After hearing that Pleasure Island was starting to crumble, we sent WDWNT Reporter Banks Lee to investigate the preparation work for Hyperion Wharf and here’s what he saw:
The AMC has closed their side entrance to convert it into the new “Dine-In Theater” entrance
Read More about Banks Lee’s 1/7/10 Downtown Disney Photo Report
From the Disney Parks Blog:
Do you have a favorite Disney character you have never met?
For the first time ever, we’re giving you a chance to decide which rarely seen Disney characters you want to see in Disneyland park. Starting today, you can cast your vote in polls that can be found only on the Disneyland Facebook page, and those votes will determine which characters appear during our new Character Fan Days Jan. 28 through 30. The Characters Fan Days weekend is one of five, family-fun events coming to Disneyland park Jan. 14 through March 6 as part of “Family Fun Weekends.”
To vote, look for three polls on Facebook spanning three days, Jan. 7 through Jan. 9. Each poll will appear at 2 p.m. PT and will feature different characters – some you see often and some you don’t. Here’s a sneak peek at some of the characters included in the poll: the Seven Dwarfs, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, Clarabelle Cow and the Country Bears.
The top two vote-getters from each day’s poll will appear in the Festival Arena in Disneyland park Jan. 28 through 30 during the all-new Character Fan Days (sorry – no write-ins accepted).
On a personal note, there’s a “character” you won’t be seeing around the Disneyland Resort as often – me. Today marks my last day leading social media at the Disneyland Resort and my last post as the primary Disneyland author on the Disney Parks Blog. On Monday, I begin a new role. I’m not going too far, and I’ll still be in touch with you. I’ll be joining the social media team at the main offices of The Walt Disney Company, in Burbank, Ca., and I hope to share all kinds of interesting stories with you from there!
I’ve really enjoyed the five years I’ve spent on the Disneyland Resort Public Relations team, and I’ve had a lot of fun with all of you since we launched the Blog in September, 2009. I know I’ve said this at just about every Disneyland meet-up we’ve held, but my favorite part of the job is reading your comments and meeting you in person. Thank you for your comments, questions, interest and enthusiasm. I even appreciate the corrections when they’re warranted.
On Jan. 14, Michele Himmelberg will join the Disney Parks Blog to write about Disneyland Resort. She will share the poll results and details about how to see the winning characters during Character Fan Days.
What are you waiting for? Go cast your vote in our Disney character poll on the Disneyland Facebook page.
Demolition work has now begun on the former Pleasure Island at Downtown Disney as Hyperion Wharf is slated for completion in 2013. WDWNT Reporter Adam Roth was visiting what was left of the Island during the holidays and took the following photos, so keep in mind these were taken a few weeks ago:
Most of the Motion building is gone already, but it was starting to come down in this photo
Read More about Bulldozers Turning the Island into the Wharf
Take a close look at these pictures M.C. and I took at D-Street this morning while waiting for Animation 1.
This was our first up close look at the upcoming Star Wars Vinylmation set since Trade City in August. The Lightsabers were NOT there at the time. Nor are the Lightsabers present in any of the art work that Disney has released. Was this a late addition? Maybe the reason for the hold back of the release date for so long. Whatever the case, they look fantastic. The details on each figure as a whole are very impressive and we can not wait for the Midnight release on Thursday, January 13th.
I was at The Disneyland Resort yesterday and the day before to enjoy some fun in the sun. Lot’s of work walls popping up due to the upcoming slow season for the next month or two.
On the 4th, work walls surround the CALIFORNIA letters to prepare them for removal
Read More about Conner Purzycki’s 1/4/10 – 1/5/10 DLR Photo Report
From the Disney Parks Blog:
UPDATE: Congratulations to the winners of our ‘2-Day Ticket for $99′ Contest! For the complete list of winners, click here.
Contest open to US residents 18 and over. Void where prohibited by law. Ends 1/5/11.
So Cal Residents: Want to have a little fun with us today? Play along in our game and think about all the fun things you like to do at the Parks (we highlight 99 of them in today’s video). You could have a chance to win a pair of the newest tickets at Disneyland Resort – the 2-Day-for-$99 Tickets. These tickets are valid for 1 park per day through May 14, 2011.
