Figment bucket craze, if this doesn’t tell them something I don’t know what will

eliza61nyc

Well-Known Member
I've seen nothing but downward of the Dow for the last week and a half. I don't have much in the market except my retirement account and that is all that I am watching, penny for penny. I'm not worried about it, it is just adjusting perhaps.

Yes, I will admit that 2021 was a good year for those of us with a market connection. Even for someone with limited funds working for me had enough gain from last year for a better than decent trip to Disney if only I thought it was worth it. I'm not complaining or in a panic, I'm just saying that this year is not last year and although not a total indicator, it is off to a very bad start.
Very true, lol I find 4-5 times a year is about all I can handle following the market. I've got my assets allocation toward the conservative side and I tend to be the "glass 1/2 full" person. Hey look at it this way, if the market does tank this year, folks may skip Disney. I think that will do before rising prices
 

Goofyernmost

Well-Known Member
Very true, lol I find 4-5 times a year is about all I can handle following the market. I've got my assets allocation toward the conservative side and I tend to be the "glass 1/2 full" person. Hey look at it this way, if the market does tank this year, folks may skip Disney. I think that will do before rising prices
I know this sounds silly but I don't feel that the "market" even does affect the economy unless it completely crashes. To me it's just a group of rich people playing roulette with money. It's a giant Monopoly game. They buy, they sell, they sit on it and try to outsmart the other guy. Even in 1929 it only dropped about 30% but people panicked and the Great Depression was born. I am cautious and conservative when it comes to risk, but it still has gone OK for the last 10 years it has, without my adding so much as a nickel to it, doubled in value to the point now where it needs to decline 50% only to get me where it was when I started it.
 

Brad Bishop

Well-Known Member
Sorry to be cynical, but I don't think this is any indication of Figment's popularity, it is much more just scalpers and Disney brand-oholics that made an effort to get this thing. I mean, Disney never stopped selling Figment plushies, for instance. These people mostly got the bucket because it's a new thing Disney introduced as "limited" much more than because they actually love Figment, though I'm sure some of them do. I'm willing to bet that the vast majority never even rode the original attraction though.

The whole situation is bad, in my opinion, because it tells Chapek & Co. a few things:

1. We don't actually have to adhere to our legacy as long as we occasionally throw the "purists" a bone in the form of a merchandise item.
2. People will make a big deal out of buying "limited" merchandise, therefore people like having IP marketed to them constantly while at WDW.
3. See? We were right. People love characters so much that they'll wait 6 hours for a plastic one. Bring in even more characters! Anywhere you can!
4. We coouuld just limit these to one per person/party and/or also sell them online to avoid creating a scalper frenzy, buuuuut the buzz this creates really helps us, sooo... let's keep doing it.

The Disney brand-aholics and lifestylers keep proving them right, unfortunately. Personally, I think if you're a Disney Parks purist and a Chapek hater you should definitely not buy the Figment Popcorn Bucket even if you really love Figment.

All good points.

To me another one hits: People, not all of them scalpers, waited 7-8 hours in line for a popcorn bucket. A FREAKING POPCORN BUCKET!

If anything, this tells me that Bob is right in that he can pretty much do whatever he likes with charging / charging more for this or that because people will literally line up for 8 hours for a popcorn bucket. The Disney nostalgia is incredibly strong and know no bounds.
 

larryz

I'm Just A Tourist!
Premium Member
I generally stay away from threads like this, but this is a Disney World fan site, so I will share my fan experience and hopefully provide another perspective as opposed to the "Oh look, that person is nuts," or "It's just all re-sellers."

I went on launch day. I have an AP. I know very well that if Disney shows merchandise that looks interesting to me and will drop on a specific day, I have to come that day, or I might not get it at all, because that's how it unfortunately works. I hate it, but I've missed out on things before, I'm a huge fan of Figment, and I had some Disney gift cards that I had from Christmas. I've never purchased a popcorn bucket - I only wanted it because it's Figment.

I got in line at 10:40 am, and the park had opened at 10. I figured that this would be fine - I had come for the Spaceship Earth merchandise drop last year around that time, and I was able to get what I wanted. It took my husband and I a little bit to just find the end of the line, as it was looped around quite a ways. I found out soon after that Disney had allowed people to queue for the bucket starting at 9 am, which, you know, would have been helpful to know about ahead of time, but it is what it is.

Around 11 the line was at a standstill for a long period. I heard that there were only 3 CMs working the booth. No one told us how long the expected wait would be. We didn't really move at all until over an hour later, and we'd barely move at all. The line didn't pick up the pace until after 1 pm. Thankfully we were standing next to some interesting people who were also fans of Figment, and I actually made new friends! There were a lot of people in line that loved Figment, many wearing Figment shirts, ears, or bounding as the character. A camaraderie was formed, and yes, while we'd have many people make snide remarks as they would look at us in line, we'd have even more ask what we were waiting for. The few that thought they were clever and ask that if we were really waiting that long for popcorn, we'd come back with, "Actually, tomato soup!" "Really?" "Yes, the best tomato soup in the world!"

