This morning, the Minnie Mouse: The Main Attraction May Tiki Room collection released on shopDisney.
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And fans must have FLOCKED 😉 to the site, because shopDisney announced they were experiencing technical difficulties.
ShopDisney began instituting a virtual waiting room for the Star Wars merchandise release on May the fourth.
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They have used this program to try and control site traffic during popular releases. However, launch day didn’t go so smoothly for the Star Wars merch, because the site was having trouble shortly after the release.
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ShopDisney had a few weeks to iron the kinks out and geared up for another collection launch this morning using the virtual queue.
The virtual queue was already being used 30 minutes prior to the release. The announcement stated we would have 10 minutes to browse and fill our carts.
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We were able to view the items minutes after they released. Sure, we had to refresh individual pages a few times, but compared to our previous experiences with the Main Attraction releases — this time around wasn’t too bad.
However, another one of our team members joined the virtual queue at 10AM and still wasn’t given access an hour later.
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ShopDisney acknowledged the struggle via Twitter stating, “Due to overwhelming interest in today’s release, we’re currently experiencing technical difficulties. We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience as we work with our partners to quickly rectify the situation.”
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So, the virtual queue system seems to be pretty hit or miss. You could be part of the lot who gets in just fine, or you could end up on a virtual queue list with no concept of where you are in line.
We’d love to hear your experience with shopDisney’s new virtual queue and the new collection releases. Did you have trouble? Get in just fine? Let us know in the comments!
Check out a sneak peek of next month’s Minnie Mouse: The Main Attraction Collection here!
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I was able to get into the queue at 10 minutes til release, got the item in my cart, but had to fight the website to check out for OVER AN HOUR! It was a struggle to get to check out, and once there kept getting errors that my payment couldn’t be processed, no matter how I tried to pay. The same experience as last month, and I still was only able to get one item!
I jumped on about 30 minutes before released and got onto the site at 9:58am EST (6:58am PST). Got the backpack added to my cart and to the checkout screen, then for the next hour proceeded to have constant issues. Checkout wasn’t processing, and eventually would kick me back out to my bag. Sometimes it would say it was out of stock, but I kept hitting checkout until it let me go to the payment screen. Finally an hour into the whole ordeal I got it!! I literally cried because this was the only month I cared about with the Minnie Main Attraction. However I have $600 worth of false charges that I now get to clear up with Disney.
Was stuck in the virtual queue for around 20 minutes, was granted access at 10:03 eastern time and what I was trying to order (pin set and ears) were already sold out. After how quickly the collection has sold out in months prior I would think they would try to work with the trend and try to build more stock that could only make them more money. Anyways, I would be fine with these things selling out if I didn’t go on eBay 30 minutes later and see people already reselling these ears starting at $150. Those people make my blood boil because they just want to take advantage of people’s emotions because they may want to buy it for a parent or a child who’s favorite attraction this might be. So they buy these with full intentions of reselling and price gouging. And these people probably do it with every month’s collection where as some people wait and wait for that ONE month where it’s their favorite attraction.
I got on just after 9 CST. After a few tries I was able to add the Minnie mug my daughter wanted to my cart – it kept showing up on the screen, then when I would try to click on it I got the Ralph error screen. Got to the checkout screen roughly 9:15, entered payment info, clicked submit annnnnd blue spinny circle. Made the mistake of refreshing the page and went to the virtual waiting room. Finally checked out around 10:48. Am already dreading doing this again next month.
I got into the site after waiting ten minutes. Then at 10:02 est was when the collection appeared. I also had two other people trying to get this tiki bag for me. I got the bag into my cart and it wouldn’t let me check out. My mom and boyfriend were unable to get the bag either… such a disappointment when you are actually there on time
I waited in the queue for about 15 minutes and was let in at 7:02 PST. I had to refresh the page multiple times before seeing the products pop up about 7:06, then was unable to add to cart because they were already “out of stock”. However, after multiple refreshes, I was able to add a pair of the Minnie ears to my cart at 7:12, but the checkout button wouldn’t work. Clicked it numerously for 45 minutes until finally it said the item was out of stock. Very disappointed with this mornings online shopping experience, and surprised because I’ve had far better experiences in similar situations with other websites. Come on Disney, pull yourself together!
I was lucky to not have waited in the que—however it took me 2+ hours to checkout, as it kept kicking me out during the payment process. At several points the pins we saying out of stock but I just kept hitting refresh and it eventually took it. This was across three different devices 😬. There are several people who tried for 3+ hours and still didn’t get anything.
