Park 9 Photoshoot

WDWNT on September 12, 2012

We took Park 9 around WDW for some pictures. Some where easy to place with their corresponding attraction… others we had to reach a bit for.
Update 01/29/14 Added Disneyland Tomorrowland Astronaut LE set.
Tower of Terror Bellhop
Hollywood Studios
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Maharajah Jungle Trek Fruitbat
Animal Kingdom
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Maharajah Jungle Trek Fruitbat
Animal Kingdom
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Camp Minnie Mickey Bear
Animal Kingdom
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Castaway Cay
Typhoon Lagoon
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Dapper Dan
Magic Kingdom
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Dole Whip
Magic Kingdom
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Dumbo
Magic Kingdom
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Dumbo
Magic Kingdom
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Flick’s Flyers
Animal Kingdom
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Lilly Belle
Magic Kingdom
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Phantom Manor Ghost
Magic Kingdom
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Skyway
Magic Kingdom
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Lagoona Gator
Typhoon Lagoon

Releases Scheduled for August 17

WDWNT on September 12, 2012

Disney’s Vinylmation Blog announced a few releases for Friday, August 17.

The 9″/3″ Park 9 Walt Disney World Boardwalk Resort Clown Slide and Simmer will be available at both D-Streets for the price of $74.95. It has an edition size of 1000. I know this is becoming a common theme from me, but I think for what this is, the LE is a bit high. Especially when we see they are not afraid to produce 500-600 of the Disneyland 9″ vinyls. As much as I like this one, I don’t expect the Boardwalk figure to have a mass appeal.

This set on the other hand, should appeal to a wider audience. It is the 3″ Park 9 Disneyland Tomorrowland Space Man and Woman. This set has an LE of 1750, a price tag of $26.95 and will be available at both D-Streets as well as Online.

Release Day: July 13, 2012

WDWNT on September 12, 2012

Excuse me if I’m a little jaded this morning and not rushing to my computer to order from the Disney Store Online today. Not much surprise, but the Carl and Ellie release yesterday went less than smoothly. That included a mid afternoon tease where we all flooded the DSO again to purchase the “now available” Carl and Ellie combo. Of course we woke up to emails from Disney apologizing for the mistake. I wrote them back with a little note of my own, did anyone else?

So today, a few releases hit the Disney Store Online once again… and once again I am reading grumblings of errors for a few figures that didn’t even have close to the hype or demand of Carl and Ellie.

The Comic Con release slate continues today with the Purple Park Starz Squid Variant. An LE of 1954 for $24.95.

As expected, Epcot’s favorite purple dragon popped up online today. This Figment Park Starz variant is an LE 2500 for $24.95. Varying reports say he was available at times overnight? The listing now says Sold Out. But there are issues with the listing description…

The edition size seems wrong and it doesn’t have poseable arms and head. A report on the Vinylmation Exchange Facebook page says the listing has been changed to Sold Out while changes are made.

Park 9 is available online and at your local D-Street.

9″ Park 9 Art of Animation Poster is at D-Streets. Check out my history of the Disneyland attraction here.

9″ Park 9 Feature Animation Building is at D-Streets as well. Check out my history of the Burbank building where Disney magic is drawn to life here.

History of: Toy Story Midway Mania

WDWNT on September 12, 2012

Update 7/16/12 D-Street had this figure on display and we finally get to see the back and sides of the figure:
One side has Bullseye. These logos are find on the side of the ride vehicles.

 

The back mimics the front, as tiny design disappointment.

 

The other side has the color Woody logo. Do the side logos add enough to this design to make it worth the money? They look perfect in person. Production wise they are applied well and full of color. Seeing these logos, I now see why this is a 9″ figure when it seemed like a 3″ worthy design. However, in my opinion, the 9″ canvas needs to be filled with these logos from all the characters to make it worth it. The 3″ has a ton of little details and is the best part about this set.
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Update: This article has been modified from it’s original version with updated attraction history and new info based on the product shots of the 9″/3″ Toy Story Midway Mania figure and the fact that it is a combo set.
Toy Story Midway Mania is an interactive attraction that takes place in the Disney Pixar Toy Story Universe. The attraction opened it’s first location at Disney’s Hollywood Studios on May 31, 2008. This was shortly followed by the same attraction opening on June 17, 2008 on the Paradise Pier at Disney’s California Adventure Park. And today, July 9, 2012, a version is having it’s grand opening at Tokyo DisneySea. The attraction starts you off with a walk through a room full of larger-than-life toys… making you feel “toy sized” as you walk around the queue line. You then encounter an animatronic Mr Potato Head that interacts with the guests.
The queue brings you into Andy’s room, which is the ride vehicle loading area. Then, with your 3D glasses on, you are sent through rooms full of interactive amusement park type games filled with the Toy Story characters.
Current Mini Games:
Hamm & Eggs (egg throw game now featuring Buttercup from Toy Story 3)
Rex and Trixie’s Dino Darts (dart throw game; once Bo Peep’s Baa-loon Pop)
Green Army Men Shoot Camp (baseball throw / plate breaking game)
Buzz Lightyear’s Flying Tossers (ring toss game)
Woody’s Rootin’ Tootin’ Shootin’ Gallery (suction cup shooting game)
It was also good to see one of the mini game’s refreshed after only two years in operation. A lot of times Disney promises this, but doesn’t follow through. (Disney Quest, I’m looking at you) In 2010, Bo Peep’s Baaa-loon Pop was reimagined with a Rex and Trixie Dinosaur theme to represent Toy Story 3.

