We Need Your Help!

[trekkie1701E]

Please join the official Disney Store campaign & then sign the petition:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bringback_tds

In 2000, many Disney Stores began to change. And Not for the better. Gone are the animated character displays, carpets and giant movie screens.
When The Disney Store first opened, Michael Eisner billed them as a unique outlet to promote the company?s movies and theme parks.
The current plan (According to an article in the March edition of the Wall Street Journal):
Transform some locations into a Disney home store for little kids (Selling beds, quilts, lamps, lightswitches, etc). And What about the others? Aimed solely towards pre-schoolers!
If Disney Store merchandise was selling so poorly (Which is why the original makeovers were ordered in the first place ... Which all failed miserably, by the way), Why not come up with better products instead of figuring out ways to diminish the stores reputation and, as a result, destroy everything that made the place so "Uniquely Disney"? "Where" are the store collectibles (Animation cells, framed pins, sculptures, watches, lithographs, signed Disneyana, etc)? Where are the
"Art of... " books and broader CD/DVD/Video selections?
Walt Disney Pictures should stop churning out sequels to practically every one of their timeless animated classics and instead focus on producing more original fare. This makes way for great merchandising opportunities and as a result would give the Disney Store greater business. I mean ... Thirty years from now, Would fans be more likely to buy an animation cell from "Snow White" or one from "Little
Mermaid II"?
I am "sure" all those other highly educated Disney business men thought of this, though.
Towards the beginning of the summer, my family and I visited my Grandparents in Utah. While there, I took it upon myself to visit a local Disney Store; One whose atmosphere hadn?t been ruined. While in
the store, a sense of anger and dis-comfort came over me; No CD?s or cassettes; No books; No adult clothing; And A very minuscule amount of DVD?s/videos (Due to the lack of original high quality theatrical
features that used to give Walt Disney Pictures a grand reputation. Now, while Dreamworks & Fox churn out breathtaking & classic Disney-esque epics like "Spirit," "Ice Age," and "Shrek," WDP, once known for "Homeward Bound," "White Fang," "Newsies," & "Iron Will," is now primarily known for such forgettable films as "Pocohontas II," "Lady & the Tramp II," "Little Mermaid II," "Lion King II," and "Return to Neverland"). Thus, the store was relatively empty. Empty, that is, except for the "Lilo & Stitch" merchandise near the entrance. Young kids kept pointing to the giant display in the store & bugging their parents to go in, proof that you can still sell gobs of merchandise with a high quality animated feature.
But as I said, I am "sure" all those other highly educated Disney business men thought of this.
When The Disney Store debuted, CM?s would always go beyond the "basic" customer service. They would greet you at the door & ask you what your interests were and automatically reserve future items
based on those interests.
And Now, not only is this not practiced anymore, but the entire store has suffered because they're "not" practiced anymore. How? By destroying a "huge" part of what made The Disney Store so unique in
the first place, people would rather go to a "regular" outlet such as Wal Mart or Costco for their Disney merchandise.
The unique customer service offered by Disney Store Cast Members always left a sense of true commrodery and relationship with the guest. The friendly greeting at the door, the automatic reservation of Disney merchandise; This is what made many guests come back time and time again. Sure, they could have bought those soundtrack albums at Wal Mart. But It was at The Disney Store where they truly felt special; Where their newfound friends act as Cast Members; And Where that seemingly magical commrodery between guest and cast truly meant they were -- And Had to be -- no place else but Disney.
Taking this all away not only destroyed customer loyalty, but it threw away the ideals and principles that Disney was founded on.
It is not too late, though. Please, Disney, Reverse your mistake. Give The Disney Store back its reputation. Do it for Walt. Do it for Mickey. Do it for Roy O. Do it for Lillian. Do it for Frank Wells,
Marc Davis and everybody else who gave one helluva **** for Walt Disney's vision of a unique family entertainment experience; Who sacrificed so much just so a few hundred million strangers could be happy.
Please ... Don?t ruin The Disney Store. Disney today preaches about family, yet at the same time ignores the very aspects and principles of family entertainment upon which they were built.
Walt Disney once said, "It is not myself I am thinking about, but it is the effect of what might happen to whatever is left that bothers me."
Whatever "is" left is celebrating his 100th birthday this year.
Happy birthday, Walt.

Please join the official Disney Store campaign & then sign the petition:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bringback_tds

Daniel

 

[GWGumby]

I agree, they are completely ruining the Disney Store. However, with the recent closure of all the similar WB stores, methinks that this particular style of store is not as profitable as it once was, or was expected to become. Maybe it's the over-proliferation of stores to make it too common place in every other mall. As of these changes, the Disney Store no longer becomes a required stopping point at regular mall visits.

