Mousetalgia Episode 442: Disney Store turns 30, Disneyland’s west side
Welcome to Mousetalgia’s super-sized Cast Member Corner! This week, we celebrate 30 years of the Disney Store by taking a look at the past three decades of various formats for the retail destination, and we talk to two veteran Disney Store Cast Members about their time working for Disney – the training, the merchandise, and the people and guests that have made the Disney Store a shopping experience unlike any other. Then, we continue our special edition of Mousetalgia with a conversation with previous Disneyland Cast Member Deborah Breedlove, who spent many years as a lead in West Side Attractions, encompassing New Orleans Square, Bear Country, and parts of Frontierland and Adventureland. Deborah also worked at Disney University, sunk one of Tom Sawyer’s Rafts loaded with guests, swam with Michael Jackson and swapped war stories (Star Wars, that is) with George Lucas. Deborah is also responsible for creating the award that is known today as the “blue badge” Disney Legacy Award at the parks.
This was a cool episode. Thank you! I remember being a child in South Africa and seeing a magazine article about the Disney Store opening in London in 1990. A few months later my family was moving to America and on a layover in London I forced them to find the store! lol! I was hypnotized by that pyramid of stuffed animals! We couldn’t afford anything, but just getting to go had me high as a kite.