Forget about attention to detail. It's attention to retail that's really driving DCA's Buena Vista Street project

re: Forget about attention to detail. It's attention to retail that's really driving DCA's Buena Vista Street project

Jim Hill — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 05:30:19 GMT

Great - load it up with shops. My Disney trip, regardless of location, is not complete without going into every single shop. Unfortunately, for about the last five years, it's been getting easier to go through every store without finding anything I want to purchase. If friends are travelling with me, they wonder why all the shopping, since everything is available at the World of Disney Store - they've gotten that message since the moment they arrived.

Now if they're gonna open up an old fashioned Disney Gallery Store like they had in Vegas and NYC with similar merchandise - great, I'll be frequenting DCA. If it's just more Princess/Pixie/Pirate plastic and plush, it won't matter how many storefronts they put up.

re: Forget about attention to detail. It's attention to retail that's really driving DCA's Buena Vista Street project

Jim Hill — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 07:00:41 GMT

Seems to me, they're missing a bet by not covering up any architectural wonders with a big, giant Sorcerer's Hat placed in the middle of the street. Now THAT would just clinch it!

Like Curmudgeon says, all the crap (sorry, but it's true) is the same at every Disney retail location. Remember when you could walk into the magic shop and find non-Disney-branded magic tricks? When there was a tobacconist shop (yeah, like that would fly these days)? A piano/organ store? A men's clothing store and a woman's clothing store that sold honest-to-goodness men's and women's clothing? How nice it would be to walk into this "apothecary" and find, if not actual medicine, then something other than a bunch of Dopey plush.

More retail, more retail, more retail! Yes! Those Imagineers sure know what counts these days.

re: Forget about attention to detail. It's attention to retail that's really driving DCA's Buena Vista Street project

Jim Hill — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 07:27:59 GMT

Hell's Donkeys, Jim...givethe people a break. Calling Disney fans geeks...Diude, really. So what if some folks foam a tad more than others...we each have our Pavlov point that makes us react when it comes to something Disney.

As for establishing the "Sales Corridor/Main Street" for DCA - GREAT! This is a proven fact for all the parks on how it works...so what if there is merchandising...those who want it will now know where to find it easier, that's all. And, if there are more eateries and better food offerings along the corridor, even more so. Screw the merchandise. The crap that is there for the yokels will still turn the dime, and, the good items that are interlaced for the collectors will still be available in the nooks and crannys of places such as Disneyana, Off The Page, Disney Gallery, and otherwise.

So the company wants to make money. Repeat after me, "IT'S A BUSINESS." That is what it's there to do. And, folks, it ain't the Imagineers driving it. They are designing an entry that will better establish the time honored "sense of arrival" that Disney Parks are known for...and, something that DCA didn't really have. It is a place that will visually set the stage for the stories to built outward from...which is far more than a public mall fountain plaza with a giant sun on it....by the way...is that the giant sun that is now going up on Screamin' Coaster? Recycle is the name of the game if it is, and, a smart move.

Imagineers have always designed the shops and storefronts as well as the attractions and adventures. From Main Street USA to Hollywood Plaza in the new DCA...it is still the same thing going on...from 1955 until now...the overall experience is what we are after...and, that is far more than shopping for trinkets or plush to take home to remind us of the magic and wonders....

re: Forget about attention to detail. It's attention to retail that's really driving DCA's Buena Vista Street project

Jim Hill — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 12:37:48 GMT

Recycle, you can say that alright. I thought I was looking at concept sketches for Disney MGM studios for a second there. Are Disney getting lazy, or are they just running out of ideas.

BTW, Epcot seems to do very well without an avenue of shops at the entrance. All the best shops are hidden in the back of the park and they make a killing.

re: Forget about attention to detail. It's attention to retail that's really driving DCA's Buena Vista Street project

Jim Hill — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 13:16:14 GMT

Dang it, Jim. As I was reading along, I was thinking "this sounds like a real win-win." You took the words right out of my mouth!

I'm looking forward to the improved entrance. But I'm really going to miss some of the old stuff, esp. the California letters out front and the stylized Mickey head on Screamin'. No one will know why my kids call it the "Mickey Coaster" anymore. I wish they could have found some way to leave that. The Mickey face on the Sun Wheel just seems to blatant to me.

Any word on where the California letters are going, Jim? Inquiring minds want to know!

Sue in Texas

re: Forget about attention to detail. It's attention to retail that's really driving DCA's Buena Vista Street project

Jim Hill — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 14:22:51 GMT

Interesting. Great article.

re: Forget about attention to detail. It's attention to retail that's really driving DCA's Buena Vista Street project

Jim Hill — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 15:21:32 GMT

Seems like there is still too much emphasis being placed on retail at the park. People aren't buying because they are too busy trying to get back to Disneyland where all the great rides are at. Give people a reason to stay in the park and maybe they'd be more inclined to stop a a store on the way out to show all the folks back home they visited DCA.

re: Forget about attention to detail. It's attention to retail that's really driving DCA's Buena Vista Street project

Jim Hill — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 16:04:17 GMT

Mark my words... Fastpass (in the near future) will NOT be valid when you parkhop. The economics are clear... ToT, Cars, Little Mermaid, Soarin', Screamin' will be enough to bring people in... more people and later (fewer) Fastpass tickets, people will need to be FORCED to stay in DCA (hence you can't hold FP for two parks simultaneously) until their ride time...

A charming retail corridor will keep people occupied and sell more crap... this is really the reason I think retail is high (despite sub-par merch) at DL... people are stuck waiting for their SM ride time and shop around... DCA never had enough people or rides to hold people captive and the retail was even LESS inspiring than DL...

