DVDizzy Forum

It seems like to me that West End has done downhill a bit. I think the biggest reason it is for me is because of the Virgin Megastore being taken out. It seems like after that was taken out, West End didn't seem to be as good as it used to. What do you think of it currently vs before?

Interesting topic.

For my tastes, I would have to agree. Virgin Megastore was one of the three main reasons I would go to the West Side. The selection of CDs and DVDs was without parallel to any other physical store I've been in (other than other Virgins and the late, great, Tower Records, which it was very comparable to). The selection of import CDs (such as from the UK) was AMAZING.

They also had a nice soundtrack selection, and, on the DVD side, had a lot of the harder-to-find but still in-print Disney Treasures, and a lot of the classic Walt-era live action Disney films that most stores don't seem to carry.

I'm not into "downloading" because I like collecting PHYSICAL CDs and with Virgin gone, there is basically no "brick and mortar" store left where you can find rare indie or import CDs on a consistent basis. So, the only option left for being able to puchase hard-to-find physical discs is online retailers like Amazon.

As far as the other two reasons I would visit West Side in it's heyday - one of course is the AMC, and thankfully that's still there.

The other is DisneyQuest, which I was able to get into free on my Premium Annual Pass. I used their free (with admission or annual pass) Internet Cafe to check my e-mail, park hours, weather, and other favorite sites, including UD. Then, about two years ago, they started blocking access to just about EVERYTHING I was trying to look up, and you could only get into the official Disney sites. Meaning, to check my mail and most of my regular sites, I had to start going to the FedEx Kinko's near the intersection of Palm Parkway and SR-535 (near Buena Vista Village) which costs 6 bucks per 30 minutes.

So, due to getting less for my money at DisneyQuest, and this additional internet expense, I downgraded my Premium Annual Pass back to a regular Annual Pass and save about 100 bucks per year, since my main reason for visiting DisneyQuest regularly (web access) was now gone. I don't get to play the games there anymore, of course, but I'm an old-schooler who mainly played the skee-ball, basketball shooting, pinball, and vintage video games from the 80's like Centipede, when in DisneyQuest, and those can all be found in the arcade next to Space Mountain. And with the AP downgrade I also lost the waterparks, but I was only going to each one about once a year, if that much, anyway.

So, yeah, I visit the West Side a LOT less than I used to. I used to go multiple times a week for the Megastore and DisneyQuest, and now it's just when I want to see a new movie at the AMC.

On the flip side, I go to the Marketplace side a LOT more than I used to. I absolutely LOVE the relatively new "Design-A-Tee" store because you can get any character in their database on an adult-sized t-shirt! (such as Dumbo, Bambi, Thumper, Flounder, Chip/Dale, Jiminy Cricket, etc.). Whereas in the parks, the only time you see these type of characters on a pre-made t-shirt, it's only available in kiddie sizes, because that's what the merchandise department sadly considers the "target market" for a lot of the cute character shirts.

I like the World Of Disney and Toy store on the Marketplace side, as well.