Florida Project: Disney Parks Classics
$12.95. 8 figure set. Open window. Out Feb 2012.
Check out closer individual pics at our explained page:
Sneak Peak At This Years Haunted Mansion Gingerbread House
From Pam Brandon on the Disney Parks Blog:
We caught up with “Pumpkin King” Brian D. Sandahl, Senior Designer for Disney Entertainment Creative Development, and the whiz behind the annual Haunted Mansion Holiday gingerbread house.
This is the tenth year a “freaky gingerbread house” has been the centerpiece on the table in the Haunted Mansion ballroom, says Brian.
Brian shared with us a quick color sketch that was used to inspire pastry chef Jean-Marc Viallet to create the edible overlays.
The foundation is wood and wired for animation, then the house goes to the Disneyland Resort Central Bakery for a 3-week layover to apply more than 500 lbs of gingerbread, ten yards of fondant and miles of frosting and oversized candies. Because the six-foot house stays on display through Christmas, the design is a blend of the holidays, inspired by Jack Skellington and the animated film, “Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas.”
“Imagine if Jack Skellington had landed on the Haunted Mansion and decorated it with his vision of Halloween and Christmas,” says Brian. “The two holidays collide with pumpkins, freaky presents, a dead Christmas tree and more.”
This year’s house is more pastel, done with light orange and purple. But the cuteness gives way to a “freaky twist” when the house opens to reveal evil teeth, red eyes that light up, a “happy cookie” that revolves to a “mean cookie.”
There is so much to see in the ballroom scene, says Brian, including that dead, 25-foot-tall Christmas tree. It takes several trips through the attraction to take it all in.
Work on the gingerbread house started at the end of 2010, with construction beginning in spring 2011. Opening day is September 16!
Project Z Explained (…well, our best effort to)
Original Article by RMThompson
Update: 9/8/11 We didn’t think we would get any more teases, but just days away from the reveal of project Z, Disney released this picture:
It’s the Expedition Everest Yeti. Is this a clue that Disco Yeti will be fixed? Or a look to a whole now mold that different designs will be printed on? Maybe a set of 12 Yetis all painted up and a set of 12 tiki birds painted differently and so on? Or a line of Funko Pop! Vinyl-like figures? We will see on Sunday 9/11.
Update: 9/6/11
Final thoughts on Project Z before Florida Project
By RMThompson
Well, it’s almost time for Florida Project, and while visions of Pooh Figures and trading events dance through everyone’s heads, it’s also the time we will hear what all this PROJECT Z business is all about.
Until then though, we’re all free to speculate wildly, and since that is one of my favorite pastimes, I am here to make my FINAL Project Z Vinylmation guess… which is probably going to be WILDLY offbase, and then we can all laugh at my poor guessing skills later.
First, let’s go over the stuff we DO know:
- Project Z is not Park 7.
Aaaaaand, that’s about all we know for certain.
For the past few months, in case you haven’t been keeping up, we’ve been given clues from the Vinylmation team (lead by head designer Thomas Scott who is also one of the best Words For Friends players I’ve ever seen). They all started with Urban 7’s Red Telephone, the phone number of which started giving us numbers to decipher, and since then the clues have been given their OWN page on Vinylmation.com These clues have been sporadic, but one of the BIGGEST clues is the “Think outside the Mould” picture seen here:
http://eventservices.disney.go.com/static/vinylmation/images/projectzpage1.jpg
See those seemingly random series of numbers on the right? Those are the same ones given out on the Urban 7 Telephone phone number, (doubling as a Vinylmation Info line) along with more cryptic clues! Well those are actually coordinates, and while the details of each one are interesting – the important thing to note is they ALL are rides inside various Disney parks. Some are from WDW, and others Disneyland, but there are also some strange choices… Tokyo and Hong Kong parks are represented, but with classic rides that are seen at (most) Disney Parks.
Also given out on the official page are random pictures of these rides, like this one:
http://eventservices.disney.go.com/static/vinylmation/images/projectzhauntedmansion.jpg
Which shows a picture of Haunted Mansion, but if you look closely there are some changes; each picture has letters (some have one or a few, others have up to 4) and those letters all seem to be some combination of P – A – R – K.
