Main Street Bakery to Serve Starbucks Coffee

[misterID]

Since I was a kid, almost every corner had a sponsor at Disney. Dole is/has been a pretty good sponsor for all those citrus swirls I love...

 

[WDW1974]

I hope you're right. Considering the lack of faith you've expressed in Iger & company time and again, I don't see why you have any faith in him now.

Iger has NOTHING to do with this. Disney's sponsorship group went out and landed a big fish and has been spending 18 months figuring out what to do with said fish. Leave Iger out of this.

Small Town USA was not destroyed in one step by the sudden opening of a Big Box Wal-Mart. It happened incrementally. With the invasion of Starbucks, we are witnessing Step One of the transition of Main Street USA into the Mall of America.

MSUSA is already destroyed. Enjoy what's left. But the time for is long since over ... I was there when the Walt Disney Story, Penny Arcade and Main Street Cinema were legit attractions. When Sun Bank had a branch at soon as you entered the park. When Center Street wasn't covered by an Emporium expansion making it run the length of MSUSA and making meaningless all those facades outside since there no longer exist unique shops. Should I go on?

No doubt Starbucks is going to be highly profitable. When Iger sees the numbers, do you really think it’s going to end there? Do you really think Iger is going to say “no” when (for example) The Gap or Eddie Bauer comes knocking with an equally lucrative deal?

Iger won't be looking at those numbers. EVER. That's so below him. Phil Holmes and his soon to be named replacement -- Danny Cockerell will. and the food and beverage people.

You may think this ia a big deal. But this fish doesn't swim in Iger's pond.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

Of course it is, and what is wrong with that? Sponsors have been a huge factor in the parks since 1955. If you want to know one reason why WDW is in the shape it's in, take a look at the sponsors they had in 1972 or 1982 or 1992 and today.

And conversely take a look at TDR where virtually every attraction, dining location, parade etc has a sponsor and the parks are near pristine. there is a corelation.

There are two things wrong with that:

One, it is about sponsors indeed, and not about quality. An academic difference perhaps, with an equal outcome, but not something one should lose sight of.

Two, sponsoring have a time and place. FW pavilions are completely driven by sponsors. That is the very idea of them. F&B has sponsors too. Kraft and Nestlé and Nescafé want to be associated with Disney. But they are products, not physical places. So far, so good.
But when outside vendors set up shop in Disney, open an actual franchise of their business, the result is commonly dissapointing, sometimes miserable. Planet Hollywood is an eyesore. The old Hallmark Store on Main Street was too. (You're not the only one who's visited Disney for a long time). As was McDonald's at the park. They are too recognisable. They pull the guest out of the fantasy, and into reality.
Exceptions to this are chains which are not immediately recognisable as such, for example the third party operated Magic Shop in DL.

 

[ParentsOf4]

Iger has NOTHING to do with this. Disney's sponsorship group went out and landed a big fish and has been spending 18 months figuring out what to do with said fish. Leave Iger out of this.

Thanks for the reply. Sorry I was not clear. I simply was using Iger as a representative figurehead. Let me rephrase my question.

Do you think this is going to end with Starbucks? Do you think TWDC will say "no" when some other large corporate entity wants to open a well-themed brand-specific store on Main Street USA, even if the deal is highly profitable? Why are any of those other possible suitors different than Starbucks?

I'd really like to know your opinion. Do you think it will stop with a subtle overlay of Starbucks on the Main Street Bakery?

 

[misterID]

FTR, petition over 1,000 signatures.

Sorry, but for something that some are claiming means nothing bad, that's a lot of people opposed to the idea, especially considering the majority of people probably have no idea about this yet.​

Where in the world are the petitions to fix Imagination??!!

 

[SorcererMickey]

Wow.. what a thread.

I'm looking forward to it. I think they'll do it right,.. MSUSA will maintain it's look and feel.
Just because something is uncommon (Outside entities setting up shop in the parks), doesn't mean it will be a bad thing at all.

I'll just have to have a java chip Frappucino instead of an ice cream cookie sandwich whilst waiting for the throngs to leave after Wishes =),

 

[Yankee Mouse]

Should I go on?

probably should, because there is so much misinformation and assumptions in this thread that it has just become comical.

