The Disney Store

Wall to wall repetition in the Scooby Doo vein…
Bright and colourful with false smiles as far as the eye can see and a sickly sweet vibe that can seem too much at times…
Still… Disney knows their stuff as even I can’t help but feel like a big kid when I shop in here :)

Having returned from a magical visit to disneyworld, my children were excited to visit our local Disney store, or should I call it Distress store! The two cast members who I had the unfortunate experience of meeting today wouldn’t even be cast as the ugly sisters! The first one the false accuser (oh but she’s a witness and willing to make a statement) said she saw my twelve year old remove a security tag of one of their products !! Firstly she saw her use something to remove it! In her bag she had her phone, umbrella and a bottle of water, so when challenged she then apparently states my daughter apparently pulled it off with great force with her bare hands and was seen throwing it under the shelf! Twelve years old and able to pull off a magnetic security tag! Obviously with super hero strength! It is the Disney store after all, A MAGICAL PLACE WHERE WISHES COME TRUE! So what are they accusing my daughter of stealing? A box of 5 Cinderella dolls in a box, I metre length by ½ metre width! Logic asks how? But then no logic was used at any point today. So the cast member who lied about seeing my daughter as there isnt any cctv footage — and I was there but she didn’t see me is called LAUREN! So where does the other ugly sister come into this pantomime? Well as the self titled store manager, who is the one who pulled me just as I was leaving the Disney store after purchasing three items and says «excuse me but as the parent I need to let you know that your daughter has been seen detagging our products and as this is a risk I have called security.» To which I ask what product and that I didn’t understand, at this point I now notice six security guards and two police women !! By the way I failed to mention I was also with my 6 year old. So at the front of the store and by the way I hadn’t exited the shop, my daughter was accused of stealing or attempt to steal, to which you could imagine she was crying saying she hadn’t done anything as well as her 6 year old sister crying hysterically as she was surrounded by what looked like police! The way HANNAH dealt with the whole situation is a prime example of incompetence, lack of management skills and common sense, as if LAUREN thought she saw my daughter detagging — why did she not approach her? Why did HANNAH wait till we were leaving the shop? What did they expect to see in the bag? Apparently LAUREN saw my daughter throw the tag under the shelf,. No one asked my daughter but if they had, she said when she picked it up the tag fell off, she picked it up and put it on the top of the box! She showed me the dolls for a present for her 6 year old sister for Christmas, I told her to put them back, why didn’t LAUREN see me? Or even approach my daughter and ask her if she felt something was wrong. The police were fantastic and were apologetic, they said its unresolved as Lauren the witness was willing to make a statement, how scary is this? Was she having a bad day? Why wasn’t she helpful? Does she represent the precious Disney brand? Equally does Hannah demonstrate the leadership qualities to take her team to the best customer service ever? The answer to all is NO !!! They got it wrong and behaved unreasonably, No apology, nothing, just a really bad Disney experience for me, my husband, and most disturbingly my six year old, and a heartbroken 12 year old!

Anyone who knows me will know that I turn back into a child when I enter this store. I am a HUGE Disney fan, so this is like heaven to me.
I came here a week ago to treat my 5 year old niece to her Christmas presents (she likes to choose her own presents after Christmas, and pick up any toys that Santa may have forgotten, bless).
The store, situated on the top level of Manchester Arndale, is fabulous for any Disney fan — young or old. They have clips of Disney movies playing on the screens and Disney music playing throughout the store. It was busy for a Saturday but Tilly wandered off, whilst singing songs from Frozen, to choose her toys.
Straight to the Toy Story section, she picked up Lotso bear, Buzz Lightyear and Mr & Mrs Potato head ‘These complete my entire collection!!’ she shouted — much to the amusement of other adults in the store and also to the staff! We did try to find Ham too — but he wasn’t there. She suggested I buy him for her next year.
In and out in a flash and so much fun! It is one of my favourite stores, even without my niece with me.

Small Disney Shop, next to Apple Shop & Sole Rader Shoes on second floor in Arndale Centre

I absolutely adore the disney store in Arndale! I know it maybe silly, but I love popping into it, while I’m strolling about in the massive Arndale and give a look into disney’s very new creations.
The store is obviously very colourful and not to forget ‘sparkly’, getting every little child’s attention captured into the wonders of this store. They’ve let the classics live and lounge, like the ever popular Ariel and Winnie the Pooh and many more all over in shelves. And the new ‘Princess and the Frog’ costumes are up and about. You can actually see little ones jump about in their ridiculously cute frog costumes!
A lovely store and you’re bound to love it, no matter what your age may be!

