News Main Street Photo Supply Co. Being Replaced By Plaza Point Holiday Shoppe

[TP2000]

Oh.... Perfection.

This is almost becoming suspiciously comical, like someone is having too much fun with this. Or else the writers at the Babylon Bee have taken over the Disney Parks Blog.

Disneyland places woman of color at center of new holiday shop’s backstory

The new Plaza Point holiday shop opened Thursday, Oct. 21 in the former Main Street Photo Supply Co. on Main Street U.S.A. in the Anaheim theme park.

www.ocregister.com

Walt Disney Imagineering has made a Puerto Rican woman who loves to travel the central character of a fictional backstory created for a new Disneyland holiday shop as part of Disney’s continued commitment to diversity and inclusivity.

The fictional Plaza Point proprietress Miss Evelyn Toro was inspired by Disneyland resort enhancement manager Dawn Keehne’s real-world mother Evelyn, whose maiden name is Toro.

Plaza Point sells Christmas merchandise year-round with Halloween and Lunar New Year overlays along with Easter, Hanukkah, spring and fall seasonal decor planned throughout the year. The shop will feature ornaments, housewares, linens and holiday accessories from Germany, China, Israel, Denmark, England, Mexico and other countries — all ostensibly collected during Miss Evelyn Toro’s travels.

According to the shop’s backstory, Miss Evelyn Toro’s globetrotting travels have brought her a wealth of knowledge about how the holidays are celebrated around the world that the friendly and outgoing proprietress enjoys sharing with patrons in her bustling shop.

 

[TP2000]

For those wondering at home, the 1900 Census data from Missouri states that 86.4% of the state was "White" and 13.6% of the state was "Black". The US Census didn't begin tracking Hispanic until 1970, and in the 1970 Census the Hispanic population in Missouri is listed as 0.9%. By the 1980 Census the Hispanic population of Missouri had risen to 1.2%.

But sure, make her a Puerto Rican lady in 1905 Midwest Small Town USA.

I would actually have thought it was cute if they'd made the proprietress a fun Black lady whose favorite holiday was Christmas and celebrated it year round, someone who moved out west to Missouri as a young girl after the Civil War, which would make a lot more sense demographically and historically.

But nope, she's Puerto Rican. And very well-traveled, yet lives in a small rural town. Diversity!

https://mcdc.missouri.edu/population-estimates/historical/POP-twps0076.pdf

 

[Sharon&Susan]

Of course Disney isn't going to use Christmas in the name, have y'all checked out Disney+ recently?

The shop will feature ornaments, housewares, linens and holiday accessories from Germany, China, Israel, Denmark, England, Mexico and other countries — all ostensibly collected during Miss Evelyn Toro’s travels

Miss Toro visits a country that hadn't existed for over a thousand years and a half millennia and won't exist again for over 40 years after Main Street USA is set? Now that's an anachronism, unless if she happens to be a time traveling member of SEA or something.

 

[TP2000]

Miss Toro visits a country that hadn't existed for over a thousand years and a half years and won't exist for over 40 years after Main Street USA is set? Now that's an anachronism, unless if she happens to be a time traveling member of SEA or something.

Oh, that's fabulous! That slipped by me, but I'm so glad you caught it.

It's 1905 smalltown Midwest USA, but Miss Toro has time-leaped to 1948 to be among the first to buy Hannukah decorations in the newly created nation of Israel so she could bring them back in time to sell to all the Gentiles in her hometown. Because she's Puerto Rican, don't forget.

I'm supposed to be at a sociable a week from Friday with a dear, old Jewish friend. She's an absolute scream and hysterically funny (and constantly demands to know why I'm not married to a nice Jewish doctor! And I'm as old as crap and can barely bribe a Jewish doctor to look at my tennis elbow with all my excellent insurance!), but she is also a very serious student of history when it comes to Israel. I can not wait to read this press release to her and hear her reaction.

 

[TP2000]

I just don't see how these fake backstories for fake people are necessary for real shops.

They aren't. It's creepy and weird.

But they are doing it all so ham-handed and faked now that it makes it very funny.

Who founded the "carnation cafe"? A transgender polygamist from Iran?

Yes. Let's go with that. It has a nice ring to it.

And I just Googled it, and carnations are actually native to the Mediterranean (even though it's really just named for the original corporate sponsor, Carnation Evaporated Milk). Would you be opposed to moving the transgender polygamist to Libya, instead of Iran, just so we can tie in the flowers more?

