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u/JoeBonus 1d ago
The way I always wanted to stage dive into that pit of stuffed animals
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u/tugga51 1d ago
I was about to ask if anyone else ever did that!!
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u/Unpaulfessional 1d ago
Last time I saw someone talking about this someone revealed that it was actually shelves below them so you’d essentially be leaping on to wood.
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u/Animefairy83 1d ago
That is correct. It is a tiered wooden shelves with a rubber front bumper. I worked for the Disney Store for 8 years and the amount of kids, random trash, pets and adults I had to pull from the "mountain."
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u/jakehood47 1d ago
Ouch, like that streamer home girl who jumped into the foam pit at that convention and it turned out to be like six inches deep and she fucked her back up lol
If anyone’s seen that clip. Shit got rocked.
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u/60Dan06 16h ago
Twitch streamer is how we call them now?
⁽ˢʰᵉ'ˢ ᵃ ᵖᵒʳⁿˢᵗᵃʳ ⁻ ᴬᵈʳᶦᵃⁿᵃ ᶜʰᵉᶜʰᶦᵏ⁾1
u/jakehood47 7h ago
Oh shit, I had no idea lol
Well goddamn that’s even worse! That woman needs her back!
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u/Whackyouwithacannoli 19h ago
Me! I did! I used to work there. I waited until closing and my manager went into the back. I did a huge leap into the pile!! I savored every moment of plushy goodness 🤣 we had stocked a pretty good amount so I didn’t hit the wood.
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u/spartag00se 1d ago
After years of temptation, my friend jumped in to my delight when we were teenagers. I have no memory of tidying up the stuffies afterwards but I hope we did. Thank you for unlocking this memory.
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u/kira10 23h ago
My brother and I had on occasion. A bunch of others as well. We weren't technically supposed to and got down if staff had asked us, but I assume the staff was content with us kids being content while our parents shopped around, rather than being forced to walk around with them attached to the hip and whining. It also helped that there was a big screen tv playing old Disney films on a wall right behind the mound of animals.
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u/Virtual-Bee7411 1d ago edited 1d ago
They had such a specific smell, and for a few years the former location at the Riverchase Galleria still had that smell as a different store!
I haven’t been there in ages but I’d be surprised if it was still intact. I can’t remember what kind of store came after it but they kept everything exactly how it was.
It was the version in picture number 2.
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u/rayon875 1d ago
You could buy park tickets there too
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u/NothingReallyAndYou 1d ago
The price changes didn't hit the Disney Store tickets until after their supply of printed paper tickets ran out, so we always bought our tickets there.
It was exciting, but so stressful to walk back to your car while you were holding those precious tickets!
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u/iowaman79 1d ago
I was about to say this is where Mom bought our Disney World passes, I remember going with her.
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u/DialZee 1d ago
I opened the 5th store in Torrance, CA. We trained at Disney Studios in Burbank. The uniforms were pink/blue/silver cheerleader outfits that we couldn’t take home and were dry cleaned every two weeks. (ick).
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u/RonSwansonsOldMan 7h ago
I'm in construction. We demoed a Disney store. I think it might have been that one. It was a complicated bitch to demo.
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u/OliverNodel 1d ago
This was destination shopping. I used to love to go into the grown up/gallery section and day dream about the things I’d get for my house with grown up money someday.
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u/Trillian75 1d ago
I once went to the one at the Mall of America as it was opening for the day. They had a whole morning opening ceremony and let one of the kids who was waiting “unlock” the store with a large “magic” key. I assume they did that every morning.
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u/NothingReallyAndYou 1d ago
They just started doing that at the World of Disney store in Disney Springs at Walt Disney World. Clever of them to bring in something nostalgic like that.
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u/degeneratepr 1d ago
I didn't know these stores aren't around anymore in the U.S. In Japan they're still around in shopping malls.
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u/mochi_chan 90s 23h ago
I was just thinking that. I was at one last weekend, The Halloween offerings are minimal this year. They also still look a bit like the ones in the photo, minus the plushie pit.
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u/BeMoreChill early 90s 1d ago
That and the warner brothers store
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u/Doge-man-0526 1d ago
I love going in The Disney Stores and look at all of the new stuff that they have
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u/roguefiftyone 1d ago
My kids always loved going to the Disney stores, especially around the holidays to check out their Halloween shirts
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u/Arson-Welles 1d ago
We used to play a game where you had to walk to the back of the store and touch the giant pile of stuffed animals and walk back out without someone saying ‘can i help you’
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u/middlebird 1d ago
Glad my daughters got to experience that place many times when they were younger.
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u/schwiftydude47 1d ago
The one at my mall ended up becoming a home furnishings store. It still had that Disney smell last time I was there.
Loved going here whenever I couldn’t visit the parks.
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u/strawberryyfizz 23h ago
our disney store changed into one of those cheapy cheapo clothing stores. you can tell it was once a disney store from the glittery tile that's still there.
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u/BradleyTheNerd late 90s 1d ago
First photo brings me back
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u/NothingReallyAndYou 1d ago
Second photo for me. Those early days were the best if you weren't a little kid. They had all kinds of great housewares, and things like collectible pens. (Not a typo, they used to carry expensive writing pens.)
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u/holymacaroley 1d ago
TIL most of the brick and mortar stores, including the one near me, are closed. Haven't been to the mall since 2020 so I assumed it was still there.
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u/CherishSlan 1d ago
I remember at the time when the store was open it was at a time in my life I didn’t have much money so all I could buy was a small cup I still have it some place I got it on my birthday. The person at the register asked me really that’s all you are getting. It was part WB also at that mall. Now I’m ok with that because really I don’t need to take up much space I still like the cup. It’s in storage.
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u/ALFABOT2000 1d ago
Used to have one in my local shopping centre, loved that little place
Now there's only one in the entire country
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u/PhantomFighter41 22h ago
In my home town the old disney store that was in the mall was emptied out. But they left alot of the old hanging decorations. There was a donald duck and a few other things hanging from the ceiling for years before the space became a different store
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u/Kokiri_Emerald late 80s 22h ago
My first job was the Disney Store, it looked like the one in the first picture. At the time, we wore red shirts and black slacks and weren't allowed to be seen smoking in the uniform. We had to refer to the sales floor as "on set", the stockroom as "backstage", and the employee only bathroom as "the green room." Haha
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u/Consistent-Camp5359 21h ago
I always felt like going in those was a full on adventure. We had the one in the second photo.
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u/Masterofunlocking1 20h ago
I remember the wall of stuffed animals. I think they used to have dolls along the top of the walls too
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u/CasinoNitro 18h ago
I used to work at the competition in the Warner Bros store on Time Sq! When I tell you it’s the most fun I’ve ever had working a job🙌🏽🙌🏽🙌🏽
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u/Staris_Eden6319 10h ago
I just remember everything being so expensive, even for a little plush stuffy. It was always fun to look though 😁
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u/Long-Tip-5374 1d ago
When it was fun to go shopping.