Shopping in Disneyland
Disneyland, like the Magic Kingdom in Florida, is filled with interesting and
fun shops beginning, of course, with the Emporium on the West side of Main
Street at town square. However, in little nooks and crannies throughout the
park, you'll find little specialty shops that are worth at least a walk through. The inside of many of the main street shops are connected one to another. On
the East side of Main Street, you can enter the shops down at town square, and
walk all the way to the last shops at the plaza end of the street, although you
do have to go outside at the small courtyard "cross streets" mid-way
down Main Street. On the West side, North / South progress is impeded by a quaint
outdoor restaurant (Carnation Cafe). The Main Street shops are least crowded before lunch. Then,
from lunch time on, the crowds steadily build to a shopping frenzy during the
last hour or so that the park is open. Do your shopping on Main Street during
the morning or early afternoon.
Among the most notable of the Main Street shops (at least in my opinion) are
the 20th Century Music Company, the Candy Palace, the China Closet, and Disney
Clothiers. The Music Company, located near the Magic Shop towards town square on the East side, sells
music, CDs and tapes. It's a great collection of Disney music from the
movies, parks, and even unofficial recordings (CDs of Rod Miller and Alan
Thompson playing four-hand piano is my latest purchase). The Candy Palace
serves up chocolates, toffee, salt water taffy, and other delectable
items. My mouth is watering just thinking about the various
confections! The China Closet and Disney Clothiers sell upscale
figurines and other collectibles as well as Disney-label clothes items that most people wouldn't buy due to the steep price
tag. Unfortunately, I am one of them.
There are interesting shops in Adventureland, Frontierland, Fantasyland,
Mickey's Toontown, and
Tomorrowland that sell products that are themed to those particular areas. I was
surprised to find Wilderness Lodge logo merchandise for sale in Frontierland on
previous trips. Geppetto's Toys & Gifts and the Castle Princess Shop are
both fun in Fantasyland and the Heraldry Shop is interesting -- especially
for genealogy fans. Tomorrowland's retailers are of course, futuristic in nature. Not really
up my alley, but maybe up yours...or your kids. The one exception of note
being the Premiere Shop, where the Disneyland Forever kiosks allow you to
put together your own selection of Disneyland soundtracks to take home on
your own CD!
But in my opinion, New Orleans Square has historically had Disneyland's most
interesting shops. Fortunately, after a dry spell, that is becoming more true
(as it used to be). The Disney Gallery, upstairs above Pirates of the
Caribbean, sells animation artwork and sculptures, books, and displays
historical art from the company archives, much of it from Imagineering.
Port D'Orleans sells Creole and Cajun sauces, kitchen utensils, and so on.
La Boutique Noel, not surprisingly, is a Christmas shop with a French Quarter
flavor. However, the old One of a Kind Shop, which used to
sell a lot of interesting antiques, and Mlle. Antoinette's Perfumerie, where you
used to be able to mix your own perfume from oil bases, are both gone.
Don't forget, if you're staying at a Disneyland Resort Hotel, you can have packages
delivered to your hotel. Take advantage of the service. It's
definitely worth while.
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