Once you've waited an hour or so, convincing yourself to leave the line seems worthless. I had a lot of fun just talking to people that were also fans of Figment and the parks, and we had some really interesting discussions. And after having been cooped up at home for so long, it was really nice, and it made the time go by.

By the time we exited with our SINGLE Figment bucket (I dislike the re-seller game, but understand the temptation after waiting as long as we did), and grabbing a few other items from POP Eats, we'd waited just under 6 hours. Is that a ridiculous time to wait? Yes. Do I regret the experience? No. I still had a lot of fun at EPCOT, I still got to see and experience a few fun things from the festival, and I got to meet some cool people. We'll be going back to experience more because we have APs soon.

Roll your eyes if you want. We're all weirdos and all do our own eccentric things. Let people enjoy things.
Funny how WDW doesn't want 6 hour lines at the new, blockbuster rides, but doesn't seem to mind them at booths selling plastic popcorn buckets...
 

Brad Bishop

Well-Known Member
I didn't even think about this until now:

They could have literally added this to Genie+ and made a lightning lane for it. I have no doubt that people would have paid $20 to get to the front of the line for a popcorn bucket. (No, this isn't tongue in cheek or me trying to be funny - they could have done this and raked in even more cash). If you'll wait in line for 8hours for a popcorn bucket, you'll pay $20/head/popcorn bucket to get to the front of the line (or, really, the regular line costs an extra $20/head/popcorn bucket and the standby line is for everyone else who wants to wait 8+ hours).

I also think this proves that Disney is WAY, WAY off from actually losing most guests due to their pricing / charging for everything / charging for things that were once free.

You'll pay that $20 and come back here and tell us all what a magical experience it was to only have to wait 20min, instead of 8 hours, to buy a popcorn bucket.
 

Trackmaster

Well-Known Member
The same goes for the opportunity cost of acquiring it. Giving up a day of your time for a potential $550 profit is simply not worth it for many people. That's why I'm skeptical about the "It's all resellers" argument.

I've thought about this too when it comes to waiting at theme parks. Its why paying to skip the line can be great economics if it will allow you to shave off park days and make your vacation shorter. Fewer days on the rental car, airport parking, hotel, and less PTO required.

I also thought about when Universal was putting guests in holding areas for 7 hours for a chance to see Fall Out Boy and other massively popular artists at USF. If you bought a $150 park ticket for that, you should have just bought a $60 concert ticket. Even if you have an AP, I still think I'd rather pay $60 than waiting around for 7 hours doing nothing.
 

Goofyernmost

Well-Known Member
Funny how WDW doesn't want 6 hour lines at the new, blockbuster rides, but doesn't seem to mind them at booths selling plastic popcorn buckets...
There really should be a difference between groups of people being upset about having to stand in long lines AFTER they have already paid big bucks for entertainment and the insanity that is Figment's molded plastic popcorn bucket. How that even is a thing just tells us how low the bar has been placed for humanity.
 

ppete1975

Well-Known Member
More coming soon... a lot more...
Should drop those ebay prices. From what ive been seeing... the first ones sold quick due to there are people that dont care about cost. As someone said earlier famous people with personal shoppers or people with tons of disposable income who 200 dollars to 50 dollars isnt a huge difference. After the market flooded prices dropped to around 100 (not even sure those are selling), in hopes of getting rid of them before the next shipment comes in. I love when scalpers ROI goes from over 100 dollars to 25 dollars or less.. which is where we hopefully get. 2 dollars an hour to stand in line isnt worth it ;) plus driving to the parks etc and packaging.. youre looking at less than a dollar an hour.
 

THEMEPARKPIONEER

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I'm not sure he still is the "Mascot" of Epcot to many people anymore. It's an entirely new generation that has never witnessed the attraction that gave him that title. He is just a secondary character on a less than spectacular ride. Those days are clung to by people that witnessed Imagination 1.0. I think he is now a nostalgia mascot that has the ability to increase in value over time.
Maybe they should give him a better ride then, I’m one of those and never ride the new version, I’ll visit the fountains and that’s it. I don’t enter the building and have no reason to.
 

macefamily

Well-Known Member
We were there for the second day of the Arts Festival. I found myself making fun of the people walking around with four Figments hanging from their necks. However, about five hours later and a few beer flights, I convinced my wife and daughter to stand in line for a toasted cheese and tomato soup. That also was the Figment line. It was only an hour wait time which is how long I waited at France for a sparkling Chardonnay. By the time we got to the ordering desk, I broke down and bought four Figments. I'm not reselling, I just want to hold onto them. I have a habit of collecting things. I'm trying to convince the wife to let me buy the $1000 50th Anniversary jeweled Mickey Ears. I think they'll go up in value as a collector's item
 

Magicart87

No Refunds!
Premium Member
If these things are going for a 1k on eBay I wonder what I could get for a photo or a print?!
 
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