Thousands of Disney Lorcana fans who camped out overnight and waited hours to buy the latest batch of trading cards overwhelmed Downtown Disney with “massive lines” that stretched throughout the Disneyland shopping mall.
Players, collectors and resellers swamped Downtown Disney on Friday, July 17 for the release of the Lorcana Curator’s Collection: Heroines Edition and Disney Lorcana Attack of the Vine sets sold at the Disney Pin Traders stand next to the Monorail station in the Anaheim outdoor shopping mall.
ALSO SEE: Disneyland raises food and beverage prices 1.5% to 23%
Disneyland teams assisted guests waiting in line and maintained orderly queues to keep the enthusiastic response to the Disney Lorcana event in Downtown Disney running smoothly, according to Disneyland officials.
Disney Lorcana is a collectible trading card game launched in 2023 similar to other popular TCGs like Pokemon, Magic: The Gathering and Star Wars: Unlimited.
Lorcana sales began at 7 a.m. Friday at Downtown Disney and Disneyland capped the line at 8 a.m. due to the “massive crowd” filling queues that doubled back and forth multiple times throughout the shopping mall, according to WDW News Today.
I’ve seen some massive lines at Disneyland but nothing that stretched this far before with this many switchbacks. Good luck to all the Lorcana fans this morning! pic.twitter.com/1CwJRhXH28
— Matt (@DisneyScoopGuy) July 17, 2026
“I’ve seen some massive lines at Disneyland, but nothing that stretched this far before with this many switchbacks,” Disney Scoop Guy Matt Desmond wrote on Instagram.
Disneyland brought out portable cash register stations to assist with the high volume of sales at the Disney Pin Trading shop.
Disneyland employees and security guards called into service managed the crowds using tape on the sidewalk to mark endlessly snaking queues, according to social media videos.
“It’s annoying to be honest,” Brandon Troup wrote on Facebook. “People have been cutting in line and there’s been no organization.”
Lorcana fans and resellers began showing up before Disneyland closed on Thursday night to get in line for the highly anticipated collectibles release.
Alexis, a social media manager from Los Angeles, got in line at 4 a.m. on Friday and waited nearly seven hours to purchase the new Lorcana trading cards. She came prepared with water and snacks, but they weren’t enough for the “brutal queues.”
“I survived this, but barely,” Alexis wrote on Instagram. “Almost passed out from the heat.”
Javier Barcena, 41, of El Monte, waited in a zig-zagging line for eight hours to get two boxes of the Lorcana cards.
“It was worth it,” Barcena told the Orange County Register. “I’m back in line again.”
Lorcana sales resumed after 1 p.m. after most of the crowds had dispersed from Downtown Disney, according to Barcena.
The Lorcana “chaos” played out around the world with equally long lines at Walt Disney World in Florida and Disneyland Paris in France.
ALSO SEE: Gordon Ramsay makes fine dining fun at Downtown Disney
The Disney Store in London canceled the Lorcana release following crowd control issues and safety concerns with a queue that stretched for four city blocks, according to WDW News Today.
“This is mad,” London-based collectibles aficionado Cooper wrote on Twitter. “I don’t even understand where the queue starts.”
Resellers on eBay were already listing the Lorcana Curator’s Collection: Heroines Edition ($100 retail) and Disney Lorcana Attack of the Vine ($145 retail) for six times the retail prices.