Carnation | Flower, Description, & Facts | Britannica

Carnation, species of flowering plant of the pink family (Caryophyllaceae), native to the Mediterranean region. It is widely cultivated for its fringe-petaled flowers, which often have a spicy fragrance, and is used extensively in the floral industry.

www.britannica.com

Was the Corn Dog cart discovered by a gay man whos paraplegic?

It would explain why that truck never actually moves. He can't reach the pedals.

How are these fictional characters that have nothing to do with these shops helping any cause for minorities?

They aren't. It's just getting embarassing.

I get it, they are trying to make a themed environment they are saddled with (Main Street USA) that is intrinsically WASPy and now unstylish into this beautiful fake tapestry of 21st century Instagram diversity. I don't envy them.

But it's just silly at this point. It's almost hurting the cause of diversity instead of advancing it.

They should probably just stop, take a step back and a little breather, and figure out a more organic and natural approach to all this stuff. But they won't. And it keeps script writers from Imagineering employed and paying off their Tesla. So at least there's that?

 

[TP2000]

No need for made up cartoon characters. We don't need to create fake stories to show people diversity. The world and different cultures are interesting things, just showcase them, and maybe not in 1905 Missouri.

There's the real nugget in all this Inclusion mess, bigger than this one Christmas shop.

They are telling stories. They constantly love to tell us how much they tell us stories. They're storytellers! and they yell that at us now in nearly every corporate Tweet and park PA announcement and scripted executive appearance.

And they do have a story to tell on Main Street USA; that of small town Midwest America in the early 1900's, like when Walt was growing up in rural Missouri. It's all a sanitized, perfected, shiny version of that historical reality, without the mud and the dingy clothes and the stench and the horse flies. But it works, and Americans love it.

Hell, even the French kind of like Main Street USA.

But now, they are not just removing the stench and the horse flies from their story, they are removing the story from their story. There are plenty of real, historical stories to tell about the hard-working, kind, gracious, patriotic, earnest, and loving Americans who made up 10,000 versions of small town USA one hundred and twenty years ago. There is absolutely no need to create a time-traveling Puerto Rican woman to run the town's Christmas shop that can't be called a Christmas shop.

But here we are. With a time-traveling Puerto Rican woman, instead of a reality-based Black or White woman who had a Christmas fetish in some small town out on the prairie 120 years ago.

They've got bursting chapters and chapters of rich, bountiful, reality-based American history to draw from if they want to create fake proprietresses who run all these Main Street shops.

But that's apparently not good enough, the story they are telling isn't cool enough, so they have to go three steps overboard and create eye-rollingly pukey stories about Puerto Rican time travelers who somehow visited Israel in 1905 and explored Sapphic interests on ice skates.

Remember though it's a themepark, we're not here to be taught lessons everyone already knows.

I can remember that. And you can remember that. And nearly everyone who buys a ticket to get in can remember that. But the people who actually run that theme park can no longer remember that.

 

[TP2000]

It should just be a painting. Let it speak for itself. If a Lesbian couple wants to see themselves in it, fine. But we don’t need the damn imagineers story to tell us what it is.

As a card-carrying member of the 2SLGBTQQIA+ (Google that, if you dare) community, I'll weigh in.

I looked at that image, and I didn't see Lesbians. I know Lesbians. I have been to more Lesbian weddings than I'd like to admit to (I'm not a Melissa Etheridge fan, so the DJ list at the reception can be particularly painful).

I only saw two girls skating, which looked slightly less weird than those old Newsreels you see of girls dancing with each other during World War II. Or the girls who used to dance with other girls on American Bandstand (until the show moved from Philly to LA in '64, where the boys were smarter and showed up in droves). But it didn't look quite as weird as when sailors would dance with other sailors in the middle of the Pacific during World War II; that just looked gay 2SLGBTQQIA+.

The image was most notable because it was a Black girl skating with a white girl. Which was kind of sweet, if not historically accurate. Although it's the type of subtle visual change to a pseudo-historical image that I think is appropriate in the 21st century.

But about that time traveling Puerto Rican woman... That's just dumb.

 

[SuddenStorm]

When will they stop shoving this inclusivity stuff down our throats?

As long as people are getting promoted with the sole purpose of inclusion, this stuff will continue.

Like, what other inclusive things has Carmen done in the last 10 years? Right now I can think of Splash Mountain, Jungle Cruise, and a Holiday store. It's too bad- she has 40 years of experience at Disney and they couldn't put a single project example in this marketing blurb about her promotion.

