EPCOT’s Longest Line is for Figment Popcorn Buckets
Exactly one month ago, the 2022 Epcot Festival of the Arts kicked off and was completely overshadowed by the Figment Popcorn Bucket. Pop Eats booth waits eclipsed 5 hours, the line literally snaked all around Future World, and eBay pirate prices ranged from a few hundred dollars to almost $1,000. (Updated February 14, 2022.)
The story was so big it spilled over from the Walt Disney World fan community into “real life,” making national headlines and prompting a lot of confused reactions. “Who is that Barney knock-off and why is he so popular?!” Yadda yadda yadda, now the whole world loves Figment, and is demanding that this “dope dinosaur” get a reimagined attraction and his own Disney+ show. It checks out.
One month later, a lot has changed as the Figment Popcorn Bucket is once again back in stock–and this time, it’s available via a virtual queue (of sorts) as part of My Disney Experience’s Mobile Order feature. That means no line, or at least, not much of one for those who buy this sought-after souvenir.
As of today (February 14, 2022), the next shipment of Figment Popcorn Buckets has arrived at Epcot and Walt Disney World has mercifully modified the process of buying one. For the first time (and hopefully not the last), the company is using Mobile Order via the My Disney Experience app to do a controlled and smoother merchandise release.
Here’s a look at the process, which begins with starting a Mobile Order–like you would for lunch at a counter service restaurant:
At present, you should spot “EPCOT Souvenir Release” as the first option in the Mobile Order list for Epcot. It even has a Figment Popcorn Bucket icon, so it should be easy enough to find.
From there, it’s pretty straightforward. Walt Disney World has clearly just repurposed the counter service meal template for this, so it’s a bit redundant, but we are not complaining. This is way, way easier than before!
From there, you can add 1 or 2 to your cart. You’ll get an “Item Not Added – Only 2 of this item per order allowed” error message if attempting to purchase more. This is good to see, but it’s unclear whether you could circumvent this by placing multiple, separate orders–hopefully not.
After that, you complete the checkout as normal. Even though this is merchandise, no Annual Passholder or Disney Vacation Club discounts are available.
Upon completing the purchase, guests are instructed to return to the World ShowPlace Pavilion between the United Kingdom and Canada pavilions during their return window in order to pick up their Figment Popcorn Bucket(s).
We didn’t complete the process ourselves as we’re not in Florida at the moment, but by all accounts on social media, it’s problem-free. That should be the case, as World ShowPlace is colossal, as anyone knows who visited the venue for the “Taste of” festivals that ran last year. (It’s even home to what are likely the biggest bathrooms at Walt Disney World.)
Here’s hoping that Walt Disney World utilizes this Mobile Order system for future high-demand merchandise releases. I worry that they learned the wrong “lesson” from all of those headlines about long lines for the Figment Popcorn Bucket (FOMO is a stronger consumer motivator than fear of long lines, it would seem), so don’t be surprised if the same scenario plays out for the first ‘drop’ of popular collectibles in the future.
Speaking of which, what follows is our original story about long lines for the Figment Popcorn Bucket during opening day of the 2022 Epcot Festival of the Arts…
I don’t even remember the last time Walt Disney World had a wait time exceeding 5 hours. Maybe Avatar Flight of Passage during the week of Christmas two years ago? Test Track that same New Year’s Eve? Or perhaps we’d have to go back further, for the opening of Millennium Falcon Smugglers Run or Slinky Dog Dash?
I’m relatively confident that no attraction has had an actual wait time of 5 hours or longer post-reopening, and I doubt any have even had posted wait times of 300 minutes or more. In looking at data, the worst posted wait was for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance on Christmas Eve, when it hit 280 minutes.
It thus might come as a surprise that the new “crown” for the longest line at Walt Disney World in at least the last two years is now held by Figment. Not only that, but he claimed that crown during a winter weekday in January for the kickoff of the 2022 Epcot International Festival of the Arts.
It wasn’t the ride version of Figment that drew record crowds at Walt Disney World. To the contrary, Journey into Imagination averaged only a 14 minute wait throughout the day. Rather, it was the $25 Figment Premium Popcorn Bucket with Rainbow Popcorn sold at the Pop Eats Food Studio.