From a business perspective, this is exactly what I see from initiatives like this.

re: Forget about attention to detail. It's attention to retail that's really driving DCA's Buena Vista Street project

Jim Hill — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 16:28:51 GMT

Nice job, Jim, calling your readers "dweebs." There's nothing like insulting people to get your hits up. Look it up in the dictionary. A dweeb is a boring, socially inept person, while a geek is someone who is merely eccentric. I consider myself pretty eccentric (and I frequently refer to myself as a geek), but I'm in no way boring or socially inept.

And maybe us "dweebs" are just excited that the entrance area is actually going to look like a Disney theme park.

re: Forget about attention to detail. It's attention to retail that's really driving DCA's Buena Vista Street project

Jim Hill — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 17:10:17 GMT

Yeti

In my travels around the Disney fan community I have met MANY Disney fans, and made friends with a few. I feel that your definition of "dweeb" fits quite well. Sorry, but hit up any Disney convention and you will find that the hardcore fans that Jim is referring to are "boring socially inept" people.

re: Forget about attention to detail. It's attention to retail that's really driving DCA's Buena Vista Street project

Jim Hill — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 17:53:00 GMT

I agree with most of what's been written above. Make the stores unique like they used to be on Main Street U.S.A. Add more attractions. It was the lack of attractions that has made D.C.A. lack luster. The layout of the shopd had nothing to do with it. However, I do agree that the proposed changes to the entrance will help. And don't go cheap on the details for us Disney Dweebs. OK so I'm a Disney "Dweeb" and very proud to be one too!

re: Forget about attention to detail. It's attention to retail that's really driving DCA's Buena Vista Street project

Jim Hill — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 21:11:14 GMT

WHAT?????

Disney needs money to operate? DCA isn't making money hand over fist? When did this happen? I'm shocked! I mean, every time I visit the 2 entry lines are at least 4-8 people deep. Only Jim Hill brings us the secrets... and that's precisely why I keep coming back.

And yes... the hundreds... no thousands.... wait, by now probably millions, of people who enter the park and walk right by all the dumb shops at DCA's entrance are ALL DWEEBS. I'm proud to be a part of the crowd that isn't thrilled by the sub-par and is happy to not part with my hard earned dollars simply because it has Disney on the price tag.

Oh, and for the record... many people still don't know all the obscure facts about Main Street. Does that make it 'just for the dweebs' and therefore worse, Jim?

re: Forget about attention to detail. It's attention to retail that's really driving DCA's Buena Vista Street project

Jim Hill — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 22:11:57 GMT

DWEEBS REBEL!!!

..Unless Jim Hill wants to be the main dweeb.

As to the main topic - DISNEY is very much a business & Walt was very much a businessman. They are trying to turn around an underperforming venue. Good luck & it will be interesting to see if it happens and how it happens.

re: Forget about attention to detail. It's attention to retail that's really driving DCA's Buena Vista Street project

Jim Hill — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 23:12:15 GMT

I prefer Disney nerd or geek or fan.....Disney dweeb makes me cry inside..

www.raymation.net

re: Forget about attention to detail. It's attention to retail that's really driving DCA's Buena Vista Street project

Jim Hill — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 23:53:24 GMT

At least he got through a whole article without the schoolmarmish "Mind you ..."

The concept art of the new DCA entrance gate looks an awful lot like the existing entrance at Disney MG ... oops, Disney's Hollywood Studios. (Maybe someday they'll be mature enough to call it Disney's ORLANDO Studios. Sigh)

re: Forget about attention to detail. It's attention to retail that's really driving DCA's Buena Vista Street project

Jim Hill — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 00:51:28 GMT

I agree with everybody here about the sameness of the merch in Disney park shops. What a total bore it is to go in and see the same junk everywhere. Let's hope the merch guys at Diz wise up and try to make shopping in the parks *exciting*. The only thing I bought during my last 2 trips to WDW were coffee cups and 1 T-shirt. Whee.

So are they going to use the Walt-Disney/Mickey-circa-1920's statue I've heard about? The one that shows a very young Walt Disney with a suitcase and a retro-style Mickey (essentially a twist on the original "Partners" statues at DL and WDW?) That would truly rock.

re: Forget about attention to detail. It's attention to retail that's really driving DCA's Buena Vista Street project

Jim Hill — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 00:54:15 GMT

At the tail end of the article JimHillMedia says, "I can’t help but think that – at least when it comes to the Sunshine Plaza / Buena Vista Street changeout – that this is kind of a win / win situation."

Of course it's a win/win JimHillMedia, but why wait until the end of the article to state your thesis? Oh yeah, that's right, you wanted to bash Disney over the head for eight paragraphs first.

bonk!

re: Forget about attention to detail. It's attention to retail that's really driving DCA's Buena Vista Street project

Jim Hill — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 18:10:13 GMT

Proud to be a Disney GEEK, NERD, DWEEB... it's all the same thing! And I take no offense. It's just a generalization to refer to those of us who are a "little" more interested and picky about our theme parks than others. Keep it up Jim!

re: Forget about attention to detail. It's attention to retail that's really driving DCA's Buena Vista Street project

Jim Hill — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 21:37:21 GMT

Win/Win, huh? We used to call a park with products that you wanted to buy, carefully worked into overall tapestry of the theming, Disneyland. I guess these days, putting quality into the design of even the stores is now considered a concession, rather then just good marketing. (Something Disney hasn't really been good at for a very long time.)