Magic Kingdom closing two shops in January 2014

Bolt

Well-Known Member
My hunch is they on ride photos. I doubt Disney would approve to lose that much retail sales for MM+ when the purpose is revenue.
 

Gomer

Well-Known Member
@TheVisionarySoul had said in his/her thread yesterday that he/she had hear that Yankee Trader merch would be moved to Heritage House when the onride photo shop moves into Yankee trader. Maybe this is prep for that move?

The Mine Shop seems to me like it would be the perfect spot to fit in on ride photos for the mine train once its completed...unless they squeeze that into the existing contruction area somewhere.
 
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Bolt

Well-Known Member
Could they be building a gift shop with the mine train? It seems like it would exit into a shopping area, as most of the roller coasters do. If that's the case, it would make sense to close the existing store and re-theme it.
Makes sense to me, don't need 2 Snow White gift shops.
 

PeoplemoverTTA

Well-Known Member
I am sad they are closing Heritage House! They had good Christmas merchandise :cry::cry::(>3

They used to sell some really cool Americana-type merchandise there (old campaign pins - I still have some of mine, "antiqued" copies of historical documents)...you know, back when gift shops sold merchandise relevant to their respective lands? Oh, and unique merchandise. I mean nowadays this isn't really a loss, because it's all the same stuff, sadly.
 

Animaniac93-98

Well-Known Member
@TheVisionarySoul had said in his/her thread yesterday that he/she had hear that Yankee Trader Mech would be moved to Heritage House when the onride photo shop moves into Yankee trader. Maybe this is prep for that move?

The Mine Shop seems to me like it would be the perfect spot to fit in on ride photos for the mine train once its completed...unless they squeeze that into the existing contruction area somewhere.

This makes sense as Heritage House is too far away from HM IMO.
 

Rob562

Well-Known Member
I don't know about that I see many people using their smart phones to take pictures of picture of them on a ride. LOL. Not sure if Disney is making much money on the photos any more??? I do know the prices have dropped in the last few years.

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
 

Tom

Beta Return
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

I hadn't heard of that, but it sounds quite novel.

Of course, if the cost of implementation can't really be justified, they're probably fine knowing that a photograph of a TV monitor is fairly pointless and will never result in something you'd want to print or frame. Besides, enough guests pay for PP/PP+/MM to offset the few guests who don't buy any photos because they snapped a photo of a TV screen with their phone.

A cheaper solution, use old school CRT televisions to display the photos with a 40Hz refresh rate, so there's a rolling line if you take a picture :)
 

Animaniac93-98

Well-Known Member
Magic Kingdom used to have a HM store outside it's gates known as the Keelboat Shop: (aka Ichabod's Landing):

397016_619596568060003_424828627_n.jpg


The space is used for storage now, but I wonder if they'll bring back the name for Yankee Trader's HM makeover?
 
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PeoplemoverTTA

Well-Known Member
I begged my parents for an invisible dog when I was a kid. In retrospect, I totally get why they didnt. What would I have done woth that thing when I got home?

Plus, I'm sure I wouldve gotten tired of lugging it around the parks, lol!
 

TP2000

Well-Known Member
Magic Kingdom used to have a HM store outsdie it's gates known as the Keelboat Shop: (aka Ichabod's Landing):

397016_619596568060003_424828627_n.jpg


The space is used for storage now, but I wonder if they'll bring back the name for Yankee Trader's HM makeover?

Heck, I can remember when that building wasn't just a themed gift shop, but was the queue and boarding area for an actual ride; Mike Fink's Keelboats!
mkthennow1_hauntedmansion1983ww.jpg


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:
 

Animaniac93-98

Well-Known Member
Heck, I can remember when that building wasn't just a themed gift shop, but was the queue and boarding area for an actual ride; Mike Fink's Keelboats!

Well I do too, but that wasn't the point of my post Grandpa.;) Heck, when that photo was taken both it and the Keel Boats were running (since they were seperate parts of the building). PLUS, I think the shop closed first.
 

MarkTwain

Well-Known Member
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.

@TheVisionarySoul had said in his/her thread yesterday that he/she had hear that Yankee Trader merch would be moved to Heritage House when the onride photo shop moves into Yankee trader. Maybe this is prep for that move?

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.


I don't know about that I see many people using their smart phones to take pictures of picture of them on a ride. LOL. Not sure if Disney is making much money on the photos any more??? I do know the prices have dropped in the last few years.

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 used to sell some really cool Americana-type merchandise there (old campaign pins - I still have some of mine, "antiqued" copies of historical documents)...you know, back when gift shops sold merchandise relevant to their respective lands? Oh, and unique merchandise. I mean nowadays this isn't really a loss, because it's all the same stuff, sadly.

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 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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