To Those who buy 100s of Park Merchandise Items....This Rant is for You

Today I heard and read (from multiple reputable sources) that a man was observed in the new Trader Sam's Grotto at the Polynesian resort, buying every single Tiki shirt they had in stock.  I won't post his picture here but they're out on the Interwebs if you want to take a look.

I have so many problems with this, I don't know where to start.

Now, let me start by saying I am not against someone making a buck for themselves on eBay. If you can sell an item to someone else and make a few dollars in the process, go for it. Knock yourselves out.

I am also OK with (most of) the Disney World shopper services that are out there. These are folks who, for a fee, will buy that magnet or bag of candy or toy you've been eyeing in your friend's vacation pictures and mail it to you at home, if you won't be able to come to Disney and get it for yourself. I'm not mad at that, because in most instances the services are just buying an item or two, here or there, for a specific person who's requested it.

What I DO have a problem with is someone buying EVERY SINGLE new Cinderella popcorn bucket they can get their hands on, thus ensuring that no other park visitor gets to have one. I have a problem with someone going into the newest lounge at the Polynesian and buying EVERY SINGLE tee shirt, and even reportedly asking the cast member if they can buy all the shirts in the back supply closet, as well.

Dear Disney World powers-that-be: it's time to crack down. It's now officially out of control.

Disney can and does limit what numbers of items you can purchase at a time with certain items, so there is some precedence for this. For instance, if you want some of the new Pandora charms, you're limited to 3 of each style. Makes sense. It's probably too hard to pick and choose what items will become popular, so it would be easier to instead restrict the number of any merchandise that you can purchase at a single time. Across the board.

The new Grotto has been a much-anticipated part of the remodel over at the Polynesian, and so it stands to reason that the merchandise would be very popular as well.  We've heard reports of people waiting hours to even to go in and get a drink. So why were purchase limits not enacted on the new merchandise?

It's one thing to legitimately run out of a popular item; that happens from time to time and I don't think Disney wants to order 1000s of units on something that *might* be popular. There's only so much inventory you order at a time and when it's gone, it's gone.

But after the brouhaha that was the Elsa dress, Disney should have enacted purchase rules for merchandise. If you'll remember, you either had to be at the park or on the Disney Store website at the *exact* second they restocked the blue Elsa dress, or pay double, even triple its original purchase price on eBay. Guests who wanted to buy one or two dresses weren't even getting a chance, because these people were buying as much as they could get their hands on. Disney eventually went to a purchase limit for the dress, but by that point the "damage" had already been done.

To the man who bought all those shirts - Shame on you. Buy five, ten - heck, even 20 shirts and sell those. There is ZERO reason to buy every single shirt. It's tacky, gross, greedy and lacks basic manners and decorum. (If I'm being honest, the less charitable part of me hopes that he's not able to sell those 100s of shirts for grossly inflated prices. A girl can dream.)

We'll see if new merchandise purchase rules are enacted, but they need to be, and soon. Or else we'll see this same sordid story, over and over again.

What do you think? What do you think Disney should do about those who'd buy every single unit, with the purpose to re-sell them? Leave you comments here or on Facebook/Twitter.