So, what does it all mean? Well, we won’t know for SURE until Sunday (and maybe not even then) but until then I am going to say that this is my guess:
- The Z in project Z might stand for Z-Corp, who makes 3-D printers. Why is this important? Well, for one, they listed Disney as one of their customers (http://www.zcorp.com/en/Press-Room/MTV-Games-and-Harmonix-Tap-Z-Corporation-To-Create-Real-World-Ro/news.aspx) and secondly, we know that Disney has messed around with some 3-D Printers, thanks to an article based on the upcoming DUFFY VINYLMATION.
- The letters (PARK) in the pictures, along with the coordinates and the photos, all indicate this will be a PARK based series. While this could mean it’s Park 8 (we know it’s not Park 9 based on pins we’ve seen before), it could ALSO be it’s own series called Park Z or something along those lines.
- I believe, and this is really the point of Project Z, that the HEADS of each figure will NOT be the same Mickey Mouse eared figure we’ve come to know and love. I think that the Z-Factor in this set will be that each figure, depending on which figure it is, will have a “custom” head to represent that figure better than Mickey Ears ever could. That means we could get a Hatbot Ghost with an actual SKULL head, or a Country Bear Jamboree with a bear head, etc. If this is the case, we could also see some AWESOME Variants, with each character having MORE than one “Head”!
Whew. So that’s it. There is some speculation that this could be the aforementioned “Duffy set” that we’ve heard about, but since we know those are based on clothings from around the world, I don’t think that’s it… it’s going to be more park oriented than this.
Until Next week though, this is all speculation… so what’s YOUR guess? Leave it in the comments!
Update: 8/9/11
Lets assume this is Park 7 and take a look at what we have. I also have word that Park 7’s under riding theme is “milestones.” So taking that information, and your comments on the coordinates, it seems as though Park 7 jumps around the world taking its cues from each major theme park, a water park and a historic spot in Disney History. Here is what we can see:
28.418723, -81.583849
Country Bears. Magic Kingdom. One of the last attractions Walt Disney worked on. Also hold significance as a WDW opening day attraction that Disneyland did not have.
22.313776, 114.038853
Golden Mickeys. Hong Kong Disneyland. Previous to being in HK, it was a Disney Cruise Line Show. If this is it, is the artist just picking an attraction you don’t see in other parks to represent HK?
35.634565, 139.880955
Pirates of the Caribbean. Tokyo Disney. As far as my knowledge goes, not much difference between this Pirates and DLR.
28.352144, -81.573059
Blizzard Beach. WDW. If I’m going with the milestones theme, this is odd. It isn’t even Disney’s first waterpark.
28.37412, -81.546922
Mission Space. EPCOT. But he have a Mission Space figure… could this be Horizons? It’s about time.
48.870227, 2.777049
Phantom Manor. Disneyland Paris.This ride does have a different feel than its US counterparts, so a figure for this attraction can be unique.
40.749582, -73.848381
Site of the 1964 World’s Fair. This is very very cool. I like figures that point to Disney history. The ideas are endless for this one and I for one am excited.
Those are 7 figures. We already have these 3 confirmed for Park 7: Earful Tower, EPCOT 2000 and Kali River Rapids. And of course our Park 7 Explained page was early, and we noted that only 3 were confirmed, but it appears from that food picture the other day, Kitchen Kaberet may have it’s own set. Thoughts?
Update: 8/8/11 Disney posted a few more clues today. First, a lot of you are saying Park 7. Look at this:
Disney posted this folder with a Z on it.
Turn it, and part of the Z makes a P
The other part of the Z makes a 7. Hmmmmm. Also, they re-posted all the coordinates.
28.418723, -81.583849
22.313776, 114.038853
35.634565, 139.880955
28.352144, -81.573059
28.37412, -81.546922
48.870227, 2.777049
40.749582, -73.848381
Update: 8/7/11 Thomas Scott tweeted this today:
Is that Pizzafarri at Animal Kingdom? I’ll have to look up some pictures. Yep, Pizzafarri:
And Casey Jones tweeted this picture:
The Z from Horizons. Another clue? Or just a fun Z?
Update: 8/6/11 Disney posted this Z on the blog:
And what’s with the Frenchy looking guy up top? He looks like the figure from Cutesters Like You… with a makeover.
