Disney Park Mandate: Guests Now Need Special Pass to Buy Some Merch

Guests will now need a special pass to get into one Disney Park gift shop.

It doesn’t matter if you’re at Magic Kingdom Park or Tokyo Disney Resort: lines are an inevitable part of every Disney Parks day.

However, while everyone expects to wait in line for classic attractions such as Space Mountain, Tower of Terror, or Pirates of the Caribbean, as well as newer additions like TRON Lightcycle / Run and Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, sometimes queues pop up in the most unexpected places.

A vibrant scene at a theme park featuring a large castle with blue turrets under a cloudy sky. In the foreground, a statue of a person holding hands with a cartoon mouse overlooks a bustling crowd of visitors. Lush greenery and flags decorate the surroundings. — Credit: Chris Czlapka, Flickr

In the past, we’ve seen guests wait as long as four hours to say goodbye to Santa Stitch on his last day of meet-and-greets at Disneyland Paris, while in 2022, parkgoers infamously squeezed into a six-hour line to try and get their hands on a Figment popcorn bucket (which subsequently sold for hundreds of dollars on eBay) at Walt Disney World Resort’s EPCOT.

Earlier this year, an even more horrifyingly long line formed at Shanghai Disneyland. Some guests waited eight hours to try and secure new Duffy and Friends merchandise (which wields an incredibly passionate fanbase in Disney’s Asian parks) in March, with the situation growing so chaotic that some reportedly fainted, and security was called in to regain control.

Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse, the iconic Disney characters, are standing together in front of a charming station building at Disneyland. Mickey is wearing his classic red shorts and yellow shoes, while Minnie is in her red polka-dot dress and matching bow. — Credit: Hong Kong Disneyland

While they may not have hit eight hours, enthusiasm for newly released merch has generated similarly stressful lines in the past. This has led Disney to occasionally introduce new crowd control measures, just as has happened this week at Hong Kong Disneyland.

As per the Hong Kong Disneyland website, standby passes will be issued for the park’s Center Street Boutique starting tomorrow.

Starting from September 4, 2024, designated Hot Buys Of The Day will be available for purchase at Center Street Boutique for guests who have obtained the applicable Disney Standby Pass.

These passes will be for specific purchases and, like all other forms of Disney Standby Pass, accessible for free via the Hong Kong Disneyland app.

A parent and child are riding in flying elephant-themed cars on a Dumbo the Flying Elephant amusement ride. The ride features large, colorful elephants with spread ears suspended in the air against a backdrop of a carousel and greenery. — Credit: Hong Kong Disneyland

The goal of these passes is presumably to minimize a situation like the eight-hour line at Shanghai Disneyland. When “hot” new merchandise releases drop, guests will need to present a valid Standby Pass to make their purchase.

While these passes are free, they are limited. According to Disney, guests will need to “present your and the registered members’ park tickets or membership cards for checking at the queue entrance of the registered experience or activity or upon payment of the merchandise purchase, as applicable.” Unlike a Lightning Lane, this also doesn’t provide a shortcut to the front of the line.

Playhouse in the Woods at World of Frozen — Credit: Disney

Standby Passes are available 30 minutes after the theme park opens each day. Guests must be inside Hong Kong Disneyland to secure their pass.

At present, the only other location requiring a Standby Pass at Hong Kong Disneyland is Playhouse in the Woods – the interactive show in the park’s freshly opened World of Frozen area (check out our review here). Hosted by Anna and Elsa, this takes place within Arendelle Forest and allows guests to “play a part in the story, and discover your connection to the elemental spirits.”

Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse, dressed in colorful regal outfits, stand on a beautifully decorated platform adorned with pink and blue floral designs. They are waving to the audience in Disney's new land, with a rocky background behind them. — Credit: Tokyo Disney Resort

Tokyo Disney Resort also boasts its own Standby Pass system, most recently used to allocate spaces in Tokyo DisneySea’s new land, Fantasy Springs. Guests hoping to ride Anna and Elsa’s Frozen Journey, Rapunzel’s Lantern Festival, Peter Pan’s Never Land Adventure, and Fairy Tinker Bell’s Busy Buggies can either purchase Premier Access or secure a free Standby Pass.

Both options are limited and can only be secured once inside the park on a first-come, first-served basis. This has led some dedicated parkgoers to wait outside the gates from as early as 2 a.m.

Alternatively, guests can purchase a Fantasy Springs Magic Passport, which is only accessible to those with a Fantasy Springs Hotel reservation and starts at 22,900 yen ($146 USD) per person (on top of the hundreds you’ll need to pay for a room and theme park ticket).

What’s the longest line you’ve ever waited in at a Disney park?