Yesterday was opening day for the new Disney Store and Soda Fountain in Hollywood, right next to the El Capitan where the Disney Store was.

I went last night after work. It's nice but very small - but then, it's a combined soda fountain and retail outlet crammed into what used to be just a Disney Store. There are about a dozen or so tables and counterspace - for counterspace, you still need to check in with the hostess. You give them your name and if there's a wait, you can browse the retail section. They've got shakes, floats, a couple of sundaes (including one themed to Herbie right now that includes a Herbie bowl), and regular drinks. They have three food items - peanut butter and jelly sandwich, hot dog and grilled cheese.

I had the hot dog, which came with a bag of chips. It was good, but the food was just an excuse to have ice cream afterward. I had a "make your own sundae" - choose two scoops of ice cream (they have about 6 flavors of ice cream), add your pick of one sauce and one topping, and it comes with whipped cream and a cherry. It was pretty good, though it came in what I generally think of as a shake glass, not a sundae container, so you pretty much had to eat your way down. But it was still good.

The counter seats are just round padded stools, no back support, so I wasn't particularly thrilled with that. (I was solo and so decided to just sit at the counter rather than take up even a 2-person table.) The CMs there don't have a lot of room to work in, so I feel for them. They were all pretty friendly and helpful, if somewhat frazzled. They were apparently quite busy all day. My server was nice but mentioned to various people that he'd been at work since 7:30am (at this point, it was about 8pm). I get that he's human and was tired, but not quite Disney to be sharing the information with everyone, imo. In the time I was there, there were a few mistakes that happened, but everyone seemed to be good-natured about it, understanding that it was opening day.

Oh, forgot to mention - the napkins are the nice big ones, with the really pretty Mickey and Minnie at the soda fountain logo. Really nice. I kept one as a souvenir.

The retail section has various shirts and things themed to the location, as well as DVDs, general plush and toys and some pins. I think it's a nice location to visit when you're going to the El Capitan, but I don't think I'll be making any more special visits there unless I'm going with someone else.

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