It was a cold grey November morning in New York City.
Photo by Nancy Stadler
And even though people were feeling somewhat discombobulated from the first morning of Daylight Savings Time (Not to mention the fact that the ING New York City Marathon was being held that same day. Which meant that streets were soon to be closed all over the city), D23 members from all over the country still made their way to Times Square. Eager to be among the very first to experience the Company’s brand-new flagship Disney Store.
Photo by Nancy Stadler
Given that the tickets for this particular Official Disney Fan Club event supposedly sold out in less than 3 hours … Well, that may explain why people began lining up to get into the store at 6 a.m. And once the doors opened at 7:30, D23 members surged in the store …
Photo by Nancy Stadler
… blowing right those stylized NYC displays that you’ll find on the first floor …
Photo by Nancy Stadler
… just so they could then get their hands on those limited edition Vinylmation figures that are only going to be sold at the Times Square store.
Photo by Nancy Stadler
Seriously. As soon as Disney Store cast members would place these highly collectible figures on the shelf, D23 members would snatch them up. These folks were also pretty aggressive when it came to buying up the adult trend items that were also on display in the store.
Photo by Nancy Stadler
In fact, these members of the Official Disney Fan Club were so determined to make the most of that 20% off discount card that D23 had given them (which was only good for purchases that were on the day of this sneak preview event) …
Photo by Nancy Stadler
… that they sometimes missed some of the wittier touches that the Disney Store designers had deliberately placed in the Times Square flagship store. Take – for example – those numbers that you see on the wooden box which is standing on end next to that old-fashioned projector.
Photo by Nancy Stadler
“119” references to the Times Square Disney Store’s official grand opening. Which is being held on Tuesday, November 9th.
Photo by Nancy Stadler
To be honest, there are witty touches like this throughout the Times Square Disney Store. Like the silhouettes of Peter, Michael, John and Wendy from “Peter Pan.” Not to mention Zazu from “The Lion King,” the house from “Up” as well as the title character from “Dumbo.” All of these flying Disney characters suggesting that you ascend to the second floor …
Photo by Nancy Stadler
… where the real retail magic begins.
As he welcomed D23 members yesterday morning, Jim Fielding- the president of Disney Stores Worldwide – talked about what a huge challenge it had been for the Company to get the Times Square store up out of the ground. How it had taken a solid year of negotiation to finally sign a lease on the old Virgin Megastore. More to the point, he stated that The Walt Disney Company wanted to show that they were serious about being back in the Disney Store business. They wanted to make a statement with the Times Square location.
Jim Fielding, president of Disney Stores Worldwide.
Photo by Nancy Stadler
Which is why the designers of this Disney Store flagship actually tore out the fourth floor of the old Virgin Megastore. So that they’d have the room necessary to build a 20-foot-tall interactive Disney Princess Castle …
Photo by Nancy Stadler
… complete with talking magic mirrors as well as a beautiful chandelier.
Photo by Nancy Stadler
And who better to help inaugurate this new fairytale-themed retail environment than Miss Jodi Benson, the voice of Disney’s Little Mermaid …
Jodi Benson waits to make her grand entrance.
Photo by Nancy Stadler
… who happily signed copies of a special limited-edition stretched canvas of her Disney Princess that had been created for Times Square Disney Store’s grand opening.
Jodi Benson signs copies of the Grand Opening Little Mermaid stretched canvas.
Photo by Nancy Stadler
And given that most of the D23 members immediately lined up to get Jodi’s autograph on their limited-edition stretched canvas … Well, that’s when I decided to check out the Times Square store’s many neighborhoods. Including the Marvel section …
Photo by Nancy Stadler
According to what Fielding told me, the Times Square Disney Store is the first in the chain to have a dedicated Marvel section. But it won’t be the last. As the Mouse moves forward with its plans to open 30 – 40 of these newly designed Disney Stores (eventually topping out at 225 stores in North America), each will feature a Marvel section, along with more flexible areas that will support the Studio’s latest releases. Like “TRON Legacy” …
Photo by Nancy Stadler
… and “Tangled.”
Photo by Nancy Stadler
As well as on-going Disney Channel & Disney XD series like “Phineas & Ferb.”
Photo by Nancy Stadler
But – to be honest – what impressed me about the Times Square Disney Store wasn’t so much its magical forest of ever-changing plexi-glass trees …
Photo by Nancy Stadler
… But – rather – those little touches that only a Disney die-hard would get. Like the silhouette of Professor Ned Brainard‘s Flubber-powered Model-T weaving its way through the city’s skyscrapers.
Photo by Nancy Stadler
All too soon, an announcement came over the store’s PA that it was almost time for D23’s sneak preview event to end.
Photo by Nancy Stadler
So there was just enough time to get a few more photographs …
Jim Fielding and Jodi Benson with the new singing Little
Mermaid Disney Princess doll. Photo by Nancy Stadler
… and make a few more purchases …
Photo by Nancy Stadler
… before the general public then had to be let in so that this store could continue with its soft opening phase. More importantly, so that the 250 cast members who now work at the Times Square Disney Store could then get used to dealing with the crowds that come surging into this shop (Which has really proven to be something of a challenge. Given that — in the three days that the Times Square Disney Store has been in soft opening mode — they actually had to extend the store’s operating hours on all three days from midnight to 1a.m. to accommodate the tourists, families and NYC locals that have come out, eager to check out this new addition to Times Square).
Now what was kind of cute was that – at the very moment that the Times Square Disney Store officially opened to the public – a young boy (whose family Jim Fielding had personally chosen through his DisneyStorePrez Twitter feed) was handed this ginormous key …
Photo by Nancy Stadler
… so that he could then unlock the imagination of this brand-new establishment. And to commemorate his part in this magical ceremony (which concluded with faux fireworks lighting up the store’s ceiling), this boy was then presented with a miniature version of the enormous key he had just wielded.
Photo by Nancy Stadler
As D23 members headed back downstairs, they then passed under this giant image of Mickey & Minnie which said …
Photo by Nancy Stadler
… “Thanks for sharing the Magic with us!”
Which was rather appropriate. Given this event was a pretty magical way to get introduced to the Disney Store’s new flagship.
FYI: As I mentioned earlier in this article, the Times Square Disney Store will be having its Grand Opening on Tuesday, November 9th. And provided that the rain & the snow that’s lashing the East Coast right now lifts by Tuesday morning … Well, I’m told that the Mouse has something really special in the works for the official opening of its new flagship store. Which is why JHM is headed back down to NYC on Tuesday to cover that event. So look for that story on Wednesday or thereabouts, okay?
Your thoughts?