 

[Pentacat]

Oh, and to cheer up all the Star Wars lovers, talked to someone up the food chain at Disney this morning (well, early afternoon by my standards) and was told to not expect anything Star Wars related in either USA resort and that includes the Studios makeover. Rasulo/Iger weren't lying on the teleconference when they said attractions for Hong Kong and Shanghai (both of which have different Marvel attractions also under development). I wasn't going to post that here, but since everyone is crying a river of latte, I thought I'd give them something else to cry about.

Nice....trying to bury this nugget you disruptive malcontent.

No surprise really, they're just going where the money is. The ROI on those parks is going to be ridiculous over the next decade unless the Chinese real estate market implodes.

How long do you think it will be before they start trying to pimp DVC in the Asian markets? Are timeshares a legal possibility within the PRC?

 

[Pentacat]

Nobody is claiming the coffee is a downgrade. KFC serves better fried chicken than the Hoop Dee Doo, but does anyone want KFC over at Fort Wilderness?

If i could get good food AND a good show then why would i care if it was the colonel's finest?

You're saying that you are willing to pay $60 a plate for a good show with bad food. I remember when those things weren't mutually exclusive at WDW.

 

[s&k'smom]

I have to admit my older sister would be thrilled she belongs to the church of Starbucks.

 

[PhilharMagician]

Plenty to eat still:



I haven't had a pop tart in years, but now I am craving one

I know Starbucks will have food, but I don't like their coffee. Also why change something that is not broken.

Next is Foutain View then what? Starring Rolls, Writers Stop and Kusafiri Coffee Shop? All of these places have there own themeing and to switch any or all of them to a company (Starbucks) that sits on every corner in nearly every city just simply takes away the magic. When I walk down Main St USA I want to feel like that I am on the street of old. Before you know it there will be a Taco Bell or a Subway instead of Casey's. When I get to WDW I want to leave the real world right where it is. OUTSIDE THE GATES!

 

[mrssparrow]

This thread went crazy.....


I'm hoping this was said and I'm not trolling through 21 pages but this is no different than McDonalds at Friars Nook or in Adventurelamd/Frontierland.


I still want to petition for Dunkin Donuts rather than Starbucks......

 

[marni1971]

NOT!

That got a laugh!

 

[marni1971]

Of all the problems at MK...THIS is what gets people upset? Seriously?
Wow...priorities...

Just add it to the list...

 

[Mrs.Toad]

Shocked...

I am giving myself an hour to recover before I contact my parents. They are going to take this just as bad. Since childhood, that bakery is so tied to my memories of Main Street. The first place I hit when I get to MK.

My parents look forward to this as if they were waiting on line for an attraction. Actually, they don't function well in the parks unless they get their Main Street Bakery fix of some kind of cake and coffee, and then we would hang out there and just enjoy being in MK and on Main Street.

How do I break the cinnamon roll cut off gently? Will they maybe sell them somewhere else in the park? I can live with just the coffee being replaced, but why would Starbucks agree to not push their own food products and keep the bakery's?

Also, I saw that one post about the Plaza rumor. This is too much to take in one thread. I will die without that cheesesteak, if it is true.

 

[mm52]

Main Street USA is based on Walt Disney's hometown of Marceline, Missouri. Didn't Walt Disney grow up with a Starbucks?

I agree, you just shouldn't mess with Main St. Give them(Starbucks) a cart but leave the bakery alone! Sad turn of events!

 

[Longhairbear]

I'm finding all this very comical. You all should just come out to Disneyland. Stay at the Disney hotels, or DVC. Get a nearby hotel room, or stay with a friend. Spend a few days, see what is right, and what is wrong, or needs work.

 

[captainkidd]

What's most pathetic about all of this is Disney couldn't figure out how to make a good cup of coffee. I'm not a coffee drinker, but is it THAT hard?

 

[Tom Morrow]

Well... every other location is still going to sell Nescafe... right?

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

Thats what you colonials get for wasting tea. Hell mend you.