As we mentioned in yesterday’s post, we’ll be adding some family entertainment on weekends between January 14 and March 6. We’re officially announcing the five, fun new experiences for “Family Fun Weekends” in today’s video that shows 99 exciting moments at the Parks (Hint: Look for Mickey!). Be one of the first 99 to correctly identify, in order, the five new experiences in the video, and follow the rules – listed at this link and summarized below – and you and your guest could enjoy all the fun the Disneyland Resort has to offer.
Here’s how you can enter if you’re 18 or older:
- Watch the video and e-mail the following information to contests@disney.go.com.
- Your first and last name in the body of the email.
- Your mailing address (no P.O. Boxes).
- The official names of the new entertainment, listed in order, as they appear in the video.
Please follow the instructions carefully. Entries that do not follow these directions will be disqualified.
We’ll send notifications to the winners via e-mail by 5 p.m. on Thursday, and we’ll post a link to the list of winners at the top of the post. To read all the contest rules and eligibility requirements, click here.
If you win, we will mail the tickets to the mailing address provided.
While you have to be a So Cal resident to win a pair of “2-Day-for-$99 Tickets,” you can still join in the fun if you don’t live in Southern California. If you’re not a So Cal resident, you are eligible to participate and win a 1-Day Park Hopper ticket.
Good luck!
P.S. Please don’t spoil it for others by posting guesses or answers in the comments.
The latest rumor (unconfirmed, but the flyer looks like it’s from Disney) is that Hong Kong is getting it’s own exclusive Vinylmations. They will be part of the 5th Anniversary Celebration called, “Celebration in the Air”.
The 9″ Castle Mickey is a Hong Kong exclusive. It will be a Limited Edition of 1000 and only available in the stores in Hong Kong Disney. The price will be HK$500 (~64 US$) and will be released on Jan. 21st.
The Sorcerer Mickey is similar to the one that came with our Combo Park 5s, except he isn’t winking, but his face seems to be the only change. The flyer claims this is out yesterday (Jan. 6th International Date Line thing!) and will cost HK$135 (~17 US$).
The most interesting, to me, is Dumbo! He comes with a cute little hat, and this is the first time we’ve seen Dumbo in Vinylmation form. Dumbo will also be released on Jan. 21st and will cost HK$135 (~16 US$).
If anyone is over in Hong Kong, we’d love some of these!
Here is the flyer we got the info from. Click to enlarge.
While we don’t usually talk about the latest discounts at Walt Disney World, two new commercials are airing and we thought we would feature them. The first ad has been around for a little while but has returned for a new offer and the second add was first used at Disneyland last year:
If you are interested in booking any of these offers, you can do so with Magical Travel… 😉
Update: 4/26/11 Star Wars set will be re-released on June 4th, 2011 at the Little Green Men Store Command in Tomorrowland, Disneyland. That is for those in California. For those in Florida, it’s still rumored to be re-released on May 20th at Star Wars Weekends.
Update: 1/14/11 Star Wars released at D-Street Florida. We have a photo of both the chaser AND the variant of the chaser. (See Mystery Chaser near the bottom)
Update: 1/12/11 Confirmation of a rocket pack on Boba Fett. Confirmation this is a Disney Parks exclusive and will not be available online or in Disney Stores.
Update: 1/8/11 We have full turn-arounds for all 11 characters now.
Update: 1/7/11 Lightsabers! Both Luke and Darth Vader have them. The whole set (minus chaser) is on display in D-Street.
Update: 1/6/11 The Disney Vinylmation Blog corrected itself and is now agreeing with the Art of Disney Blog that the release of Star Wars in California D-Street is: 8 am Sunday the 16th!
Update: 1/5/11 Several mentions of this as Star Wars #1! So I think that confirms at least a Star Wars #2. According to the Disney Vinylmation Blog today, the release schedule is as follows:
D-Street Florida – Midnight the 13 (Thursday night/Friday morning)
D-Street California – Saturday the 15th Sunday the 16th at 8 am
Disney Stores Online and IRL – Never!
