Today Disney opened a NEW Disney Store at Ridgedale Mall! Can you believe it? We desperately needed another one here in the Twin Cities. The only one we had (until this morning at 10 am!) was the Mall of America. And it was ALWAYS packed and picked over. Peyton and I were lucky to get a personal tour of the new store. I must say it was pretty neat. The amount of detail that goes into a store just amazes me.
Did you know they customized the walls to highlight historical sites from the area? Well they did! Fort Snelling is featured over The Good Dinosaur merchandise. There were a few more scenes. Like Dumbos Circus by the Burwell House. I think it’s pretty spectacular to have our historical sites sprinkled with Disney Magic and lining the store walls for all to see.
Another fun fact about the store – Look at the trees! Every tree has several surprise guest hidden among the leaves. We saw Peter Pan, Tinkerbell, Captain Hook, Mr. Incredible and Flick just to name a few. The Imagineers really did a fabulous job designing the store and creating personalized details throughout.
Did you know if you are celebrating a special event like a birthday or first visit you can tell a Cast Member and they will put your name on the wall and make an announcement? I never knew that! Today they announced Peyton’s first visit to the store. And boy was she thrilled!
This new Disney store is unlike any I have been in before. They have some amazing artwork, the store is laid out the best I have ever seen and the check out process is smooth! There is no register wrap. They have stations throughout the store that can be utilized to check people out. So no crazy lines! There have been times when the Mall of America has taken me over 45 minutes to checkout. I don’t think Ridgedale is going to have that problem.
We had a great time at the grand opening. The store was fully stocked. We found some treasures we had been searching for. Disgust! It was the best stocked store I have ever seen and we took advantage of that. I’m just glad there is now a second store for when I need a particular size. Now if they would just open one on the east side of the Twin Cities. The Woodbury area would be ideal. There are numerous retail spaces available for sale. Hint Hint.
