Apologies, my first real update is a little delayed and not so exciting, but here are some photos and observations from Sunday 19th July.
I must firstly say that the response and excitement surrounding Shanghai Disneyland, as far as I have felt it, has been somewhat implicit so far. I always see a lot of people, kids and adults, in Disney shirts, carrying Disney bags and weilding phones bedecked with Disney accessories, but the park’s construction is really not spoken of a whole lot by anyone, though everyone knows it’s happening. It has definitely not been received as the ‘cultural Chernobyl’ that Disneyland Paris was, but there is a kind of indifference from a lot of people which is quite surprising, especially to someone like me who would do anything to get into the place!
That being said, when the Disney Store opened on May 20th, it received a reasonably warm reception, though it was hardly a headline-grabber. The store is located in the popular tourist shopping area of Lujiazui and sits in the shadow of the iconic Oriental Pearl TV tower, so is really prime real-estate. It’s been sold as the first Disney Store in Mainland China and the biggest in the world, though it is definitely not as big as WDW’s World of Disney store. The Store is nice, with a pretty Mickey-shaped flowerbed in front of the store and a token Hidden Mickey on the roof, only viewable to those looking down from the top of the TV tower. Inside the store, the walls are adorned with the typical mystical Disney forest shapes and character silhouettes, and different projections add some extra fun too. All this is pretty standard Disney Store décor. In the middle of the store is a large castle which seems to do absolutely nothing (maybe I was expecting too much, with all the hype and intrigue around the park’s Storybook Castle…). There are different shows every 15 minutes or so which involve forced mash-ups of classic Disney tunes and clips, which overall are not remarkable.
As for the merchandise, a lot of it is exclusive to Shanghai Disney Store (I heard that around 80% of the products are only sold in the Shanghai store, and having worked at the UK’s flagship Disney Store on Oxford Street this past Christmas, I can confirm that this seems to be the case). They have a great selection of mobile phone cases and accessories, a lot of Tsum Tsums, big and small (China and Japan really love their Tsum Tsums!), and many pens and stickers and notepads, which are great and affordable little souvenirs. And then they have the generic Marvel, Star Wars and Princess stuff, which they seem to move around quite a lot, and so the areas of the store are not specifically themed to the different franchises, which I think is a bit of a shame. I wish I could take photos, but they have a strict policy against doing so, and Disney employs contracted security people to walk around the store and guard the entrances and exits.
Also, it must be noted, having myself received extensive training about offering Disney customer service - including saying hello to every guest, offering them baskets, suggesting products and giving Disney fun facts - I have only once been approached by a Cast Member who offered to help me. I personally like to browse by myself without interference anyway, which may also be the style of the Chinese shopper, but it is just very interesting the difference in attitude between Western and Eastern Disney Store Cast Members.
The opening was covered by local news stations and the online Disney community, but was not incredibly exciting for most. The turnout was pretty good, with lots of people turning out for the limited edition Mickey and Minnie Mouse plushes (which I managed to get my hands on despite visiting over a week after the store opened – in the US or Tokyo I expect these would have sold out in the first day, though I really have no real idea how many of these things they actually had. The limited edition opening day pins have proven particularly unpopular, with many still being available months after store opened; even I, an avid pin collector, am not too interested considering the generic Fab 5 design and the fact that they don’t even have the authentic Mickey-head backings!).
The store has always seemed quite popular the five or so times that I have ventured inside. On my first visit I had to line up for 10 minutes or so to get it, but haven’t had to do so since. On Sunday 19th July, the area was very busy, yet there was only a five-minute or so line outside. Though it is definitely not doing bad, I do thing, considering that the allocated queue area loops all around the corner of the store, Disney was expecting a few more guests for a lot of the time, but there may be a resurge in popularity when the park opens. I will let you all know!
View attachment 103153
(Apologies for the poor picture quality in the next photo - these were taken on my phone! I need to remember to take my professional camera with me if I'm going to embark on these kinds of projects!)
View attachment 103154
It is also quite amusing that about 10 seconds walk from the Disney Store you come across this:
View attachment 103157
Even here in Shanghai Universal is hot on Disney's heels! Although this Minions exhibit will go away once the movie promotion period has ended, it would not surprise me if Universal has plans to come to this city if Disneyland is a huge success. I can see Shanghai becoming the Asian Orlando!
Elsewhere, though not incredibly exciting, I did notice this promotion at a Carrefour supermarket. In celebration of the store's 20th birthday, they are giving away little plastic Disney figurines.
View attachment 103166 View attachment 103167
They're promoting the life out of these things, with everything from big banners hanging from every ceiling, Mickey-shaped balloons and a whole wall of TVs showing a commercial of the promotion on loop.
View attachment 103152 View attachment 103170
From what I could see, the collection includes Classic Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald, Daisy, Pluto, Winnie the Pooh, Steamboat Willie and a Mickey in a Stitch costume. Ironically, I couldn't find the actual things anywhere (they may have been hidden under the till) but from my powers of deduction and poor Chinese reading skills, I figured out that you need to collect 12 stamps (each gained from spending X amount of money) and then paying 1 yuan (about 10p or 15 cents) to obtain one of these figures. Whilst this is hardly thrilling news, I think this is quite telling of what is to come for big name businesses in Shanghai, and I will keep a close eye on what other stores come to embrace Disney over the next few months.
