I was at the Disneyland Resort recently and was able to capture some newsworthy photos to share. A little shorter than my usual photo reports but it is the summer so it is usually the slow season when it comes to news. Photos include Cars Land, Carthay Circle Theater, and much more…
The towers on the Golden Gate Bridge are now completely gone
From Pam Brandon on the Disney Parks Blog:
On a hot afternoon, nothing is better than a shaved ice, or kakigori, from the little cart in front of the Japan pavilion at Epcot. A brain freeze is inevitable as we slurp the icy, sweet treat.
Now the cart, just reopened this week, has as new name – Kabuki Cafe – and new tastes, the kind of satisfying nibbles you can eat and still stroll.
Delicious salty-sweet tastes for munching and strolling World Showcase Lagoon.The shaved ice still is there, but now the menu includes edamame (steamed soybeans in the pod) and meal-in-a-bowl miso soup, plus sweet plum wine and sake. And smoothie and ice cream cups join the sweet line-up.
The Vinylmation Facebook page released a picture of the EPCOT China Pavilion, a 9″ from the Park 6 series. It was designed by Lin Shih and will be limited to 800 and retail for $44.95. Check it out. What do you think?
On Friday, July 29, my family and I decided to go to Downtown Disney and mingle with the tourists. We ate some tasty food at the Earl of Sandwhich, and afterwards, we walked over to the Art of Disney to find that RANDY NOBLE was doing a special appearance and signing to promote his new artwork from 6-8pm!!!!
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| Randy Noble at Downtown Disney |
On a large table next to Randy were original oils on canvas, glicees, prints, and a big figure for sale. His paintings, glicees and prints included figures such as Sorcerer Mickey Triptych #1-3, Best Friends Chip & Dale, and Goofy Fun.
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| Sorcerer Mickey – Framed Glicee LE 95 $350, Deluxe Print $35 |
Not many people were present for this event, so I was lucky to purchase his Sorcerer Mickey print, and have it signed by Randy Noble (he even drew a Mickey on the print-matt while I watched in awe!).
Fortunately, I had several of my Vinylmations with me because you never know when a good opportunity will present itself; plus I also bring extras with me to trade at blind-boxes throughout Downtown Disney. So, I asked Randy if he would sign one, and he said “I can sign all of them if you like…” I was ECSTATIC!!!!!!
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| Goofy Fun – Original LE 1 $1800, Giclee LE 95 $390, Deluxe Print $35 |
I asked Randy if he would be attending the Florida Project in September, and he said he “was considering it…if I do go, it would be for the Vinylmation event only.” Let’s cross our fingers that he will attend!!!
If you are not familiar with the Florida Project, please visit: http://eventservices.disney.go.com/static/vinylmation/floridaproject.html
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| Best Friends – Original LE 1 $1400, Giclee LE 95 $375, Deluxe Print $35 |
Needless to say, this was an amazing day. To meet one of the best Disney artists, and to find out he is such a nice guy was the best way to spend a Friday night!!!!
*Editors Note: Randy Noble is considered the creator of Vinylmation. He designed such early masterpieces as the Park 1 Balloon Chaser, Park 1 Safari Mickey 9″, Park 2 Little Green Men and special event pieces such as the 9″ Space Mountain 35th and Cinderella’s 60th. His figures now are few and far between and his talents on the little vinyl Mickey is missed.