1/4/11 Don’t know anything about Star Wars characters, or just want to see their Vinylmation forms. This is the page for you. We’ll try to update as often as we can.
Release date is January 16th 2011 at D-Street. (CA at the moment)
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R2-D2
Played by: Kenny Baker Looks great, I think all the robots in this series look great. Lots of great detail work on his body. |
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C3-PO
Played by: Anthony Daniels Another robot, another good looking Vinylmation. Although his inquisitional look on his face is a little odd. I love the detail of the wire in his stomach. |
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Luke Skywalker
Played by: Mark Hamill Human figures aren’t as impressive here, but it does look like Luke, albeit at the start of “A New Hope”. Thinking of variants, maybe the chaser is Master Luke. |
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Princess Leia
Played by: Carrie Fisher Classic buns style. Mickey’s ears kinda play that up a little and it’s cool. Nice Hoth cold suit. I wonder how many versions of each of the lead characters we will get. |
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Han Solo
Played by: Harrison Ford Look at that nerf herder’s smirk. |
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Chewbacca
Played by: Peter Mayhew Looks great. Love the detail of his ammunition belt. Although he does seem a little angry. Let the Wookie win. |
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Lando Calrissian
Played by: Billy Dee Williams I hope the back has his cape. One of the better human representation in Vinylmation form. Check out that cape on his back. |
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Yoda
Voiced by: Frank Oz Works well. Interesting clothes choice. I guess it’s supposed to be the outfit we first meet him in. I hope he comes with a walking stick! |
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Boba Fett
Played by: Jeremy Bulloch Update: 1/12/11 Rocket Pack |
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Stormtrooper
Played by: Lightning Bear and others Nice details and looking rather cute for a bad guy. |
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Darth Vader Played by: David Prowse Voiced by: James Earl Jones Vinylmation Artist: Mike Sullivan There looks like there is a lot of detail on this one. I need to see it closer, but it might be pretty awesome. Also note he comes with a Red Lightsaber accessory. |
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Mystery Chaser
Vinylmation Artist: Mike Sullivan Who could it be? The Emperor seems the most obvious. Unless it’s the RX-24 (Rex) from Star Tours (Voiced by PeeWee Herman) Or maybe Master Luke? For instance Luke in the black Jedi robes? Or Obi-wan? Update: 1/14/11 Click on Mystery Chaser for photo of Chaser and Variant of Chaser (which there are very few of) |
Here’s a look at the case the Star Wars Vinylmation.
Case Breakdown-
The display case has a giant Darth Vader vinyl as it’s center piece. It looks like the photos we’ve seen of the Darth Vader vinyl (unlike the Muppets one which has a giant version of Kermit on it, but the design was Kermit from Park 1 not Kermit from the Muppets 1). Surrounding Darth Vinyl are streaks of light reminiscent for those seen when heading into Lightspeed.
On the left side is the Imperial symbol with the words, “Disney Park Vinyl 3″ collectible figure”. Does this mean it will only be in parks? If anything THIS is a series to also put in stores, but we shall see.
According to the right side of the display, this is part of the 30th anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back which came out in 1980. I guess knowing that, we should have known that it wasn’t coming out in 2009.
Also worth noting is that it says “Star Wars Vinylmation 1″ so that seems to confirm (as if there was a doubt) that there will be a series 2!! Hopefully series 2 will have some 9″, because Steven said there would be no 9” for series 1.
The individual blind boxes also show Star Wars 1 and have the Rebel Alliance symbol on them.
As always, “No refunds, exchanges, or returns”
Update: 1/5/11 The 2011 Marathon Collection will be released in Florida at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex on January 7. Artist Eric Caszatt will be at the HP Field House from 1-2 pm to sign figures from that collection only.
12/29/10-There are a few new Vinylmation at http://www.disneystore.com/.
The two 3″ figures come in the open window boxes that can be turned into podium display stands. All three have space to write your finish time on the back.
I like the detail they put into the packaging of these Vinylmation.
The 2011 WDW Marathon begins in 7 days. Have you been in a WDW Marathon? What’s your best time? Allright, I have to get going now, it’s training time!
