Disney Springs has more than 150 shops and restaurants, live music, a rooftop bar, and some of the best dining at Walt Disney World.
It does not have anywhere to sit quietly without buying something.
Disney fans have landed on the fix.
The Post
“Disney Springs needs a bookstore… there I said it,” wrote Threads user stephintothemagic.
The replies did not argue. They started assigning spaces and themes.
“I honestly would never leave and I think that’s why they haven’t put one in,” wrote user houseofhall92.
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It Has Happened Before. Twice.
This is the part that matters.
“It used to have one back when it was the Disney village,” wrote user ukdisneymagic. “Readin’ and Writin’. I used to pretty much live in there as a teenager… as a bookish teen from the UK it was amazing coming to the US to stock up on Judy Blume and LM Montgomery books that weren’t available over here.”
Then came the second.
“The Virgin Megastore (where Splitsville is at now) was awesome,” wrote user analogparks. “The second floor was a giant bookstore.”
Virgin Megastore was Richard Branson’s entertainment retail chain, founded in 1976 and expanded worldwide through the 1990s before its North American locations closed. The Disney Springs store had a full bookstore upstairs. That building is a bowling alley now.
A former employee confirmed the demand.
“As someone who worked at Virgin, in the books, it was popular enough 15 years ago,” wrote user magduhlin.
And a third mention surfaced.
“There used to be one. it was across from the Christmas store,” wrote user andrea.ever.after. “The Art of Disney would get in all the Disney historian books, rare books to find.”
So the question is not whether it works there. It did, and Disney took it out.
Disney Owns the Books Already
No retail partner required.
Disney runs Disney Publishing Worldwide and Hyperion, publishes Marvel and Star Wars titles, produces National Geographic books, and releases Disney Editions art and history volumes that collectors chase.
“Disney has their own publishing imprint, I’ve been saying for years that they should have a bookstore somewhere,” wrote user ophelia_helianthus.
“Disney must have hundreds of thousands of publications from their IP’s alone,” wrote user jjmfilm, who floated daily character readings for kids.
Everyone Said Belle
Independently, repeatedly.
“I love the idea and the idea of Beast’s/Belle’s library as the theme,” wrote user megansmagicaladventures.
“They need a gigantic library like in beauty and the beast,” wrote user walkintheparktravel.
Makes sense. That library scene is already an image of a quiet room somebody gets to disappear into.
One commenter called the execution.
“They can call it Belle’s, put in a coffee shop & charge $21 for a coffee,” wrote user lindsayinchicago.
There Is Space Right Now
“Now that Wolfgang Pucks is shuttering, we should petition Disney with this idea,” wrote user megansmagicaladventures.
Wolfgang Puck Bar and Grill served its last meal earlier this month. That is a real vacancy in a prime spot.
“Super dry is always empty and would make an amazing bookstore,” wrote user magicaldoot.
The Fair Objections
Two replies pushed back, and both land.
“No because people going in there just for the aesthetic and to make content would ruin it for those of us that enjoy a quiet experience and reading,” wrote user nadjag__.
“Oh, yes because people love fighting their way through throngs of humans and screaming children in a bookstore,” wrote user kpton.
Both true. A themed Belle’s library would be one of the most photographed rooms on property inside a week, and nothing at Disney Springs is peaceful in late December.
There is a bigger frustration underneath it all.
“They’ve removed SO much whimsy from Disney Springs to make it more of a bougie outdoor mall you could find in a lot of places,” wrote user djrusso_author.
Why It Works Anyway
A bookstore is one of the few stores where browsing is the product. Somebody standing around for forty minutes buying nothing is using it correctly.
Nothing else at Disney Springs runs on that logic. Every other space wants the transaction and the table back.
Add seating, a few corners, and the cafe people kept requesting, and the district finally gets somewhere to stop.
Disney has announced nothing like this, and there is no sign it is being considered.
The space is open, the books exist, the theme is obvious, and it worked twice.
Source: Threads discussion beginning with a post by user stephintothemagic.