 

[SuddenStorm]

I just say, if you're going to do it, keep everything subtle. This way parents get to choose to explain human sexuality to their kids at the time they see fit- not when Disney decides. It's kind and right to be considerate of others but especially to kids.

The fact this even needs to be said in a thread that's about a Holiday shop on Main Street at Disneyland...

Like it's Disneyland. It's a store selling mass produced holiday goods. What does sexuality have to do with anything?

 

[Sailor310]

I went to the shop today before I read all this. Most of it went straight over my head. None of the merchandise did much for me, but the shop is beautiful on the inside. Very ornate Victorian ceiling, lit trees and garland everywhere.

 

[Californian Elitist]

Whew, y’all are triggered lol. I love to see it though.

Get used to it.

 

[Castle Cake Apologist]

What does sexuality have to do with anything?

Nothing. You guys are inventing fictional scenarios to get mad about.

I just say, if you're going to do it, keep everything subtle. This way parents get to choose to explain human sexuality to their kids at the time they see fit- not when Disney decides. It's kind and right to be considerate of others but especially to kids.

Like is this a real post?! Why would you have to have a conversation about sexuality because your kid saw a window display?? Are your children really so sheltered that the existence of a fictional gay couple would lead to a whole situation? I'm sorry, but that's honestly just really odd. Like, are you keeping straight couples a secret from your kids too? My god. Spoiler alert: Heterosexuality is also a sexuality.

Just like no parent would have needed to have a conversation about "human sexuality" if the display had featured a straight couple, the same should be true of it showing a gay couple. In fact, you can walk right by it or pretend that they're just two lady friends if that helps your fragile little mind process the big bad LGBT representation. But here's the thing, this display could be a really big deal for a little girl with two moms who has to live in a world full of people like you guys.

It's hilarious to see how badly this triggers some of you. I just can't imagine caring this much about minority representation in a theme park.

Also, newsflash @TP2000 : You've been able to buy Hanukkah merchandise on Main Street during the holidays for a long long time. Make sure you tell your friend that.

 

[Castle Cake Apologist]

Fixed it for you

The display is two women ice skating. It's in fact not lesbian at all unless you watch this video back story.

Disney likes to claim they are all in on diversity, but this ice skating window, just like their films, only slightly subtly hint at something gay.

In fact Disney is ashamed to do full on gay main characters and instead opt for small little moments to imply some side character is gay. This way they get instagram points but also have a scene irrelevant to the plot that they can cut out for China's release.

I'm married to a minority, has nothing to do with minorities. It's just more unnecessary Disney storytelling that isn't well planned out.

I also don't like the new Star Wars movies, but it's also storytelling reasons, but a poster like you may claim I don't like it because I'm a sexist.

I think many of the posts in here are pretty indicative of why Disney is wishy-washy with LGBT representation. Clearly, if they showed anything beyond subtle hints of gay couples, people would have to stop going to the parks so that they wouldn't have to explain to their kids that gay people exist. The horror!

 

[Castle Cake Apologist]

Some things are, in fact, offensive, and ought to be. If you saw a man weeping over his dying baby would you run up and say "Triggered! You sure are triggered! Got 'em!"Of course not, because a dying baby is a terribly offensive thing. Likewise, anything that perverts and damages the mind of a child, is wicked and ought to caught offense. Those who are triggered at the presence of any sort of debauchery are right in their emotions.

Similarly, with regard to the Puerto Rican narrative, it is an erasure of White culture, which ought to offend, as well, just as much as the erasure of black culture offends you. For Disney to insinuate that the culture represented on Main Street USA is not a White culture but "ethnically diverse," is to strip my people of the good we have accomplished and hand it over to another people who did no such thing. It would be equal to if Disney were to set up a jazz shop in New Orleans and say it was run by a Chinese man rather than a black gentleman. It'd be absolute nonsense, just like this is.

This is literally the most pathetic post I've ever seen here in over 20 years of membership. Do you really think this way? My god, I'm pretty sure I lost a few brain cells reading this.

So Disney is stripping white people of their culture and their "accomplishments" because a fictional woman of color is running a holiday shop on Main Street? What a crazy take.

Mmm also, please, explain to me like I'm 5, what about this new Holiday shop on Main Street at Disneyland is "perverting and damaging" the minds of children? Where exactly is the "debauchery" in this new shop?

