Dispensa's Castle of Toys was a toy store near the Oakbrook Center shopping center, in DuPage County, Illinois. The store opened to the public in 1967. Kiddie Kingdom amusement park opened in 1975. Kiddie Kingdom closed its doors for good in 1984.
The store received a fair amount of attention due to its unique shape, as a stereotyped castle. It was a staple of Chicago television advertising, particularly during the Christmas season.
Its jingle featured a woman singing this song, with a child's voice interposing spoken comments:
- Dispensa's Castle of Toys
- (It's a toy store!)
- Dispensa's Castle of Toys
- (It's a castle!)
- Dispensa's Castle of Toys
- (It's toy-mendous!)
- Come to Dispensa's Castle of Toys
- Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois
Despite the visual attempt to rhyme, the last line was pronounced the proper way, "Ill-i-noy", rather than the colloquial "Ill-i-noise".
The site of the toy store and "Kiddie Kingdom" is now occupied by an office building called the Oakbrook Terrace Tower.
Famous quotes containing the words castle and/or toys:
“If, in looking at the lives of princes, courtiers, men of rank and fashion, we must perforce depict them as idle, profligate, and criminal, we must make allowances for the rich men’s failings, and recollect that we, too, were very likely indolent and voluptuous, had we no motive for work, a mortal’s natural taste for pleasure, and the daily temptation of a large income. What could a great peer, with a great castle and park, and a great fortune, do but be splendid and idle?”
—William Makepeace Thackeray (1811–1863)
“...I’m not money hungry.... People who are rich want to be richer, but what’s the difference? You can’t take it with you. The toys get different, that’s all. The rich guys buy a football team, the poor guys buy a football. It’s all relative.”
—Martina Navratilova (b. 1956)