Update: 8/5/11
We found two Zs on the Vinylmation Blog today:
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| A Z on Disney Artist Thomas Scott’s shirt |
Thomas Scott was showing off a handful of It’s a Small World Jrs.
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| A Z on the foot of the Adventures Through Inner Space Vinylmation |
They posted this Park 4 figure as a tribute to the attractions anniversary. More numbers were posted as well:
Update: 8/4/11 As if it wasn’t crazy enough, here’s what the blog posted today! There are 19 z’s in each piece. That’s a lot of Z’s. Can some one say Sleepy? Oh, hey, isn’t there a Disney Character called Sleepy???? The number seem to point to Tokyo Disneyland again.
Also reported today, there is a new set of numbers on the telephone number. DisneyMozart says they point to a gray building in Disneyland Paris. Does anyone have more info?
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Long time collectors of Vinylmation will note that Disney is a long time fan of games; when Vinylmation Jrs were first announced it came with a “game” of sorts, a scavenger hunt that led to a certain date where Steven Miller (dressed conspicuously as a spy) was giving out Jr. cards and other prizes to those that showed up. Also, a sub-quest was found (I am happy to say I figured this one out) that said “CHASER 2X”, hinting that Juniors would have two chasers… and they did.
Although it’s been awhile since we’ve seen something this fun from the Vinylmation team, this week may have started another challenge of sorts.
First, we noticed that the Urban 7 Telephone had a phone number on it, which isn’t a big deal, there are other instances where pins and even the side of one of the value hotels has phone numbers on it all with 407 area codes. Usually they lead to customer service, or a voicemail but after Urban 7 was released, we were greeted with a message that said “LISTEN CAREFULLY” and then left a series of numbers.
28.4 187 23 -81.5 83 849
What does that mean? Well a few people quickly decoded this into coordinates that work with latitude and longtitude, so after googling it real quick, we see that the coordinates are pointing directly to the center of Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World in Orlando. Pretty neat, but really not a game or anything, just a cool Easter Egg that the team threw in.
Or was it?
Because a few days ago, when pointing out the phone number to the readers of the blog, the phone Vinylmation was sitting on top of a piece of paper with a handwritten, and completely out of place letter Z. That’s it. Just a Z.
Perhaps it was a doodle, or just someone placing their initial in the picture for fun, but then the following day the post was signed with a Z.
Now things are interesting.
After today’s blog post, we saw that they posted the coordinates above, perhaps trying to get more people to notice it, and then I called the number ONE more time to see if it had changed… and it HAD.
That’s right the new coordinates are:
22.313776 114.038853
Which directs us to Disneyland Tokyo. Also, after the new recording, the person says “Z…Z…Z…Z”.
4 Zs?
SO, what could all this mean? Is it leading up to a new announcement? Are they trying to get us to go LOOK at the locations the coordinates are pointing to (We doubt it since one of them is in the middle of a street, and the other in a roped off section of the parks).
Whatever it is, we’re on high alert looking for new clues as to what this all could mean.
If you find anything, please feel free to report it here!
The World is a Carousel of Projects
Take a walk through this years Park and Resorts Pavilion at the 2011 D23 Expo as we look at all the new projects coming to the Disney Parks in the next few years. Video include interviews with Imagineers about the New Fantasyland in Florida, Cars Land and Buena Vista Street Coverage, and much more.
Halloween Time Starts Sept. 16 At The Disneyland Resort
NAHEIM, Calif. (Sept. 7, 2011) – The spirit of Halloween Time will invade Disneyland Resort this fall with Disney villains, Mickey Mouse and his friends in Halloween costumes, along with the seasonal transformations of Haunted Mansion into Haunted Mansion Holiday and Space Mountain into Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy. Halloween Time at Disneyland Resort begins Friday, Sept. 16, and will continue through Halloween, Monday, Oct. 31.
The after-hours Mickey’s Halloween Party, a separate-ticket event* which has become an annual highlight of Halloween Time for trick-or-treating families, will take place in Disneyland park on 10 special Monday, Tuesday and Friday nights: Sept. 30 and Oct. 3,7,11,14,18,21, 25, 28 and 31. Tickets are available at Disneyland.com/halloween.
