One of many Disney Character Warehouse clearance facilities, which is an outlet retailer the place Walt Disney World and DCL ship unsold merchandise to unload it at deep reductions, goes out of enterprise quickly. Listed below are particulars in regards to the everlasting closure of the Dawn, Florida retailer situated on the Sawgrass Mills Outlet Mall.
As fundamental background, there are three Disney Character Warehouse outlets in Florida. Two of those are a brief Uber or Lyft trip from Walt Disney World. One is on Worldwide Drive (4951 Worldwide Drive Suite 95, Orlando, FL 32819) and the opposite is on Vineland (8200 Vineland Avenue Suite 1252, Orlando, FL 32821). The Vineland location is nearer to Walt Disney World, whereas the I-Drive location is nearer to Common Orlando Resort.
The third and last Florida Disney Character Warehouse is in Dawn, Florida (12801 W. Dawn Blvd., Dawn, FL 33323) on the Sawgrass Mills Outlet Mall. This one is in South Florida, close to Miami and Fort Lauderdale. You’ll have to take the Brightline from Orlando Worldwide Airport to entry it from Central Florida (or drive, clearly). It’s even nearer to the Port Everglades Disney Cruise Line terminal.
We had been proper there for a current cruise aboard the Disney Future (and even had a rental automotive!), however truthfully, I completely forgot on the time that Disney Character Warehouse had a location in Dawn. Now I’m regretting that, as stories have emerged that the Sawgrass Mills location is completely closing. I’ve by no means been, and have all the time been inquisitive about the way it differs from the 2 Central Florida shops.
Anyway, common prospects and Solid Members are each sharing stories that the Disney Character Warehouse in Dawn will completely shut in two months. Right here’s the most recent…
In response to Solid Member chatter, Disney has elected to not renew their lease with Simon on the Sawgrass Mills Outlet Mall. Per these Solid Members, the Disney Character Warehouse in Dawn, Florida will shut on April 15, 2026.
There’s a whole lot of hypothesis in regards to the causes for this on-line, however we’ll begin with the most certainly clarification, in our view.
Cash. That is apparent, proper? However we’re seeing a whole lot of hypothesis in regards to the closure that, oddly, focuses on different issues. Typically even pointing to issues which are mainly the alternative of cash to clarify the closure.
The underside line, although, is that industrial leases are costly and lots of firms have made the enterprise choice to shut brick & mortar places. Even comparatively high-performing ones. It may very well be a matter of Simon rising lease, Disney not desirous to be locked into that location for an additional X years, realizing that they don’t want shops outdoors of Central Florida, and even not wanting bodily storefronts in any respect sooner or later.
Right here, there’s the distinctive wrinkle that Saks World Enterprises, the mum or dad firm of Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus, introduced that it’ll now shut its a lot of its outlet shops amid its Chapter 11 chapter. Saks say they made the “strategic choice” to shut the vast majority of Saks OFF 5TH retail places and all remaining Neiman Marcus Final Name shops.
One such Neiman Marcus Final Name is without doubt one of the anchor tenants proper by Disney Character Warehouse in Sawgrass Mills. So instantly, that’s a significant lack of foot site visitors to the shop, which is already tucked away on a far finish of the outlet.
Different alleged causes for the Disney Character Warehouse closure embody an inflow of resellers, private customers, dwell streamers, and the space from Walt Disney World.
That is the place the supposed “explanations” for the closure lose me. Don’t get me mistaken, I hate eBay piracy simply as a lot as anybody. However this sounds very very like projection. Folks really want to get higher about conflating “this factor I don’t like sucks” with “this factor I don’t like is objectively dangerous for enterprise.” They don’t seem to be the identical assertion.
In the event you’ve by no means skilled the eBay pirates pillaging and plundering at Disney Character Warehouse, how disagreeable it’s can’t be overstated. I’d quite watch again to again showings of Magnificence and the Beast: Sing-Alongside than go to the outlet on the mornings (it’s all the time the mornings) when these buccaneers are battling for booty. These eBay pirates are impolite, aggressive, act entitled, and seemingly like to embrace their function as villains. It’s straightforward to see why so many followers hate them. I hate them!
Nevertheless, as we’ve mentioned beforehand, Disney tolerates eBay pirates exactly as a result of they’re good for enterprise. Disney’s finish sport with Character Warehouse is unloading unsold merchandise. They don’t care how. Liquidating 1000’s of {dollars} value of junk to an eBay pirate in a single transaction is extra environment friendly than somebody like me perusing the aisles for half-hour earlier than shopping for $40 value of heirlooms.
It’s an identical story within the parks with “collectible” popcorn buckets or no matter. The corporate might tighten up insurance policies in the event that they considered resellers as a reliable drawback. For essentially the most half, they don’t…so that they haven’t.
There have been just a few exceptions to this, reminiscent of when provide chain shortages had been inflicting points with empty cabinets. Or when there was a crackdown on resellers utilizing their AP low cost to purchase product in bulk.
Thus far, the Disney Character Warehouse retail shops simply instituted a stricter new return coverage as to discourage resellers.
