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2. Wristbands 

One thing that Disneyland does for almost every limited edition merchandise release that should be adopted at Walt Disney World is the use of wristbands. Essentially, guests queue up beforehand (sometimes as much as 24 hours if its a high profile release), and are then issued a wristband before the merchandise location where they are trying to make their purchase opens. Then when the purchase is made, the wristband is then snipped off. 

Though Walt Disney World has done this on rare occasions, wristband distribution is far from standard operating procedure. However, the use of such a system would essentially guarantee an equal purchase experience for everyone, and it wouldn't take much pre-planning to implement. 

3. Larger edition sizes

Look, we all know that part of the allure of limited edition items is scarcity. Collectors love having special items that they know are rare and could be valuable in the future as a result. However, when you've got a resort as big as Walt Disney World that sees hundreds of thousands of guests on a daily basis, selling a pin that has a limited edition of 250 seems laughable. While we'd all like to have one of a kind souvenirs from Walt Disney World, the fact is that with edition sizes this low, guests simply don't have the opportunity to take home one of these items, and competing with scalpers diminishes any chance of getting that special something. 

4. Better use of the Shop Disney Parks app

Image: Sam Howzit, Flickr (license)

 By now you've probably heard of the Shop Disney Parks app, which allows guests to view inventory around Walt Disney World, check prices and order Disney parks items, right from their smartphone. However, even though this app is great for tracking down that special sweatshirt or interesting ear hat, Shop Disney Parks is useless for those looking for limited edition merchandise. Not only does the app not allow guests to purchase limited edition merchandise , but it also doesn't provide stock levels or location data for limited edition items either. 

Though it would be impractical for Disney to put limited edition merchandise for sale via the app at the same time as items go on sale at the parks, Walt Disney World could take a note from the Disney Store here, and allow guests to purchase half of the stock one day in person, and then offer the other half via the app the next day. While this isn't a perfect system (and the two-day purchase window would allow scalpers to double dip exactly once) having a staged release both in the park and online would at least eliminate the big lines experienced on merchandise release days, and hopefully keep things a bit more manageable for retail Cast Members, which in turn would allow them to keep a look out for scalpers a little more easily. 

Image: Disney

Do you think the way limited edition sales are handled now is OK, or would you like to see some changes? How would you fix this problem?

 
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Comments

I agree that something should be done. Perhaps the Magicbands could be used to track itemized purchases of limited ediition merchandise. If the Magic band can track where you are in the parks, it should be able to track what you have bought, and alert cast members inbshops when your purchase limit on limited merchandise has been reached.

I would agree with limiting it giving everyone a fair chance. 1. I'd like to know how you find out about limited edition sales and 2. If it were some type of band it would be nice to see Disney use an echo friendly reusable system.

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