 Hello everyone! Yesterday we found out that a Small World Vinylmation Jrs. Series is going to be released around the time of D23 (21 days – I am SO excited). I think it was such a smart idea to make the Jrs 4 Series be Small World themed, it works perfectly. I am going to throw out some possible Small World characters that we could see in this series. And instead of including pictures for all of the mentioned characters, I linked to a video below. We have a few hints and previews so far so lets begin with those! Young boy – I love the way Thomas Scott designed this figure. It makes me so excited to see what else we have in store. I love that he decided to put the flowers in each Mickey ear to make sure people understand this little boy is a part of Small World and not just a random boy Vinylmation. Tiger – I am so happy that animals are going to be included in this set. The tiger figure looks perfect. Everyone that sees this will know he is from the Small World ride. Hippo – Funny story, as I was typing up this article at 12am PST, Vinylmation.com posted this picture to help me out, of the Jr. Series 4 box. As we all know whatever figure is on the box, is a part of the set. With that said, our third confirmed character is the Hippo from small world! After seeing the Hippo, I am thinking that half of the set is going to be children and the other half popular animals and memorable parts from the classic ride. There are so many children and animals in the classic Disney ride that they could have chosen from. Here are a few that stuck out to me and will hopefully be a part of the series! The Polar Bear – this guy you can find when the ride begins. He is part of the Artic/North Pole section of the ride. Eskimo – the same scene that has the polar bear, includes the Eskimo children fishing. The next section of the ride is Scandinavia/Canada. In this section there are many children to choose from. A few that stuck out to me are, the children dressed in band uniform with the tall black hats, one of the children dancing as you enter this section and also maybe one of the acrobats. This way each section has a child to represent the language. The next section is Europe. This section includes: Then we enter Asia where you will find, The next scene has many characters and animals that could be used for the set. Including, Latin America is the next section of the ride that includes, South Seas is the next section of Small World, which contains characters such as, That is a lot of characters to pick from so here is my prediction. I think that this set is going to have a fair amount of children because children make this ride. I think the set will contain and even amount of girls/boys to represent each country/place that is represented in this ride. Along with the children I also think there will be animals that go along with the characters. Like the Panda, the Turtle, the Kangaroo, the Zebra etc. No matter what Thomas Scott decided for this set, I know it is going to be wonderful and I can’t wait to have them all! Any other ideas please let me know, id love to hear them! It’s a small world after all.. |
We came across a contest on Facebook today. We are not involved in this contest in any way, but we thought it was a cool thing to share with everyone. Vinylmation Customations is giving away a Free 3″ Custom Vinylmation to a lucky Facebook fan. We have meet Vinylmation Customations at WDW trade shows before and have even Spotlighted a Tronorail and a Star Wars figure she has done. Vinylmation Customations does great work. Here are the contest details:
“LIKE” our Facebook Page – Vinylmation Customations, and get a chance to WIN a FREE 3″ Custom Vinylmation of your favorite Disney Character!
All “Fans” of Vinylmation Customations that have joined by July 31, 2011 will be entered into a drawing to win a 3″ Custom Vinylmation. Winner will be announced August 1st on the Page and a Facebook Message will be sent to the winner notifying them of their win. Winner will be able to choose their favorite Disney Character as the inspiration for the custom to be created especially for them.
http://www.facebook.com/VinylmationCustomations
Again, Destination Vinylmation is not involved in this contest, but just something we thought we would pass along. Good luck.
Chris sent in these two pictures. What a trading day at MK he had on Thursday!
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| WDW 40th Cast Trader Variants only found by trading with Cast Members at the Parks |
WDWNT Reporter Robert Ashburn visited the site of Disney’s Art of Animation Resort on Tuesday and has some photos of the progress to share with us:
Some buildings are much further along than others since they are opening in phases
Read More about 7/26/11 Disney’s Art of Animation Resort Update
WDWNT Reporter Robert Ashburn visited the Magic Kingdom on Tuesday and has a ton of newsworthy photos to share with us from his trip (including lots of Fantasyland progress), so let’s take a look:
The spur beam for the Monorail is complete
Read More about Robert Ashburn’s 7/26/11 Magic Kingdom Photo Report
It looks like Thomas Scott and Casey Jones got bored during lunch, because they went over the D-Street Florida and sharpied up the whole place. Thomas Scott went crazy with his sharpie, signing everything in sight that he designed. Everywhere I turned I saw something signed by one of them. Thomas used a sleek looking silver color pen and Casey’s signatures stood out in bold gold. As far as I could tell, there’s about a case or two of signed Pirates 3″ blind boxes. There’s also about 10-15 signed 9″ Park 6 Davy Crocketts. Then there are about 3-5 of each of the other figures in the following photos.
We want to give a big thanks to both Thomas Scott and Casey Jones for going out of their way to give a little something extra to vinylmation fans. Thanks guys! – Nick
Now check out some photos from my trip.
