I went to the grand opening of a Disney store in a local mall a few weeks back.

I have fond memories of the Disney store from when I was growing up. Granted, it was no DisneyLAND, but the Disney store was fairly magical – They had a wall dedicated to the newest Disney movies, with toys and games and merchandise, and that was Fantastic when those movies we The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin. The opposite wall was full of their classics; Bambi, Snow White, etc… And the back wall had a giant projector playing classic Disney songs, Mickey Mouse cartoons, and clips of all their movies. The facade was full of animated statues; A Sorcerers Apprentice Mickey waving his wand at some brooms, a Dumbo that’d flap his ears… It was a little bit of Disney magic, for the half hour my mother would let me browse while in the mall.

This new Disney Store? It was embarrassing. It was opened in the spot another Disney store had been in, ~5 years back, and as I understand that store had been the same as my childhood memories. However, this store was more a Disney Princess store, with a little bit of Cars thrown in; It had racks of little girls dresses that I’m ashamed to know even exist, and an array of astoundingly awful Cars merchandise. Gone was any sign of the Disney magic; I had trouble even finding a Mickey in the store. Gone was any of the life, light, and fun that had embodied the singalongs and movie clips in the store I remembered; There was one tiny television in the place, and it was showing clips of “Wizards of Waverly Place”. Gone was any mention of the Disney classics – There was Snow White, but no sign of the seven dwarfs anywhere. I didn’t even see sign of Tinkerbell; Tinkerbell, the secondary mascot of Disney for countless years, who they’d even reinvented just a few years back.

Just as a note: While I talk of the Disney store above, almost as cool were the old WB Studio stores; A projector showing Bugs Bunny cartoons and Action movie clips, Batman merchandise, and a playset themed as a Marvin the Martian rocket. Those were good times.