Paramus Disney Store

Back in May Debbi told us Paramus would be getting a Disney Store. After college in early 1990's, Debbi worked for the Quaker Bridge Disney Store. She worked at Walt Disney World, too. Her favorite character is Figment.

The announcement about the Paramus store opening in the fall added that a store would be opening in Pittsburgh in May. Though we would be in Pittsburgh in May, we were leaving the day before the store opened. We did drive to the mall to see the outside for ourselves. 

There weren't any holes giving us a glimpse at the magic. The CBS news story said a child would be chosen to put the key in to unlock the the magic at 10 am. They also said there will be QR codes to book a time to enter the store. I'm happy to say the Paramus store did not involve that hoop for entering.

Fast forward to the fall. I learned the Paramus Disney Store would be opening on September 3. I read it would only be open for three weeks. Not sure where I read that, since other reports said it would be open through the holiday season, which makes much more sense. On our drive north, Debbi said the store won't open until 4 pm, or about 15 minutes after Mapquest said we would arrive.

The Paramus store is located inside Garden State Plaza, a far larger mall than the Ross Park Mall on the outskirts of Pittsburgh. I didn't give this plan much thought. After going to Frank's funeral the night before, seeing Don's busy work schedule, and knowing I potentially have jury duty the following week, I just made plans to drive up after having brunch with a different friend. Nothing like cramming too much into a day.

Debbi and Don were good sports about the drive. They also graciously accepted I was too tired for much more than driving to Paramus and back.

The wait was long and not well organized. In front of the store was a grid designed to resemble a theme park switchback line. The lines were too tight and narrow for strollers, and too flat to keep us from simply moving forward. Unnumbered blue wrist bracelets were handed out to prove you were in line. The line stretched past Macy's. I felt they were unprepared for the crowd since the line ended at Macy's, where two more lines formed to join the back of the official line. Perhaps we should have been given different colored wrist wraps, or something with numbers on them. 

We gave up on the chaos and merged into a hole in the official line while the cast member kept shrugging and saying "what do you expect me to do, I'm all alone." He had mall security with him to figure out the best way to organize a line. Finally they moved the line up to the second level and had it continue so they were not blocking the entrance to stores. I'll assume the line will not be this long again, though the Paramus malls did get super crowded in the holiday seasons of my youth.

While the grand opening ceremony was taking place, Debbi and I stood across the hall to watch. I did not notice a child with a large key, but other bloggers captured the moment a mini-Sleeping Beauty opened the store. Evidently, a child will be given this task every day. I'm glad to be past that stage in life where I drive my child to the mall in the hopes she is chosen.

Opening took place a few minutes after four. They kept the line moving fairly quickly. The line for the register also grew pretty quickly.

Now for the store. This write up from Disney Parks Blog is a lot more comprehensive and upbeat than I could ever be. We enjoyed the New Jersey theming attempts, even if we feel there is more to the Garden State than pizza and bagels. 

I did not appreciate the limited edition merchandise that was unveiled at D23. Evidently that and the Halloween merchandise were hot stuff. 

I saw the New Jersey themed t-shirts ($29.99) and flat tote bag ($24.99) and left them behind. The quality did not justify the prices. The Alice in Wonderland merchandise was harder to resist, but I did. The three of us, who 15 years ago I would have described as diehard Disney fans, all left empty-handed and a little sad. We were glad to see the store, but missed plush mountain and the Disney stores of the 1990s and early 2000s. According to this blog there are still 20 stores in the United States, mostly outlet stores, including one in Elizabeth, NJ at the Jersey Fresh Outlets. I thought all but the flagship location in New York City were closed.

We left happy that we made the trip. In true Disney fashion, as we waited Cast Members tried to make the line experience fun. They handed out green headbands with eyes on them from a movie I did not recognize, postcards, and Celebrating stickers. I was happy with the postcard. 

The spin through the store was a brief step back in time. That said, none of us plan on returning.