I can’t say that scalpers have reached a “new low” because I think they already live in the depths of hell, but their insane behavior is once again having real-world consequences. Lorcana, the Disney-based trading card game, was supposed to have a new drop this week, and one Disney store opted to stay closed as a massive line of would-be collectors and scalpers formed outside the establishment and reportedly got violent.
Lorcana was set to drop a very limited set of cards for its Disney Lorcana Curator’s Collection: Heroines Edition, which included new cards for several of the Disney princesses. However, this set was only going to be sold at select locations, including a Disney Store in Oxford. The line outside the Oxford Disney Store reportedly (thanks, Dexerto) had somewhere between 100 and 150 individuals queued up for over four blocks, and had people lined up for over 12 hours.
The crowd was large and chaotic, with one collector writing “This is mad…I don’t even understand where the queue starts,” and another describing “violent, aggressive behaviour with scalpers & gangs taking over the queue & pushing to the front of the Disney Store.”
Wow. I have no words! #Lorcana London Oxford St launch cancelled due to violent, aggressive behaviour with scalpers & gangs taking over the queue & pushing to the front of the Disney Store. Sad day for the hobby.
Things must change @RavensburgerUK @RavensburgerNA pic.twitter.com/9bl5JczLZz
— DazRollsDice (@dazrollsdice) July 17, 2026
Under the circumstances, the store made the decision to cancel the drop, and those who were waiting were informed that the store would not be opening until later that day. The Oxford location was the only Disney store that was supposed to sell the limited cards in the UK, so naturally legitimate collectors and predatory scalpers had flocked to it, resulting in the overwhelming situation the store was presented with when it was supposed to open this morning.
🚨DISNEY STORE OXFORD STREET WONT BE OPENING TODAY!
Due to the uncontrollable queue situation we have been told that the drop won’t happen today. I’m trying to understand if this will be moved later today or completely cancelled. https://t.co/5xviOFYWkr pic.twitter.com/JJwLZIlo8U
— ItsMeCooper (@ItsaMeCooper) July 17, 2026
The Disney store put out a statement on its Instagram account confirming that the store would open later in the day, but would not be selling the new Lorcana cards. It remains to be seen if the store will sell them on another date or if it might move to an online drop to avoid something like this again.
Woke up to this and all I can say is wow.
I feel bad for those who lined up all night in England for the curators collection only to end up empty handed. pic.twitter.com/7027NW2MtU
— Citizens of Lorcana (@coflorcana) July 17, 2026
The safety of our Guests, Cast Members and the local community is always our top priority. Following disruption outside our Oxford Street store overnight, we worked with local authorities to make the decision to open later than usual today. We also want to let our fans know that the planned in-store release of the Disney Lorcana: Curator’s Collection – Heroine Edition will no longer take place today. We understand how disappointing this will be for those who were looking forward to the release, and we sincerely apologise to everyone affected. Thank you for your understanding.
Not every store closed, but it sounds like the queues were pretty large across the board, as one person at the Paris location said the whole process was “messy.”
Got my Curator’s Collection from Disneyland Paris but the whole thing was super messy.
People camped overnight, ran & fell, people cut the line, we got pushed around and hundreds scalpers attended just to make a quick buck
Lorcana players and collectors should get prio somehow pic.twitter.com/EKou4XGBay
— Emma_Saffi (@Emma_Saffi) July 17, 2026
I’m frankly surprised that Disney tried to do this given how prominent scalper culture has become. Artificial scarcity is already the source of the reseller economies that have formed around a lot of trading card games,, and limiting the sale of new, rare cards to specific locations seems like a recipe for trouble. Hopefully the actual collectors are able to get the cards down the line and the scalpers go back to whatever hole they crawled out of.