Disney Tips Your Guide To A Great Disney Vacation
Across theme parks worldwide, demand for limited-edition Disney merchandise has never been higher. Collectors chase exclusives. Resellers hunt profit. And increasingly, the average fan finds themselves left behind—both literally and figuratively—as crowds descend long before the gates open.
This growing phenomenon has hit one Disney park especially hard. A recent release drew a line of overnight guests to the pavement outside its entrance, reigniting concerns about scalping, crowd control, and park policies.
Credit: Disney
Duffy & Friends Merch Sparks Overnight Campout
The park in question is Disney’s flagship in mainland China. Last week, it released a new wave of Duffy and Friends merchandise known as the Rainbow Series—plush keychains featuring characters like Olu Mel. Though they didn’t go on sale until 10 a.m., Shine reported that guests began lining up as early as 1:30 a.m.
Photos from the scene show people sleeping outside the front gates, some bundled up in jackets, others simply sitting on bags. According to multiple reports, most of those in line weren’t lifelong Disney fans, but resellers.
Duffy and Friends has become a merchandising phenomenon in Asia, particularly in China and Japan. Originally introduced as Mickey Mouse’s teddy bear, Duffy now leads a cast that includes ShellieMay, Gelatoni, StellaLou, CookieAnn, LinaBell, and Olu Mel. Each character comes with a detailed backstory and a themed wardrobe, with LinaBell—an inquisitive pink fox introduced in 2021—quickly rising to breakout popularity status. Their soft designs and emotional storytelling have fueled massive demand and, increasingly, long lines.
Credit: Toyko Disney Resort
When the store finally opened, it took just seconds for items to sell out. One Olu Mel plush, originally priced at 179 yuan (roughly $25), appeared online later that same morning listed for as much as 1,379 yuan ($192). Online reactions reflected both outrage and resignation. “I really don’t understand these people,” one commenter wrote (via Shine). Another said simply, “Earning 3,000 yuan in one night isn’t easy.”
Long-Term Problem, Limited Solutions
The park has faced similar issues before. Back in early 2024, a LinaBell release created such intense demand that queues stretched for hours and required security intervention. Duffy and Friends products remain one of the park’s biggest draws, frequently inciting overwhelming crowds.
To counteract ticket scalping, the park previously enforced ID-based entry, making it harder for third parties to buy and resell park admission. But limited-edition merchandise remains largely vulnerable, especially when it’s tied to park-exclusive drops and handled through Shanghai Disneyland’s lottery-based system.
Credit: Shanghai Disneyland
Guests with Early Park Entry have better odds of being selected to buy, making the system feel like a gamble—one that attracts both hardcore collectors and opportunistic scalpers. While Disney hasn’t formally addressed last week’s sellout, it’s not the first time merchandise has triggered market distortions. In 2021, an Olu Mel plush dressed in a Halloween “Purple Dragon” costume reportedly resold for nearly 10,000 yuan ($1,391).
Other Disney resorts have seen similar scenes. In February, Tokyo Disney Resort released new merchandise that prompted a rush so intense that one guest compared it to “rush hour traffic” and described the sales floor as “packed like a dumpling with cast and guests crammed in.”
In the U.S., Disneyland and Walt Disney World have both had incidents involving resellers scooping up entire inventories of trendy popcorn buckets and seasonal plushes.
Though the resale market shows no signs of slowing, fans continue calling for better protections—and for the magic of Disney shopping to return to something more accessible than a midnight sidewalk queue.
How do you think Disney parks can control their resale markets?
