A Friday Visit with Jim Korkis: The Days of Christmas Shop

By Dave Shute

Welcome back to Fridays with Jim Korkis! Jim, the dean of Disney historians, writes about Walt Disney World history every Friday on yourfirstvisit.net.

THE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS AT DISNEY SPRINGS

By Jim Korkis

Lake Buena Vista Village opened on March 22, 1975. This shopping venue evolved into Walt Disney World Village starting in 1977.  In 1989, it underwent another name change and became the Disney Village Marketplace.

The name was changed yet again in 1996 to Downtown Disney Marketplace before being extensively remodeled into Disney Springs in 2015.

The original shopping venue had a store called Anniversary Room that sold china, silver and giftware. It became the Christmas Chalet roughly around 1986, and that store moved over the years to three other locations before finally settling where previously the Team Mickey Athletic Club was operating and being renamed the Days of Christmas in 1996.

The festive store celebrates Christmas, in particular a Disney themed Christmas, 365 days a year, with a variety of merchandise from a Santa hat with Mickey Mouse ears to ornaments, stockings, lights, cards, plush dolls, figurines, collectible plates, tree skirts and more. Many items can be personalized for a small fee and the staff can personalize more than 60,000 individual items in a year.

(c) Disney

At 6,000 square feet Days of Christmas is the largest Christmas shop on Disney property. Background music of holiday tunes fills the air along with the scents of cinnamon and winter herbs. While the store is especially busy during the holiday season, it still is very alive during the rest of the year with guests often purchasing items to save for Christmas decorating. In addition there are Hanukkah, Nightmare Before Christmas and Frozen items for sale as well.

The other two Walt Disney World Christmas stores are Ye Olde Christmas Shoppe in Liberty Square (opened February 1996) at Magic Kingdom and It’s A Wonderful Shop (opened in June 1992), with a name referencing the favorite Christmas film It’s a Wonderful Life, at Disney’s Hollywood Studios near the Muppet Stage 1 store.

The name of the Disney Springs shop comes from the famous song The Twelve Days of Christmas. Throughout the location there are twelve scrolls each with one verse and with matching scenes. Some guests love going through and finding them all.

Here are the verses of the Disney adaptation of the classic poem:

• On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, Mickey in a yule tree.
• On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me, Two Tweedledees.
• On the third day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, Three Little Pigs.
• On the fourth day of Christmas my true love gave to me, Four chiming bells.
• On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, Five Goofy Things.
• On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, Six Ducks a-playing.
• On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, Seven Dwarfs a-mining.
• On the eighth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, Eight Toys a-spinning.
• On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, Nine Genies flying.
• On the tenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, Ten Minnies a-dancing.
• On the eleventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, Eleven puppies panting.
• On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me Twelve Fairies a-flitting.

For years, Days of Christmas was home to a very Hidden Mickey, because it was covered up by a wreath that has since been removed, so people were unable to find it. You might want to look at an area with dark grainy faux wood or ask a cast member working there to give you a hint.

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Thanks, Jim! and come back next Friday for more from Jim Korkis!

In the meantime, check out his books, including his new Halloween-appropriate Vault of Walt Volume 9: Halloween Edition, and his other new book, Hidden Treasures of the Disney Cruise Line.

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