Can you see the Disney Store in this photo? To the far left on the photo, you’ll find the Times Square Disney Store. See the line of people? Yes, that’s stationary people taking up the sidewalk in NYC.
See the food cart on the sidewalk by the Sunglass Hut? That’s where my husband and I stood Saturday, while waiting to get an “Opportunity Ticket” to purchase an Elsa costume from the Disney Store.
Before I continue, I’ll start by saying that I have a VERY understanding husband. Gary and I went to New York City this past Friday and Saturday to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary. Of course, being the Disney Mom that I am, one of the first things we did Friday was visit the Disney Store in Times Square. We strolled right in and enjoyed the store.
Here’s a Tour!
Greeting guests upon entering the store is the one and only Spiderman. He and his entire Spiderman section of merchandise are celebrating the release of Spiderman 2 in theatres.
Continuing through the store, I found Tinkerbell merchandise inspired by “The Pirate Fairy” film, a huge selection of character plush, and a “Muppets Most Wanted” merchandise wall bay filled with plush, t-shirts and more.
The Times Square Disney Store has two floors. The entire right side of the first floor is dedicated to Princesses. Toys, swim wear and Princess clothing fill the wall bays and floor fixtures.
Let’s head upstairs!
A magical Pixie Dust road leads guests throughout the different departments.
An adorable infants department
The boys departments included Disney brands- Marvel, Star Wars, Planes and Cars.
Not pictured here, the second floor also includes a small adult department and a Princess sleepwear department.
At the end of the Pixie Dust road is a beautiful Princess castle.
Within this pretty castle is Disney Princess dresses, crowns and shoes for just about every Disney princess you can think of! Except one…
It’s pretty obvious that there was a Disney brand that was missing. There wasn’t a single Frozen product available in the store on Friday. If you’ve read some of my previous blog posts, you know that my daughter is a bit obsessed with the movie. I didn’t expect to find anything, but one could hope, right? Well, lucky me, Saturday morning the Disney Store offers an “Opportunity Drawing” to purchase Queen Elsa’s costume dress. AND cast members told me that there would be additional “Frozen” themed product for sale that morning! How could a mom, who’s stayed away from her kids overnight for the first time, miss this opportunity? Fast forward to Saturday…
Well, honestly, after seeing this line at store opening, I thought this Disney Mom was going to miss the opportunity. My husband said, “There is NO WAY I’m standing in that line.” I couldn’t be upset but I was a bit disappointed. Then for some reason, he said, “I’ll wait, but we better make it in the store before that drawing.” Luckily we made it in just in time!
This is how the Disney Store is handling the Frozen “crisis”. At store openings on Saturdays, guests are allowed to enter the store, ten at a time. To enter the “Opportunity Drawing” to purchase an Elsa dress, guests are asked to go to the second floor where they are allowed to wait in another line to fill out one ticket with their name, phone number and dress size that they would like to purchase. At 11:15 am, a cast member announces the ticket numbers that have won the chance to purchase a dress. At that time, you enter another line to purchase the dress. Not all the guests stay for the raffle. A Disney cast member will call your cell phone number after the raffle and you have until 1 am to pick up the dress.
Here’s a photo of the crazy moms and dads waiting to hear their number called. You better believe there was cheering when numbers were called!
While some guests were waiting to hear their number called on the second floor, on the first floor was a line from the back of the store to the front. This line was to purchase whatever Frozen merchandise the store received in their shipment. Guests were allowed to purchase two of each item, but you don’t know what items are left to purchase until you reach the register.
By the time it was my turn to purchase, the guest in front of me had purchased the last Olaf Plush and the other plush characters were gone too. But I was able to purchase a singing Anna doll and an Elsa crown.
The Disney Store in Times Square received 600 Elsa costumes that morning. Lucky for us almost half of those dresses were size 5/6!
The next morning, this crazy Disney Mom couldn’t have asked for a better Mother’s Day smile! I hope you had a wonderful Mother’s Day too!