The line for this popcorn bucket was multiple hours long as of Early Entry, and only got worse from there. For us, this wasn’t a total surprise. In fact, the commentary to our 2022 Epcot Festival of the Arts Food Booth Menus predicted that the line for the Figment popcorn bucket would surpass even Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure.
That wasn’t hyperbole or a lucky guess–we’ve been down this road before.
A few years ago, an Orange Bird sipper debuted at the Epcot Flower & Garden Festival and drew massive lines. As popular as that character is with diehard Walt Disney World fans, he’s got nothing on Figment. We fully expected a multi-hour line for this popcorn bucket.
With that said, even we could not have foreseen that it would be this long of a line.
Judging by the reactions of managers at Epcot, they also were not fully prepared for the crowds that would come out for the Figment popcorn bucket. (To their credit, Cast Members rose to the challenge of keeping the line organized–they did a great job of controlling the chaos.)
At its longest, the line stretched back to the Epcot Experience, going down the walkway pictured above, past the side of Test Track (by the Donut Box), along the side of Creations Shop, snaking up and down the walkway to World Showcase before winding back towards Journey into Imagination, and then up the path towards the Culinary Corridor where the Pop Eats Food Studio was located.
That’s probably difficult to visualize, so here’s a quick time lapse from near the end of the line to the Pop Eats area:
A quick look at the 4-5 hour line for the Figment popcorn bucket at the 2022 Epcot Festival of the Arts. pic.twitter.com/lERUoT8UJL
– Disney Tourist Blog (@DisTouristBlog) January 15, 2022
Essentially, the line wound around the entire south half of Future World, taking up any walkway space that was available and wouldn’t impede crowd flow.
The wait time peaked in early afternoon, with Cast Members quoting the wait time as being around 8 hours at that point.
We asked a number of guests who bought the popcorn bucket how long they actually waited, and 4 hours was about the average. The longest we heard was 5 hours.
Small victory, I guess? If my actual wait time was 3 hours less than the ‘posted’ wait time, I’d presumably be pretty pleased. Plus, there are no ulterior motives for wait time inflation here, as it’s not like Disney is using the posted wait time to sell Lightning Lane access. Yet!
In any case, the line died down later in the afternoon (you can vaguely see the ‘end of line’ Cast Member in the photo above). It was eventually all contained in the general area of the Culinary Corridor, at which point it was probably only a couple hours.
We didn’t keep close tabs on it at night (there was a lot to do aside from “line stalking”), but I’m curious how long those who jumped in line towards the end of the evening waited.
If you’re going to the 2022 Epcot Festival of the Arts this or any weekend, expect multi-hour waits for the Figment popcorn bucket. A lot of locals can’t just drop everything and take weekdays off work, so it could be equally as bad today.
That’s what happened with the Orange Bird sipper. It was just as busy the first weekend, then saw spikes after 5 pm on subsequent weekdays, but otherwise wasn’t too bad. Then again, that wasn’t as popular and it was released only a couple weeks before the parks closed, so it’s a bit of an apples to Orange Birds comparison.
We did not wait in the multi-hour line for the Figment popcorn bucket. We also do not resent those who did–how you spend your time is your prerogative. It’ll likely be a fun memory and story you can tell years from now when looking at the popcorn bucket on your bookshelf, coffee table, or wherever one displays popcorn buckets.
We still hope to acquire the Figment popcorn bucket. Our plan at this point is the same one we’d recommend to anyone else: line up in mid-afternoon (before 5 pm) on a non-holiday weekday, ideally in a week or so after the initial rush is over. The only risk with this–and it’s a big one–is that the same inventory issues that have plagued other merchandise will also cause this to come in and out of stock.
I did manage to hold and photograph the Figment Premium Popcorn Bucket with Rainbow Popcorn (if that counts for anything?). I’m far from a popcorn bucket expert, but I was impressed by the design and details; it’s more elaborate and better-built than I expected.
Big thanks to our friends at the Lost Bros for letting us photograph their Figment!
Unsurprisingly, social media has been full of hot takes and memes about the lengthy line for a popcorn bucket. A lot of the latter are hilarious, good-natured and poking fun at the absurdity of it all in a lighthearted way.
By contrast, a lot of the hot takes skewed more towards mean-spirited, as people who sit on social media all day unironically posted about it being a waste of time. Of course, there was the obligatory discussion of eBay pirates, as well.
