Guests visiting some of the most popular shops around Walt Disney World have started to notice that Disney is removing cash registers in favor of Mobile Checkout through the My Disney Experience app.

The large-scale removals were most noticeable last year with the removal of two cash register stands, or cash wraps, or register islands, from the Island Mercantile shop at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

Now, it looks like Disney could remove more registers from popular shops such as The Emporium at Magic Kingdom and maybe Mickey’s of Hollywood at Hollywood Studios.

While each of the locations will maintain a traditional cash register setup, guests will be encouraged to utilize the Mobile Checkout feature within the My Disney Experience app. The Mobile Checkout feature was first introduced in December 2020 at the temporary MouseGear location at EPCOT. Currently, Mobile Checkout is available at nearly a dozen locations across the Walt Disney World theme parks and Disney Springs.

Mobile Checkout allows guests to purchase most merchandise items through the My Disney Experience app by scanning the items themselves and verifying their purchase with a Cast Member before leaving the store. Discounts such as an Annual Pass discount are automatically applied during the process. It’s actually a quite smooth and frictionless process if there isn’t a large line of guests utilizing the service and waiting for the purchase verification at the door.

While visiting Magic Kingdom recently, we noticed that cash registers have been removed from a register island in the central portion of The Emporium. It’s worth noting that a register island was already removed from a nearby section years ago. Cast Members in the area didn’t know why the location was closed, but it’s possible that it could be removed for more merchandise floor space, or for a more benign reason like a refurbishment or register upgrade. This particular stand is quite busy during special events such as Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party as it is usually the only location where event-specific merchandise is available and sold.

As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!