Pooh Corner: One Wonderfully Strange Candy Shop

If your New Year's resolutions include cutting back on chocolate and sugar, Pooh's not going to be much help in that department, especially inside the doors of the Pooh Corner candy shop. Located diabolica -- I mean, conveniently adjacent to the exit to Pooh's dark ride in Critter Country, it carries the surreal theme of the ride's Heffalumps and Woozles nightmare over into a much sunnier interpretation. Here, the bear and some mischievous heffa-bees turn treat shopping into one big, giddy avalanche of Hunny Pot Krispy Treats, Marshmallow Tigger Tails, season-themed fudge and more cookies and candy choices than you can shake a thistle at.

This spot used to be the Mile Long Bar. I miss seeing Max, Buff and Melvin on the wall, but I do love this shop's crazy decor.

Pooh's Pots Perfectly Posed

It's a bright afternoon in Critter Country, a land where frontier legends, southern folklore and British literature share the same bit of real estate. It's also a place where little creek-dwelling critters probably step out through their tiny front doors to pick up the morning paper, glance across the creek, and curse about a certain bear who never cleans up after himself.

The creek in 2012

Speaking of the creek, if we compare the above photo with a shot I took in 1975...

The creek in 1975 during the Bear Country era

...we can see two very different approaches to theming. When the land was called Bear Country, guests entered a naturalistic, rustic setting. Fantasy existed there, but folks had to seek it out by crossing a covered bridge to enter the Country Bears' domain.

Both approaches have their advantages. Although I loved the Pre-Pooh days when the area felt like an outpost village with a backstory, I have to admit that A.A. Milne's little bear certainly makes a lot of families very, very happy.

I do miss the Country Bears a lot, but at least I can still grab a peaceful riverside table at the Hungry Bear Restaurant (where the food's better than ever). And, before I leave the area, I can still visit that little steadfast creek that's flowed past so many changes...