What do pink princesses have to do with Tomorrowland?

[curtisl]

I'm currently at WDW right now , but I'm a bit upset right now about the stores at MK and need to get this off my chest.

You folks warned me in advance what to expect when I got here, but I needed to experience it in person to really feel miffed. You see, I set myself up for failure by making it a goal to get at WDW a unique stuffed Stitch and Stitch t-shirt that wouldn't be available anywhere else but at the parks. Hey, they had unique character T-shirts and stuffed companions 15 years ago at Disneyland, so why should it be any different now?

Now of course I couldn't find any such thing, but what peaved me off was that, being the sci-fi nut that I am, I went to the Merchant of Venus and StarTraders in Tomorrowland at the MK expecting to find Tomorrowland, future related stuff. That seems reasonable doesn't it?

Imagine how pissed I was when StarTraders had absolutely nothing related to Tomorrowland!!! It looked like a DisneyStore for goodness sakes!!! I can go to the mall for that! Merchant of Venus was a little better, but alongside the Alien Encounter stuff and the tiny shelf of Stitch stuff that was mostly what I could find in regular stores, were pink Princess pillows!!!
That certainly made the Sci-Fi geek in me feel like I should be a girl. 2/3rds of the store was this pink stuff!!!

I was pretty darn upset so I went to Town Hall to complain, like the nice CMs at the Buzz Lightyear store in front of CoP told me to when I asked when CoP would be opened. Appearantly it will only be open on Christmas week, which is unfortunate because I'm here now and not then! The CM at Town Hall was abosolutely unhelpful and actually made me feel worse than when I came in. Isn't it their job to make the visitor feel good?
He gave the usual speel about CoP being down because they had it up for a summer and no one went. Then he had the nerve to suggest that I go to a custom T-shirt store to get a grown-up Stich T-shirt. When I complained about the stores at Tomorrowland not having Tomorrowland related stuff, he said that maybe merchandising figured that Sci-fi stuff wasn't selling.
(So why would a Sci-Fi nut want a pink Princess pillow instead?)
I asked for an opinion card, but all he gave me was the card with the Guest Relations adress.

I was so much more upset after this visit that I found a nice grandmotherly looking CM in the Main Street store to vent with. At least she was nice enough to suggest a store that might have Stich stuff, and agreed that pink Princesses have nothing to do with Tomorrowland, and she smiled. That's all I needed to feel better, and I thanked her for putting up with me.

Thanks for putting up with my rant. I'm actually having a better time at Epcot and looking forward to having a Magical rest of the week!!!

 

[Wes]

I had a frustrating experience at the USA pavilion in EPCOT, somewhat like your frustration with Star Trader having nothing to do with Tomorrowland.

I wanted some post cards specific to the USA pavilion. I even asked at the shop there when I could not find any, and they just do not have them.

 

[Planogirl]

So the pink Princesses have taken over Tomorrowland too? This just sounds like more stores we'll be avoiding in the future. Thanks for the warning!

 

[Luv2Roam]

Like you I was in Star Traders & MoV looking for unique Buzz specific items. I left emptyhanded.

 

[SnackyStacky]

I left emptyhanded.

Sounds to me like even their over-merchandising is back-firing and biting them in the butt.

 

[Another Voice]

At California Adventure the Farmer’s Market store –- which was supposed to carry seeds, gardening supplies and everything to do with California agriculture -- ended up selling princess costumes and toy laser swords as well.

This has been a general trend throughout all of the parks’ merchandise locations. Since carrying a lot of different items costs money the decision was made to cut way back on the variety and focus only on the “best sellers”. Lowered inventory costs combined with greater sales volume was supposed to drive income through the roof.

But instead the parks have found out the giving the guests 20 opportunities to buy an idea doesn’t increase sales 20 times. It’s common sense, but the “rumors” are that Attractions management is still baffled why sales are falling. So their response it to do more of the same – cut costs faster than revenues are falling. Expect fewer choices in the future in most of the stores.

Some areas with particularly cleaver management might be able to hold off the trend, but the larger locations (with the higher costs and thus the higher management interest levels) will look more and more alike as time continues.

 

[curtisl]

Toy laser swords!!! Can you send those over to Tomorrowland?

 

[dansyr]

I am in no way defending them, but offering some insight.
I work in retail. We offer many impulse items, even though the retailer I work for is tailored to a certain type of clientele.
As for the stores carrying alot of princess stuff, this is apparently what is selling.
So, if an adult goes in with their children looking for a certain type of merchandise, chances are, their child is with them begging for that princess pillow that is right next to the mdse, that the parent is looking for.
IMHO, that parent is gonna buy the child that princess pillow so the child will not cry or throw a temper tantrum. After all who wants a crying child in the happiest place in the world.
It may not be the right thing but it will make them money.
I'm sure they are tracking what is their top selling mdse, and that merchandise will be displayed in every prime location.

