Fantasia Gift Shop Opens at Disney’s Contemporary Resort with Ceremony

February 26, 2008 Denise Bay Lake Tower Construction, Fantasia Gift Shop, Fantasia Gift Shop Opening Contemporary, T-Rex Construction, Walt Disney World

Hi everyone!

I have photos from the Fantasia gift shop opening ceremony at Disney’s Contemporary Resort. The store recently soft opened on the fourth floor of the resort.

Guests and cast started congregating about 20 minutes prior to the event:

Cast Members had a photo taken near the shop.

There was quite a nice crowd for the store opening:

I was originally told that this would be a non-ceremony, but it turned out to be 20 minutes!

Thea Sargent, general manager of the Disney’s Contemporary Resort:

Rosemary Rose, Disney’s Vice President for food, beverage and merchandising:

Rosemary actually discussed specifics of the shop, including that each ear weighs 1100 pounds! Top selling merchandise includes the monorail sets, castle playsets and pins. There are also a lot of recyclables used in creating the shop (like the yellow glass). I had been told by a cast member earlier that the ears were 28 feet in diameter.

Kerri MacPherson, WDW ambassador. I spoke with her for a minute or so after the ceremony, she’s friendly and approachable.

This was actually a funny moment. After Dennis asked the audience for their favorite scene in Fantasia, he told everyone that Sorcerer Mickey was on his way out for the ribbon cutting – but it turned out not to be true just at that moment. There was a long silence and he said “I can’t think of anything else to say”! Eventually, Sorcerer Mickey did make it out.

Chosen to help cut the ribbon was Earliene Anderson. Earliene has been working at the Contemporary since it opened! She was very happy to be chosen, and quite a nice lady.