I Heard A Rumour!

[WDWMania22]

Stop me if you've heard this one but I heard a rumour that the great and powerful have decided to open a new, wait for it....Starbucks at DHS. Heard that one? Okay. How about it'll take 8 months to refit the current location. You may scoff! A paltry 8 months surely Disney isn't that fast? But yes it could be true. The final part to the rumour is that once in place Starbucks will unveil it's Master Plan. Once situated in all parks both Disney and Universal it will unleash it's full force and retain Total Domination (tm) of all world wide theme parks. Bwaa Haa Haa!

But seriously folks can we can the beans. I like coffee as much as the next jittery java junkie and it's great to have outlets in the parks that sell coffee, but do we really need such a huge corporate presence in the parks which is starting to appear more often than a Disney shop. My mistake I guess but can't Disney employ people to make and sell decent coffee under their own name and theme the cafés to their design not some horrible outside corporate influence? Some of the best coffee I've had came from individual retailers not some gigantic worldwide concern like Starbucks. Disney need to be mindful that some folks come to their parks to escape from the drudgery of the real world not to be reminded of it. "Oh look honey there a Starbucks, where in the world would we be able to see one of those other than here? Oh yeah in any mall or high street anywhere!"

 

[jade1]

And they should make their own Cola as well-can get Coke anywhere.

 

[Kingdome8]

Lol @ coke anywhere.

 

[ChoppityChops]

A) Love that Starbucks being a large popular company makes them "evil" whilst apparently Disney being a larger company is not?

B) Because you know, Walt and Roy and so on and so forth never got sponsors for anything except everything... and there were never corporate logos plastered around in Disney World besides
Coke
Pepsi
Frito-Lay
Siemens
Ford
McDonalds
General Electric
Energizer
Kodak
FedEx
Sylvania
Goodyear
Gridgestone
Alamo Rent a Car
GM
AT&T
Pepsodent
Disney...

 

[jlewisinsyr]

I'm very happy Starbucks is in the parks, it provides a great, quality beverage option at prices that are equal to the real world prices of the same store, not the inflated Disney prices for poor quality food and drink.

 

[Teamubr]

Lets see.

Starbucks can write a really big check to Disney to have exclusive rights to sell coffee in the parks, taking on all the responsibility for staffing, supplying and marketing

or

Disney can spend it's own money to develop, test, distribute and market it's own coffee.

Hmm.

j

 

[WDWMania22]

On the basis of many of the responses so far I've triggered a nerve of defensiveness of the grand old tradition of Starbucks. I actually suspected this would be the case. I'm happy to hear that these folks have no problem with a relatively new franchise being parked smack bang in the middle of Main Street totally spoiling the feel of an older bygone day. I guess we've no problems with a Wallmart in every park as well then? I'm sure they're much cheaper than Disney, they'd be very happy to provide sponsorship, staff etc etc and it would make all those folks that can't stand being without their normal environments feel more at home. Win win. We could have it right when you enter. Trust me, you let a franchise like this in, in such a big way, it paves the way for a future filled with the same thing. And of course Disney can source and sell good coffee! It's all a matter of if they want to go to the lengths of maintaining they're parks without selling out to major franchises who'll do it for them, ie laziness and greed at the expense of theming to suite the park. This seems a step beyond the Coca Cola type products, whole shops selling nothing but that product appearing en masse in every park fills me with dread. But I'm not going to argue about quality of product, or who likes coffee more, who sells it cheaper and so on cause that's beside the point really cause as I said Disney is more than capable of sourcing good product cheaply and make huge profit without resorting to franchising their parks in such a major intrusive way. No, I'm lamenting a trend which I think is more than likely going to be repeated, especially with large support from its customers.

 

[ChoppityChops]

I'm quite sorry everyone - didn't realize it was a troll. I won't feed it anymore.

 

[Suzie13]

sponsorship is good but from what I've seen from videos there is no theming in the starbucks at all. Do they theme the cups and mugs with disney and starbucks, like coke does with disney and cola? If not that's a issue. If they do then there is no problem.

 

[ChipnDale79]

I really wish the resorts had Starbucks.

There's no question I'd go to the lobby to get my wife and I something while the kids are getting ready in the morning.

 

[Tarheel girl 1975]

sponsorship is good but from what I've seen from videos there is no theming in the starbucks at all. Do they theme the cups and mugs with disney and starbucks, like coke does with disney and cola? If not that's a issue. If they do then there is no problem.

Each Starbucks location has been themed to fit in with it's surroundings. I can understand that some people may not like the move because they dislike Starbucks coffee or miss some of the food items that were previously offered in these locations. It seems silly however to dislike the change just because Starbucks is an outside corporation. As previous posters have pointed out, the parks would never have been built without corporate sponsorship. There are still plenty of things in WDW that have corporate sponsorship. In fact, Journey into the Imagination has been negatively affected by the loss of their sponsor.

