So
they’ve gone and decided to close the Castle Heraldry Shoppe,
reportedly to extend the queue area for Peter Pan’s Flight. While I
am sympathetic to this purpose—the spillover for Fantasyland’s
most popular dark ride really was getting out of hand—it’s still
disappointing to lose yet another unique and classy feature of the
park. It’s nowhere near the travesty committed by walling off the
Court of Angels to the general public, but dangit, I like the
Heraldry Shoppe, and not just because I have an interest in heraldry
itself. It's one of the few places in Fantasyland to have something
going for it with more substance than just animated characters
presented without comment.
And
the thing is...we didn't have
to lose it, per se. Shops come and go all the time—the
Heraldry Shoppe itself only goes back to 2004—and sometimes they
simply move. There’s no particular reason some other
location couldn’t take up the mantle of Disneyland’s purveyor of
fine coats of arms and bladed weapons. This is definitely true of
Fantasyland, whose retail spaces tend to be underused or redundant to
begin with.
So here are my picks, in descending order of preference, for where
the Heraldry Shoppe should be moved. Even though it won't be.
The
Castle: West Nook
Ideally,
of course, the Heraldry Shoppe would remain within the bounds of the
Sleeping Beauty Castle structure, and the space on the western side
of the main archway gets my nod. This spot, currently known as the
Enchanted Chamber, has been without a solid identity for some time.
Mostly, it seems to serve as overflow for merchandise relating to
whatever hip thing they're promoting at any given time. During the
50th
Anniversary celebration it specialized in souvenirs of that occasion,
then it spent some time focusing on Tinker Bell, for the past several
years it has housed Princess toys, and just lately it has carried a
stock of Christmas ornaments and souvenirs. This makes it, in my
estimation, wholly redundant, since a) Disneyland as a whole has no
shortage of Christmas retail space, in season or out, and b)
Fantasyland has not one but two
other Princess-themed retail locations, one of which (Bibbidi Bobbidi
Boutique) is just a few yards away from this one, and the other of
which (Fairy Tale Treasures, in Fantasy Faire) shares much of the
same inventory. Wouldn't it be lovely if it became the new Heraldry
Shoppe? It even has some heraldic displays painted right on the
doors!
Fantasyland
Courtyard: Northwest Corner Lot
I
am referring here to the point at which the western building complex
wraps around toward Frontierland: the spot between Pinocchio's Daring
Journey and the Village Haus. It was first built as a Geppetto-themed
retail space, though it often wasn't open. They experimented with a
few different lines of merchandise until 2010, when it was retooled
as a meet-and-greet spot, first for Tangled,
then for Frozen
under the name Royal Reception. But then Fantasy Faire opened as the
place to chill with Princesses, the Frozen
stuff moved across the Esplanade, and Royal Reception went unused for
a while. At the moment, it seems to be used for Bibbidi Bobbidi
Boutique costume overflow. It could be a more unique shop again.
Interestingly enough, one of the identities it tried on before
becoming a meet-and-greet was Names Unraveled, a place where you
could look up the meaning and history of your surname, and maybe buy
a nice printout of the info, maybe mounted in a pretty frame—a
spiritual predecessor of sorts to the Heraldry Shoppe.
That’s about it as far as our options for moving the Heraldry
Shoppe in the form we have known it; its peculiar merchandise pretty
much demands a dedicated indoor space. But if we are willing to
transform it a bit, more potential locations open up.
Fairytale
Arts
Speaking of Names Unraveled, I seem to recall it being one of the
options at these booths, either before or after its stint in the
Courtyard corner location. In either case, I think it was taken off
the menu when they came up with the idea of having your name
hand-painted in Disney-flavored illuminated letters instead. But I
must say, illuminated letters and coats of arms seem like natural
neighbors to me. An outdoor location is no place to display luxurious
embroidery or real weapons—or, for that matter, to set up
high-resolution printers—but a variation on the Heraldry Shoppe's
wares could work. I am envisioning a scenario where, rather than
looking up your “real” coat of arms (which Americans don’t
actually have anyway), you design your own, choosing from among
several color and image options, and have it painted on a piece of
cardstock. Then they could just write your name underneath, in nice
medieval calligraphy, with “Sir” or “Lady” tacked on. Framing
optional.
I think people would go for that.
“It's
a Small World” Toy Shop
I admit I'm reaching pretty far with this one. Toy shops focus on
children by default, and the market for this one skews younger than
most. The Heraldry Shoppe, on the other hand, serves almost
exclusively adult clientele. To make matters worse, about the only
aspect of the Heraldry Shoppe that the “It's a Small World” Toy
Shop could support is a computer terminal for looking up coats of
arms and maybe—maybe—a printer for creating saleable
reproductions. The only reason I include it as a possibility at all
is that it has carried, from time to time, toy swords and
shields made of foam rubber, which might be considered analogous to
the real ones featured in the Heraldry Shoppe.
Fantasyland
Theatre
Not
the theatre itself, that is, but part of the space it currently
occupies. Rumors sometimes bounce around about the theatre being
closed and its footprint used for something else. I don't want to see
it happen—I think it's important for the park to have a dedicated
space for elaborate live performances—but in the event it did, a
lot of room would open up. Perhaps some of it could be used for a new
Heraldry Shoppe.
All
this is so much wishful thinking, of course. By all accounts, the
Castle Heraldry Shoppe is leaving Disneyland, never to return.*
However, Armchair Imagineering isn't just for what Disney should
do
or might
do.
It can sometimes be about roads not taken, opportunities missed. The
actual Imagineers save all their ideas, even ones that never go
anywhere, because they never know what might be useful in light of
future developments. Can we Armchair Imagineers do any less?
Farewell,
Heraldry Shoppe. Your elegance and sense of history will be missed.
*
Fortunately, its website
will remain operational.
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