EPCOT Has Even More Figment Merchandise in 2026. Here’s Why That’s a Problem Disney Needs to Fix.

There is more Figment merchandise being sold at EPCOT as of 2026 than I’ve ever seen in my adult life. Despite being one of the worst attractions, Journey Into Imagination probably has the most ride-specific merchandise of anything at Walt Disney World. This shares photos of the current product line, along with why it supports the argument that it’s beyond time to reimagine the pavilion, bring back Dreamfinder, and make this an E-Ticket again.

Although the sheer volume of non-festival Figment merchandise available in 2026 is unprecedented, the character’s ability to move merchandise is hardly breaking news. Walt Disney World long ago discovered the popularity of nostalgia in souvenirs (this started around EPCOT’s 25th Anniversary and continued with Walt Disney World’s 40th, so we’re talking 15+ years ago), and has increasingly harnessed that over the last decade.

This has really accelerated in the last few years with marquee festival souvenirs. The highlight came back in 2022, when Festival of the Arts was dominated by headlines that EPCOT’s Longest Line Is For Figment Popcorn Buckets. Although Walt Disney World expected it to be a popular product, they were caught off-guard by the runaway demand for that popcorn bucket.

They’ve since released new versions each year, while also shifting the souvenir to a higher-capacity venue that offers Mobile Order. The popcorn bucket remains one of the most popular items and you’ll see a ton of guests carrying them on any given winter day at EPCOT.

Even before the success of that first popcorn bucket, Walt Disney World added an Ugly Christmas Sweater to the Figment Audio Animatronics in Journey into Imagination during the EPCOT Festival of the Holidays. Almost immediately, it was all over Etsy. Seriously, there had to have been dozens of different options within a day or two of the design appearing in the park. And they sold well.

Figment’s Ugly Christmas Sweater was finally available to purchase two years ago during the EPCOT International Festival of the Holidays. Despite a high price tag, it flew off shelves. It was repeatedly restocked after selling out, only to be sold out again. It was almost entirely gone closer to Christmas.

When we were at Walt Disney World during our favorite week of the year, by far the most popular shirt we saw on guests was Figment’s Ugly Christmas Sweater. It was insanely popular with locals and diehard fans.

At one point, about one-third of guests in the DVC Imagination lounge were sporting one! Keep in mind that this was in Florida. Locals were dropping 75 bucks on a sweater. There’s only a few weeks per year when you can wear a sweater in Florida.

I can’t recall an article of clothing that has been this popular and widespread since the last year of the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights. About one-quarter of guests (not even an exaggeration) were sporting “That’s A Wrap!” shirts. For the next few Christmases, these red and green shirts continued to be the most common shirts we’d see during the holiday season. That’s finally died down, but they were ubiquitous for years.

I won’t claim that the Figment Ugly Christmas Sweater has surpassed that, as I don’t think it has. But it’s surprising that it’s even a close call since it’s a sweater and over double the cost.

I would add that last year’s Figment Ugly Christmas Sweater was even better than the first one. It’s higher quality and looks nicer, which is a rare upgrade. I can’t wait to be among the 1,983 guests wearing one on a cool December day this year.

As hinted at above, there’s also a lot of Figment merchandise available on Etsy and via small shops. In fact, the amount of unauthorized merchandise probably dwarfs the selection in EPCOT and via official Disney channels.

Suffice to say, there is a lot of Figment merchandise. And for good reason, as it sells well and the character has enduring popularity as a fan-favorite and the unofficial mascot of EPCOT.

Fan Cynicism Over Disney Milking Figment Merchandise

When discussing the popularity of Figment merchandise in the past, and why this stuff flying off the shelves should further reinforce the case for a ride reimagining, we’ve received reader pushback.

The cynical argument is that Walt Disney World doesn’t need to do a ride refurbishment precisely because the merchandise is already so popular. The logic here is that Disney is having its cake and eating it too, milking nostalgia and duping fans into buying souvenirs celebrating something that hasn’t existed for decades, all without having to invest a dime in the attraction.

This is misguided for a number of reasons. First and foremost, the above argument is imbued with this notion that this is a top-down concerted effort. That the Bobs (previously) or Josh D’Amaro (currently) are sitting in their secret lairs, and when presented with the option to invest in a big-budget ride reimagining, they are instead saying: “No! More merchandise! All we have to do to make money on Figment from these foolish fans is the bare minimum!”

Generally speaking and bigger picture, there’s this erroneous assumption among fans that the CEO is responsible for everything bad and even the good is driven by nefarious ulterior motives. I agree that the buck stops with the CEO and other high-level leaders. But in a multinational conglomerate like Disney, the vast majority of things over which we fixate are well below the CEO’s pay grade. I would hazard a guess, for instance, that Bob Iger has no clue the Figment Ugly Christmas Sweater even exists, either on the Audio Animatronics or as merchandise.

How this stuff actually works may be even more disheartening, quite honestly. As we’ve mentioned elsewhere, there has historically been tension among divisions within Walt Disney World. As opposed to operating as a cohesive entity, as you might expect, they’ve been more like a bunch of siloed and territorial small businesses. Decisions are made and things are done without regard for the externalities or impact elsewhere, just some metric of success within that silo.

To say one hand doesn’t know what the other is doing is often an understatement. The various limbs of Walt Disney World are often actively at-odds with one another. I have had several conversations with people internally who have vented about this dynamic, as bureaucracy, in-fighting, and everyone trying to justify their own existence makes it difficult to get things done.

It’s been a few years now, but I’ve specifically had these conversations regarding retro merchandise. I can assure you that there’s no nefarious big-picture plan to milk fans by monetizing nostalgia via merchandise while doing nothing (or, in some cases, the opposite) with the actual substance of the parks.