Mickey’s Halloween Party invites adults and children to dress up in costume and trick-or-treat at the resort. These party participants can also “mix in” with regular Disneyland guests for three hours prior to the start of Mickey’s private bash. Highlights of Mickey’s Halloween Party include:
- Newly themed dance party: Guests can mix, mingle and dance with some of their favorite Disney characters at the new “Piratepalooza” at Rancho del Zocalo Restaurante. The popular “Buzz Lightyear’s Intergalactic Space Jam” returns to the Tomorrowland Terrace for more dancing fun.
- New character photo locations: Guests will meet Stormtroopers at Tomorrowland, Phineas & Ferb at Plaza Gardens Stage, and Duffy the Bear in his pumpkin attire at Town Square, Main Street, U.S.A. Eight additional photo locations feature princesses, Disney villains and more Disney and Pixar pals.
- The special opportunity to play in Disneyland for three hours before the party starts
- Trick or Treating – candy and healthy treats - in the ultimate Disney neighborhood
- The “Halloween Screams” fireworks spectacular, hosted by “Master of Scare-omonies” Jack Skellington (presented exclusively for guests of Mickey’s Halloween Party)
- “Mickey’s Costume Party” cavalcade, performed twice nightly
- An opportunity for everyone in the family to attend the park in costumes
- Nearly all the favorite Disneyland rides and attractions
Tickets purchased in advance for Mickey’s Halloween Party are $49 most days, while tickets purchased on the event days are $59. All tickets to Mickey’s Halloween Party on Friday, Oct. 28, and Halloween Night, Monday, Oct. 31, are $64.
Favorite Disney characters, including Mickey himself, will dress up in fun, fall costumes. It’s the ideal environment to eat special holiday treats, play interactive games, listen to “spirited” music and watch a nightly character cavalcade that celebrates the season.
For Halloween fun at Disneyland, guests will enjoy Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy in Tomorrowland. The experience begins as a typical Space Mountain adventure, but suddenly launches voyagers into a haunted section of the universe. Ghosts appear out of the starry darkness and swirling galaxies of Space Mountain, reaching out as if to grab guests as they speed through space. The exhilarating drops and curves of the journey are punctuated by piercing screams, creepy sound effects and haunting music.
Jack Skellington also returns to take over the Haunted Mansion and bring back Haunted Mansion Holiday to New Orleans Square in Disneyland. Transformed to a mix of Halloween spookiness and Christmas tradition, Haunted Mansion Holiday is inspired by the classic animated film “Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas.” Jack’s return to the Haunted Mansion includes the traditional Halloween/Christmas gingerbread house in the Mansion Ballroom, with some special spooky surprises in this year’s design.
Halloween Time offers frightfully delightful fun for children and adults.
- For spine-tingling fun, drop in at The Twilight Zone™ Tower of Terror at Disney California Adventure park, where a “supernatural” event happened on Halloween evening, 1939, forever haunting the building.
- Main Street, U.S.A. in Disneyland is transformed for the Pumpkin Festival. More than 300 pumpkins will be on display and none of them are the same!
- Visitors to Big Thunder Ranch in Frontierland will find ranch animals, pumpkin carvers, Halloween décor and activities for youngsters.
- Meeting Disney characters will be easier than ever as Disney villains gather to plot Halloween mischief at “it’s a small world” Mall in Disneyland, while other characters in spooky attire greet guests in Town Square, Main Street, U.S.A.
- Rancho del Zocalo in Frontierland will honor Dia de los Muertos/Day of the Dead with traditional skeleton figures on display Sept. 16 through Nov. 2.
- Special Halloween treats will be available in Disneyland, including menu items such as Zero’s Ghostly Ghoulash, served in a dog dish in honor of Zero.
What’s your sign? Astrology Vinylmation on display
Nick got a chance to see these pieces in person again. Here is the Astrology set.
Looks like we were right about Gemini. Two faces on the sides. Do you buy two and display them both sideways for full effect?
We previously saw that Sagittarius would have a bow. Now we see that Taurus has a tail. Very cool!
Which ones do you like? Which will you get getting? Is this worth a full set?
Halloween Vinylmation on Display
Nick was at D-Street today and got to check out the new display they had. Here’s a couple pictures of the new Halloween vinyl they are releasing.
What do you think? I miss the tins! (The last one of these was the Candy Corn piece. It had a tin.)
Here’s a look at the side of the box. Interesting….
