Disney Really Doesn't Want People Reselling Its Theme Parks Merch

By Joseph Myers

Given that Disney consistently ranks among the world’s most reputable companies, nobody should have expected that it would let admirers of its goods continue to defy regulations. Hoping to preserve the integrity of its merchandise, the company—nine months into its iteration as Disney Parks, Experiences and Consumer Products Inc.—has intensified the revocation of annual passes held by personal shoppers, those individuals who profit off the sales of theme park-purchased items.

Definitely an opponent of the “rules are meant to be broken” philosophy, Disney, through its Disneyland Resort Annual Passport Terms and Conditions explanation, makes clear that it “reserves the right to cancel, suspend or revoke any Passport or deny Theme Park admission to any Passholder at any time for any reason.” The aforementioned group of resellers, then, has provided the business with considerable cause. In hawking items to collectors and fans, resellers have reduced the mystique of the product lines by refusing to honor the stipulation that states “benefits and discounts are for personal use only and may not be used for any commercial purpose, including, without limitation, to obtain or purchase items or services with the intent to resell such items or services.”

We are not ones to knock side hustles, but in this case, we feel inclined to furrow our brows over the backlash that some annual passholders have looked to fight back against. Granted, we can appreciate their gripes over the likelihood that “flippers”—fellow annual passholders who go a step above personal shoppers in terms of economic payoff by often buying in bulk and jacking up resell prices—will go unscathed in abusing the terms and conditions. But one could argue that Disney is making clear that the only justified use of the goods by end-users consists of the purchase and retention of said commodities.

Think you can make a few easy bucks on eBay by flipping newly released souvenirs from Disneyland?

Think again. https://t.co/gzOXSRhBkq

— Theme Park Insider (@ThemePark) December 7, 2018

We have looked at Disney on grand and small scales with respect to its merchandise, seeing just how revered it is for anyone with a penchant for flocking to Florida and/or California to score products sure to engender wonderful memories. Not all of those goods inspire nostalgia for their buyers, though, as many are assets for those individuals who sell them to enthusiasts who either cannot make the trips themselves or can but do not wish to wait in long lines for them.

Being a behemoth business, Disney certainly wants to present itself favorably among its fan base, and that desire will never mean a decline in its marketing campaigns and oversight. It could, or maybe should, as Theme Park Insider writer Robert Niles posits, come to include more discussions on how to limit the reselling process, including the full-scale reduction of the products to one item per guest and the placement of the full sales inventory on the Shop Disney Parks website and app.

The holiday season is intensifying, and this latest measure by Disney could prove an interesting component of the gift-buying process, as personal shoppers who are looking to spread a little cheer while bolstering their bank accounts might end up with coal in their own stockings and revoked annual passes. Those possibilities again lead to a longstanding consideration within the promotional products world, namely, the concept of risk versus reward.

What is your stance on the regulations that Disney has in place for its annual passholders? Do you feel the company should be more lenient, or is it entirely justified in implementing the punishment so as to protect its brand’s integrity?