Outpost in Frontierland at Magic Kingdom Reopening After 5+ Year Closure
Another minor entry to file under “nature is healing” at Walt Disney World. It appears that a location in Frontierland that’s been closed for over 5 years is finally scheduled to reopen per the Magic Kingdom outpost’s official page. This covers what we know plus quick commentary.
This is hardly ‘stop the presses’ news, especially for us. And even if you’re an outpost enthusiast, it’s hard to imagine you’ll plan a trip around this. However, as we recently documented this type of thing in Walt Disney World’s COVID Closure: Changes, Cutbacks & What’s Still Missing 5 Years Later, it feels worthy of discussion.
Perhaps if fans applaud this type of thing, even when it doesn’t meaningfully matter to them, Walt Disney World will take the hint. Positive reinforcement leading to more experiences restored, including those that actually do matter to us. (Basically, I’m doing everything in my power to get breakfast back at Be Our Guest and brunch at California Grill!)
Walt Disney World is preparing to reopen the former Prairie Outpost & Supply as (drumroll) Prairie Outpost (no supplies served).
Prairie Outpost & Supply was previously a candy shop. It was used to be home to confections and other treats from Goofy’s Candy Co. such as candy apples, Mickey Mouse Rice Krispies, and pre-packaged candy. However, the storefront closed in March 2020, and has yet to reopen.
Prairie Outpost & Supply is located in between Country Bear Musical Jamboree and Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn & Cafe–here it is on the map for those who have simply passed the storefront without giving it second thought:
The new-look location will become a place to shop for headwear simply called Prairie Outpost. No opening timeframe has been shared, but Walt Disney World has indicated that the location is “Coming Soon!”
Here’s what the official Prairie Outpost page has to say about the store: Become a fashion pioneer when you shop for wide-brimmed hats, classic fedoras, customized headwear and more at this stylish shop in Frontierland.
In all likelihood, this is going to be a location that’s either operated by or primarily sells Chapel Hats, a third-party operating participant that also has a shop at Disney Springs.
The only things I know about Chapel Hats are that it’s a hat store and has a location at Disney Springs. Ground the previous sentence already covered.
I’m pretty sure Chapel Hats is one of the “original” Disney Springs transformation tenants, as my awareness of their existence (and this is no joke) stems from Must-Do Disney with Stacey, the fantastic in-room television show that is sadly, also now defunct. What I learned from that is that Disney Springs is a place you can say “yum and wow” every 5 seconds, and also that Chapel Hats is one of the cool new places to shop. It first appeared in those videos right when Downtown Disney was in the process of becoming Disney Springs.
What’s the point of sharing that? An excuse to plug the greatness that was Must-Do Disney, for one. But also to demonstrate that Chapel Hats isn’t some fly-by-night operation. Disney Springs has become somewhat of a revolving door for retail, and if someone told me today that a fancy hat shop was opening, I might respond: “I give it 18 months.” Well, Chapel Hats is still going strong over a decade later.
I’ve been inside Chapel Hats maybe once, and I stopped at Prairie Outpost when it was a candy shop only a handful of times. So this isn’t something I am excited about, personally. But I am enthusiastic about Walt Disney World getting back to 100%, so I’m fully on board with this.
I also don’t mind Walt Disney World doing more retail collaborations with third party operating participants when it makes sense. A hat store, even one run by an outside company, beats a candy store. This should be similar to the Sunglass Hat shop over in Adventureland–speaking of which, Agrabah Bazaar still needs to return!
There was a time when Walt Disney World had a ton of on-theme merchandise in its gift shops, most sourced from the real world as opposed to character stuff. It doesn’t look like these will be cowboy hats, but it’s still a step in the right direction.
Longer-term, I’m curious to see what becomes of both this shop and Pecos Bill. The Piston Peak National Park subsection of Frontierland is on the other side of this walkway and will be demarcated from this thoroughfare by a rushing river (and hopefully a large one), but I still can’t help but wonder whether these two venues end up being the primary retail and restaurant space supporting the Cars miniland.
I love the new menu at Pecos Bill, but wouldn’t mind seeing it get a retheme and character integration in the least. Now that Tiana’s Palace is seemingly off the table, something inspired by the Junior Woodchucks would be awesome–bridging the gap between this area of Frontierland and Piston Peak.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
Pleasantly surprised to see the Prairie Outpost reopening after being closed for over 5 years? Does it bug you that it’ll become (at least in part) a Chapel Hats store? Or are you fine with whatever it takes to get the remaining long-shuttered venues reopened? What do you think of the plans for the Piston Peak Cars miniland in Magic Kingdom? Think Pecos Bill and Prairie Outpost will eventually receive reimaginings as extensions of that project? Do you agree or disagree with our assessments? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
I am so with you on the Be Our Guest breakfast. I have done it twice and I thought it was a magical way to get your day started. Hopefully it’s re-opening is in the near future.
