Buena Vista Street windows now cluttered with merchandise

[Stan4dSteph]

So long, beautiful windows of BVS (http://www.mouseplanet.com/10109/Disneyland_Resort_Update#news2). Apparently people were too stupid to figure out that the stores might have merchandise even though their windows were set to reflect the period of BVS, so the stores people have shoved a bunch of mannequins and crap in the windows. A lot of the detail is now covered up.

[cirquelover]

That is a shame. The windows looked very cool before they mucked them up with merchandise!

[Alex]

It's the type of change I'd be relatively indifferent too (and if you'd asked me that I've seen them I'd have just said that they were already displaying merchandise).

But I do feel the stores' pain. It wasn't until we were on our way out of the park the second time that we actually remembered they were operating stores. Closed doors, and I suspect the subliminal (even if I wasn't consciously paying attention) impact of prop-filled windows had me just interpreting them as regular fake facades.

When we were walking out, Adrienne asked me if Lani had been in the Elias store yet and my reaction was "oh yeah, that's a store."

[katiesue]

I agree with Alex that you kind of forget they're not just facades. It may be the shut doors? The streets in Hollywood for example are just facades with window displays and doors that don't open. It has kind of the same feel.

[Betty]

Perhaps they'd sell more if things weren't quite so expensive.

[RStar]

Yeah, I think it's a shame, but I understand why at the same time. Part of the problem is how open the area is. On Main Street in Disneyland you are walking close enough to the store to see what's inside, and wan't to walk in.

Another issue is having a whole new land that 90% of the people want to spend the bulk of their time in. I think once the novilty of Cars Land wears off a bit, more people will spend more time on Buena Vista Street.

So, I think they need to strike a better balance of prop & merchandise, and choose the merchandise better so as to not have such a striking difference of old & new.

Next time I'm there I will look at it, and perhaps voice my opinion.

[katiesue]

Also can't they do like Main Street where some windows are period, and some are current merch? Not all mixed up.

[Kevy Baby]

Perhaps they'd sell more if things weren't quite so expensive.I disagree: I don't want an "Emporium" on BV Street.

[innerSpaceman]

Thank you katiesue. Can you please apply for a management position at Disney Merchandise. They are apparently clueless.

[Alex]

Are there that many windows they can work with?

It would probably help if the doors weren't reflective so that you could walk by and actually see people inside the stores from outside.

[Kevy Baby]

They have been keeping the doors open for quite some time now, much to the chagrin of the green people and to the relief of the merchandise people.

[Gn2Dlnd]

I saw this on Saturday. The two most egregious clutterfvcks occur in Atwater Ink & Paint's window, where kitchen gadgets have been unceremoniously hung OVER the sketches at the artist's desk, and Los Feliz Five and Dime, where merchandise is now physically sitting on, and obscuring, the beautiful Jody Daily designed book jackets. :(

[Kevy Baby]

MiceChat (http://micechat.com/11554-merchandise-buena-vista-street/) is saying the same thing with a little bit of explanation (emphasis mine):
But don’t blame the Disney Parks Blog or Imagineering for promoting Buena Vista Street’s great theming and then ruining it. This is an example of Disney’s various, competing departments doing what they want with no communication between one another. Disneyland’s merchandise team made these drastic changes without notifying Imagineering and they did so with obvious disregard for the authenticity and credibility these displays are designed to give Buena Vista Street. The merchandise team doesn’t care that you’re supposed to be transported back to 1920s Los Angeles; their main goal is to sell product. What better way to do that than by adding a ton of it to the carefully-crafted window displays? Many of these windows were works of art in their own right and featured items guests would were willing to buy, had the merchandise team had the bright idea to sell replicas inside the gift shops.

[Moonliner]

Hummm... I know I walked down Buena Vista Street more than once recently, and rode the Red Car Trolley down it as well.... But I'll be dammed if I remember anything on it.

[Alex]

They have been keeping the doors open for quite some time now, much to the chagrin of the green people and to the relief of the merchandise people.

When I was in the park on Labor Day weekend all of the doors were closed every time I went by.

I remember one specific instance because I was inside waiting for Lani when she walked up to the door, stopped, and primped herself in the mirrored glass while I was watching. Then I made fun of her.

[lindyhop]

I visited Buena Vista Street several times before I realized there were shops behind the facade between the entrance and the Piggy Cafe. I finally found everything when I got the idea to wander in past the ice cream counter. It's better now that they open the doors once in a while.

As far as the windows go, I like the mix of old and new.

(Another thing I'd missed before was the upper floors of the buildings. I was walking out after dark a few weeks ago and suddenly noticed the lighting on the upper levels. I had to walk back and take a good look at the variety of architectural detail up there. Spectacular.)

[Kevy Baby]

Checked tonight and the doors were closed.

[alphabassettgrrl]

My take:
The buildings look like the fake facades in Hollywood Backlot.

It's the same generic, boring merchandise you can find just about anywhere else anyway. Nothing special. Trolley car and some of the Cars merch is new, and the Hallowe'en goodies are good, but mostly it's the same things we've seen everywhere else.

[Cadaverous Pallor]

I was there this Wednesday. The merch in the window sucks. I never liked it on Main Street either. The doors were still closed which is fine by me.

I love the closed doors. It's much classier, much more realistic. I was always aware of shops inside and have done my share of "shopping" (read: looking around, since I don't buy things in general). I love opening the smaller doors and feeling like I'm going to enter a period shop.

I see the point that they aren't super inviting and people don't think to go inside. There aren't any easy answers to that one, so I figure whatever they do is inevitable. The place is supposed to make money, so if it doesn't I don't feel justified in complaining. Oh well.

[Gn2Dlnd]

Signage on doors, such as, "We're open! Come on in!," or, "Air-cooled, for your shopping pleasure!" should do the trick. It would also be smart to draft the streetmosphere characters in this effort, even going so far as to create a department store manager for Elias and Co.

[Alex]

I don't think that would help much. More thematically appropriate dressing would just reinforce the facade perception. Plus, hardly anybody actually reads signs.

Every other cue on Disney property teaches you that a closed door is off limits. If you spend a full day in Disney parks the only door (before now) you'll ever touch is for the bathrooms. I'm sure over time the subconscious learning will break down but in the meantime I can understand why they're hurting a bit.

Personally, I'm happy with invisible stores and the last thing I want to start is a tradition of hawkers begging me to go into one.

[Kevy Baby]

Maybe they should put a "bathrooms" sign over the doors.