There are serious pros and cons to a place like the Disney Store, all the negatives include things like it’s seriously overpriced for what you actually get in your hands, it’s a blatant pull on the heartstrings of any person who happens to wander by with a kidlet in tow, and they fail to leave without buying at least something that the kid doesn’t actually need, and will probably not want when the novelty has worn off approximately one hour after you’ve handed the darn item over to it. Other negatives are the massive gender stereotypes a few of the Unilocalers have already mentioned, girls be pretty and pink and demure as the weak willed damsel in need of rescue, and boys, you be the strong soldiers and protectors, here are your weapons and learn how to use them.
Plus points, it’s colourful and pretty, and Disney has created some absolutely fantastic films, of which the characters in foam filled cuddly toy glory are stocked up and down and around the entire store. In addition to the hideous gender roles of she woman and he man, there are monsters and robots and cars and toys and other bits Disney creations that we should just enjoy for being bright and colourful and appreciate for being nice and pretty.
Other plus point, when you’ve got a lot of kidlets floating around courtesy of family members having them or friends starting to produce families and you’ve no idea what to buy said kidlets, you can get a good few years out of the Disney Store in the form of last minute HELP ME gifts.
Bags, toys, DVDS, dress up outfits, shoes, clothes, collectables, cuddly toys, dolls, cards, key rings, chocolate and sweets, gift wrap, if it’s Disney-​able it’s in here, and as it’s been a kid lifesaver present store on so many occasions, I remain a fan.

Whenever I get broody, I pop into the Disney Store to remind me how useful birth control is. Because while one day I can imagine myself with a couple of anklebiters, being bewildered by the likes of Hannah Montana and High School Musical means I’m not quite ready yet. What is it with kids and cheesy musical numbers sung by squeaky teenagers these days anyway?
The Disney Store is a bit of a misleading name… I bought an ex partner of mine a gargantuan Tweety Pie mug from here once and Tweety’s not been seen near a Disney character since Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Gosh what a great film. Anyway while you’ll find plenty of little trinkets bearing the image of your favourite classic Looney Tunes and Disney characters, upstairs is reserved for the baffling likes of Camp Rock and their ilk. Backpacks, dolls, clothing — this is a store where pester power is king, so be warned. Without a doubt, one for Christmas shopping FOR a specific child rather than taking said child. If you ever want to watch a tantrum or two for a laugh, it’s worth popping in here.

I remember being a child and loving the Disney shop in Chester, and unfortunately it’s difficult to shake the remnants of those feelings. Last time I wandered in here I felt the same giddy rush of feelings, before stopping and thinking, «What am I excited about?»
The whole place is a big gaudy display designed to ensnare children and con their parents into spending exorbitant amounts of money on ultimately useless toys. And whenever you go past you can see the same parents trapped inside, staring out with pleading eyes. It seem like some people never learn.
As Alexandra warns, don’t walk past with small children in tow. Detour around, or underneath, or blindfold them — whatever you can so they don’t get sucked in by the tractor beam.

I am a massive big kid at heart and I adore all things Disney. As I write this review, I’m wearing a Snow White t-​shirt. You make think that I’m a loser but I do not care.
Anyway, so I was always going to love the Disney Store. But I wanted to review it anyway because it’s just so good! And I want to defend myself, it’s not just for kids!
For my 21^st Birthday I had a theme which was disney fancy dress. Yes, I am a loser. Anyway, loads of my friends got costumes from here! Despite the fact the age only goes up to 12 – 13, it’s about a size 8 in adult sizes so it was perfect for a few friends!
The other adult products they sell are all the homewares like mugs, glasses and plates and stuff. I have loads of it. Great for students as gift and the mugs are great for work collegues too.

A note to parents across the globe: Don’t do it!
It’s not that I have something against soft toys and cuddly bears — it’s that Disney do everything they can to promote shitty gender stereotypes. Walk round this store and you’ll see exactly what I mean. On one wall, there’s dozens of pastel and bright pink costumes, fairy wings, crowns and little princess style accessories for girls. On the other, there’s Superhero costumes, plastic swords and cowboy and astronaut figures for boys. Just think about the message this is sending to kids about and what defines them and what they should aspire to be when they grow up. Pretty lame, isn’t it?
To borrow a triusm from the American artist Jenny Holzer: Raise boys and girls the same way.