For its part, this blog has poked plenty of fun at eBay pirates. I’ve also said on a number of occasions that the onus is ultimately on Disney to fix this–the company could tighten up policies if they viewed resellers as a legitimate problem. They don’t, so they haven’t. At least, not until recently–but the real motivation there is supply chain shortages resulting in empty shelves, not eBay pirates.
Also at fault are the people who buy merchandise at inflated prices from these resellers. If they’re truly so problematic, surely Walt Disney World fans wouldn’t want to perpetuate their existence by feeding the beast.
This almost certainly isn’t going to be a popular opinion. It would be a lot easier to join everyone grabbing their pitchforks, as eBay pirates are an easy and convenient villain.
To be sure, I certainly wish these resellers would fade away of their own accord. They do leave a bad taste in my mouth, both seeing their huge hauls and having witnessed some of their behavior on merchandise release days. They can make for an unpleasant experience for casual guests, and they are a bad look for the company.
I’m also a realist who recognizes the reality that these eBay pirates do not exist in a vacuum. They won’t ever go away until the company institutes tough policies cracking down on them or fans resist the temptation to buy overpriced merchandise on the secondary market.
There’s also the reality that these folks are not exactly Martin Shkreli and a Figment popcorn bucket isn’t quite “essential.” (I’m still not quite sure what purpose popcorn buckets serve once taken home, but I’m pretty sure they’re not a necessity…if so, I’m in trouble!) There are plenty of other souvenirs to buy.
On a random note, I do “admire” the swagger…or perhaps swashbuckling attitude…of anyone who carries around multiple pieces of popular merchandise on days like this one. Walking through the crowd, you could just see the eyes shooting daggers at anyone with two or more Figment popcorn buckets. Maybe these eBay pirates actually feed off the haters?!
While I’m dispensing with the random thoughts, days like this also remind me that I’m not as much of a diehard as I might think. I’ve been a Figment fan for decades (cheesy as it sounds, he’s literally the character who sparked my imagination and lifelong love of Disney), still have Figment items from my childhood, and have spent 15 years building my collection. Yet, I wouldn’t wait 4-6 hours for this popcorn bucket and thousands of other Figment fans would. I’m not upset that others are more dedicated–it’s awesome to see so many passionate fans of Figment!
Ultimately, the Figment Premium Popcorn Bucket with Rainbow Popcorn was an even bigger hit than anticipated. Setting aside the absurdity of the line, ethics of eBay pirates, and our failure to acquire one, I’m actually quite heartened to see Figment drawing such a huge line.
This proves that Figment still has serious popularity, drawing power, and merchandising potential. If there’s one thing that catches the attention of the modern Disney company, it’s money. I’m not naive enough to think this one little popcorn bucket means a new Journey into Imagination will be greenlit imminently (I’ve gotten my hopes up for nothing too many times in the past), but it’s certainly a positive for the longevity of the character and his future prospects. One little announcement at this year’s D23 Expo could undo a lot of damage and restore goodwill lost over the last couple of years, too…
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YOUR THOUGHTS
Will you be buying the Figment popcorn bucket? How long would you wait in line for this–or how long did you wait in line for it? Were you at the first day of the 2022 Epcot International Festival of the Arts? Planning on attending this weekend? Thoughts on Figment or anything else discussed here? What are you looking forward to trying at the Food Studio booths? Any questions? Hearing from you is half the fun, so please share your thoughts in the comments!
I went the first day, waited 2 hours and received my 2 buckets. I saw multiple people walk out out with large bags full of buckets or table tops full of them, they are a disgrace. Disney doesn’t care they get their money.
My initial thought when seeing your time lapse was, “Good! That means there are that many fewer people in line for rides!”
Literally took a picture of a guy with 6 of them walking through beach club on his way out. Also day two the line is max 2 hours. The demand is already dying down
I’d have to get the spork to go with it!
wondering if some of those people carrying more than two buckets around brought spouses and or children with them and each person in their party got two.
Idiotic. So you spend over 100 to get in park to spend half your time waiting for a popcorn bucket. You get let’s say two, one to keep one to eBay. You sell it for 200. So you lost half a day…that’s 50.00 plus the 25.00. Your profit is 125, divided by 6. Approximately 20.00/hour. I’d say not worth it
People are insane.