 

[Ulysses]

Starbucks inside the parks is awesome. The coffee Disney serves is not good coffee. I always found it to have a taste closer to chicory than actual coffee. So you get superior coffee, at a normal non-park price.

 

[Reddog1134]

On the basis of many of the responses so far I've triggered a nerve of defensiveness of the grand old tradition of Starbucks. I actually suspected this would be the case. I'm happy to hear that these folks have no problem with a relatively new franchise being parked smack bang in the middle of Main Street totally spoiling the feel of an older bygone day. I guess we've no problems with a Wallmart in every park as well then? I'm sure they're much cheaper than Disney, they'd be very happy to provide sponsorship, staff etc etc and it would make all those folks that can't stand being without their normal environments feel more at home. Win win. We could have it right when you enter. Trust me, you let a franchise like this in, in such a big way, it paves the way for a future filled with the same thing. And of course Disney can source and sell good coffee! It's all a matter of if they want to go to the lengths of maintaining they're parks without selling out to major franchises who'll do it for them, ie laziness and greed at the expense of theming to suite the park. This seems a step beyond the Coca Cola type products, whole shops selling nothing but that product appearing en masse in every park fills me with dread. But I'm not going to argue about quality of product, or who likes coffee more, who sells it cheaper and so on cause that's beside the point really cause as I said Disney is more than capable of sourcing good product cheaply and make huge profit without resorting to franchising their parks in such a major intrusive way. No, I'm lamenting a trend which I think is more than likely going to be repeated, especially with large support from its customers.

But as others have said, that corporate presence has been there since the beginning.

There's a Coca-Cola store in Epcot.

I think if they changed their coffee to Maxwell House and slapped that name on the window, no one would bat an eye. It's because every one is looking at Starbucks as a retail outlet instead of a coffee brand. If there was a Coke store on every corner, people would be freaking out about Club Cool.

 

[tjkraz]

When Disneyland first opened, it featured a bank and a lingerie store on Main Street...among other things.

It also had a Chok-full-O-Nuts coffee house, which was later changed to Maxwell House, if memory serves.

I'm not a big coffee drinker but honestly I think Disney has done a very good job with the Starbucks locations in its parks. If they're eliminating redundant stores selling overpriced t-shirts and plush animals, you could even call it a step in the right direction.

Nobody wants to see Chik-Fil-A or Panda Express follow, but as long as Disney exercises proper restraint, I don't see it damaging the theme parks.

 

[mrsbicewdw]

I don't have any issue with Starbucks coming in...just give me back my Main Street bakery goodies. I want good coffee and my favorite snacks!

But I agree with others...Disney has corporate sponsors all over the place! This is nothing new.

 

[hedberg1661]

Would we mind this happening if it was a Joffrey's Coffee Shop? Personally I think they have better coffee anyway. Separately...is it just a big corporate thing? Starbucks?

My vote is for Joffrey's although anything is better than Nescrap.

 

[SeanWM48]

big fan of starbucks and could not be happier that it's spreading throughout the parks. people act like it's taking away from the experience, which is silly to me. do we feel the same way about the gatorade they sell? i don't understand the negative connotation with starbucks (while other companies are embraced)

i went to the main street USA starbucks and it's barely noticeable from the outside. i thought it fit right in really

 

[Fantaluminishes]

I'm very happy Starbucks is in the parks, it provides a great, quality beverage option at prices that are equal to the real world prices of the same store, not the inflated Disney prices for poor quality food and drink.

I have been to the Main St. Bakery and Fountain View since they opened. The prices at the WDW locations are, in fact inflated to theme park levels. I paid $9 for a latte and a pastry that normally costs around $6 in my area. The truth is, Starbucks prices vary throughout the county and around the world. I don't mind this because I expect to pay more for stuff while at WDW.

 

[Jaxon55]

I like it. And they do a great job at making the stores look like they have always been there.

 

[practicallyperfect77]

Would we mind this happening if it was a Joffrey's Coffee Shop? Personally I think they have better coffee anyway. Separately...is it just a big corporate thing? Starbucks?

My vote is for Joffrey's although anything is better than Nescrap.

ITA. ..I like Joffrey's. I have been drinking coffee since I was 4 and prefer to drink it black....maybe a little cream or coconut milk. Starbucks Coffee black is absolutely disgusting....makes my skin crawl. I don't really like seeing Starbucks in the parks but as long as there remains some good tasting coffee, I'll be fine. We have a local shop here in Peoria called 30/30.....their coffee is fantastic, but not sure how well know outside the area.