Thinking about this topic, I suddenly likened myself to Sophia from the Golden Girls. “Picture this!” She would say before embarking on an old-world journey into the past. In this mental picture, I had aged myself around 40 years, but nonetheless, the back-in-my-day approach still seemed like the accurate opening. In a pre-COVID world, the Disney Parks in Walt Disney World would offer a beautiful, glittering, magical service where kind-hearted cast members would take your shopping bags from you in the theme park and transport them back to your resort room. I know it sounds like a fairy tale or at least a coming-of-age teen flick where the makeover scene includes lots of people around you to do all the hard work. For me, this service was as close to that scene as I would ever get. Allow me to explain.
Do you know that feeling when you are on your way to your next thrill ride, and a unique piece of merch captures your attention? You take a moment, look at it, and commit to returning later to bring it home with you. The problem is, you don’t come back. Maybe your day ends at the other end of the park, or your exhaustion wipes the thought from your mind until halfway through your flight home when you’re filled with regret (been there!). Either way, the moment passes, and you leave empty-handed.
One of two things could save you from this self-inflicted debacle. You could either choose to have your purchase held at the front of the park (after payment) so you can collect it on your way out or, if staying in a Disney resort, it could be taken to your hotel and delivered to your room. See? Fairy tale, right? Just like that, in a stunt of pure pixie dust, you could shop and then let your items be someone else’s problem until they appeared in your resort room like magic later in the afternoon or evening. Not only did it solve my problem, but it also eliminated second-guessing, meaning that Disney had me at hello with every delightful item I saw. Come to think of it, my husband is likely glad this service is gone.
After the shakeup from the early hours of this decade, these shopping options disappeared and have yet to return to the parks, and now, the only solution is to rent a locker. Yawn. That means I have to pay more, go to the locker, put it in, go back, get it out… come on. I’m way too lazy for that once 28,000 steps into my Disney day. Sure, is it an option for that one non-negotiable item you can’t get any other way? Perhaps, but is it a solution to the problem? No. I grew accustomed to this service, loving it, nurturing it, appreciating the cast members who kept my shopping magic alive, and then, poof! Gone, in a puff of Maleficent-energy smoke.
My question to you is, should this service be revived? I can appreciate that times have changed, and maybe entry into every guest’s resort room is no longer the desired outcome; however, what if they were delivered to the resort and collected from the front desk? That’s got to be a thing, right?
Let me know what you think. Should Disney bring back the shopping delivery to the resort room service?