 

[Castle Cake Apologist]

Thoughts on Splash Mountain?

Do you also feel victimized and oppressed as a white person by that?

Not sure what that has to do with the conversation we're having, or even what you selectively quoted. Want to actually address what I said in my post? I don't engage in bad faith "gotcha" arguments with bigots, sorry.

 

[Californian Elitist]

I am. Disney's bad storytelling is getting worse each day.

Okay. But y’all seem to be triggered when it involves people of color, the LGBTQ+ community, people from various religions other than the Christian one, etc. What’s that all about?

Some things are, in fact, offensive, and ought to be. If you saw a man weeping over his dying baby would you run up and say "Triggered! You sure are triggered! Got 'em!"Of course not, because a dying baby is a terribly offensive thing. Likewise, anything that perverts and damages the mind of a child, is wicked and ought to caught offense. Those who are triggered at the presence of any sort of debauchery are right in their emotions.

Similarly, with regard to the Puerto Rican narrative, it is an erasure of White culture, which ought to offend, as well, just as much as the erasure of black culture offends you. For Disney to insinuate that the culture represented on Main Street USA is not a White culture but "ethnically diverse," is to strip my people of the good we have accomplished and hand it over to another people who did no such thing. It would be equal to if Disney were to set up a jazz shop in New Orleans and say it was run by a Chinese man rather than a black gentleman. It'd be absolute nonsense, just like this is.

White Americans have been actually erasing the cultures and histories of others for eons.

Creating a Puerto Rican character for a fake, fantasized, 19th-century Main Street in a theme park is not somehow “erasing” white culture and white history. None of this is real. You know what actually does count as erasing culture and history? Forcing people to stop speaking their native tongues, giving people “Christian” names to replace their ethnic, birthright names, forcing others to practice a religion that’s not theirs, forcing people of color to assimiliate into white culture and practices, and telling lies in history books, like Christopher Columbus “discovered” America and that “workers” from Africa came to America to seek the American dream, plus more.

Creating a fictional Puerto Rican character for a fictional place in a theme park that’s full of other fake stuff will not make all those white people from the real, 19th-century Marceline, Missouri vanish from history. I promise.

 

[truecoat]

They should make the window more inclusive. Paint in a couple protesters with signs who won't skate on the same ice as the lesbian couple.

 

[Californian Elitist]

Oh, I'm a sucker for Christmas decor. Garland, wreaths, Christmas trees. Love it all. What I don't care for is the merch, mostly because, and I hinted at it earlier, I don't care enjoy the capitalism that has enveloped Christmas. Christmas is about a gracious God who offered His Son to bear the sins of a wicked people so that we may have fellowship with Him. That's a much happier and more inclusive story than whatever Disney is trying to sell regarding lesbians and Puerto Ricans. Anyway, Christmas decor, it's fairly tasteful, so that's good. I'm curious to see what they do with the shop come Easter, as that's not really a big merchandising holiday, and then the only celebration between then and Halloween is the Fourth of July, which could make for a cute shop.

I also love Christmas decor. Unhealthily obsessed. My mom and I go out every year to buy more things.

I have a hard time believing the store will look significantly different with each holiday, with the exception of Halloween. I feel like it’s always going to look like a Christmas store. I hope I’m wrong.

 

[Castle Cake Apologist]

I am a huge fan of cultures and find them very interesting and I think that universally people enjoy learning about other cultures.

The diversity in this I find to be a sham because it consists of a fake character backstory that no one will ever see or encounter in the shop. This applies to the "lesbian" couple and the latina owner.

It's like Disney thinks they are this wholesome inclusive entity, but their "commitment to diversity" is internet blog post back stories or incredibly slight and subtle references.

Imagine if Disney actually did show a lesbian couple and not obscure it. Or if Disney did sell "Gay Pride" shirts and not just shirts with rainbows on them.

Either commit to it or don't, but these little slight "hints" of diversity really are insulting if anything.

Again, I'd invite you to read some of the posts in here if you're really still unsure as to why Disney is hesitant to go all-in on Pride. Another poster referred to the lesbian display as "debauchery" that will "pervert and damage" the minds of children.

 

[Castle Cake Apologist]

View attachment 595093

Yeah, I think we're done here. They've made more than one post openly insinuating that they are a proud racist. Not to mention this weird belief they have that a shop on Main Street somehow should rightfully belong to a white person. I don't even know what to say to it.

I can't help but notice that they just joined in June. I'm calling a troll.