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Guests Left Frustrated as Resellers Stock Up Disney Park Anniversary Merchandise

Disney Park Resellers
Credit: Disney (left), @wonderdjo (right)

Merchandise reselling as been a problem at Disney theme parks (and for retailers in general) for a number of years, and limited edition and event-specific merchandise created for Guests at Disney Parks has only caused the practice to increase.

Despite efforts by Disney to limit the number of items a single Guest can purchase, resellers continue to make their way out of Disney Parks with loads of merchandise, often wheeling it out on strollers or in massive reusable shopping bags for all to see. The latest instance of resellers causing frustration is centered around the 30th-anniversary merchandise that just debuted at Disneyland Paris.

Disney D-Light, Disneyland Paris

Credit: @DLPReport

Guests visiting the park caught glimpses of resellers walking out with multiple shopping bags and even entire wagons filled with limited release items, leaving little if any on the shelves in the park for Guests visiting to purchase in person. How then can Guests find these items? Unfortunately, the answer comes with eBay or personal shopping websites set up by resellers to profit off the items at massive markups.

@wonderdjo captured photos of the resellers in action at Disneyland Paris on Twitter:

A translation of the tweet shares that the items did have a five per person limit, but Guests showed up with their children in tow to get around the rules. The line for Guests who did choose to wait neared an hour and 30 minutes. At Walt Disney World, the limit on purchasing limited items is two per person, however, even with the smaller limit the reselling problem still persists.

The recent situation regarding the 30th-anniversary merchandise at Disneyland Paris followed a series of events we have seen before at Walt Disney World. Similar to the crowds that headed to EPCOT when the Figment popcorn bucket debuted during this year’s EPCOT International Festival of the Arts, Disneyland Paris Guests looking for 30th-anniversary souvenirs spent much of their trip to the park waiting in line, without knowing for sure if the items would still be available by the time they reached the front.

Disneyland Paris 30th anniversary resellers

Credit: Disney

When an event spans 12+ months like Disney Parks anniversary events typically do, merchandise is often restocked (unless otherwise stated. If its ‘limited edition’ status is limited to the event taking place, it is possible that it will return to the parks after it initially sells out.) Walt Disney World Guests have seen this happen time and time again with the Vault collection bucket hats and Crocs that sold out instantly and are now available on shopDisney, as well as the tumblers that caused Guests to get physical while trying to acquire them in the Magic Kingdom.

The other problem with reselling Disney merchandise is that it is technically against the rules for any Guest who has an Annual Pass (which most resellers are- It would not make sense even with the inflated prices to pay for a park ticket every time one visits a Disney park to shop) as they are not allowed to profit from using their discount.

As Disneyland Paris continues its 30th anniversary, it will surely be interesting to see if more merchandise is restocked for the occasion, or if further action is taken in limiting Disney resellers from over-buying items at this and other Disney parks around the world.

About Brittany DiCologero

Brittany is a New England-based writer focused on the history of the Walt Disney World Resort. She is the author of "Red, White, and Disney: The Myths and Reality of American History at the Walt Disney World Resort," and "Brittany Earns Her Ears."

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