However, due to the fact that these changes means my wife will be spending less money there, I will not be signing the petition. I will miss the old store, but I've had enough of modern Disney that I welcome them shooting themselves in the foot and tarnishing their name this way. The worse they do, the more radical things will have to change to get them back to level where they once were.

 

[wolfy]

I enjoyed the Disney stores, also the WB stores (but then, I AM a woman).

What kills me is that even the catalog is getting to be geared only to children and people of small sizes.

My son is only 9 yet is tall and weighs 100 pounds. He wears a size 14/16 because of his height/weight, yet Disney company does not make clothing to fit any child his age that is his size. They stop making clothing at size 10/12, then start again at size men's small (which is about a size 32 waist or would be an 18/20 or larger in boys' clothing).

He has wanted several different costumes that they have had in their Halloween catalog for the past few years, but he has always been bigger than the sizes listed in the catalog.

We have called, emailed and written to the Disney company about this several times, including asking about larger sizes for women and men (although there are times the mens' sizes get above XXL), but the only response we have received is the following: "Yes, we have gotten several complaints and requests about the sizes in our catalogs before, and the company is trying to do something about it. Keep looking and hopefully there will be something that will fit your child soon."

Well, that was a better answer than the usual "Thank you for writing, we will send your concerns to our comptroller," that I get, but it has been three years and they are still not making larger sizes!

Don't they think anyone over the "normal California-sized movie star weight" likes Mickey Mouse, Disney or it's products?

Doesn't Eisner believe that people who have OLDER children, or whose children are grown up (or perhaps have not HAD children but are kids at heart) would love to have serial cells, statues, toys, dolls, collectibles or some kind or other of all the great classic characters from Disney? And I mean the CLASSIC characters, not these new BS characters; ones like Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Pluto, Clarabelle, Horace, Bambi, Thumper, Flower (always my favorite), Malicifent, Cherbog, The Evil Queen, Captain Hook and more...the classic Disney characters from the 20's on until his death.

Want to know when I knew Disney was starting to go downhill?

When I saw a robot kill Anthony Perkins in the movie "The Dark Hole." I saw my first honest-to-Pete (and that's Pegleg Pete, not this new guy) MURDER in a Disney movie. Real blood, real death. Hey, I was nearly 20, and it scared the heck out of me! The main thought in my head was the same one that echoes in it today... "Walt would roll over in his grave if he could see what they have done to his movies, his Disneyland and his dreams..."

I only pray that this doesn't happen to Jim Henson's dreams, too...

--wolfy--

 

[GWGumby]

Originally posted by wolfy
When I saw a robot kill Anthony Perkins in the movie "The Dark Hole." I saw my first honest-to-Pete (and that's Pegleg Pete, not this new guy) MURDER in a Disney movie. Real blood, real death. Hey, I was nearly 20, and it scared the heck out of me! The main thought in my head was the same one that echoes in it today... "Walt would roll over in his grave if he could see what they have done to his movies, his Disneyland and his dreams..."

--wolfy--

Interesting. Here we're talking about Disney dumbing itself down and only playing to kiddies and you bring up a moment when Disney attempted to play to adults. I don't have a particular view on their "Black Hole" experiment, or their move to "adult-oriented" features with their establishment of Touchstone in the 80s.

However, to me what is disgusting is that when I was involved in the production of a GameBoy game for Sleeping Beauty (never released, which is a whole other story altogether) we were completely forbidden to include any imagery or even mention of the dragon and the battle at the end of this classic cartoon. If Disney could feel comfortable putting a full-on dragon battle fight with bloody death at the end in a "kiddy" cartoon, I think he would cringe at the overly protective so-called kid-friendly PC direction as much as the overly violent and adult-themed elements as well.

But more than anything else, it's the lack of innovation which was the real magic of Disney that is missing from them now.

 

[towels]

Originally posted by trekkie1701E
WDP, once known for "Homeward Bound," "White Fang," "Newsies," & "Iron Will," is now primarily known for such forgettable films as "Pocohontas II," "Lady & the Tramp II," "Little Mermaid II," "Lion King II," and "Return to Neverland

Ummmm...gotta pick at this one just a little bit. I wouldn't go about waving Homeward Bound as a banner in your parade. It was one of the first examples of Disney ripping itself off. I still don't get why they needed to remake Incredible Journey...did the pets fur go out of style?

Other than that, I have to agree with your sentiments. I went into one for the first time in months and was shocked. I mean, I'd understand not building new ones with the statues and scenes, but to spend the money to trash the pre-existing ones? That's just inane.

 

[Ernie101]

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