50th Anniversary Mickey Popcorn Buckets Now Available in Parks

 by Beth Keating

News/Lifestyle

DisneyBizJournal.com

October 29, 2021

 

Over the years, there have been a variety of souvenir popcorn buckets at Disney World (indeed, around the Disney world itself, at parks domestic and international), and they make great take-homes.  But, as adorable as they may be, the functionality of some of the buckets is better than others.

 

Last weekend, I arrived at the Magic Kingdom on the hunt for a particular popcorn bucket…. The same one thousands of other guests were looking for as well, I presume.  My niece wanted the Mickey 50th Anniversary Popcorn Bucket for Christmas, and so began my search.  

A few weeks earlier, I’d been on the lookout for the Mummy Mickey Popcorn bucket, and had hit up both Disney Springs and Hollywood Studios in the search.  I was close at Disney Springs. A decades-long (well, maybe not quite that long) line wrapped around the stores at Disney Springs, and since it was later in the day by the time I got there, the bucket was sold out before many guests got to the front of the line.  Alas, the Mummy Mickey did not go home with me that day.  A search the following day at Hollywood Studios turned up nothing but the standard round popcorn pails.

 

Because I’d come up empty-handed on Mummy Mickey, the effort to find Mickey in his Anniversary costume became more important. That, plus the knowledge that many items of 50th Anniversary merch were selling out the same day they were released spurred me to “shake a leg,” if you will.  Hopefully, with an 18-month long anniversary celebration, 50th Anniversary Mickey in his popcorn bucket will be around for a while, and easily restocked, but with Christmas coming, and both shipping delays and supply chain issues gumming up the works for many families’ gift-giving plans, I wanted to make sure our niece’s Christmas wish list was taken care of.

 

I entered the Magic Kingdom shortly after park opening, and saw a line of a dozen or so Mickey buckets lined up behind the popcorn cart near Town Hall. And no line of customers. Perfect.  It appeared Mickey was in stock. I paused momentarily to decide if I wanted to tote Mickey around all day on the attractions, or wait until a little later in the day to snap him up.  I opted to head further into the park, assuming that if Mickey disappeared from the other popcorn carts, I would make a beeline back to Town Hall.  

 

The cart at Cinderella Castle still had Mickey peering over the ledge as I made the turn into Tomorrowland. So, I kept going to take a spin on Buzz Lightyear.  An hour or so later, heading through Liberty Square after enjoying a few more rides, I discovered that the popcorn cart there was sold out of Mickey. I started to panic a little, and headed quickly back to the Castle, straight for the popcorn cart there.  I was relieved to find a few Mickeys still on their shelf, and spent the rest of the day toting Mickey along with me throughout the park.  By the next afternoon, the good people at UPS were transporting Mickey to his new home out-of-state.

 

As I was hauling Mickey around the park that afternoon, I thought back on some of the adorable and highly sought after popcorn buckets throughout the years, and realized something.  Many of those pieces, while amazing in their design, would have been a pain in the neck, literally, to carry around. Despite their handy little carrying strap, they were often beastly awkward for riding rides and watching fireworks. I’m pretty sure that most families didn’t drag those suckers back into the parks for a second day of inexpensive popcorn refills. 

50th Anniversary Mickey wasn’t too bad to cart with me.  He was fairly light weight, and hung straight up and down in front of me on his lanyard. He even had a convenient little shelf in the back of his head for the popcorn to tip out.  But remember the Star Wars Millennium Falcon bucket?  It was a foot wide, and nearly a foot and a half long, and it stuck out into the crowd no matter how you carried it. Plus, you had to worry about breaking pieces off.  Still, being huge Star Wars fans, we picked it up and brought it home, but surely didn’t take it back to the parks a second time for refills!

 

Even more awkward was the Cinderella’s Carriage popcorn bucket ($22) at Disneyland.  It was gorgeous!  It was highly detailed, and every little Princess-wanna-be’s must-have-that-now souvenir in the parks. We did not manage to get our hands on that one.  There have been plenty of Toy Story Alien buckets around, in both regular and Christmas attire, but they didn’t excite us all that much, so we left the park without those.  

 

The 50th Anniversary EARidescent balloon style popcorn bucket, in pink, green, blue, or gold (actually more of a yellow), sold out very quickly on opening day (October 1st) of the World’s Most Magical Celebration year.  They did restock later in the week, but color availability differed by location as the restocks arrived. They were a little smaller to carry, and $18.  In more than a few cases, we saw a poor parent carrying 3 or 4, hanging off various appendages or strapped around stroller handles.

