Melissa Wells has been visiting the world-famous site in California almost every year since she was a toddler.
4
4
Despite her love of the park and regular attendance she only learned about its little-known place due to watching a TikTok video.
In the clip, the social media user @emmwee visited Silhouette Studio on Main Street where she and her partner sit in front of an artist who quickly cuts out their silhouette using some black paper.
An assistant then pastes the black outlines onto Disney-decorated paper.
The TikToker added: “This was only $12 at Disneyland” – the equivalent of £9.80.
It was originally posted on July 1, 2023 and by September it had notched up 18.7million views.
Having seen the video and well as others about it, Melissa was determined to go there on her next visit.
She wrote on Insider: “I knew I needed to find and visit Silhouette Studio on my next visit to Disneyland.”
The small shop is located past Market House, which is home to Disneyland’s Starbucks, and next to the Crystal Arts store.
Melissa said: “I’d never noticed it before. Many storefronts on Main Street are not actually real stores, and for some reason, I thought this was one of them.”
According to the Disney Parks Blog, the shop opened just one day after the grand opening of Disneyland on July 18, 1955.
She said the shop is tiny and can only squeeze in a few people at a time.
When it’s their turn, patrons sit in a chair facing the window to Main Street and the Disney artist gets to work cutting out their silhouette.
The hand-cut silhouette will set you back £9.80 ($11.99) but if you want an adorned black-and-gold frame, that costs an extra £16.40 ($19.99) making a total of £28.20 ($34.46).
While waiting in line to get her silhouette done, she asked others who were also waiting patiently whether they’d seen a video mentioning the shop and said that almost everyone had and that had inspired them to get the souvenir done.
Melissa added that while she had waited in line for nearly 40 minutes, it took the expert Disney artists just 10 minutes to do her silhouette.
She said though that the wait was definitely worth it.
Elsewhere, tourists have been flocking to a hidden UK gem that is home to a little-known but much-loved food hall.
It comes after The Sun travel team revealed their list of little-known UK gems that include secret gardens to hidden beaches.
And a seaside village in the UK has been named the best “coastal hidden gem” as it has some of the best beaches in the country.
4
4