News Sweet Spells to close for Toy Story store?

[ford91exploder]

Not that I mind them moving the sweets elsewhere (how many sweets shops do you need?) but more retail? You can't find space in the several other stores that repeat the same merchandise? Or how about, you know, going through with the merchandise shop you cut from Toy Story Land?

Sad to see it all becoming one big store.

WDW a mall with a steep cover charge.

 

[ford91exploder]

Makes perfect sense - why wait for Toy Story Land to open before they add a Toy Story shop, just stick it on Sunset Boulevard.

Why bother with the land, Retail is where it's at!

 

[Pi on my Cake]

They're the same as the Main Street Bakery's cinnamon buns

Actually not at all. Unless it has changed since last August. I work all last spring and summer at the ice cream shop that shares the same backstage as the bakery next door.

Bakery has Mickey shaped cinnamon buns that are smaller and more crunchy (and taste amazing covered in the peanut butter from the ice cream shop). Overall, good but more processed tasting.

Gaston's has these giant fluffy cinnamon rolls. Lots of fluff. More sweet. Tastes a lot more like something baked than something from a tube. (Though I'm sure neither is that "real")

I know the conversation has moved on, but I saw this and had to share my pastry knowledge.

 

[EthylCooper]

The smell inside Sweet Spells is....no joke....one of the main selling points of a Disney World trip for me. None of the other sweets locations smelled like it, either.

 

[DisneyGigi]

I loved this place. It was one of those things where we had to go in and get something at least once a trip. As others have said why not have an Andy’s Toy Box in the actual land? Seems like it would have sold more, being excited exiting a ride, in the actual area? This is dumb.

 

[Little Green Men]

Actually not at all. Unless it has changed since last August. I work all last spring and summer at the ice cream shop that shares the same backstage as the bakery next door.

Bakery has Mickey shaped cinnamon buns that are smaller and more crunchy (and taste amazing covered in the peanut butter from the ice cream shop). Overall, good but more processed tasting.

Gaston's has these giant fluffy cinnamon rolls. Lots of fluff. More sweet. Tastes a lot more like something baked than something from a tube. (Though I'm sure neither is that "real")

I know the conversation has moved on, but I saw this and had to share my pastry knowledge.

No I meant the version served at the bakery before it was a Starbucks

 

[Pi on my Cake]

No I meant the version served at the bakery before it was a Starbucks

Ah, that I don't know as it has been starbucks for five years. So I'll take your word for it.

 

[Flynnwriter]

More Pixar crap! This is the Kohlizination of Disney retail. Less labor intensive, unique retail and more common fare.

 

[RSoxNo1]

I will mourn the loss of the carrot cake cookie sandwich for a fortnight. This place was the silver lining to suffering through one of DHS’s collection of inedible QSR meals.

Carrot Cake Cookie is going to the Starbucks across the way if it's not there already.

 

[MisterPenguin]

More Pixar crap! This is the Kohlizination of Disney retail. Less labor intensive, unique retail and more common fare.

It's moving the Pixar store from Pixar Lane into Sweet Spells. In doing so, Disney has reduced their retail space.

Now, aren't you glad to know that Disney isn't all about the merch?

 

[Gabe1]

I agree this is a very odd choice.

I expect this to be something like what happened with Main Street Bakery. You will see a few of the items sold at quick service locations around the park, and the pre-packacged stuff will remain. But the majority of it will not be seen again.

Sid Cahuengas is just a waste of space. As Disney was redesigning the Studios for Star Wars and Toy and opening Starbucks around 2015 many venues could have been brought into the overall re-design of the park. Placing Starbucks at Sid Cahuengas would have been a win. Putting the Toy Store in one of the Two separate Meet and Greet areas on the opposite side of the the Street from the existing Toy Story Mania ride would have been more appropriate than Sunset Blvd during the redesign of the park phase. Even the former Muppet Store Building would be more appropriate than Sunset Blvd for a Toy Store.

This Park still suffers from shoot from the hip design.

 

[Gabe1]

Going to miss sitting there by the big window watching them make all those goodies, and the great neon lights, it really gave it that Hollywood feel. Let’s hope they don’t cheese it up

This would make the perfect opportunity to re-open Starring Rolls as the sweet center of DHS....Starring Rolls is still sitting empty, correct?

Did we ever get a reason as to why Starring Rolls closed?!

The best rumor I've heard to date and it is completely a rumor is this is to be one of the lounges at Each of the 4 Parks for the private membership club to Florida's version of Disneylands Club 33. Oddly the other rumored areas are no longer being utilized either. Makes ya wonder.

