Gourmet Pantry closing.

[pmurphy713]

If you are unhappy about the gourmet pantry closing, let them know! Contact Mary Burns at PO box 10040, Lake Buena Vista, Florida 32830-0040, or contact : wdw.guest.communications@disneyworld.com



Thanks for the email address mitros. I just put in my 2 cents.

 

[mitros]

Sadly, the end of June, unless we can somehow muster enough protest e-mails. Although it would probably take an awful lot!

 

[d-r]

To be honest, this kind of makes sense to me. Part of the reason - not the whole reason, or course, but part of it - for gourmet pantry to be there was because of the disney institute. The institute had those "home away from home" type of accomodations, and the gourmet pantry was billed as the "store" for the institute - including delivery to your room at the institute, and even putting the stuff away in your fridge if you weren't there yet. Of course, the location offered the gourmet pantry a lot of folks just visiting the village, as well, so it didn't have to rely only on the folks staying at the institute. I think the idea was that the institute would have a lot of folks with more upscale sorts of taste staying there, the idea that it was more for adults. With saratoga springs opening as a dvc resort, it will probably have it's own store like the mercantile or the screen door. They probably figure that with dvc it would be better to target the pop-tarts and cereal crowd that the gourment pantry crowd. They had already moved the kitcheny sort of merchandise to the at home store, well, at least whatever kitcheny merchandise they are still going to have. So the gourment pantry had pretty much became a snack shop. Plus, the village really could use something else to eat on that side; we don't do mcdonalds anyway, let alone at disney, and wolfgang pucks gets sort of tiring, doesn't it? And I was never a big cap. Jack's fan, personally, so a sandwhich shop might be nice. Just imho.

 

[Kae]

I agree with d-r. the last time i was there in March the store was just about empty. Got my pretzels & that was about it. It was one of my must goto places.

Kae

 

[Experiment626]

maybe one of the other reasons is that no one really uses GP to 'stock up' on food anymore. With all of the towncars offering a grocery stop, one doesn't have to rely on disney buses to go to the village... err, DTD to get their pop and breakfast stuff for their stay.

 

[mitros]

I beleive you have a point there. The gourmet pantry came about in 1994, and the institute shortly after that . If I'm not mistaken, the gourmet pantry was originally heidelbergers deli, then it was called all american sandwich shop. In it's original form, it was just a deli/sandwich shop. It then expanded to the gourmet pantry set up just around the time the institute got it's start. Although, my thoughts on the demise is, as I mentioned previously, that disney wanted to eliminate all of the food spots run by them to outside vendors. ie: Empress Lilly/ Fulton crab house, Donalds dairy dip/ghiradellis, etc. IMHO.

 

[d-r]

Yeah, Mitros, I see what you are saying about the out-sourcing. That would pretty much make all of downtown disney someone else, right? Rain Forest, Wolfgang Puck, House of Blues, Planet Hollywood. Fultons, Portobello, bongos, mcdonalds...I wonder if they will keep the clubs on pleasure island disney controlled at this pace, but that has to be pretty much easy money, right?

 

[mitros]

There will be one lone holdout once the pantry is gone. That would be Cap'n Jacks, which has been there since 1984. That in itself is hard to beleive since just about everything else, including the retail shops have been changed. My wife and I always blamed Eisner for what seemed like a de-disneyfieng of the market place . I guess we felt really bad when they eliminated Walts wife Lillys name from the riverboat {and removed the paddles} and leased it to Fulton crab house. We felt that it was a slap in the face to the Disney family.

 

[DC7800]

Originally posted by mitros
The gourmet pantry came about in 1994, and the institute shortly after that . If I'm not mistaken, the gourmet pantry was originally heidelbergers deli, then it was called all american sandwich shop. In it's original form, it was just a deli/sandwich shop. It then expanded to the gourmet pantry set up just around the time the institute got it's start

There was a Gourmet Pantry in the Walt Disney World Village way back in the early 1980's, though it wasn't quite the same store we're about to lose today. Back then, it really was the grocery "store" for the Villa accomodations which, of course, would later become the Institute. I want to say the old-style Pantry was in the same building as it is now, but I could well be mistaken. It seems like the emphasis back then was on grocery items, not kitchen merchandise or even baked goods (and I'm pretty sure they didn't sell sandwiches - but remember, this is all from childhood memories!).

