting more obnoxious images and messages on the screens I'd assume to try to cut down on the phone pictures, but those make it harder to see the actual pic. This is more like taking a picture of the business end of a tv remote. You can see it with the naked eye, but your camera will show a bright light in the picture.
 
dreamfinder

dreamfinder

Well-Known Member
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Pics attached.

Steve, use em if you want to.
 
tirian

tirian

Well-Known Member
MarkTwain said:
If Disney was serious about Liberty Square being an east-coast equivalent to Disneyland's New Orleans Square (a losing battle, to be sure, so maybe they're not), they would understand the latter's emphasis on niche and setting-appropriate shops. Heritage House was perhaps the best example of that and its closure will be a huge loss to Liberty Square.
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The shops in NOS are generic too.

At the same time that mainstream retailers are trying to create unique shopping experiences based on the way Disney did it long ago, Disney is dumbing everything down.
 

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