My Farewell to The Disney Store

Today is the 20th Anniversary of when "Walt Disney - The Man and His Magic," an exhibit using extraordinary items from the Walt Disney Family Foundation, ended it near 4-month run at the Ronald Reagan Library & Museum in California on September 3, 2001. I decided to share that fun fact for today as a segue into the subject I’m going to write (or in this case “type) about in this blog entry. I wanted to talk about my experience of the visiting a local Disney Store yesterday, which is one of two of the last remaining closing in my home state of Massachusetts (on or before September 15 of this year) and in other parts of the country. As I am feeling nostalgic over the end of an era, I wanted to share my memories of visiting other Disney Store locations when I was younger and of my experience in visiting this one (my first & last time as an adult) in its final days of business.

Like so many children of my era (born in the late 1980s-early 1990s), Disney was the first form of media we were introduced to (apart from Sesame Street on PBS) and it has always been there as long as we could remember. Doug Walker once said in one of his videos, “Disney has practically become family to us. It’s fairy tales, it’s magic, it’s everything we thought was possible when we were younger and as we grow older, there’s a lot of other things to enjoy – the artistry, the creativity, the imagination, - there’s literally no other word for it but Disney. It’s an artistic cultural phenomenon that will never, ever leave.” I, along with my younger sister, were exposed to films (that we owned on VHS) such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Bambi (1942), The Three Caballeros (1945), Cinderella (1950),  Peter Pan (1953), Sleeping Beauty (1959), The Jungle Book (1967), Robin Hood (1973), Oliver & Company (1988), The Little Mermaid (1989), Beauty and the Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992), The Lion King (1994), A Goofy Movie (1995), Pocahontas (1995), Hercules (1997), Mulan (1998), and Tarzan (1999).

I remember one visit where my family and I went to visit a mall (I sadly don’t remember which one) in 1994 and in it was a Disney Store. I remember seeing all this Disney merchandise on display, videos promoting upcoming films, songs from classic films, and tv shows (including one animated series I would become a fan of called “Gargoyles” which premiered that same year). I remember my father purchasing a brand new VHS tape of “The Return of Jafar” for me and my sister (so the visit must have taken place in late May or early June of 1994) and my sister got a plush of Rabbit from “Winnie the Pooh.” I also remember another Disney Store location (1265 Worcester Street) in Natick, Massachusetts next to the Natick Mall that opened in the late 1990s. I remember visiting there from time to time. I distinctly remember getting an action figure of Zeus from 1997 film "Hercules." My sister also collected beaned toys of different Disney characters from there. The store location closed sometime after the year 2000 and was replaced with a home goods retailer called “The Container Store.”

The last time I remember visiting the Disney Store in Natick was sometime in August of 2000 the night before I was supposed to start high school. I felt it was the end of my childhood. Now some twenty years later, I would visit the one of the last remaining Disney Stores in Massachusetts in early September before I start my new job next week. I wanted to relive my inner childhood and, in the days leading up today, I felt it was time for one last visit before the opportunity was gone forever. I made my plans and printed out directions the night before in preparation for the journey.

I woke up early this morning (at 12:49 a.m. and could not go back to sleep) since I fell asleep early last night. The day before temperature was projected to be at 75 degrees with 11 percent chance of rain. However, it was 59 degrees and was already raining. I began to have second thoughts. However, I was determined to go on this day, so I shaved, showered, dressed casually and according to the weather. I also brought my keys, cell phone, wallet, and my fully charged camera with a new SanDisk card. My roommate works as a teacher at an academy 1.2 miles from the Burlington Mall, where the Disney Store I would soon visit would be located. He had agreed to drive me over to the parking lot of the academy and I would walk the rest of the way to the mall. An hour before we left, I printed the directions for my walk to the mall from the academy and the time for which I would take the MBTA bus to return home. By the time my roommate woke up, I was already to go when he was. As we left the house at 8:07 a.m., the rain had stopped and there was an overcast of clouds.

We arrived at the parking lot of the academy at around 8:28 a.m. and we parted ways. I then walked up in the direction of north of the Middlesex Turnpike. I trusted the directions I printed out and followed it to the very letter.  I finally crossed the road and walked down South Meadow Road (which was listed online as Meadow Road which caused me some confusion). 

I decided to continue to trust the directions I printed, and everything still went as planned. I soon found myself at a Wendy’s on the corner of Meadow Road and Burlington Mall Road and since I had not eaten breakfast, I felt it was time to eat. It was 9:03 a.m. and the place was supposed to be open at 9:00 a.m. 

The manager saw me outside and told me they were only serving drive ins. I stupidly asked if I could walk to the drive thru and order there. He asked me if I had a car and I replied that I didn’t. He then solemnly invited me in, telling me that he was waiting for two of his employees to show up for their 9:00 a.m. shift and that they were short staffed. I felt bad because I knew from experience what it was like to work under those circumstances. I made my orders and when the food arrived, I thanked the manager and went to eat at the bus stop just outside the Burlington Mall.

After eating my breakfast, I then made my way to the entrance of the Burlington Mall. I was prepared to walk around the entire mall to pass the time. When I arrived at the entrance, I took a photo of the entrance.

A security guard came out and calmly told me that photos were not allowed to be taken at the mall since it was private property. I politely acquiesced (although when he was out of sight, I still took photos). He unlocked the entrance, and I went inside of the mall. I walked up to the second floor (since the escalators were not turned on yet) and I soon found the Disney Store.

