Extreme Wrestlers are not due out in Disney Stores until October 29, however some fans got there hands on them as some Disney Stores put them on the shelves a week early.
The chaser is Sammy Smackdown! Apparently from the USA, he seems to hold the coveted Vinylmation Extreme Wrestlers Championship Belt.
When pieces of the Tree of Life at Animal Kingdom fell to the ground a few weeks ago, it forced the closure of “It’s Tough to be a Bug” and the paths around the park icon. For the most part, you still can not walk the paths around the Tree of Life, but above those that you can explore, you’ll find these wood structures with nets. Many more of these structures are going up around the various paths, but until they are complete, these paths will remain closed.
You can still get some good photos of the Tree of Life
More canopies under construction
Does it ruin the area? I’m really not sure, but it has a distinct feel of Jurassic Park for some reason…
What do you think? Is this a good fix or should Disney just close the Tree of Life area and attempt to fix the problem?
A few days ago, the Disney Parks Blog had a live chat opportunity with Jonathan Ackley of Walt Disney Imagineering about interactive games at the Disney Parks and the upcoming Agent P’s World Showcase Adventure at Epcot. First-off, we got a first-look at some colored concept art:
Secondly, there were a few interesting questions and answers during the live chat we’ll share with you now:
Comment From Joe: Will Agent P’s world showcase adventure include Phineas and Ferb or will it be just Agent P and Dr. Doofenshmirtz?
Jonathan: When guests play Agent P’s World Showcase Adventure, it will be just like they are in an episode of the show. So, as the guests are trying to defeat Doof, Phineas and Ferb will be building a contraption and Candace will be trying to bust them. I think it’s likely that once you disable one of Doof’s inators, it just might make Phineas and Ferb’s machine disappear.
Comment From Jeremiah: Jonathan, thanks for being here. Kim Possible had her sound for the Kimunicators, what will be the sound for the Agent P game? One of my fav parts was walking World Showcase and hearing that chime go off.
Jonathan: The sound is going to be Agent P’s theme
Comment From Liz: Question … Will Agent P adventure use upgraded technology…not Kim Possible phone?
Jonathan: From a WDI standpoint, the focus is always on the storyline and not the technology. What we will be giving the guests is “Field Operative Notification Equipment,” or F.O.N.E.’s. Very high-tech stuff. (It’s even got a laser).
This sounds like it will be the same devices from Kim Possible, but we can’t be certain…
Comment From Kaylyn: How much did you work with Dan and Swampy to come up with the story of this interactive attraction? What were their contributions?
Jonathan: They were engaged from the very beginning, helping us with ideas and characters, and going over our scripts and making sure that we were creating a theme park attraction that is true to the show.
Comment From Jeff: Do you have a favorite country as far as storyline for both Kim and Perry?
Jonathan: Don’t make me choose between all my children…(Germany!).
Jenn Fickley-Baker: From the blog, Matt asks “When the Agent P game debuts, will all of the missions be available or will more be coming later? If so, when?”
Jonathan: All of the missions will be available once we open the attraction, but there will be new top secret-iniators that will roll out over the summer.
Stay tuned to WDW News Today as we get closer to the grand opening of Phineas and Ferb Agent P’s World Showcase Adventure in late-June.
Why did I not make this my actual prediction on the last podcast? In our preview for Park 11 I said an easy possible variant would be the different character Fun Wheel cars. Well it turns there is a Donald Duck variant of the Mickey Fun Wheel car.
I found this picture on the Vinylmation Exchange Facebook page. This marks the third variant (Park 6 Wet Pain, Animation 2 Noah) for Donald Duck. Does anyone know of any other Park 11 variants?
By Brian Shapiro
This week’s Vinylmation releases seemed fit for a bridal bash with the So Tasty series and the Park Starz Haunted Mansion “The Bride” Variant. Some nerds even made a surprise appearance as well.
On Monday, June 4, Disney Store and DisneyStore.com released six figures of the So Tasty series. These whimsical 3″ figures each depict and smell like a food or drink. They are open edition and come in windowed boxes. The flavors include the following: Popcorn, Mint Chip Ice Cream, Bacon Cheeseburger, Grape Soda, Lemonade, and Root Beer. The figures retail for $11.95 and were subsequently released on Friday, June 8, at D Streets.