Logged in prior to 7am PT and never saw the Waiting Room screen. Added the ears, pins, and plush to the cart easy as can be. Just never got past the blue Order Now button.
Tried on the app and hour later and still showed in stock. Hit purchase and nothing. I do have 12 ~$100 charges on my Amex card, tho’.
We were able to (finally) get all the items we were looking for in our bag but after two Howe’s frying to check out were never able to successfully do so. Tiki’s my favorite attraction so this was super disappointing.
There has to be a better way. I hope they get it figured out before next month Peter Pan is my daughter’s fat and I’d really love to bring her some magic✨💙✨🤍✨
I got in right away put the mug in my cart so sooo excited….and than i could not check out!!!! Tried for hours and it would not process my payment just the continuous blue circle. I got the first 3 mugs absolutely no issues and now the last 2 months have been hell. Im having to complete my set from ebay. I have higher expectations for disney. Please fix this issue.
I got in right away put my items in the cart but it would not let me check out. It kept saying the items were sold out but they were not. Then I got kicked into the waiting room. Waited two hours and when I got back in everything was gone.
I feel like my experience was the same as a lot of comments. We got in to the site fine and added Minnie to our cart. Then it took an hour to check out. It took forever than the payment wouldn’t process then it would sit and the blue circle would spin and spin. It is seriously so frustrating. Every month we have gone through the same frustrating experience. Why won’t Disney either fix their site or do a subscription for the rest of the months. That would really take away all this frustration.
I jumped on 15 minutes after the release on my phone. After a few minutes, I decided to log on the computer. I got through the virtual queue within five minutes on the computer while my phone was still waiting until I finally gave up twenty minutes later. It was no trouble to add product to my cart, but the checkout process was no different from the past few months. It took well over an hour for the checkout process to finally go through.
Was stuck in the “waiting room” for quite a while when I was finally able to shop all the pins were gone then when I was able to add the mug to the cart it kept telling me to contact my bank because my card wouldn’t go through. I panicked that my card was hacked, called my bank nothing was wrong. Went back on had to wait in the “waiting room” again. Total process just to buy the new months mug took an hour. Never had this happen with the previous months
I was able to order the mug at 11:00am CST. However, I was disappointed to see how much of this merch was available on eBay with price-gouging by noon our time.
I was on at 8:50 EST on both my phone and computer so I would have everything ready to go for checkout as soon as I added the mug at 10. My computer ended up in the virtual queue for a couple minutes at about 9:40 then never put me back in while my phone never went to the queue! As it was, I found the mug at 10:02 , went to my cart to checkout and I was unable to get to checkout for 5 or so minutes. When I finally got to the checkout, I had to entrer all the information that’s usually saved via my account. I had to switch to the other device to get to the payment! And when that finally worked, I got stuck in a seemingly endless captcha loop. I don’t think I was able to get past that point. What should’ve been a quick transaction caused me to miss out on being able to say goodbye to our guest. I think Disney needs to switch to a preorder process or say that items in your cart are guaranteed for X minutes (and actually allow you to check out). I’ve not been able to get any of the pins because they’ve apparently sold out in the first 2 minutes even if I added it to my cart while it was still in stock. It’s such a shame that a business of this size can’t seem to design a website to manage their worldwide market.
I got into the virtual queue about 10 minutes before 7am PT and wasn’t able to shop online until about 7:10am. My husband joined the virtual queue after me and was able to shop before me… WTF that was not cool. The ears and backpack were out of stock within the first few minutes. I was able to get the backpack and mug into my cart and it took forever to check out. When my order finally went through after almost an hour, the backpack wasn’t on my my order and I was only charged for the mug. I have tried for the past three months and was only able to buy the mug each time. It makes me so upset that minutes after, this stuff is already on EBay for hundreds of dollars and people price gouge to make some extra money when they don’t even want the product themselves. Disney should ban these people from using their site. Not sure how they do that but they need to do something. This has been an awful experience every month which is sad for me to say because I love the Disney brand and truly want to own these special release items for myself. Disney should really consider making more quantities of each item
Tried to buy the ears cuz it was my favorite attraction. Got into my cart. Wouldn’t let me checkout. Refreshed and then I was in the virtual waiting room for over an hour
I got plush Minnie and pins took about 20 minutes. Better this time for me. Last month it took me 6 hours to get a plush.
