Crying kids, fistfights, and lies about terminally ill children have become the norm at the Disney Store in New York City's Times Square, thanks to a global shortage of merchandise from the hit animated musical "Frozen."The New York Post reports that the store has received countless requests for "Frozen"-related items -- Elsa and Anna dolls and replicas of the characters' costumes are the hottest commodities -- but is currently almost completely out of stock of all merchandise from the film. Customers that come in looking for specific items leave disappointed, the Post reports, and that disappointment is inspiring some rather ridiculous behavior.
"People have gotten into physical fights in the morning," one Disney Store employee told the paper. "The kids cry, but the parents are the problem. They try to guilt us, say their daughters are sick. They have no shame. But I can't make it magically appear!"
And the problem isn't isolated to New York City. Parents can't even find "Frozen" merchandise online, the Post reports, spending hundreds of dollars on single items that have become completely scarce since the film exploded in popularity late last year, and has since become the eighth-highest grossing movie of all time.
"We're now at the stage where the demand is almost being driven by the scarcity because of the social status attached to being able to find it," said toy industry analyst Sean McGowan, who compared the "Frozen" frenzy to the Cabbage Patch Kid craze of the 1980s. "Being someone who had a Cabbage Patch [Kid] meant you were loved more than the others. It was social status and elite achievement that came with finding this rare gem."
While the Post reports that some parents think Disney intentionally under-produced merchandise to drum up demand, analysts say that the company would sell more if it could, and may not have ordered an excess of product due to poor-performing merchandise from past animation releases like "The Princess and the Frog" and "Brave."
"We knew this movie was a winner, but it overperformed so significantly that now we're doing what we can to get in more product as soon as we can," Erin Barrier, a Disney Store spokesperson, told the Post.
That may not be soon enough for some parents of "Frozen"-obsessed kids, though, who'll have to wait until as late as August for some items to be fully restocked. In the meantime, some moms are trading or selling coveted merchandise through Facebook groups, and others are paying upwards of $1,000 for dolls and $400 for dresses bought on eBay and Amazon.
"You want your kids to be happy, but at the same time, what are you willing to do, what are you willing to pay?" one exasperated mother told the Post. "It's really dumb. We should probably just learn to say 'no' more often. But it's so difficult when they are so obsessed with the current movie."
Sounds like these kids and parents might need to take a lesson from "Let It Go" and...well, you know.
[via New York Post, h/t Vanity Fair]
Photo courtesy Disney
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