Also released on Friday was the much anticipated Park Stars Haunted Mansion “The Bride” Variant. She materialized at D Streets and at DisneyStore.com (Where she sold out in less than fifteen minutes!). This LE 999 figure, packaged in a special tin, was designed by Casey Jones and Thomas Scott of the Disney Design Group. She looks identical to the version that was included in the Park Starz series, except she’s translucent! Her retail price is $24.95 if you can still summon her.
Although they are not scheduled to release until June 22, the Nerds Rock Figment and Stitch figures made a surprise appearance on the official Vinylmation Facebook store this past Friday. These open edition 3″ figures are two of the best in the series. The Imagination Institute theme of Figment fits the current Epcot attraction perfectly. Both figures each retail for $12.95.
Finally, Saturday, June 9, saw the release of a new Vinylmation mold, called Vinylmation 95, at the grand opening of the WonderGround Gallery in Disneyland’s Downtown Disney District. This 9″ mold is shaped like Lightening McQueen (who sports the number 95) from the Cars movies. Renowned artist, Noah, created 25 custom figures with the new canvas for the event.
On June 15, blank, white Create-Your-Own Vinylmation 95 figures will be released at D Streets. It will be interesting to see what custom artists do with the new platform!
The Disney Store decided to attempt a little reboot of the Robots series. They announced back at Mickey’s Circus how Robots 3 will be Disney Characters as robots. Now, we have a release date for the series of November 19 at Disney Stores. On Friday, the Disney Vinylmation Blog reveled 4 never before seen designs.
The artist(s) seemed to have put a lot of though in decided what defining characteristically or themes from each character to put into the designs. Minnie has some pink tones throughout and keeps her bow. She has a Mickey head at her core and has yellow on her feet representing the heels she never leaves behind. It wouldn’t be Winnie the Pooh without a tummy full of honey! I absolutely love that feature. But the coolest (and not just because he’s one of my favorite characters) design feature in any of these is the claw drawn onto the body of the Little Green Man from Toy Story. He also gets an antenna and the Pizza Planet logo. Grumpy, a favorite of the DS Artists, still has his trademark beard drawn on, but it is almost sucked into a hole on his belly and has wires wrapped around and through it. I liked the concept when this was announced, but was skeptical. I really hope they give me a Donald Duck and I’ll call this set a win! Here is a look at the Tigger and White Rabbit we saw previewed at Mickey’s Circus.
Opening on June 18th, the Cars wing of Disney’s Art of Animation Resort is already expected to be the most popular wing of the hotel. We took a lot of pictures over the construction fences during our stay, so let’s see how the next phase of the resort is doing (You may also want to check out our photos from a few weeks ago for a look inside the Cars rooms):
Sheriff sits below a billboard from the film
The back of one of the Cars buildings
Doc Hudson
Flo
Yes, the Cozy Cone Sign has neon, and unlike the one in the movie, it spins…
Ramone
Mater
Cozy Cone cabanas around the pool
The back of another building
The Cozy Cone cabanas will be first-come, first-serve
Sarge’s Surplus Hut
The Wheel-Well Motel in the very back
In the windows of the Cozy Cone Motel, we spotted postcards…
And the little alarm clocks from the film
Great signage
Gas pumps at the Wheel-Well
Lightning McQueen and Sally
A peek inside a cabana
The Extreme Wrestlers of Vinylmation will feature a 9″ LE figure to go along with the blind boxes.
The figure will have an edition size of 1,000 and a retail of $59.95. It will be released at Disney Stores on October 29 along with the 3″ Blind Box series that will retail for $9.95.
Artist Katie Kelly, who is up for Favorite Disney Commissioned Artist at this year’s Dee Vees, will have a Vinylmation for sale at this year’s Festival of the Masters at Downtown Disney in Orlando.
This one-of-a-kind 9-inch figure will have a retail of $950.00. The 37th Festival of the Masters is an open-air fine arts festival at Downtown Disney. This year it will be held from November 9 through November 11, 2012. Featuring award-winning artists, this world-renowned show is a highly anticipated annual event for Guests, artists, collectors and art lovers.
Katie Kelly has produced a few one-of-a-kind pieces in the past.
She has also produced some other wonderful Disney themed artwork.
Visit Katie Kelly’s website to view more of her portfolio.
Great article on Yesterland.com about the Orange Stinger’s history and then eventual transition into the Silly Symphony Swings.
