Hallmark is setting up shop at Walt Disney World. A pop-up Hallmark Store is coming to Disney Springs this holiday season, timed to the premiere of Holiday Ever After: A Disney World Wish Come True, the first Hallmark Christmas movie ever filmed on property at the resort.
The reveal came from Darren Abbott, president of Hallmark Media and the company’s chief brand officer, during an executive session with the Television Critics Association, as reported by LaughingPlace. Abbott framed the store as part of a full activation around the film, saying the company is “creating a 360-degree experience around the content.”
Tied To A November 28 Premiere
Holiday Ever After premieres Saturday, November 28 on Hallmark Channel. The film stars Lacey Chabert and Travis Van Winkle in a romance that plays out across the parks, following a disastrous first date that gets a second chance when the two cross paths on family vacations. The first trailer arrived earlier this summer and leaned hard into the resort’s holiday backdrop.
The movie comes with its own merchandise line, and that is likely what fills the shelves. A Holiday Ever After collection of roughly 38 pieces begins arriving in October ahead of the premiere, built through collaborations with brands including Loungefly and Vera Bradley alongside Hallmark’s usual greeting cards, ornaments, gifts, and gift wrap. Abbott added that the film itself includes a few original products that will reach shelves closer to the premiere, blurring the line between what appears on screen and what guests can carry out of the store. Hallmark has not yet announced the pop-up’s opening date or exact location within Disney Springs.
One Hallmark, And A Deepening Disney Relationship
Abbott described the strategy as part of an initiative the company calls One Hallmark, an effort to pull its cards, gifts, ornaments, and media businesses in the same direction around big swings like this film. Disney Springs gives that idea a physical address in the middle of the resort where the movie was shot, and it drops a seasonal specialty retailer into a shopping district that already treats Christmas as a year-round business at Disney’s Days of Christmas.
The partnership runs in both directions this month. Hallmark and Disney are also sharing a stage at D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event, with a panel on the collaboration scheduled for August 16 during the Anaheim convention, before the promotional push builds toward the November premiere and the pop-up’s holiday run.
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