 

[All Aboard]

Another Tommorowland merchandising gripe:

NASCAR driver uniforms and big toy cars on a cart outside the speedway, close to Fantasyland. That's very disappointing to see. I'm neither a fan nor detractor of NASCAR racing. They could be NFL uniforms and it wouldn't change my opinion. The point is that they don't belong anywhere in the Magic Kingdom, and most certainly not out on a cart on a walkway from Fantasyland to Tomorrowland.

What is truly potentially disturbing about this is that it may lead to further departure from unique items true to the land in which they are sold. Perhaps a "whatever we can sell that's even loosely related to anything in the park" policy may emerge.

I also saw Power Puff Girls stuff on sale at the former Loony Bin location at the Studios. What's that all about?

 

[raidermatt]

It may not be the right thing but it will make them money.

But if AV is right, its not making them money.

How many princess pillows can you buy? A park isn't like a national chain like the Gap. It makes sense for The Gap to carry mostly the same stuff in each store, because they generally are not within walking distance of each other (though it may seem like it sometimes)

So the child who wants the Princess pillow gets it. Great. And when they go in the next store, just around the corner, more princess pillows. They aren't going to get another one, and Daddy still can't find his Stitch shirt.

If all the stores have the same stuff, guests will likely buy less overall, and may even decide to just hit one big store, since the small ones all have the same stuff.

Again, a case of short-term vs. long-term thinking. Also, using tunnel vision to look at one aspect of the parks and ignoring the overall experience.

Same philosophy, different day.

 

[CasualObserver]

You guys have hit a nerve with me. The notion of WDW stocking the same items in each and every store is absolutely ridiculous. Whoever came up with that brilliant idea should be taken outside and, well, you get the idea.

When I want to buy a souvenier, I like to find something unique. I look for things that last. On one trip I bought some Raku artwork from Hoi Poloi as my main souvenier. Why? Because I can't find it everywhere and it didn't say "WDW - 2000" all over it.

Shopping at WDW basically can be done in about 30 minutes:

Go through the gates
Stop at the first store
Look around
Buy your stuff and send it to your room

Your done for the entire trip.

Now, how does that increase sales? Hello? Is this thing on?

The problem with Disney management is the same thing that is wrong with current American corporate culture. The problem is that no one will say "We got it wrong, let's fix it". Stating that something you did failed or that you were wrong is as good as calling the executioner's cell phone yourself. This philosophy is incredibly short-sighted and foolish. That philosophy is how you get ideas such as "we cut services and our numbers are down, better cut more" rather than "we cut services and our numbers are down, perhaps we should try to attract customers instead".

Until Disney management ends the idea that making a mistake is the end of a career, the company will continue it's endless spiral downward. People must be given the ability to make mistakes, it's part of life.

I worked once for a company that built a culture much like Disney's current management. The goal for everyone was to make sure you had someone else to point the finger at. That company once had 300 employees with offices in 5 states and sales around 20 million. Now they have 50 employees, barely hanging on to a single office space, closed all the other offices, and have lost their good name in the marketplace. They spent so much time NOT fixing the problems that the problems soon became insurmountable.

CasualObserver

 

[raidermatt]

Buy your stuff and send it to your room

Your done for the entire trip.

Its not quite that easy, Casual Observer...

You can't send them to your room anymore, only to your resort. So the next day you can get up early to make a trip down to the resort store to pick up your stuff.

But I guess that's another topic...

 

[curtisl]

Goody! I've sparked a discussion!

From what I've seen during this week, there still is unique stuff scattered about, but you have to be diligent seeking them. So far, the only shops I've seen that didn't have a "100 Years" T-shirt around the corner was the Star Wars shop and the Figment shop. I don't know why Figment got away untouched, unless it has to do with Kodak, and Star Wars probably has a contract with Lucus. The poor Muppets got shoved into a corner in one third of their shop.

I was thrilled seeing Stitch at the end of the Merry Christmas Parade, but still can't figure out why he only ranks a tiny side of a display counter, and all that stuff you can get at Kmart. Why can't they make a decently cute Stitch plush? At least he gets his own Christmas pin! Heck, I can't even find much Monsters Inc. stuff in the park.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

Disney's theory is using the same logic as they are having the "Parti Gras" Pin Event in Animal Kingdom. If you look at the pins they are going to sell, you will see that almost everything is geared to Pleasure Island.