Disneyland is a place of magic, wonder, and just about every souvenir you can imagine.
Disney often surprises us with new iterations of our favorites — we’re talking reversible Minnie ears, light-up ears, INFLATABLE ears — but we are still surprised that Disneyland sold these items in their parks.
Intimates and Underpinnings
When Disneyland first opened, Main Street, U.S.A. was home to a shop selling bras and undergarments. This shop was in keeping with the home-town U.S.A. feel and even featured a robot on a rotating platform to guide guests through different fashions.
The Intimate Apparel Shop was sponsored by Hollywood-Maxwell so their robotic, advice-giving mascot “The Wonderful Wizard of Bras,” was a natural point of intrigue among guests.
The store was open for less than a year, but was thoughtfully designed with a porch for husbands to wait for their wives as they shopped. You can still recognize where this shop once stood today as its porch sets it apart from the rest of Main Street!
Imitation Flowers
Disneyland also “did the impossible” by crafting and selling full flower bouquets that would never die! There used to be a Main Street Flower Market where guests could purchase wilt-free flowers to carry around or take home with them.
These babies stuck around for decades but disappeared from Disneyland in the nineties. If you’re still looking for something to keep your hands full while you walk around the parks, might we suggest a Mickey balloon or a sipper?!
Antiques
If you don’t mind carrying around flowers, a balloon, or a popcorn bucket, maybe you wouldn’t mind carrying a set of antique candlesticks? Or a chandelier, perhaps?
Walt and his wife, Lillian, loved perusing shops and collecting, so Walt brought his fascination with antiques right into Disneyland.
He created the One of a Kind shop in New Orleans Square for guests to buy antique dolls, door knockers, Italian porcelain, and MORE. As you can imagine, guests had a bit of trouble transporting their goods home and this shop was eventually swapped out for the [less fragile] Le Gourmet store.
Pipes and Tobacco
This may come as a surprise considering Disney’s recent smoking ban, but back in the early days of Disneyland, there was a whole store devoted to pipes, tobacco, and cigarettes! You could pick up hand-carved pipes or a tin of the signature tobacco blend! The Tobacco Shop on Main Street even handed out packs of matches so you could light up right after your purchase!
You can still see the shop’s trademark Native American statue out front, even though this store was most recently transformed into 20th Century Music Company. You may not be able to grab a pack of cigs from over the counter anymore, but you can still get some pretty sweet pins, accessories, and sound tracks!
Vitamins
Okay so maybe you couldn’t buy them, but that’s because they were FREE! Upjohn Pharmacy on Disneyland’s Main Street may not have sold real drugs, but it was decorated to look like an 1890s apothecary — featuring live leeches!
Guests could pick up a free little glass bottle of vitamins as a keepsake from their park visit.
This shop was eventually turned into the New Century Clock Shop to sell timepieces, and currently stands as the The Fortuosity Shop, selling watches and accessories. We wish we could still get a lil souvenir bottle of vitamins, but we’ll have to pass on the leeches!
Disneyland, you continue to surprise us. While we may not expect to see cigarettes, bras, and leeches return to the parks, we will keep you posted on the latest, greatest, and weirdest things you can pick up in Disneyland!
Click here to check out the Disney World souvenirs we regret buying!
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What are some of your favorite items from Disneyland’s past? Let us know in the comments!
The Tobacco Shop also carried Cuban Cigars before the embargo occurred in the 60’s.