This is a great idea, they should bring this to the Hollywood Studios.

I've never liked 'Build a Bear', or 'Build a Dino', but this looks cool.

I hope that they ship internationally.

Agreed, this would be a great fit for Hollywood Studios or even the re-imagineered Downtown Disney Pleasure Island area.  I'm a huge Muppet fan, the Muppets canon is so rich that I'd take it even further and create a Muppet themed restaurant (just not a Doc Hoppers!!!), but hey that's just me.

As far as visiting an FAO Schwartz near me; I thought only the NYC, Chicago and Vegas stores remained after there financial failures.  I believe that they created a partnership with Macy's but I can't imagine that Macy's would devote a full fledged WhatNot Workshop in each of their stores.

Manhattanites? These types of things (Macy's, Rockefeller, Sak's, FAO) always struck me as the type of thing people traveled into Manhattan for, and the "natives" avoided... kind of like standing outside the Today show studios...

Wow, this is the first I've heard about this!  It's an awesome idea and one I've always wanted.  I used to be a puppeteer, and got puppets that were...similar to Muppets.  I'm definately going to have to go to FAO after work in the next week or two.  Thanks for the article.  too bad they don't have some of the more "famous" Muppets, but then, maybe that will happen down the line.  What I wouldn't give for a real Miss Piggy!

I've only lived in Orlando for two years now, but I can tell you that the crowds that I'm seeing in the parks right now are huge. If this is what WDW looks like during a recession during non-peak times, I have no desire to ever see it during peak times in a good economic situation. Downtown Disney has been a mob scene since before Thanksgiving, the Hollywood Studios have been slammed every night for the Dancing Lights (with waits for Toy Story going in excess of 90 min), and Magic Kingdom has been swamped. If things are as bad as they say they are, they have some awfully high expectations.

I'm sorry, I posted my previous comment in the wrong section...I'd love to move it to the Polynesian story if possible! :)

Is the Chicago store still open? 'Cuz it's not on their store guide, just NYC, Vegas and the mini-stores inside some Macy's: http://www.fao.com/custsvc/custsvc.jsp?sectionId=117

Local-wise, Manhattanites will wait for hot Christmas gifts- especially toys. But it's my impression that since the 5th Ave stores are open year-round, they tend to go when it's less packed and no lines. Of course, the projections do suggest late Christmas 'waiting for deals' shopping so the lines may well be there.

I'm surprised they'd give FAO the contract to run this, instead of using it in Disney's own stores. Why didn't Disney do this in their own Manhattan world of disney store? Also, could they bring this program to the theme parks, or does FAO have an exclusive right to these setups?

Kind of difficult for it to come to a "store near you" when FAO only has two stores.

They have some mini-stores inside of Macy*s shops, but the only ones that are of any significant size are at two of Macy*s flagship stores in Miami and Chicago, both with FAO's over 9,000 square feet.

The rest are literally a 400 square foot corner in the kids department.

I've received several FAO catalogs in the mail, as I live only an hour from NYC, and I really, </i>want one.  I cannot, however, see those selling well in the average Macy's, Disney Store, or in most on-Disney-property locales; I say this from the perspective of someone in the toy business.  If they have a booth set up at ToyFair, I'm definitely checking it out.... though I doubt it, as it's exclusive to FAO.  I'll hope, though.