Spotlight On: Vinylmation Custom Artist Joe of War
Joe of War has given us some great video game based customs in the past and now he is back. Here, in his own words, are his new Super Mario Bros. customs.
One of my favorite video game series of all time – like countless other gamers – is Super Mario Bros. And out of those games, I must have played a thousand hours of Mario Bros. 3! In this game, you could find outfits for Mario to wear that gave him special powers.
This first custom is based on the incredibly awesome raccoon costume from Mario Bros. 3, and helped Mario to fly!!!
I also wanted him to have a detachable raccoon tail in case he had to be stored in a tight space. To achieve this I used 2 rare earth magnets and a Dremel. While I was sculpting the tail I hung it by magnets from my metal lamp to not leave fingerprints on it when it dried – yeah that was fun.
Mario uses so many things in his game environment, so I thought it would be fun to give him at least one accessory! I used a spare Vinylmation head to make this turtle (koopa) shell.
I painted half of the shell red and the other half green to represent a few of the different koopa shells you encounter.
On the bottom of the shell I painted arm, head, and tail holes. Also painted some eyes to make it look like the koopa was ducked in his shell scared. I Left the neck hole unfilled in case I want an interchangeable Mario head just for kicks!
Here’s my second Mario suit custom, and this time I’ve created a 3″ Frog Suit Super Mario! He also comes with a sculpted lily pad for when he’s tired of jumping around. It could be used as a simple base for the figure. The lily pad was sculpted with Aves 2-part Apoxie, and everything was painted with Citadel acrylics.
I Added some bubbles to the side of his head for when he breathes underwater.
Here is my third Mario Suit Vinylmation. I decided I’d dress Mario as his beloved dino friend, Yoshi. I don’t think it was a wearable suit in any of the Mario games, but I know you could ride on Yoshi’s back in a few of them. But I thought it would be cool to add to my series of suits!
I consciously left out Yoshi’s pupils so it didn’t seem like Mario was wearing something he just caught in a bear trap.
I painted the Mickey ears to look like Yoshi eggs. And I know Yoshi doesn’t wear gloves, but I kept the white gloves to match the rest of the Mario Suit set. Now to think of more suits….
Collecting Tips from The UK
DV makes friends with collectors all over the country. We would like to introduce one of our newest reporters Tom. He runs the website www.VinylmationPriceGuide.com in an effort to help fellow collectors easily reference the ‘going value’ of their figures. He will write in to DV from time to time to talk about the collecting experience outside of the US. Take it away Tom…
Since I’m from the UK, I thought I’d blog about my experiences in buying Vinylmation in the UK. I hope that anyone who lives in the UK will find my posts useful, but I also hope that those of you who don’t will also find my articles interesting, and will perhaps sympathize with collectors for whom Vinylmation is not so readily available. So, for my first ever blog post here I thought I’d discuss the various ways I have bought Vinylmation in brief, and perhaps save more in depth topics on individual methods for later posts. So, in no particular order…
Method #1 – Disney Store Online:
Those of you that live in the US will know about disneystore.com, and there’s a similar website for people in the UK – disneystore.co.uk. This is Disney’s official online store for everything Disney.
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| Copyright Disney |
There is a limited selection of Vinylmation figures (nowhere near as many as on disneystore.com), costing £8 each. Shipping is £4.95 unless you spend over £75 (in which case it’s free). You could also buy from disneystore.com, but international shipping is ridiculously expensive.
Method #2 – Disney Stores:
The UK has quite a few Disney stores dotted around UK cities. Not every Disney store sells Vinylmation however. The Oxford Street store definitely has Vinylmation, but other than that it’s a bit hit and miss. I’ve heard reports recently that a Disney store in Birmingham has started selling them, but I can’t confirm this. If they do sell them, they only started very recently because I visited the Birmingham Bullring store a couple of weeks ago and there were none to be found there then.
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| Oxford St. London Disney Store display |
For those stores that do sell Vinylmation, the selection to choose from will still be limited compared to stores in the US. The London exclusive 9 inch figures (bus and taxi) are exclusive to London, not to the UK in general.