Once I found the store, I went to an area where there were vending massage chairs and sat to down read “The Nine of Us: Growing Up Kennedy” by Jean Kennedy Smith to pass the time. After more than an hour of reading and waiting. I soon made my way back to the entrance of the store. At 11:00 am, they were still not opened. Then at about 11:03 a.m., an employee came out to announce that there would be an opening ceremony and asked me and another customer was the magic password was. I certainly didn’t know. The other customer then said, "Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo" as a reference to a song from Disney’s Cinderella. Apparently, that was the magic password since they brought a giant key to symbolize that they were opening the store. Some children were passing by and at the last minute, they were asked to “open the store” by turning the magic key. They did so and everyone clapped. Soon they welcomed us all in. A female employee gave me a coupon which gave me 10 dollars off my purchase if I gave them my email address. Then citing my Captain America shirt, she remarked, “Oh Captain America’s here. I feel safe now.” I laughed because I thought it was funny.

Once inside, I began to take photos of the items, memorabilia, toys, clothes, cups, and most of the aesthetics of the store. I took the photos because I wanted to have a historic record of the Disney Store in Massachusetts in its final days before they would be gone forever after September 15, 2021. My other objective was to document this so that the spirit of this store can live on forever in some way. I spent over an hour inside browsing and taking photos. I also made sure that there was not a single person was in the photo to protect their privacy. 

There was one moment where I felt some sadness when I took a photo of “plush mountain” and saw a plush of Mickey Mouse wearing a shirt that said, “I Love NY” and some plush of Minnie Mouse dressed as the Statue of Liberty. In another part of the store, I saw other products which included a yellow t-shirt that said "NYC" with Mickey Mouse on it. It hit home that after September 15, the closest Disney Store in close proximity to me will be in New York City.

I saw one employee have a good time while working, singing along with the Disney songs that played in the store. It made me wonder what working there would have been like for me if I was employed there along with the cast members. For some reason, it made me happy to see that that employee was enjoying himself in a wholesome way while being productive and working at the store.

 I also took photos of the silhouettes of Disney characters on the murals surrounding the interior of the store. My photos do not do them justice. I want to capture the ambiance of the store, which I thought was "magical."

Then it was time to leave so I could catch the bus to return home. I bought 3 masks, 2 Disney Store tote bags, 2 Shang Chi tote bags, & a Blu-ray disk of Avengers Endgame, which I picked up at the last minute. 

According to my receipt, I made my final purchase at 12:26pm. As I was leaving, the female employee who greeted when I arrived said something like, “Have a magical day, Captain America!” “Thank you,” I replied, “you made my day today.” “Oh,” she said, “well you made mine.” I smiled behind my mask. “Well, take care,” I replied and soon left to make my way to the bus stop to return home. I’ll spare you the details on describing what I did immediately after I left, or the journey to return back. All I will say on that is that I eventually made my way to the bus stop, bought a cold drink from Ruby Thai Kitchen in the Food Court on the way there, and waited until the bus arrived 1:33 p.m. I arrived home sometime after 3:00 p.m. at temperatures at 71 degrees, with Disney songs replaying in my mind.

So that was my day. Upon reflection of my visit to the store yesterday, I’ve begun to realize that it made an impact on me. As I type this, I’m listening to Disney songs on my laptop. I haven’t watched any Disney films as of yet, but I feel the desire to. I’ve been watching online videos of people describing their trip to Walt Disney World and wishing I could go, and with friends. No other store has ever made me feel this way before. I may be experiencing what some on the internet call “Post Disney Depression” which is a “period of sadness you experience following your magical Disney vacation.” I know I obviously have not been to Walt Disney World since the year 2000, but to some people who can’t go to a Disney Park, they would be able to enjoy the Disney magic through their local store. The Disney stores were a piece of the Magic Kingdom brought to life in shopping malls. For me, I think it’s more than that. I believe that we’re finally starting to know how it feels to get older, when things change around you. I wanted to feel like the child I used to be one last time.

I would like to go on the final night and see the closing ceremony for more closure, but I may not get that chance and so I will have to settle for just that visit I made yesterday morning and that will have to be enough. One regret that I have is that I didn’t have a friend(s) who loves all things Disney to go with me on my last trip to experience the Disney magic one last time. As a result, I have no one to share my memories with. All I have is this blog entry to express my thoughts on this occasion.

I wish there was a way for the Disney magic to continue here in Massachusetts. Maybe instead of closing the last two stores in all of New England, maybe they could create a giant Disney Store in Faneuil Hall Marketplace or Quincy Market or inside the Prudential Center to perhaps rival the one at Times Square in New York City. I could imagine seeing pins and plush toys of Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, and other Disney characters dressed in early American/colonial period clothing since the history of Boston played such a central role in American history and in the formation of the United States.

It would be nice to see something like that come to Boston. As Walt Disney himself once said, "If you can visualize it, if you can dream it, there’s some way to do it."

To concluded this blog entry, I wanted to share another quote by Walt Disney. I thought it would be appropriate to share the words he made in his opening dedication speech at Disneyland on its opening day in Anaheim, California on July 17, 1955: “To all who come to this happy place; welcome. Disneyland is your land. Here age relives fond memories of the past…and here youth may savor the challenge and promise of the future. Disneyland is dedicated to the ideals, the dreams and the hard facts that have created America…with the hope that it will be a source of joy and inspiration to all the world.”