Tom your description of how you love Figment and not willing to spend the time in line for the popcorn bucket echos my thoughts about me versus the Star Wars Starcruiser. I don’t need to drop 6k for a two night stay to prove my fandom
As for the popcorn bucket we’re definitely going to try to get one on a random weekday and if it’s sold out oh well. In fact we’ll grab two in case someone we know wants one.
Doesn’t Disney limit the number of buckets you can purchase?
There was supposedly a limit of 2 per person. I have a hard time believing that was enforced given the numbers I saw some people carrying.
to those that were in line purely for their own enjoyment and to have a personal figment bucket, you do you. i love figment but not 7 hours waiting love. i’d be busy elsewhere.
to those that were in line purely for reselling purposes, it’s so gross. it makes me feel so uncomfortable whenever i see that, at Disney or elsewhere. makes me think of the guy that stocked up on all the hand sanitizer and wipes at the beginning of the pandemic and tried to inflate online prices. i echo tom’s comments of “do not feed the pirates”.
to disney… there’s got to be another way to handle something like this. multiple locations to purchase or something. hats off to the cms for controlling the chaos. i read a large number of comments from people yesterday saying they actually wanted other items from that stand, but obviously weren’t waiting for them, so disney missed out on other sales. were they putting a cap on number of buckets one person could buy like they’ve done in the past?
“to disney… there’s got to be another way to handle something like this. multiple locations to purchase or something.”
Cynically, whenever something predictable and avoidable like this happens, I question whether Disney wanted the spectacle of a long line. This was trending on Twitter, gained media attention, and was essentially free advertising.
Perhaps Disney should also put a limit of one per quest. Also maybe institute a serving number… system to prevent line jumping. No number, no purchase. Even watching vlogs and streamers you could see the holding my place in line thing happening. They know it is against the rules, but they do it. All this does is to encourage other people to think that it is okay.
Loyal readers know about your love for Figment. Promise us that if there ever is an announcement about his restoration, you will let Sarah video your ear to ear grin and possible blubbering as the news sinks in,..
LOL! I will make no such promise. Wouldn’t want to ruin my reputation as a bigtime tough guy. 😉
In the beginning of March 2014 I waited in a 5+ hour line at Epcot with my 4 year old daughter to meet Anna and Elsa. This was in the very beginning of their meet and greet at the Norway Pavilion. There were no “magic doors” and you got to meet both of them at the same time. The first day of our vacation, we went to Epcot (it was my daughter’s number 1 wish for the trip) and waited about 3 hours. I finally gave up because we were missing out on so much more right at the beginning of our trip. But the last day before we flew home, we pivoted and decided to make the meet and greet our only goal for the day. Posted wait was something like 6 hours. In actuality, we ended up waiting about 4 1/2. She made friends with the other children in line, they all played together with her miniature Frozen dolls, sang songs, etc. I relied on the kindness of strangers to hold our place in line for bathroom breaks and beverage / snack purchases. Needless to say, the pictures from that day are some of my most precious souvenirs ever. It’s one of my most memorable Disney experiences and a day I’ll treasure for the rest of my life.
That’s a great story and sounds like an excellent memory!
I remember when that line was initially bonkers. If I recall correctly, it was a similar situation over at Magic Kingdom when Frozen first came out.
I really really want one, but I also love Festival of the Arts and wouldn’t want to waste so much time that could be spent enjoying the festival. Since we don’t live in Orlando, we only get one weekend there and never feel like it’s enough time. I’m also not under the illusion that this will still be available by the time we get down there mid-February unless it’s out of stock for a significant amount of time and we luck into being there for the restock.
I am hoping this is like the Orange Bird sipper, which not only got restocked but then they also did a second version the next year (and I imagine will continue doing so). That’s where I draw the line. I’ll buy one version of an item that’s practically useless outside the parks, but not the annual version with slight tweaks. And as someone a little too obsessed with Disney merch, I’ve realized a lot of the super popular stuff becomes cyclical. Just look at the Minnie Mouse Main Attraction collection, which will this year be the Mickey Mouse Main Attraction collection with the exact same rides and style. But the good news there is hopefully if you’re unable to get version 1, version 2 will be here before we know it. I got the Orange bird sipper 2.0 after missing out on the first one (with like a 5 minute line). Hopefully the same is true for the Figment popcorn bucket (which sadly I think Disney will see is the easiest way to profit off of our Figment love than redoing the ride).