Method #3 – Online Communities:
There are online forums dedicated to Vinylmation, some of which feature a specific section of the forum set aside for members to sell and trade figures with each other. These are by nature more risky than buying from Disney direct, as forums act only as a way for people to get in touch with each other, there’s nobody to turn to if someone doesn’t send you the goods. That said, many forum members will post to the UK for a reasonable price, and you’ll be able to buy figures that aren’t available in the UK.
Method #4 – eBay:
Vinylmation figures are frequently sold on eBay, you’ll find more to choose from than Disney officially sells to the UK, since you can buy from sellers in the US (although postage charges can be expensive if you do so). Even if you stick to buying from UK sellers, you’ll find some that aren’t sold by Disney officially, since people may have been to the US and brought them back with them.
Method #5 – Disney Parks:
All Disney parks sell Vinylmation. The closest park to the UK is Disneyland Paris – but the best parks to buy from (those with the best selection and cheapest prices compared with the UK) are Disneyland in California and Walt Disney World in Florida. Though it obviously wouldn’t be practical to make a special trip to a Disney Park just to buy Vinylmation, if you’re heading there anyway you shouldn’t pass up the opportunity to get some while you’re there.
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| Vinylmation Display at Disneyland Paris |
That’s all the ways of buying Vinylmation for people in the UK that I can think of for now. I hope to write some more in depth posts about individual methods in the future. For now though, I hope you’ve found this article helpful, please feel free to make a comment whether you’re in the UK or not! Plus, don’t forget to visit www.VinylmationPriceGuide.com if you ever need to know exactly how much is a fair price to pay for a particular Vinylmation figure – all prices on the website are in US dollars but there is a handy currency converter on every price guide page so you should find it helpful wherever you live.
Thanks for reading!
The Florida Project Explained
BE HERE FOR OUR LIVE BLOG OF VINYLMATION CHAT SESSION ON
SUNDAY 9/11 FROM 10:45AM – 12:15PM EST.
The Florida Project – Vinylmation Showcase
Date: September 11th 2011
Time: 9:30am – 2pm EST
Location: EPCOT World ShowPlace at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida
Details: This is a ticketed event. Click here for ticket details. Admission to EPCOT is also needed.
Free Hours: 2p-5pm on September 11th. Event is free during these hours, but EPCOT admission still needed.
Update: 9/6/11 The Florida Project is days away and we have word that around 14 new series will be revealed during the 11am Chat Session on 9/11!!! Including the much talked about Project Z. We will keep you updated all weekend long!
Update: 8/20/11 The Pin and Vinylmation Itineraries have been released:
Florida Project Vinylmation Itinerary
Florida Project Pin Itinerary
Also, at D23, the free Vinylmation gift that registered guests get for attending the Florida Project was on display:
Minnie is not getting a warm reception. New mold aside, this figure looks kind of dull for such an amazing event celebrating Walt Disney World. And from D23, here is a better look at the Orange Bird Cast Chaser that will be in the Mystery Boxes at the Florida Project:
Now that’s what I call a great looking Vinylmation! Happy hunting.
Update: 8/19/11 Check out this article by Claudia with some helpful Florida Project info straight from the big D: Claudia’s Florida Project Info Update. Also, You should have received your RSP results by now. How did you do?
Update: 8/1/11 The RSP process is over. Results will be announced around August 12. Cards will be charged on August 22.
Update: 6/2/11 The RSP emails have gone out. Deadline to make your selection is July 31st at 11:59 PM PST.
Update: 5/6/11 Disney added prices for The Florida Project vinylmation. Pooh is $14.95, the Mickey/Dumbo 9″/3″ combo is $74.95, and the 9″ Empress Lily is $49.95.
Update: 4/9/11 Disney released a picture of the box that will contain the 3″ Winnie the Pooh. Check it out:
Definitely one of the best pieces I’ve seen so far for the project! – MC
Update: 4/8/11 BIG CHANGE. Hula Girl is OUT! Replaced by 3″ Dumbo:
This Dumbo will be packaged with Retro Mickey 9″. Here is the quote from Steven Miller at Disney:
“We unfortunately had to make a change to the 3-inch figure. The Hula Girl inspired figure was replaced with a rather colorful Dumbo. We asked Donald Ferro, developer for Vinylmation, about the change. Basically, he said that when the sample of the 3-inch figure arrived today, he did not like how the art was applied to the figure.”
