The Disney Store has redesigned their floor plan and it’s a hit if you asked my kids. They both experienced their first dose of Disney Magic:
As you enter the store you will find a Pixie Dust Trail. The Pixie Dust Trail pulls children throughout the store but they have to beware of all of the storytelling “neighborhoods” that will tempt them to get off the path. And the first question that Zoe had when we entered the store was, “where are the princesses”.
So our first stop on our tour was the Disney Princess Neighborhood and Disney Princess Castle with Magic Mirror.
My reaction to the Disney store is that they put children’s desires at the forefront of this amazing redesign. The Disney Princess castle was really cool with the magic mirror. Zoe was able to use a flour bouquet/magic wand to pull up a princess. She chose Sleeping Beauty who was her favorite princess until Rapunzel came along. Girls can choose from Ariel, Belle, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and Tiana then each Princess tells their stories through short film clips when they are brought to life by little princesses in the store. All the princess voices were recorded exclusively for the Disney Store magic mirror, and many were recorded by the original voice talent from the film.
Next we had the opportunity to see the CARS Ridemakerz and boy Miles was in car heaven.
Kids have the opportunity to build their own cars, the first ever Disney-Pixar CARS branded Ridemakerz custom car building experience serves as the hero fixture.‖ Miles loved looking at Mater, and Lightening, and his favorite part was that he could take things apart and they go back together with ease as the cars are put together by magnets. CARS Ridemakerz characters include Lightning McQueen, Mater, and Sally. Children are assisted by Cast Members as they use tools to assemble their car, and use their imagination to customize it by choosing from a wide selection of rims, side pipes, hoods scoops, blown engines, spoilers and many more accessories. The CARS Ridemakerz building experiences encourages interactivity and truly shows off Disney Store’s product quality and game play.
The Magical Trees were fun to watch. You can watch as some of Disney’s favorite characters make appearances in the trees – look out for Tinker Bell or Buzz Lightyear and Woody-themed trees celebrating Toy Story, and hidden Mickeys have also been subtly inserted into the animation that appears on the trees.
Everything is made for kids, including the fixtures:
My kids love going to the Disney store and every Disney store has a TV screen in it where kids can see their favorite Disney movie scenes or upcoming movies right? Well the New Disney sore layout has a Disney Store Theater where kid can actually make their own choices on a touch screen. Can you guess what Zoe chose? Yep, Rapunzel, but she had to wait her turn.
New content will be uploaded on a regular basis to keep the experience options fresh and new every time a child enters. The Disney Store Theatre is much more than just for viewing video content, it also acts as a ―community center,‖ and will be the place where Disney Store hosts family activities and events such as Disney character drawing workshops, storytelling experiences, trivia events, and more. New activities will continually be added to the calendar to bring families back to the store over and over again. My kids didn’t want to leave!!!
You can check out the new features over at Bellevue Square Mall the store Opens Wednesday May 11th when the mall opens. With each new store opening in 2010, Disney Store will select a day to donate 10 percent of sales to the Make-A-Wish Foundation in the United States.
Disclosure: We had a press tour.