We were excited to hear this. Our first evening of a Disney World trip always includes a stop at Chapel Hats before or after dinner somewhere at Disney Springs. At least one of us usually gets one. So we’ll be looking forward to this.
The quick service breakfast and lunch at Be Our Guest was nice even if you did need to make a reservation. Wish they would bring that back just so the kiddo’s could see inside. Dinner isn’t worth the cost. The beast doesn’t even walk the restaurant.
Bring back Breakfast at the Top AND Trails End buffet!
Remember when Sid Cahuenga’s One-of-a-Kind really held unusual one-of-a-kind stuff, like actual costumes worn by famous actresses you could really buy? I found it startling way back then,..it was an Aladdin’s Cave of Wonders,..
I felt like that’s not really a “remember when” kinda thing, but then I looked it up and that change happened back in 2013. It’s already been 12 years?!? Holy cow, time flies.
“Basically, I’m doing everything in my power to get breakfast back at Be Our Guest and brunch at California Grill!”
I feel like Cinderella Castle’s Dream Lights belongs on the list of items you’re doing everything in your power to bring back.
Fantastic news! You can see the sights of Disney better with a hat shielding the sun from your eyes. And people will look the part in Frontierland.
Yay! Too many merchandise locations switched to being candy stores in recent years. The one on Main Street is huge and has everything. That’s enough empty teeth-rotting calories. I miss the days when shops carried merchandise that was themed to their location. I used to go into every store. Now there isn’t any point in it since every shop carries pretty much the same stuff.
Can we add ‘Must Do At Disney with Stacy’ onto the list of things we’re manifesting to come back, we all?
That was supposed to be “as well.”
Yes, and also the in-room channel with Disney music, park hours, etc.!
A hat shop beats a candy store??? I dream about candy stores but not about buying hats. Only in recent years did I make sure to start wearing a hat regularly during my Orlando theme park outings. I got a custom bucket hat through Redbubble that has little portraits of Donald, Jose, & Panchito. I like it but it doesn’t taste delicious like candy, though I have heard the old expression that if someone finds out something dubious is true, then, “I’ll eat my hat!”
I’ve purchased a trilby at Chapel Hats and it is not what I’d call “fancy”. There are plenty of cheap baseball caps, and inexpensive synthetic hats suitable for Florida in the $300 range, which this is not.
Apologies, fancy was not meant to suggest expensive. I consider pretty much any fedora to be a fancy hat, regardless of price. As someone who only wears baseball hats, lifeguard hats, and the dorkiest possible safari/sun hats, the bar for “fancy” is pretty low to me!
I guess I could say it bugs me a little bit. But I will give props to another open storefront. Oh my gosh, yes, get the petition rolling for breakfast at BOG and brunch at California grill!!!
Yes! A place you can likely buy a basic hat for $200 lol
Or a place you can duck into to avoid a spontaneous afternoon downpour! 😉
There’s so much overpriced merchandise at Walt Disney World that we’d never even consider buying, but sometimes it’s fun to window-shop.
We went into Chapel Hats on my first WDW as an adult ~10 years to window shop/try on hats for funny pictures and it is one of my favorite memories of that trip! I didn’t buy a hat, but the fun diversion contributed to the cumulative experience that made me a fan who was now been to 4 of the 6 Disney resort complexes in the world (including multiple return trips to WDW).
It really is the little things that make Disney parks, well, Disney, and I’m all for more stuff like this coming back and facilitating that.
It’s always nice to not have an empty storefront at Disney Parks, so this is progress!
Tom, I just started going back to the parks this year and hadn’t been to DLR since 2016 and WDW since 2007. On my last visit to DLR, I popped into a shop near the Jungle Cruise to escape crowds. It was chock full of regular Stitch stuff up front. I *remember* things being more on theme years before, but is my memory wrong? Stitch in a skipper outfit or captaining a Jungle Cruise boat would have been, please forgive me using this corporate jargon-y word, synergistic! Stitch merch sells, I know, but more on-theme stuff would have been more immersive.
That shop normally is at least somewhat thematically coherent. I haven’t seen the Stitch in question, but I’m guessing some manager wanted to increase sales per square foot (or whatever metric they use) and Stitch is selling like hotcakes right now.
I was just in the Frontierland shops last week (my favorite at Disneyland) and they still seemed mostly on-theme (with some seasonal stuff and other random additions).