This was the only month that I have cared/REALLY wanted some of the Minnie Collection also, as the Tiki Room is one of my absolute favorites. Was in the virtual cue prior to 7:00, at one point actually had 3 items in my cart but it would never let me check out. It went from one item disappearing to a totally empty cart, to 2 items there but would never let me pay. Another Disney disappointment this year after our canceled trip. Congrats to anyone who actually got anything; I don’t understand how you did it. Doesn’t seem like a fair system; I really needed a pick-me-up. 😔
Same! I somehow got lucky enough that the que let me in at 10am est on the dot. I couldn’t find the merch for several minutes. When I finally got the backpack in my cart it said sold out but I kept clicking checkout because someone said they’d had the same but got through. I had to input all my payment info which should have been saved. It wouldn’t accept my info for whatever reason so I “corrected” it several times. When I finally got to submit the thing spun for 21 minutes then kicked me all the way back to the virtual waiting room! I tried again but added more stuff because why not, LOL. I never got to checkout again but somehow I have a charge on my card for the larger cart load…but on ShopDisney it shows no transaction information. So guess I’ll be on the line like 500,000 other people getting the charges removed. It should be preorder because this is ridiculous and bots are taking advantage of this situation.
I had the same experience last month for Star Wars merchandise. I was on right on time but couldn’t check out and it said the credit card info was wrong. After several hours we refreshed and finally got a few items ordered. I was able to get in by clicking a link in my email and bypassed the queue somehow and got the rest of the items that had showed as sold out. Be aware that items shipped in several.orders and the tracking numbers didn’t always match the info on the order. All in all a frustrating and sloppy process!
I got on at 10:02 am Eastern time and waited in virtual que less than 10 minutes. I added the mug to my cart and then couldn’t check out. Hitting the check out button did nothing. Same problem on my laptop and my husbands laptop. Then my husband got on his ShopDisney app on his new I phone and after a few tries was able to buy it. It took 25 minutes in all. I have a theory that the new iPhones work better with the app than with older phones or the website.
I guess I was lucky. I forgot about the launch, then saw on Twitter that people were having issues. So, at about 11:15am EST I tried the site to see if anything was left, I got in right away, added the Minnie Mouse plush to my cart & checked out with no problems. It is weird and doesn’t seem to make sense. I was reading on social media right before I went online that everything was sold out. However I got the confirmation e-mail from Shop Disney and should receive the plush In about 12 days.
it was a fiasco, got all the items into the cart but couldnt checkout, then an hour later, they were gone.
they need to change this whole process, one problem is they are making these things way too limited, what are they doing only producing 20? thats ridiculous, why even bother at all!!!! next month I am for sure not even going to try, its a waste of effort and time and too much of a fight in their lousy site. you go through all that work and then they are sold out after 10min….disney if you cant create products that are widely available this limited stuff is a joke….you could have made so much more money.
I had problems with the Data Key and This months Minnie pins and didn’t end up with either. The Key debacle lasted all day and I actually got to the checkout page multiple times, waited in line multiple times and never got a key. By the time I was able to get in for the Minnie Pins the pins were sold out, I couldn’t even search for them. In previous months I have had issues at checkout but was always able to get the item eventually once it was successfully in my cart. This month was a no go both times and I’m pretty disappointed with both of my losses.
I was on the website early as well for the Tiki Room Minnie collection. Got into the site fine and had all the items in my cart but could not check out no matter how I tried. Chat was not available and when I called the message told me to call back later!!! I work nights and set an alarm to get up to try to get these things only to end up with nothing. Even though the items were in my cart when it finally decided to let me check out it said the items were sold out. Super frustrating
I got into the online que 2 minutes before release time. Only spent about 10 minutes there before I could shop. Got the 2 items I wanted into my cart and went to check out. 45 minutes of waiting for it to go through I was kicked out and it popped up that I would need to relog in. And when I did I was back in the waiting que. Which I spent about another hour waiting and what I wanted was already gone.
I had the same problems as everyone else and am NOT going through that again! I’ll wait to hear what steps Disney has taken to address the issues, and in the meantime I’ll just enjoy all the pictures on EBay (obviously not buying). So frustrating…
You have NO idea how upset I was with the Star Wars release. I had the Empire Strikes Back shirt and 2 keys in my cart. I fought for over 45 min just trying to check out to no avail. These releases are SO disappointing. I now see the things I wanted to purchase being price gouged on Ebay and amazon! This makes me so sick! 300 or even 600 for the shirt, and 80 to 100 for the key. I wish there was a way to stop this. If I didn’t get what I wanted due to a fair system then so be it but May the 4th was a horrible mess!! I love Disney and it’s beyond disappointing when you make sure you are on your game and you loose out to shady ppl.