Disney World’s 50th anniversary celebrations have officially begun!

We’ve already grabbed some new treats, checked out the refillable resort mugs, and grabbed a FREE souvenir. But, there’s still a whole lot more to do. If you’re visiting Disney World right now, just as the 50th Anniversary celebrations start, you might be concerned about long lines for Disney World’s rides, especially given the pretty substantial crowds we’ve seen in the parks. But, the longest lines you’ll face today might not be for the rides at all!

As part of the 50th Anniversary, Disney has released some pretty spectacular merchandise. We’ve seen over 100 NEW items released, including some awesome vintage-looking pieces.

If one of your main 50th Anniversary goals is to snag some of this cool new merchandise, you’re not alone. Early this morning, the lines were LONG for some of the shops in Magic Kingdom. Like, really, really long! You can see how they stretch all the way along one side of Main Street, U.S.A., back toward the Main Street Confectionery.

Today, a Virtual Queue was also established for the 50th Anniversary collection at Big Top Souvenirs. This filled up extremely quickly. We saw a sign indicating it was full at around 7AM ET.

Virtual Queue is already full for the anniversary collection 📲 pic.twitter.com/zjcBFUq3FR

— Disney Food Blog (@DisneyFoodBlog) October 1, 2021

Let’s just say, if you’re planning on visiting Magic Kingdom today, you won’t be alone!

At one point, the line for the Emporium wrapped around Main Street, U.S.A. and essentially went down more than half of the area. When we spoke to a Cast Member at one point, they shared that they were waiting for guests in the physical line to be let into the Emporium before starting a virtual queue for the space. If you’re visiting the parks soon, be sure to look for signs indicating what spots have established virtual queues!

The line for the Confectionery was also quite extensive.

Don’t forget there are some 50th Anniversary candies and sweets you can grab in there!

The line for the Main Street Cinema, where you’ll find Disney’s Vault Collection, went down part of Main Street, U.S.A. and filled Center Street!

Looking to grab pins in Magic Kingdom? One line stretched all the way by the Magic Carpets of Aladdin in Adventureland.

At EPCOT, the lines were pretty significant as well, with a large number of guests waiting to get into the brand new Creations Shop.

Seems like everyone is trying to get their hands on those new 50th Anniversary items!

There were also lines at World Showplace, where some merchandise celebrating Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure was available.

But, it’s not just the traditional merchandise spots where you’ll find long lines. We also found some EXTREMELY long queues already set up in the early morning hours for some of those amazing 50th anniversary popcorn buckets we got a peek at recently.

It’s hard to capture just how long this line was, but suffice it to say, you’ll want to be prepared to wait for a while to grab one of those cute new buckets.

We found some lines at the gift shops at some of Disney World’s Resort Hotels too, though they were significantly smaller than what we spotted in the parks. Here’s a peek at the lines for one of the gift shops at Disney’s Contemporary Resort.

If you’re hoping to grab some 50th anniversary merchandise or popcorn buckets, be prepared to wait in some fairly long lines. If you’re looking to grab these without too much of a wait, you might want to check the stores at Disney World’s resort hotels, as those tend to be less crowded than the stores in the parks themselves. And don’t forget you can grab some 50th merchandise online as well!

We’ll keep an eye out for more details all about Disney World’s 50th Anniversary and we’ll let you know what we find. Stay tuned for more updates!

Click here to see what 50th anniversary merchandise you can get online right now!

Are you planning to visit Disney World soon? Tell us in the comments!