 

If you don’t find a “fancy” popcorn bucket that catches your imagination, not to worry.  The styles of the popcorn buckets change regularly, even seasonally, so you have to be on your toes to catch the ones you really want. It is not an inexpensive souvenir (Anniversary Mickey was $20), but the refills themselves are often pretty inexpensive by Disney snack standards, as little as $2.00.  You can keep refilling them for $2.00 each time for the entire length of your stay. As a bonus, if you happen to be in EPCOT, swing by the popcorn stand in Canada, and treat yourself to the maple flavored popcorn.  Most of the carts elsewhere carry the just-as-delicious Pop-Secret brand that Disney partners with.

 

The toughest part of buying a “fancy” souvenir popcorn bucket once you’ve acquired your target? The difficulty of getting it on the plane to go home!

 

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Beth Keating is a regular contributor to DisneyBizJournal.

 

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January 19th is National Popcorn Day… Bring on the Refills!

by Beth Keating

Review/News

DisneyBizJournal.com

January 18, 2020

Prepare yourself. January 19^this National Popcorn Day!

Without a doubt, popcorn is a quintessential theme park treat, and no one does it better than Disney. There is something magical about the scent of the fresh popped grains floating by as you stroll down Main Street and approach Cinderella Castle, and the salty goodness of the first bit of crunch is an experience all its own. 

Popcorn buckets are available at every park at Disney World in a myriad of different designs and sizes, and the selection changes often.  There are specialty buckets at the holiday parties, and designs for new movies, as well as the gourmet and traditional options at AMC Movies at Disney Springs 24, and even shaped buckets in the form of Mickey ears or hitch-hiking ghosts.  

Make a stop at the Popcorn in Canada kiosk at Epcot to sample the uniquely delicious Maple popcorn ($6.25). 

If you go off world to Galaxy’s Edge, Kat Saka’s Kettle offers its multi-colored, sweet and spicy popcorn ($6.49).  

There are also the pre-bagged types at places like Goofy’s Candy Company and Main Street Confectionary. 

Single serve boxes are usually a Disney dining plan snack credit, but family size serving bags are also available.  Pre-bagged varieties can have a wide variety of flavors from the typical cheddar or caramel, to more unusual varieties like sriracha, toffee or churro.  

Currently, many popcorn buckets hover anywhere from the $12.00 mark to upwards of $20.00 for the limited edition options.  It’s a little pricey for popcorn, but you are essentially getting the popcorn as a bonus.  The container is the real souvenir.  We’ve collected several fun buckets in recent trips.  While the $12.00 price tag initially sounds high (it’s Disney pricing, so we’ve sort of come to expect it), the real plus is that, for most buckets, refills for the length of your stay are just $2.00 more (as low as $1.89 in Animal Kingdom at Mahindi).  If you don’t mind hauling your bucket along each morning, and haven’t gotten sick of eating popcorn by day four, have at it!  This is a great way for a larger family to snack their way through the day. A $2.00 refill sure beats adding up five or six Dole Whips or Mickey Bars. If you just want to purchase popcorn without the souvenir bucket, the prices are in the $5.25 - $6.25 range – no cheap refills, though! Specialty buckets like the party specific buckets are not always included in the refill prices, however.

The most recent addition to the popcorn bucket fun is also one of the most sought after.  Sadly, you’ll have to head to California to get it. The Millennium Falcon Bucket is HUGE, lights up, and comes with your choice of fries or popcorn. The French fry option is only available at the Galactic Grill, while other locations serve popcorn. As they have often done for us with their beverage sippers, providing the beverage in a separate paper cup, cast members will kindly package your fries or popcorn in a bag on the side as well so you don’t have to squeeze your container under a restroom sink to wash it out when you are done eating. The Millennium Falcon bucket at the Galactic Grill has a price tag of $24.99 in galactic credits. (They also take American currency should you find yourself running short on galactic coinage.) Incidentally, the Galactic Grill also has Star Wars stainless steel tumblers for the same price, as well as Kylo Ren Premium Mugs filled with either French fries or a beverage at $19.49 and $18.49 respectively.   

Hopefully, the Millennium Falcon popcorn bucket will be available at Disney World before long as well, maybe in time for National Popcorn Day? One can hope. Until then, there’s always the popcorn carts.

Beth Keating is a regular contributor to DisneyBizJournal.