 

[Gabe1]

It would make some amount of sense to put it in TSL, but if it's gonna have merchandise from other Pixar movies, I can see why they don't want it in TSL. If Pixar Place was still going to be around, that would be the perfect spot. Either way, I'm not really upset about the closing because I hardly ever go in Sweet Spells when I'm at DHS. In terms of the carrot cake cookies, I think you can get them at the Trolley Car Cafe.

Yes, you can.

Oh Wow! I just read that a little while ago on the Disney Food Blog. Love confirmation.

Still hope they pick a second spot for the Carrot Cake Cookie though, Starbucks lines can be horrific at times if you just want the Cookie.

 

[Rteetz]

Because new construction would cost a lot more money than gutting and renovating an existing location.

My guess is that while this place was packed and loved by many, somebody ran the numbers and determined that the money it brought in, minus the operation costs, was less than they could make with a gift shop selling non-perishables and staffed with fewer cast.

There was a time when TDO used to treat some of the retail space like an attraction/draw but that time has long past. I mean, look at Main Street. There used to be the penny arcade and the magic shop and the movie theater - back when it was more like the Disneyland one still is.

Now, I think every square foot probably has to justify itself in profit or risk being replaced as soon as they get around to pulling the trigger. Isn't that how we ended up with a sunglass hut in Adventureland?

Who said you need to construct something new closer to the land? Why not take over the shop next to Voyage of the Little Mermaid? That is closer.

 

[disney4life2008]

Another blow to Hollywood Studios. Sad just sad.

 

[kjb101791]

I am allowed to be sadder than anyone else since this is where I did the majority of my CP. I can confirm that the profit on apples is extreme, but I'm not sure how that would compare the profit on toys an whatever else. I just wish I had a Sweet Spells apron...

 

[21stamps]

Well, it might be also due to this...http://www.syfy.com/syfywire/despite-last-jedi-star-wars-toy-sales-dip-in-2017-due-to-apparent-‘movie-fatigue’

I’ve said this before, and it’s purely anecdotal and just a theory.. but I think merchandise sales have gone down because people bought soooo much when TFA came out.
Now kids just need to add a few characters or one or two new vehicles to their collection.

 

[GVentola]

Sweet Spells was one of my first stops any time I visited Hollywood Studios. I didn't necessarily buy anything, except maybe a soda, but I was always curious to see what they were selling. I hope they open a candy shop somewhere else in the park.

 

[MrPromey]

Who said you need to construct something new closer to the land? Why not take over the shop next to Voyage of the Little Mermaid? That is closer.

You mean the outside one featuring princess stuff or the one behind in the corner back by the exit to the OMD/preview theater?

I'd say they don't want to replace the princess one for obvious reasons and as for the other one, I don't think the location would be considered high profile enough for a unique grouping of merchandise around this kind of theme.

For what it's worth, it's been said that this is a PIXAR shop and not necessarily just a Toy Story shop so in their minds, it probably doesn't matter where it goes in the park, as long as they think it'll make more money than what they had there before.

 

[MrPromey]

Sweet Spells was one of my first stops any time I visited Hollywood Studios. I didn't necessarily buy anything, except maybe a soda, but I was always curious to see what they were selling. I hope they open a candy shop somewhere else in the park.

... and I'm sure that's kind of the problem in their eyes - a lot of people liked it but didn't necessarily spend that much there. I was one of those people, too.

That's, I think, a disconnect between management and their fans. Things like this aren't explicit attractions and aren't budgeted like that even though for many guests, it has an appeal, adds to the atmosphere and makes the park more enjoyable for them.

They don't get that so they only see it as a retail location and don't consider how they subtly erode guest loyalty with things that seem simple like this. I mean, a retail location is a retail location, right? While you're waiting for your fastpass for RNR or TOT, you can look at higher priced PIXAR toys just as easily as less profitable candy, right?.. Except thanks to FP+ creating more time than ever for people to wander the area with little else to do while they wait, unique experiences are more important than ever.

Maybe a shop with just PIXAR stuff will be unique enough to make the loss of that shop not matter for most guests. It's isn't for me, personally, though.

Sort of reminds me of when they got rid of the unique shop at the front that sold autographs and movie memorabilia. I bought a few things from there over the years but went in there to look far more often than to buy and I suspect it was a similar experience for most guests. At one point, that seemed to be okay with Disney... before it wasn't.