Update: 4/6/11 We registered for The Florida Project. A bit of a wacky system. You couldn’t seemingly buy more than 1 ticket at a time. Also, it is technically 2 separate events… Pins on September 9th and 10th and Vinylmation on the 11th. Both require a separate ticket. The system also ran into some problems not letting me pass the “additional fee activities” page. You can purchase box lunches ($15), breakfast ($40) or dessert ($40). I selected “none” but the page wouldn’t advance until I closed my browser and started over. Good news, the Pin Event tickets dropped five bucks to $100 pre-May 6th and $115 after.
Update: 4/6/11 The catalog is out and there are only 4 figures in it. All of which we’ve seen parts of already. Now here are the full figures. Nothing too impressive to me. I was hoping for several series, but there looks like there will only be 1 9″, 1 9″/3″ set, and 1 3″ figure as exclusives. I really really hope they are holding something back or this show will be disappointing. If I wasn’t going for the website, the exclusive figures would not get me to pay the $40! I am very underwhelmed by the back and sides of all the figures except for Empress Lily. -MC
Update: 7PM The vinylmaiton blog released one more sneak peek image of a vinylmation from The Florida Project. Check out the head of the Hula Girl. Thanks Chuck!
REGISTRATION BEGINS ON WEDNESDAY, APRIL 6TH AT 2PM EST.
Usually we reserve the “Explained” heading for pages with information about series collected as we lead up to their release. We will be updating this page with the information we know about The Florida Project.
The Florida Project is a 3-day Disney Pin and Vinylmation trading event from September 9-11, 2011. There are 2 separate ticketed events, the Pin Trading Event (9th and 10th) and the Vinylmation Event (11th). We will focus here on the Vinylmation part of the event. There will be one day dedicated to the collecting and trading of Vinylmation…
The Florida Project – Vinylmation Showcase
Date: September 11th 2011
Time: 9:30am – 2pm EST
Location: EPCOT World ShowPlace at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida
Tickets: $40.00 (Event admission does NOT include Theme Park admission to EPCOT, but that is required to attend.)
Event Admission Includes:
– First opportunity to purchase new Vinylmation Figures created for The Florida Project
– Silent auction featuring a variety Vinylmation items from 9:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
– Vinylmation Trading opportunities.
– Artists Signings with Disney Design Group Artists.
– Limited edition commemorative gift.
– Plus extra special surprises throughout the event.
Free Public Day
There will also be a “Public Day” from 2pm – 5pm EST on Sunday, September 11th. This means FREE admission to the event, but you still need EPCOT admission. DV attended the public day at last year’s Trade City show and were still able to pick up some of the LE Vinylmation, see upcoming releases first hand and there was still plenty of trading going on. However you will not receive any of the gifts and will miss certain opportunities.
Pin Trading
If you are interested in the 2-day event dedicated to pin collecting, buying and trading activities, the cost of the event will be $105 before May 6th and $120 after. $100 before May 6th and $115 after. The pin event features LE items, a tee-shirt, silent auction, event only pins available for trade, autograph sessions with Disney artists, (2) $15 gift cards good for food and beverage at EPCOT and “extra special surprises.” You can find more details on the pin portion of the event by clicking here.
What to Expect at The Florida Project
A lot of this will sound familiar, because it is basically the same place, time of year, and event as Trade City was last year. Because of that, we assume that for the most part the event will be similar, just different in theme. That means we expect lots of LE exclusive merchandise, including pins and vinylmation, to come out that weekend. We also hope that either Steven Miller (or a similar Vinylmation official) will be giving a presentation showcasing future Vinylmation figures like they did on Sunday of the Trade City event. We hope that there will be several announcements made during that presentation, and that several never seen before figures will be on display to tease us for the next year. We also expect a lot of trading tables for collectors to bargain with each other. Also expect for Destination Vinylmation to be out in full force.
History of The (real) Florida Project
 Walt Disney introduces The Florida
Project in 1965. Photo courtesy of
WDW News
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The Florida Project refers to the term that was used by Walt Disney when he was secretly buying up large plots of land in Central Florida near Orlando to build his new theme park. The theme of this event will be the planning and opening of Walt Disney World in the early 70s here in Florida. Expect a “alternate” preview center retro merchandise and lots of 70’s design colors. Like the poster above and this first exclusive Vinylmation:
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