I’m in a dilemma here; I can’t put say bad things about a shop that brings a smile to so many little’uns faces however should I promote a giant toy shop that takes every once of imagination away from today’s youth?
This shop is very expensive and brings out every character featured in Disney films in toy/​bedding/​dresses/​poster format. Obviously for those who are not rolling in it it is a struggle to keep up with.
I like the shop personally as it’s a bright and colourful addition to this area of Manchester. I would make sure that yo avoid going past this shop with young children unless you want to lighten your wallet/​purse by a substantial amount.

The Terminator movies told us this would happen and nobody listened– we were all too busy watching Arnie make good on his promises to return. The machines would rise up, we were told. They would destroy humanity, we were warned. We wouldn’t be needed anymore, so the prophecy went.
Well now it’s happened.
The machines have started making our cartoons.
Toy Story was a Trojan horse that none of us saw coming and now it’s too late– even A Christmas Carol has been callously tore away from the Muppets and feed into an Apple Mac.
And what have been left with?
Cynical souvenir shops like the Disney shops which remind us of how it used to be whilst taking our wallets for a joy ride.
Damn you John Connor– you were bloody useless!

A great selection of toys. Just wish it was a bit bigger. Convieniently located in the arndale centre near all the high street shops.

The same as any other Disney Store with overpriced Merchandise and poorly laid out stores leading to it being a Treasure trove for kids and a nightmare for adults, especially if you have a Pushchair.
The kids Love their Intellectual property as do I, who doesn’t love Toy Story, but the prices are astronomical and are so because only Disney can produce this stuff so they can charge what they want.
The layout of the stores has always puzzled me as the shelves seem to invite goods being knocked from their shelves as people try to pass each other at busy times.
As you can tell, while I love the Disney Brands, I feel that their stores are poorly designed.

my favorite toy store ever. this is the ultimate in toy shops. ithas everything disney. my daughter is a big fan of micky mouse and also the new tinkerbell range. which is so lovely! i was very impressed by this new store. and by the look of how busy it was, it is a very welcome asset to the arndale. my kids are happy in the disney store while my husband is happy next door in the apple store. i just need a nice costa coffee across the way for me and we’ll all be happy! a great shop. great offers and it will always be a firm favorite with me,

good store for the obvious themed disney characters and films but very pricey compared to other bigger stores like toys r us and restricted to just disney. But Disney has good films and characters that all the kids like so they love the visit which is the main thing.
It’s great for High School Musical stuff at the moment!!!

I expected to be ‘blown away’ with the opening of the new Disney store, but aside from the wraparound video screen it’s pretty much the same as the previous St Anne’s Square store.
Still, it’s a very well designed store (it’s a fight to leave the store empty handed) which slightly updates it’s previous incarnation, although size wise it’s business as usual. The Disney corporation are of course masters of business (the way they pause re-​releases or take titles off the shelves for a couple of years whilst kids and adults go cold turkey over lack of Snow White on DVD) and this store sells itself well. Admittedly there are one or two racks of paraphernalia I’ve either never heard or couldn’t care less about (and the same applies to my kids also) but then there are items in there I want for my children but they themselves are none too fussed about. With their Pixar amalgamation came yet more toys and goodies for the kids to covet: Cars and Toy Story seemingly big sellers. Overall a good store and welcome addition to the new Arndale which seems to have got it just right. Of course if you get bored you can always nip next door to the Apple store — an adults toy store if there ever was one.

Still as magical as ever. The new revamped Disney is more up to date than the old St Ann’s location. Well situated in the new wing of the Arndale Centre. Still has the Disney favourites but they’re a bit obscured by the High School Musical faff. Prices are good and the quality’s the same. The store’s bright and welcoming as are the staff.

The new and Improved Disney store is as great as its predecessor! If you love anything disney here is where you will find it! From soft toys to pens and pencils and dressing up outfits for kids to cups and glasses you will find just about anything in here with your favourite disney character on! I love the little trinkets they sell such as key rings and pens! Prices are reasonable for the popularity of the merchandise!