Most of the stores from the Village of the 1980's are long gone, and I'm still not happy about the Gourmet Pantry closing. It's largely a personal issue, of course, quite unlike park hours or closed attractions, but I can objectively argue that replacing the Gourmet Pantry with an "outsourced" vendor is a mistake. Simply put, I go to Disney World to see Disney, not McDonald's or even Rainforest Cafe. I can satisfy my Bic Mac attack all of two miles from home (and I live in a rural area!), while RC compares very poorly to Disney's own resort restaurants (which aren't all run by Disney either, but those are generally less obvious, more magical, and - critically important - not so bland tasting). Why would I drive 650 miles for just another shopping center, except on Disney property? Also, there is no real reason the Pantry could not have remained to serve as the "store" for both Saratoga Springs and any remaining or reopened Villas (such as the Treehouses). I'm assuming the remaining Villas (Club Lake, Fairway, and Treehouse) aren't going to sit idle forever (though a certain sub lagoon makes me wonder).

The particular sandwich shop moving into the Pantry location mercifully doesn't sink to Mcd's level, but don't tell me there isn't someplace else on that side of Downtown Disney they could not have found for the place. Stop selling sandwiches there if you must, but leave the Gourmet Pantry intact.

 

[Brian430]

Thanks for the suggestion to contact Disney. Below is what I told them. By the way, I don't buy the excuse that the GP is shutting down because the villas are being removed. With a new DVC property taking its place the GP would have been more relevant than ever.

Here's the letter I sent:


I wonder if Disney Management considers the reported closing of the Gourmet Pantry as "progress"? Have you talked yourself into believing that by closing down a genuine and unique Disney offering to make room for another lease contract that you are somehow improving the guest experience?

I’ll give you one guest’s perspective: You’re not.

And not because I have some unhealthy aversion to change. (I have no more an allegiance to Mickey-shaped muffins than I do for Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride.)

I’m saddened because there was a time when Walt Disney World was a place to immerse oneself in another world. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe Walt Disney actually purchased all that land in central Florida so that he could actually prevent commerce from sullying the fantasy he was trying to create.

27,000 acres, Walt reasoned, would buffer his resort from the “real” world.

So I find it ironic, and truly saddening, that the cheap commercialization of WDW is actually coming from within your property.

McDonald’s franchises, stock car driving franchises that seem more suitable for the Wisconsin Dells, mall-style themed restaurant franchises, record store outlets etc. now all lease WDW land.

This is not “Imagineering”…this is not “Magical,” to use your own words.

It’s a mall mentality where your most precious commodity – your land – is now open to the highest bidder regardless of how well the development fits into the Disney culture/experience (or at least one guest’s perception of it). Just because you are profiting from it doesn't make it any less seemly.

As a public company maybe your primary responsibility is only to the next quarterly result. But I think it should be to your long-term ability to grow and maintain what makes WDW unique: entertainment and fantasy. Your job is to protect your most valuable assets, not to sell them off at the whimsy of Wall Street.

Before someone opens up a Radio Shack franchise on Main Street USA, maybe you should reevaluate the criteria for what the WDW guest experience should be.

I, for one argue, that converting Disney into the Mall of America shouldn’t be it.

 

[disney1990]

I was at Disney Memorial Day weekend and talked with a cast member.

Actually, the new sandwich shop is only going into 1/2 of the Gourmet Pantry. There will be assorted candies in the part that remains, but I'm not sure if it will keep the name, Gourmet Pantry.

 

[mitros]

As a matter of fact, we were there on june 1st and 2nd, and we talked to several CMs, and they told us the same thing. They said the cookies and candies were going to be moved to the back half of the building where the housewares used to be, and the sandwich shop was going to be in the front section. Apparentley disney put in the tables and chairs to act as a sort of temporary sit down sandwich shop, and found out it worked out well. Supposedly, they did not want to re-furbish the building since it was one of the originals, and decided that it would be to costly to them to re do the shop. So they will lease it to the outside vendor who will do all the renovations at their own expense, then lease the space from disney.

 

[DC7800]

Originally posted by disney1990
the new sandwich shop is only going into 1/2 of the Gourmet Pantry. There will be assorted candies in the part that remains, but I'm not sure if it will keep the name, Gourmet Pantry.

I doubt the name will stay the same, since it sounds like it will be similar to the Candy Cauldron over at the West Side. I suppose the best we might hope for is a relocated Gourmet Pantry somewhere else in the Marketplace, selling housewares (once again!), baked goods, and "pantry" items. Unfortunately, that would probably require a minor miracle.

 

[jlambrig]

The housewares stuff will be located in the Disney Home store as well as the World of Disney. All the nonfood items you could get at the Gourmet Pantry will be available elsewhere. All the food items, save the deli stuff, will be available in the new sandwich shop

 

[mcsmiley59]

When I was thee las the Gourmet Pantry was like a little eat in place with tables inside. You would go up to the counter and order and they would make things like Rueben sandwiches etc.

They still sold some beer wine type things and a small area of sundries but I think that was about it.