No, the above picture is indeed NOT photoshopped. Disney’s online shopping event for the Disneyland 65th Anniversary merchandise had a ‘virtual line’ 49,695 places deep, which is really not ‘oh-so-magical’.
In the first of its kind for Disney, an online shopping event was created exclusively for the launch of Disneyland’s 65th Anniversary merchandise. This was announced via the Disney Parks Blog last Wednesday, along with a first look at what merchandise would be available for purchase. There were plenty of videos circulating the internet of guests going crazy at Downtown Disney when the merchandise was first available for in-store purchase a few days later. Many people were trying to stock up on the limited merchandise in order to sell them on sites like Ebay and Facebook Marketplace.
In an effort to accommodate guests while Disneyland is closed, an ‘Events With Disney’ website was created to debut this online shopping event yesterday morning. At 10:00 a.m., thousands upon thousands of merchandise hopefuls flooded the website, which in turn caused almost 50,000 people to enter into the virtual queue.
It seems as though Disney has not yet learned their lesson when it comes to guests overloading their websites.
One of our own Just Disney Admin’s tried to get into this event and got bumped all the way to 49,000th place in line. Many people experienced what our admin went through. Guests were complaining that they had made it all the way through the line, waited on a page that kept refreshing, and then were bumped out all the way to the back of the line.
A similar website overload happened when Walt Disney World Annual Passholders and ticket holders were allowed to make Park Reservations last month, causing people to wait 14+ hours to book their vacations. Similarly, guests that tried to buy the Minnie: The Main Attraction Collection also experienced the dreaded virtual queues, resulting in most of the line being unable to purchase anything.
I can see why nearly 50,000 people wanted in on this event! The merchandise pays a really fun tribute to the park with fun tones of blue, sparkles, and subtle tributes to some original Disneyland faces (Mickey, Minnie, and, of course, Walt Disney).
Here is a look at what thousands of people were trying to snag in the online event:
Disneyland Park 65th Anniversary Spirit Jersey: $69.99
Disneyland Park 65th Anniversary Adult Camp Shirt: $64.99
Disneyland Park 65th Anniversary Ear Hat: $24.99
Disneyland Park 65th Anniversary Loungefly Mini Backpack: $80.00 (SOLD OUT)
Disneyland Park 65th Anniversary Jeweled Headband: $29.99
Disneyland Park 65th Anniversary “Day Of” Limited Edition Pin: $17.99 (SOLD OUT)
Disneyland Park 65th Anniversary Disneyland Marquee Limited Edition Jumbo Pin: $59.99 (SOLD OUT)
Disneyland Park 65th Anniversary Disneyland Park Map Limited Edition Boxed Jumbo Pin: $109.99 (SOLD OUT)
The merchandise in the above group is exclusively for Disneyland Annual Passholders.
Disneyland Park 65th Anniversary “Day Of” Limited Edition Pin (Mickey and Minnie): $17.99 (SOLD OUT)
Disneyland Park 65th Anniversary “Day Of” Logo Pin: $15.99
Disneyland Park 65th Anniversary Disney Parks Wishables Chaser Abominable Snowman: $9.99
Disneyland Park 65th Anniversary “Day Of” Adult Tee Shirt (Walt Disney): $29.99
Disneyland Park 65th Anniversary “Day Of” Adult Tee Shirt (Mickey Mouse): $29.99
The online shopping event is still open for all merchandise that has not been sold out yet, and there are plenty more items available that are not listed above. Any purchases can be picked up at the Downtown Disney District from July 23rd through 27th, or you can have them shipped right to your home. If you are interested in purchasing the merchandise or are an Annual Passholder and want to snag exclusive merch, click here to head straight to the online shopping event!
Hopefully the future will be brighter (and have shorter wait times) for virtual queuing!