As of February 2026, all gross sales at Disney Character Warehouse and Solid Connection are last, which means nothing will be returned for refunds or exchanged. All gross sales are last and as-is, with no exceptions.
This new return coverage really is the direct results of resellers, who would exploit the earlier coverage by buying stuff speculatively, relisting it on eBay, after which returning unsold stock to the outlet. This was savvy of the swashbucklers, because it decreased their threat. It additionally created further work for Disney in processing the returns, managing stock, and so on.
And that is why the coverage modified; as a result of eBayers stopped being an environment friendly means for liquidating merchandise. Not as a result of Disney instantly hates pirates and is cracking down on them. The connection remains to be very a lot a symbiotic one, Disney simply desires to dictate the phrases so it stays that means.
Actually, I’m shocked the Disney Character Warehouse clearance facilities nonetheless exist in any respect. It looks as if the writing is on the wall, and I wouldn’t be shocked if the 2 Walt Disney World space places shut every time their leases finish.
For starters, there’s the larger image about brick and mortar procuring. Though malls are seeing a renaissance, this isn’t throughout the board. Shops have struggled to get well within the final couple of years, and I’d assume this has worsened lately resulting from a drop in worldwide journey.
On the identical time, inbound customer numbers for Orlando are booming, so I’m undecided whether or not this is applicable to these two outlet malls. It doesn’t actually matter both means, although, as Disney doesn’t want Character Warehouse even when gross sales are sturdy.
It is because there’s the fact that Disney might reduce out the intermediary, scale back overhead, and have its personal on-line outlet. As a licensed dealhound, I can’t inform you what number of instances I’ve purchased one thing on eBay that’s through an organization’s official outlet or a sanctioned third-party liquidator. On deal boards, this dynamic is well-documented, and customers know exactly which (seemingly random) shops are the legit.
Even when Disney Character Warehouse remains to be getting loads of foot site visitors (and primarily based on my experiences, it very a lot is), on-line shops are cheaper and extra environment friendly. There’s no lease for a storefront, staffing and different bills are decrease, and the worldwide customer-base is exponentially bigger than the Central Florida one. That is exactly why eBay pirates are capable of obtain their markup–as a result of they’re reaching a wider viewers, promoting for precise free market charges.
I’d additionally add that the optics of eBay pirates are dangerous for Disney. Even when they’re good for enterprise, I’ve been considerably shocked that Disney hasn’t cracked down extra on pirates. Photographs of pirates inevitably make waves on social media every time a brand new collectible is launched, and there’s all the time outrage amongst followers. I suppose Disney sees that almost all followers blame the pirates as an alternative of the corporate for condoning it, so it’s allowed to persist. However the backside line is that Disney might put an finish to eBay piracy in a single day.
On a optimistic observe, Disney Character Warehouse doesn’t have the identical difficulty as different “manufacturing facility shops” that truly promote lower-quality objects which are made particularly for the shops. This has turn into a standard apply within the final decade or so, and is another excuse we dislike the outlet mall expertise.
As extra outlet shops have been constructed, it’s merely not potential for all of them to hold overstock or past-season objects. As an alternative, they’ve adopted the lower-quality manufacturing facility retailer technique to supply illusory reductions. In actuality, you’re paying much less, however you’re additionally getting much less. We share this right here as a result of many individuals could also be unfamiliar with this paradigm shift at shops, and as a weblog closely targeted on saving cash and getting offers, we predict it’s pertinent.
That is to say that one thing you purchase from the Banana Republic Manufacturing facility Retailer, for instance, was by no means offered in a retail Banana Republic, and is extra like Previous Navy-quality. Most shops, from quick trend to luxurious designers, are all enjoying this identical sport. In the event you’re shopping for for the standing image or having a label emblazoned on one thing, shops are positive (I suppose?), however in case you’re shopping for for high quality, they’re usually terrible.
Finally, that’s why we haven’t been to the Disney Character Warehouse outlet shortly. We used to go no less than month-to-month, and weekly for some time again once we first lived in Florida. I even wrote month-to-month outlet stories! Nevertheless it simply stopped being enjoyable due to the proliferation of eBay pirates and livestreamers. Choice grew to become extra hit and miss, and the shop itself was extra of a problem.
Disney Character Warehouse is simply disagreeable and never value it a lot of the time. I’d fortunately pay ~20% extra through a web based outlet operated or sanctioned by Disney. (I’ve not, and won’t, assist pirates on precept.) It could be well worth the premium pricing simply to avoid wasting the time and expense of visiting the Orlando outlet malls. It could additionally give extra followers an opportunity at buying unsold stock with out the extreme markup. Feels just like the everybody wins final result, apart from the pirates, however I assume we’re all positive with that.
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Your Ideas
What do you consider the everlasting closure of Disney Character Warehouse on the Sawgrass Mills Outlet Mall? Have you ever ever gone to the one in every of these clearance facilities? What have your experiences been with eBayers, strains, digital queue wait instances, or memento choice on the shops? Discover something good, or did you suppose it was a waste of time? Any questions we may help you reply? Listening to suggestions about your experiences is each fascinating to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas beneath within the feedback!