To the contrary, the nostalgic merchandise is the fruits of passionate people on these product teams, many of whom are fellow fans, fiercely advocating to get this stuff on store shelves. (I’d hazard a guess that it’s gotten easier as sales numbers start to speak for themselves.) They are often trying to will into existence changes that they’d like to see happen, and think they’re doing their part in fighting the good fight, so to speak.

This is typically true of creatives, more generally, as a similar dynamic exists in Imagineering. It’s perhaps even more true with graphic and merchandise designers, some of whom have been plucked out of the fandom and hired by Disney to produce these products in-house. You don’t even need to take my word for this–go to the 2027 EPCOT Festival of the Arts and talk to some of the artists. Most of them are fans themselves, making the art and designs that they’d personally like to purchase.

Suffice to say, I can understand the cynicism around merchandising, especially since it’s often unaligned with actual attractions and the in-park offerings. But the underlying explanation for that isn’t some concerted, duplicitous strategy. It is more accurately somewhere between one hand not knowing what the other is doing and the bar for getting merchandise greenlit being lower than investing hundreds of millions of dollars on new attractions.

Disney Could Sell More Figment Merchandise

The other obvious flaw in the logic of merchandise being sufficient and giving Disney the ability to ‘have its cake and eat it too’ is that casual guests will not buy souvenirs featuring characters they dislike or don’t know, or from attractions they did not like, or did not experience in the first place.

The current Journey Into Imagination has low guest satisfaction scores relative to other rides of its kind. It’s no secret that even as diehard Figment faithful, we dislike the current incarnation of the ride. It made our lists of the 10 Worst Attraction Replacements at Walt Disney World and 10 Attractions That Have Aged Poorly at Walt Disney World.

We’ve routinely remarked that first-timers confuse Figment for a Spyro the Dragon knock-off, which is really only a half-joke. This character could and should be the mascot of EPCOT, becoming bona fide Park IP that spawns streaming shows, movies, and more. The only reason Journey Into Imagination hasn’t become Pirates of the Caribbean or Haunted Mansion is because Disney bungled it.

The fact is that, even though some kids still like the current version of the ride (our daughter being one of them!), it generally does not perform well. Everything from guest reviews to satisfaction scores to wait times all bear this out.

If these guests don’t like the ride, it stands to reason that they are not buying the merchandise. Again, even as a diehard Figment fan, I purchase less than I would if Journey Into Imagination were actually good. It just feels ‘off’ to visibly support something that’s currently so bad. But I’m possibly the only Figment fan who feels this way, judging by what everyone else is wearing.

Suffice to say, even as Figment merchandise sells well among the diehard old-school fans, there’s still a tremendous amount of untapped potential with casual guests and first-timers. If I were an executive reviewing these results, I wouldn’t be saying “mission accomplished” or satisfied about having and eating my cake.

I’d view this as a problem in need of fixing. I’d be mortified by the money that is clearly being left on the table and openly questioning all of the other positive downstream effects of reimagining the ride. This is not a success story; it’s one of squandered potential.

Here are more photos of the Figment merchandise currently available in the Journey Into Imagination gift shop as of 2026:

Imagination’s Untapped Potential

This problem of squandered potential extends far beyond merchandise. The current attraction and Imagination pavilion as a whole are underutilized. The ride routinely is a walk-on or has an actual wait time of under 5 minutes. The theater has been showing the Pixar shorts for an embarrassingly long time. These Lightning Lanes are worthless, and no one is buying Multi-Pass on their basis.

On several occasions, Disney leadership has expressed a desire to increase capacity of the parks by reimagining areas that are currently underused. There are several such spots in EPCOT, but aside from Wonders of Life, I can’t think of any that have as much potential for absorbing more crowds as the Imagination Pavilion. Even without actual expansion, there’s so much untapped potential with the Imagination pavilion.

The success of Test Track 3.0 since its reimagining has demonstrated the fruits of this approach. Same goes for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring the Muppets, and more.

Ultimately, Figment is more popular than in decades. Just look at all of the merchandise that there is as of 2026! He sells popcorn buckets, bubble wands, sweaters, and everything else. Reimagining Journey Into Imagination would sell even more souvenirs, to first-timers who would suddenly “get” the appeal of the character. Figment merchandise is already a license to print money for Disney, but a reimagined ride would be an even bigger license for much more money.

Not only that, but an attraction or complete pavilion overhaul would generate goodwill among WDW diehards and forge new fans in the process. Figment would become the face and mascot of the new-look EPCOT, elevating the otherwise underwhelming central spine in the process. It would increase capacity by improving utilization, and it would also help sell more Lightning Lanes in the process. All of this is a win not just for fans, but also for the company.

Recapturing that lost magic and spirit of imagination would have the same impact today as it did decades ago, which is why so many of us are still Figment fans. Walt Disney World has done enough dipping its toes into the pool to test the popularity of Figment. It’s beyond time for a redone ride. It’s a problem that this didn’t happen years ago, and demonstrates a failure of imagination by previous leadership in envisioning all of the upsides. Here’s hoping Josh D’Amaro is willing to dream big, and announces an Imagination overhaul at the 2026 D23 Expo.

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Your Thoughts

Have you bought any of the new merchandise in the Journey Into Imagination gift shop that’s debuted in 2026? What do you think of the retro designs featuring Figment, Dreamfinder and old school EPCOT Center? Thoughts on Figment or anything else discussed here? Agree or disagree with my assessment? Any questions? Hearing from you is half the fun, even when your opinion ‘opposes’ ours, so please share your thoughts in the comments!