When the Disney Store at Florida Mall in Orlando reopens in September, it will feature a Magic Mirror that allows guests to interact with Disney Princesses. (Disney Store)
The Disney Store at Florida Mall is closing this week while it is renovated to include interactive features seen in the chain’s flagship store in New York City’s Times Square. It will reopen in September.
The Orlando store will include a Pixie Dust Trail, Princess castle, Cars Ridemakerz and Disney Store Theatre, a Disney Store publicist told me.
Guests will begin their experience on the blue Pixie Dust Trail, which leads them from the front of the store through the character sections on either side. The Disney Princess area is anchored by a princess castle with a Magic Mirror. With the wave of a child’s wand, a princess appears in the mirror, allowing the child to become a part of the story. All the princesses — Ariel, Belle, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and Tiana — tell their stories through short film clips.
The boys section will be centered on a Cars Ridemakerz custom-car building experience. Cast members help kids use tools to assemble their cars and customize them with a wide selection of rims, side pipes, hoods scoops, blown engines and spoilers. This is a much smaller-scale version of the store at Walt Disney World’s Downtown Disney.
At the end of the Pixie Dust Trail, guests will find the Disney Store Theatre. Disney Store Theatre is described as “a giant video library containing Disney film trailers, film clips, music videos, classic animation and more.” Guests can choose to watch one of more than 50 clips on a 12-foot curved screen. The theater area also will be used for family activities, such as Disney character-drawing workshops, storytelling experiences and trivia events.
There are more than 300 Disney Store locations worldwide. By the end of this year, 60 of them — in 16 markets — will have the new interactive concept. The only other Florida locations with the design will be a new store in Pembroke Lakes Mall in Pembroke Pines and the Tampa store at International Plaza that opened in the fall.
During the Florida Mall store’s renovation, the only operating Disney Store in Central Florida is at Seminole Towne Center in Sanford.
