From: Rich_Koster@agwbbs.new-orleans.LA.US (Rich Koster)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.disney
Subject: Character Warehouse - Belz
Distribution: world
Date: 14 Oct 92 05:45:36 CST
Organization: The Amiga GateWay BBS * New Orleans, La.

(From my wife Carol:)
 
"The Unofficial Guide to WDW" mentions the Character Warehouse at Belz
Factory Outlet Mall #2 so we decided to take a look.
 
Signs on the interstate highway direct you to the mall.  It's a huge
shopping complex, but Mall 2 is marked and easily seen from the
International Drive if you go all the way down to the dead-end.  It's
located in a mall complex on the left at the dead-end of International
Drive.  When you enter the mall at its far right entrance you have only
to walk up the corridor a short way, and there the store is.
 
Some people we chatted with at the Disneyana Convention said they've
purchased some clothing there that others envied the look of, and
said that if you ask the store clerks if the store is owned by Disney
they'll verbally deny it, but the cash register receipts and the
Disney cast member name tags worn by the employees make it a Disney
retailer.  In fact, when we got home, we asked the manager of our
local Disney Store about it, and he replied that Disney is planning
to locate a second such store in a big factory outlet mall in Tennessee.
We didn't see anything we wanted to buy there, but we should have asked
if the Magic Kingdom Club 10% discount extended to items sold in this
store too.  Oh well.  We had sent our niece and nephew some Disney
Dollars prior to their trip to Orlando in late May, and I think they were
able to spend their Disney Dollars in the store for things they wanted.
 
The store, as are most factory outlet type stores, is austere.
Nothing fancy or Disney-characterish on the walls.  The labels are the
same as at WDW stores, but they are marked down a lot for one reason
or another.  One set of airbrushed Mickey T-shirts looked, to us, to
be a bit too digital looking, we spotted some minor flaws in other
articles.  Some of the merchandise is what didn't sell in the parks.
One cute item was a child's T-shirt reading "Mickey Mouse 32830" as
per the popular Fox Network TV show.  They had T-shirts, shorts,
jeans, jackets, socks, I think they had a lot of toddlers' sneakers.
They had some Christmas ornaments and decorations in the back corner.
They had some plush toys, mostly of Mickey.  I can't remember
everything offered for sale, but it was mainly clothing items for all
ages, adults too.  They don't occupy a large square footage, more like
a medium, average store size.
 
Unless it's terribly important to you to buy your Disney T-shirts at
a discount, or unless you're very curious to see this store, I'd say
don't make a special trip.  What's for sale in the parks is better
looking, although more expensive, and going to this store takes some
time out of your day or evening (I think it stays open until around
8 or 9 at night).  We spent ten or 15 minutes inside looking at all
that was there, and then we were ready to go.  I had been hoping they
had a certain clock I was looking for and found hard to find, and they
didn't.  Not having kids, we really couldn't take advantage of the
potential cost savings for those type items.  But for some of you this
store may be something worthwhile to check out.
 
Sales tax in Orlando right now is 6%, BTW.
 
--Carol Koster, Rich's Koster's wife

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