Five Card Shops Later... We Finally Found Two Boxes. Is Disney Collecting Taking Off?
Last Saturday, my husband and I spent the day driving around DFW looking for 2026 Topps Chrome® Disney. We weren't after hobby boxes or anything crazy. We just wanted a couple of Mega or Blaster boxes to rip over the weekend.
Honestly, I figured we'd stop at the first or second store, grab a couple, and call it a day. That... didn't happen.
The first store was sold out. So was the second, then the third. By the fourth stop, I was starting to think we'd simply waited too long. Finally, at the fifth store, we spotted the last two Blaster boxes sitting on the shelf. We didn't even think about it; we grabbed both.
After five stores, though, I realized the empty shelves weren't just bad luck. Every place we visited told us basically the same thing. One owner laughed and said, "Disney is flying off the shelves right now." Another employee said they couldn't keep it in stock, while someone else told us people were asking for Disney products as soon as shipments arrived.
By the time we left that last store, I wasn't really thinking about the two boxes anymore. I kept wondering: When did this happen?
Six Months Ago, Nobody Really Got It
The funny thing is, we've only been collecting for about six months. When we first got into the hobby, we naturally gravitated toward Disney and Marvel. That's what we love, so that's what we wanted to collect.
But almost every conversation went the same way:
"Oh, cool... so you collect Pokémon?"
"No."
"Sports?"
"No... we actually collect Disney and Marvel."
Usually, there'd be a little pause, almost like people were trying to figure out if we were serious.
Even a lot of the local card shops felt that way. Pokémon and sports took up most of the shelves, while Disney was usually tucked into a small section that didn't get much attention. We'd see the same products sitting there week after week.
Now, those same stores are telling us they can't keep Disney products in stock. That's a pretty big shift in just six months. Maybe I'm noticing it more because it's what I collect now, but it definitely feels different.
It Sent Me Down a Rabbit Hole
When we got home, I started looking back at some older Disney products, and one release kept coming up: 2023 Topps Chrome Disney 100.
I remember seeing people talk about it when I first started collecting, but I never paid much attention to what the boxes were selling for. So I looked, and wow.
The product was released exclusively in the UK and originally retailed for around $190 USD. Today, sealed hobby boxes are selling for around $4,000 to over $5,000. I actually had to double-check because I thought I was looking at the wrong listing.
Seeing numbers like that makes you wonder: Is the demand for 2026 Topps Chrome Disney just the excitement of a new release, or are we watching another Disney product that people will wish they'd bought a few years from now?
I honestly don't know, but it's fun to think about.
So... Why Is This Happening?
I've been thinking about this a lot, and I don't believe there's one simple answer. It feels more like a bunch of little things happening at the same time.
Disney has one of the biggest fan bases in the world. Some people are lifelong Disney fans, some collect trading cards, and others simply love the artwork. There are parents buying packs to open with their kids, too. Then there are people like us, who got into one product and somehow ended up falling down the Disney card rabbit hole.
The other thing I've noticed is how all these Disney products seem to feed into one another. Someone buys Topps Chrome Disney, hears about Disney100, starts looking up Disney Neon, and then discovers Pixar Gold. Before they know it, they're not buying a single product anymore; they're collecting Disney.
That's pretty much what happened to us.
Is It Just Hype?
Maybe. Honestly, it could be.
Every new product gets a lot of attention around release week. Maybe stores are fully stocked again next month and this post looks a little dramatic. I have no idea, and I'm definitely not trying to predict prices or tell anyone what they should buy.
I'm just sharing what I saw: five different stores and five almost identical conversations. For someone who's only been collecting Disney cards for six months, it was hard not to notice how different things felt compared with when we started.
What I'll Be Watching
Over the next few months, I'm curious to see what happens. Do stores start getting enough inventory again? Do people move on to the next release, or does Disney keep picking up momentum?
I'm also interested to see what happens to products like Disney100, Disney Sapphire, and Pixar Gold now that more people seem to be discovering Disney collecting.
Looking for Disney Auctions?
Since we couldn't find much in stores, I've mostly been keeping an eye on eBay. That's honestly one of the reasons we built Bidwatch in the first place: instead of refreshing the same searches over and over, I can keep tabs on all the Disney products I'm looking for in one place.
Right now, I'm watching:
Final Thoughts
Maybe six months from now, I'll come back to this post and laugh because every Target and card shop has shelves full of Disney products again. Or maybe this ends up being one of those moments people look back on and say, "That was around the time Disney collecting really started taking off."
Who knows?
All I know is that six months ago, most people didn't really understand what we meant when we said we collected Disney cards. This weekend, five different card shops told us they couldn't keep Disney on the shelves. That feels like a pretty big change.
If you're reading this, I'm curious: What are you seeing where you live? Are Disney products getting harder to find, or is this just something we're seeing here in Texas?
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