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.
Two 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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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 see it from both sides. People who can’t fly to Disney and want to pay someone to get it for them, and also the people who can’t stand to see the items fly off the shelves after they’ve waited in long lines. The ONLY thing that would fix this is for Disney to sell all their park merch on the website. That would take away the market for the Ebay pirates, and people could purchase online instead of sending someone to the park for them.
Pretty pathetic society we have become. eBay and other sites should ban the sale over copyright. Society is sick.
I was there. The line was crazy!!! I have never seen so many people at Epcot. The lines were long for everything. It was like Christmas crowds this past week in all parks. January is supposed to be slow. But I guess everyone had postponed previous dates due to Covid and we all decided to go in January hoping it would be less crowded. Lol. Jokes on us. Still had a fabulous time
Currently those popcorn buckets are priced at 110-150- Yea I’d stare daggers too at those who took more than 3 or 4, especially if it meant I paid over 8k to go and didn’t get one because they ran out 4 people ahead of me. Otherwise this is always a crazy time for WDW and love it but had to stop attending it was so busy. Love your blogs and thanks for all of the info.
While Disney can certainly do more, they have done one thing that has helped: putting more “park” items for sale at shopDisney. There are Batuu items in particular that SW fans who can’t afford a trip would have to get on eBay. Instead, if you’re fast and lucky, you can get them direct from Disney at the sticker price, maybe even free shipping. Now they need to more to prevent bots from scooping them up.
Waited one hour for two buckets on Saturday. The weather was nice and the CM’s were pleasant. I’ve waited longer for a ride (Frozen, ROTR, Remy) it wasn’t awful.
eBay prices are falling faster than Chicken Littles sky. $49 is the lowest price I had seen and I actually would have paid, maybe $30 for one that day, but not now. Heck, some kids might even get scared by the bucket and I might find one in the trash. Tom and Sarah, have you ever thought about doing a post on Celebration? Lots of comments and reviews on other sites. Interesting place for those who have never been there.
Hi Adam,
It was limited to 2 buckets per customer – or at least it was when I asked.
We had randomly chosen Friday as our “EPCOT” day, completely unaware of the existence of the Figment Bucket of Popcorn (FBP).
I stopped to ask three different people waiting in the line what they were all waiting for. Couldn’t trust my ears when I heard the first two say it was for a commemorative FBP. Figured that maybe it came with a free, lifetime supply of the stuff? Nope. $25 each for up to two buckets of popcorn per customer.
The line was nuts – haven’t seen THAT many people waiting to flee a country! I figured that pretty much everyone in the line must be either AP holders, Florida residents or both… Can’t imagine that very many infrequent EPCOT guests would want to spend their EPCOT DAY waiting in line for popcorn. As an infrequent guest myself, if I REALLY wanted that Bucket I would have been happy to pay someone else a premium for theirs. Spent those 5 hours instead on Test Track, FEA, Mission Space, Soarin’ Remy, etc.
Wow amazing how people will pay all that money to get into a park only to wait all day in line to spend more money on a plastic toy. I should have opened a theme park, incredible ! Price of entry + price of your time / vacation / memories + price of item = value of the object that thousands of other have ? Is it made of 24 my gold ? Come on people
My wife and I were there at 10:30 and saw the long line. No way we’re we going to spend that much time in a line for a popcorn bucket. Our time is more valuable than that! We ended up in Mexico, had a beverage and nachos before heading out. The crowds were getting huge and the place was getting crowded. We asked several people who had 4 or more buckets what their intentions were. All of the replies were “For the grandkids”. I have seen the many on eBay and can’t help to think that someday they might be $25. Maybe some of the re-sellers are those who don’t want to work a regular job, but will waste that kind of time to grab as many as they can for a fast buck. It only cheats those who don’t get one. There was one guy that bought two and gave one to a single person in line. Great guy! Are the buckets still available or did they sell out? I like the comment by Charity where she suggested that Disney sell them with an app. Can you eat cereal out of these or will they leak?
Is it just 1 per customer? If so, I don’t mind the ebayers. What someone chooses to do with their own bucket is their prerogative. I do have a problem if 1 person is buying 20 buckets, depriving others ultimately of a chance to buy one.
So what’s the percentage of people who love Figment, love Figment popcorn buckets, love popcorn buckets period and Ebay resellers? Just curious.
Charity – Your souvenir was a memory from your trip and your partners determination to get you something that had meaning to you is certainly not a waste of effort. You should have no guilt on either count. Now those hoarding buckets to make a buck (or a few bucks), that should engender some guilt. If folks want to buy a Figment souvenir to take home and enjoy they should do so. But grabbing huge quantities for profit while others who truly want one may not be able to get one, just wrong.
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