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Walt Disney World: Non-Theme Park Discussion

jon81uk said:
Limited edition Figment character pop corn bucket is seen as collectable. People know they can buy it for $25 and resell on eBay for $100 if they get in now as there are people who want it and can't get to Epcot.
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Quite possibly the saddest sentence I have ever seen written on this forum and pretty much sums up the horrible capitalist hole America has become.

Imagine going to a theme park resort, and not only any resort but WDW, to try and make money out of the trip and fleece people on ebay. Yuk!

I really despair for the world at times.
 
I get that Disney do a lot of cool limited edition merchandise (heck, I can be a sucker for some of it at times). And I know that Figment is a popular character. But a plastic popcorn bucket? That I do not get!
 
Benjsh said:
Quite possibly the saddest sentence I have ever seen written on this forum and pretty much sums up the horrible capitalist hole America has become.

Imagine going to a theme park resort, and not only any resort but WDW, to try and make money out of the trip and fleece people on ebay. Yuk!

I really despair for the world at times.
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Well they aren't taking a trip to WDW. Almost all the eBay scalpers are annual passholders.
Disney put a purchase limit of 2, but its not actually being enforced, I don't think the frontline staff want to get into conflict.

But this has been going on with many Disney limited edition items for years, annual pass holders get in and buy up huge quantities to resell.
 
jon81uk said:
Well they aren't taking a trip to WDW. Almost all the eBay scalpers are annual passholders.
Disney put a purchase limit of 2, but its not actually being enforced, I don't think the frontline staff want to get into conflict.

But this has been going on with many Disney limited edition items for years, annual pass holders get in and buy up huge quantities to resell.
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Still shameful. Completely mercenary and sums up everything I dislike about that country. Capitalist pigs!
 
Disney are so odd sometimes, its like they enjoy creating artificial demand for their products which allow people to sell on to others at a profit. The eBay Scalpers are providing something that Disney is not.

Why not let people stopping in the hotels get them pre-booked so they are waiting in the room, and you just need to get it filled up. Why does Disney not sell them online, so people can order them and get them delivered? Why not have several kiosks selling them? I guess if they did that, they would not be limited, and people would not want them?

I like the idea of not knowing about something special, and stumbling across it and been wowed by it as part of the Disney Magic, but the idea of doing that these days is impossible due to the internet and once the secret is out, everyone knows about it. You have just been on the Figment ride, your exiting the ride, and you fancy a snack, and you spot the Figment Popcorn bucket, and you have that bit of extra magic.

If you got more people paying $25 for a plastic popcorn holder, they could maybe not rely so much on selling the Disney Genie+ for additional revenue.
 
There's so much that's wrong about this. I used to be an avid collector of theme park merch, and I still do buy certain things. But popcorn doesn't need to come in a big chunck of moulded plastic. And if there's one thing sadder than people queuing up for six hours to buy one, it's that staff are scared of getting punched if they only sell them two. Imagine having to declare a criminal record to an employer because you punched the 16 year old who would only sell you two popcorn buckets. Think of the Channel 5 documentary. "And we have another true crime story. This time from Walt Disney's World Epcot...'
 
I’m not being funny Disney could be selling limited addition bog roll and loads of people would be queueing up to buy it. They can literally flog anything.
 
Disney can be blamed for not policing it very well but my point was how awful are these people who are doing this, presumably as it pays off their annual pass quickly.

It's meant to be the 'greatest place on earth' and if you're waiting for up to 6 hours to try and make 100 dollars off less fortunate Disney fans who can't attend as often as you do then you need a long hard look in the mirror.

Capitalism is obviously not unique to just America but I'm glad that we're not as bad as they are. They'd sooner let a few million die needlessly a year than have free health care too but that's for another day.
 
I guess if fans want to wait for hours to buy a popcorn bucket, I don't really see the issue with people waiting in line for one; it's not really any different to something like concert tickets if you were a die-hard fan of a particular singer or band (for lack of a better analogy), or maybe some kind of limited edition item? Anything limited edition often generates a huge amount of excitement.

However, that does beg the question; is it a testament to the strength of Disney's brand that this is happening, as I'm genuinely not sure if any other park in the world releasing limited edition merch would generate anywhere near the same excitement?
 
Matt N said:
However, that does beg the question; is it a testament to the strength of Disney's brand that this is happening, as I'm genuinely not sure if any other park in the world releasing limited edition merch would generate anywhere near the same excitement?
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Disney and by extension there theme parks are incredibly good at branding and probably have the best branding of any theme park. It's also helped by the reputation of almost everyone that they are the best and most magical even if that isn't actually true. People can have a comparably rubbish time at Disney but just because it's Disney it'll be all part of the magic. They've created a brand so strong that even the biggest of mess up's doesn't damage it too much.
Everyone looks at everything Disney does with rose tinted glasses because of the pure strength of the brand.
 
Matt N said:
However, that does beg the question; is it a testament to the strength of Disney's brand that this is happening, as I'm genuinely not sure if any other park in the world releasing limited edition merch would generate anywhere near the same excitement?
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I was at Phantasialand last weekend, and at one point, the line for 'Christmas' waffles and churros soaked in chocolate was longer than the queue for Taron.
 
Plastic Person said:
I was at Phantasialand last weekend, and at one point, the line for 'Christmas' waffles and churros soaked in chocolate was longer than the queue for Taron.
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I stand corrected... I guess some people's interest in limited edition items like merchandise vastly outweighs my own!

I don't mean that to sound like a bad thing at all, as everyone has their own interests, and I'm sure plenty of people find the parts of the hobby I'm most enthusiastic about to not be overly interesting, but I wouldn't personally be particularly driven to stand in a huge line for a theme park merch item. Don't get me wrong, I do sometimes buy merchandise, and I am starting to amass small collections of ride parts and soft toys from parks, but I'm definitely more of an occasional casual buyer than a die-hard collector in the theme park merch department...
 
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The other issue with special edition popcorn bucket (and similar) nonsense is its almost entirely something passholders and locals can get involved with.

If you've saved to have your once in a lifetime family trip to WDW you won't be spending your day in Epcot queueing for a bucket.

Wheras passholders know they can spend this weeks trip to Epcot getting themselves whatever bizarre limited edition thing Disney are selling this week.
 
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