Disney's Character Warehouse Stores open?

[LovingPooh]

Anymore updates on the Character Warehouse? Our local Disney Outlet opened Tuesday.

 

[Chrissy-Mickey]

I went to the Orlando Vineland Premium Outlets last Thursday. The Character Warehouse there was still closed

 

[msfredna]

I went to the Orlando Vineland Premium Outlets last Thursday. The Character Warehouse there was still closed

My daughter checked yesterday, July 3rd- still closed

 

[msfredna]

Any news?

 

[Bella the Ball 360]

I try and think why they have not opened and while I think this is a poor reason perhaps they want people to purchase in the parks and not in the outlet. I know that is a weak reason but I just cannot think of another. I cannot understand why the local stores took so long to open too. If anyone has a viable reason I would love to hear it. It makes not sense to me. It is a drop in the bucket financially but still some income is better than none and what about all the back up of mdse? New mdse is always in the works a few months in advance.

 

[LovingPooh]

So I am assuming they are still closed....

 

[iheartglaciers]

I saw a You Tube video from yesterday that looked into both Orlando locations and they didn’t have plexiglass up at the cash registers. That likely means they’re not opening soon.

 

[LovingPooh]

There are hours listed for both Character Warehouses online now instead of saying temporarily closed. Anyone have any new news?

 

[Cltfamily2010]

wondering as well...

 

[Beth313]

When I looked in the windows a couple of weeks ago it was a pretty cool time capsule from March . They had Christmas stuff in there, I wouldn’t mind getting my hands on some of it when they open.

 

[ekidwell0001]

Hubby and I stopped by on our trip Monday 7/20 to the one on Vineland (since it has hours now and doesn’t say temporarily closed) but they were NOT open bummer because we really enjoy visiting for souvenirs for little ones back home. I hope they reopen soon! We leave Monday morning to return home, but my luck is that it won’t happen before then!

 

[FloridaFun]

They were still closed as of yesterday. No sign of reopening.

 

[Bella the Ball 360]

Any insight as to why they are not open? I was wondering if they took the cm's and used them to staff the parks. I know it is probably far fetched but I just do not understand why the retail was closed so long and now the outlets still are not open. Perhaps it has to do with the fact that the retail stores make you pay for reusable bags and now we are not supposed to reuse bags (it irks me that they make you pay for bags anyway). I know that sounds dumb but it makes not sense to me.

 

[iheartglaciers]

Any insight as to why they are not open? I was wondering if they took the cm's and used them to staff the parks.

I heard that the Character Warehouse CMs have been temporarily reassigned to other roles at Disney World, but I don’t think that’s why they’re still closed.

I thought maybe it’s because of crowd control. They already had an issue with people lining up pre-COVID, and with limited capacity it could become a logistical nightmare. Or maybe with limited capacity they don’t feel like it’s worth it to open.

But I imagine with the parks unexpectedly closed for a few months, they must have an excess of merchandise they need to get rid of!

 

[Bella the Ball 360]

I heard that the Character Warehouse CMs have been temporarily reassigned to other roles at Disney World, but I don’t think that’s why they’re still closed.

I thought maybe it’s because of crowd control. They already had an issue with people lining up pre-COVID, and with limited capacity it could become a logistical nightmare. Or maybe with limited capacity they don’t feel like it’s worth it to open.

But I imagine with the parks unexpectedly closed for a few months, they must have an excess of merchandise they need to get rid of!

I understand that the warehouse stores would be closed due to crowds but could not figure out why the local retail stores stayed closed till July 11 when all the stores in the mall around them were open.

 

[Aurora55]

I think they could make it like the parks and you have to have a reservation. Or they could do tickets or a lottery and you only have a certain time window to shop. It has been so depressing not having the Character Warehouse.

 

[ArielRae]

They should do it like Universal at least for the time being and move all the merchandise to a large convention space in one of the hotels and let people shop there. They can prepare for the line spacing and have a large indoor shopping area that can be spread out. They can even implement a virtual cue like they did for the World of Disney at Disney Springs and have people come back at certain times If the line gets too long.

 

[Chrissy-Mickey]

They should do it like Universal at least for the time being and move all the merchandise to a large convention space in one of the hotels and let people shop there. They can prepare for the line spacing and have a large indoor shopping area that can be spread out. They can even implement a virtual cue like they did for the World of Disney at Disney Springs and have people come back at certain times If the line gets too long.

Not a bad idea.
Though I also think that the flow of merchandise has been interrupted, so there wouldn't be as much as usual.
That said, I went to World of Disney last week, and got quite a few items of their 2020 merch BOGO sale. It was like shopping at the outlets.

 

[iheartglaciers]

Liz Linen who does personal shopping at the Character Warehouses said on You Tube today that she confirmed the Character Warehouses are opening in September, in less than a month.

 

[Mit88]

The warehouse has reopened. I’d lay off for a few days, apparently the wait to get into the store is several hours long