It’s also funny because when I was there over the holidays, the Figment gift shop had a new long sleeved tee that harkened back to Epcot Center days and didn’t look juvenile, unlike a lot of Figment clothing Disney sells. I immediately shrieked and grabbed one and it’s now one of my favorite shirts. No line, no fights with resellers, plenty of availability in all sizes. As much as I love the popcorn bucket, there’s no question which is the better piece of merch. I wonder how many of these Figment fans are aware…
My main concern with this is the other food at Pop Eats and how many guests won’t be willing to stand in line to get the (very delicious) grilled cheese and soup. How much food is going to be wasted by this? If I remember correctly, the Orange Bird sipper was available at the booth that just sold a bunch of citrus recipes that weren’t particularly popular on their own, but Pop Eats usually has a very exciting menu. I think Disney should have either created a separate line or made the popcorn bucket available at multiple booths/all the popcorn stands.
Wow I have more thoughts than I should about this whole situation, so I guess I can’t judge anyone for waiting in this line.
Interesting about the Figment long sleeve shirt. I’ll have to remember to check that out (assuming it’s not already gone) next time we’re in Epcot. We’ve passed through that gift shop countless times in the last couple months, but it’s been ages since I’ve looked at the merchandise–it seems like it has been the same Figment merchandise for like 5 years now.
“Wow I have more thoughts than I should about this whole situation, so I guess I can’t judge anyone for waiting in this line.”
Same here. Before writing this (and at numerous points during it), I told myself to just post the photos with minimal commentary–no one cares what I think of eBay pirates or merchandise lines. It’s an interesting topic!
I’ve just had to Google what ‘figment’ is!
I am guilty of encouraging the ebay pirates. We only get down to WDW 1-2 times per year. I have an extensive Mickey collection, from the 1930’s to now.
One of the things I collect and display are the popcorn buckets. When they come out they are quickly unavailable at the parks.
Perhaps if Disney placed them on shop disney available to all this problem would solve itself?
I also don’t judge anyone who buys from eBay pirates–if something is important to you, go for it. My issue is those who buy from eBay pirates and complain about the pirates.
I’m not sure that putting them on shopDisney would fix this. It seems like there have been problems with bots and high demand items selling out nearly instantly there, too.
“he’s literally the character who sparked my imagination and lifelong love of Disney.”
Same boat here. When we went our family trips when I was a kid we were allowed one souvenir for the vacation. I chose a Figment stuffed animal. After our first trip with my kids, my son discovered him in my parents basement, and he made a resurgence in our household.
Also passing no judgment (everyone should just live their best life), but the idea of waiting this long for some material object is beyond my comprehension. I find it so fascinating the different things people will go all in on.
But what does the rainbow popcorn look like?!?!
I’m not a souvenir popcorn bucket kind of gal – give me the standard bucket for all the $2 refills – but this one is actually really cute. We actually do use our popcorn buckets at home for movie nights.
While I wouldn’t wait 5 hours for a popcorn bucket, I do use our Christmas popcorn bucket as a candy jar at Christmas time. I would love to have a figment bucket but it looks like the average price is 150-200 which is crazy. I wish Disney would just put the Journey Into Imagination ride back the way it was In the beginning. It was my family’s favorite ride at Disney World. Now it’s just a shadow of what it was. Maybe the popcorn bucket madness will spur Disney to ‘fix’ the ride…
If you are going to buy via eBay, I’d definitely wait. The prices you’re seeing now are the initial feeding frenzy and reflect an imbalance of supply and demand. Seeing those prices, more resellers will flood the market with Figment popcorn buckets, which should be easier to acquire next week.
Unless they sell out (for good) quickly, my guess is the average price drops to ~$50 within a couple weeks.
Waiting 8 hours in line after paying $125 for park admission only makes sense if you’re in the re-sale business and you believe you can recover your upfront cost. Personally I don’t understand it.
That assumes the people standing in line bought 1-day tickets to Epcot, which is almost certainly inaccurate. I didn’t survey anyone, but I’m guessing at least 95% were Annual Passholders.
Also, there are currently ~250 Figment popcorn buckets on eBay, which is a small fraction of what was sold. The vast majority of people buying were doing so for personal use.