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The wait wasn’t too long. I was hoping to find some cool Studio merchandise not available anywhere else. There wasn’t much. A few things, license plate frames, mouse pads, pens. Due to the discount, it was a madhouse in the store. I looked around a bit and noted how very nice it was that it looked like a real Disney Store with the Disney touches I want to find. As opposed to the newly remodeled Disney Store at South Coast Plaza (in Costa Mesa, CA) which I loathe and will probably never set foot in again (as it has been turned into a generic Gap-like style store with no Disney character touches leaving it completely devoid of the magic I expect from Disney).

After making a small purchase, I headed toward the exit. What I found there fascinated me. There was a display case filled with all the Christmas cards the Walt Disney Studios have sent out over the years. I wish someone would publish a book with pictures of all these cards. It would surely be a big seller. There were cards with that year’s hit movie, cards with a stylized map of Disneyland, cards with the Fab Five. It was really quite wonderful and I wish I had copies of each and every card in that case. You just have to love the kitschy charm of a card featuring the 1962 movie, Moon Pilot with the characters of Richard Talbot, Lyrae and a Moonliner- like space ship on it. It doesn’t get any better than that.

The pins available this year

I pressed onward. Pins. I hate pins. They had Disney’s Magical Holiday Faire 2000 pins for sale. I bought one of each of the two styles offered. Maybe I don’t hate pins as much as I say I do. I seem to have more than a few. I’ll have to change my line, "I’m not a pin collector." Then it was time to get into the huge line to buy a commemorative sweatshirt. I fancy myself a rather stylish dresser and sweatshirts don’t usually fit into my clothing scheme. But on a cold winter’s night, a cozy warm sweatshirt is just the thing and the past sweatshirts from this affair that I have seen are usually enough to turn one green with envy. I was also told that the strategy is to brave the line and buy yours early because they usually sell out fast, if not totally, at least of the desirable sizes. Sure enough, as I stood waiting for my turn, the size selection started to dwindle. They kept making announcements over a loud speaker, "Don’t shoot the messenger, but we just ran out of large and extra- extra large!" By the time I reached the front, all that was left was medium and extra large.

 
The sweatshirt back and sleeve designs

Although I don’t think the design is as fun as past year’s efforts, I do have to say that the sweatshirt is charming. It has the Disney Magical Holiday Faire 2000 logo on the back, Mickey and Minnie’s 72nd birthday logo on the left sleeve, and a small gift package tied up with Mickey ears on the front. At $18, it was a good buy.

I also must say that the folks running this thing do a fantastic job. There were so many people waiting in line for the sweatshirts, that I thought it would take forever. No. It was a well-oiled machine. A huge queue was roped off, a slip of paper with prices and sizes was handed to you as you entered the queue. Ladies went through the queue asking if you were paying with cash or check and taking all the necessary info required for checks. This facilitated everything when you reached the front line. At the front there were tons of helpers (once again, all volunteers), waiting to get your sweatshirt for you. You then took the sweatshirt with your slip of paper stating what you were purchasing to the well-manned money station, where they took your money (cash or checks only), and handed you a receipt. No sweat, so to say.

The faire spilled out onto the parking area off of the Buena Vista St. gate - stage 2 is on the left, on the right is combined stages 4 & 5

By this time, hunger had set in. It’s famishing standing in lines, don’t you think? There were plenty of food stands all around the faire. You could get freshly grilled corn and the usual craft faire food. I don’t know about you Dear Readers, but that all seemed rather mundane to me. I can get that stuff anywhere. If I am at the Disney Studio and the Commissary is open, I am going to eat there.

The Commissary was open.

I ate there.

Just as most commissaries are cafeteria- like affairs, so was this one. But this was a Disney cafeteria and that automatically qualified it as better than your average commissary. Plus, it has this rather charming architecture. It’s very Art Deco with the wonderful streamlined look of the period. I completely adored the neon clock that said Walt Disney Studios on the wall over the grill area. I wish I had one like that hanging in my kitchen. It would be such a pleasure to tell time with that clock. The commissary also had the added bonus (for me, at least) of making me feel like I was somewhere in Walt Disney World’s MGM Studios (my favorite of the Florida parks). Since I won’t be making my annual Christmas pilgrimage there, I could pretend.

The scatter- serve system at the commissary lets you choose what you want, then head off to a register to pay

I want that clock

As you can see in this wall photo - even Walt ate at the commissary

I perused the food selection, Chinese, pizza, soups, salads, meatloaf, turkey, various desserts, and assorted beverages, plus more I am sure that I didn’t take note of. I chose the open faced turkey sandwich with cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, and carrots. I added a piece of pumpkin cheesecake, an iced tea and was good to go. The prices seemed very reasonable to me (it was under $10 for all that) and the food was better than your usual cafeteria fare, although, the pumpkin cheesecake was a bit of a disappointment. It didn’t even come close to the sheer taste bud pleasure that is pumpkin cheesecake at Café Orleans in New Orleans Square at Disneyland. (If you go to the park you must sample it and tell them that you heard about its divine dessert decadence on MousePlanet. While you’re at it, go into pumpkin overload and try the pumpkin fudge offered in Westward Ho in Frontierland. It’s made by the candy makers at Disneyland, costs $2.50 a square and is pure pleasure. They don’t always have it and when they do, it sells out fast, so it’s a hit and miss thing. But if you get some, as soon as you sink your teeth into it, you will swear you are in heaven.)

Looking down Mickey Avenue twoards the Team Disney building (peeking out from behind the tree)

Now that my tummy was full, I was ready to get back to shopping and seeing the sights. I decided to visit the craft fair. The amount of vendors was huge, somewhere around 250. They filled a parking lot and were lined up Minnie Avenue and around the Disney Legends Plaza. That’s a lot of crafts. And if crafts are your thing, you’d come away from the fair with a very empty wallet. There was everything from clothing to jewelry, to ornaments, to homemade chocolate chip cookies. You could buy a velvet dress, handmade soap or even a reindeer made out of spoons. There was a lady with a table full of wonderfully made gingerbread houses starting at a mere $20. If you’ve ever tried to make one of those things, you know what a steal that price is.

As I mentioned, I’m not a craft fan so I breezed through that and walked around the studio some more. One of the charms of the Disney Studios is the little things. Actually that’s one of the things that I think sets Disney apart from everyone else, attention to detail.

Stages B & C off of Minnie Ave.

The Wells building houses the Disney archives

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