 

 

On July 20, 2012 a 9″/3″ combo designed by Lin Shih will be released at D-Street. We first saw the concept art for this one at least a year and a half ago and it was presented to us as a “future park series.” Well, a few Park series had passed, Park 10 was unveiled, and still no Toy Story Midway Mania figure. Then, the LEs for Park 9 hit the release calendar and not only was the Toy Story figure on the list, but it was coupled with a 3″! I’ll admit, I was a little disappointed to see this design be blown up onto a 9″ canvas. I think the patterns and colors would have looked perfect on the more compact 3″ canvas. That’s not to say I do not think this is a really beautiful figure.
The positives about this piece is the representation of the true colors and patterns of the attraction. The stripes in the ears of both figures match up with the strips you will find on the signs and walls around the attraction.
A look at the poster for the attraction, also shows where many of the patters, colors and overall feel of the design came from.
The arms on the Vinylmation seem to coincide nicely with the “vintage” amusement park ride style of the attraction. Also the blue pattern used on the body, matches the pattern found on the side of the ride vehicles.
The 3″ figure in this combo is a wonderful little treat and would have served as a fantastic piece of a 12 figure park set. I almost wish I didn’t have to buy the whole combo to get it.
Lin Shih took the various targets found throughout the game play and placed them in a collage around the canvas. We see the Plates, Sheep, Rockets, Planets and 100 point targets. Here is a promo shot from Disney that shows some of the targets.
So, what’s your high score? Mine is 368,000. What do you think of the Park 9 Toy Story Midway Mania 9″/3″ combo set?

History of: Disney’s Feature Animation Building

WDWNT on September 12, 2012

On July 13th, a 9″ Park 9 figure representing Disney’s Feature Animation Building will be released. The edition size is 750 and it will retail for $44.95.

In 1994, the Walt Disney Company built a brand new Feature Animation Building in Burbank, California. The 240,000 square foot building houses 700 employees and serves as the headquarters for the Walt Disney Animation Studios (formerly Walt Disney Picture’s Feature Animation Studios). Located between Disney’s Burbank studio lot and Route 134, the four storey building was designed by Robert A.M. Stern, Architects.

Photo by Peter Aaron / Esto

The facility’s marquee feature is a cone-shaped tower in the shape of Mickey Mouse’s Sorcerer’s hat serving as the entrance. The ground floor contains the building’s public spaces, with a triple height lobby and a screening room.

Photo by Peter Aaron / Esto

The archives and computers are on the lower level. Post production (including background and special effects) are on the ground floor. Animation is on the second floor with story development on the third.

Photo by Peter Aaron / Esto

All four floors are interconnected by a grand stair case centrally located and each has a “main street” on the south facade of the building.

Photo by Peter Aaron / Esto

The Robert A.M. Stern Architects website describes other facets of the building:

“The south facing lobby and circulation esplanades become the building’s primary circulation and gathering spaces–on the exterior they are expressed by an arching wedge that slopes up in relation to the allowable height limit on this site. This enormous but narrow form is the building’s facade to the highway, in scale with Route 134 and with the speed of passing commuter traffic.”
Photo by Peter Aaron / Esto

I also found some interesting info about the building’s signage on the AIGA (professional associate for design) website:

“The room identification signs reflect the buildings unique shape and the floors are color coded. Function yet entertaining directional signs relate to 1930’s signs on the studio lot. A custom digital type font “Kem Weber” was designed. It has the feel of bygone eras. It has been adopted by The Walt Disney for use on future developments. The use of custom typography and design themes that are functional as well as entertaining produce an environmental graphics program that is integrated into, not added onto, this landmark building.”
Photo by Peter Aaron / Esto

The Feature Animation Building once housed of the office of Roy E. Disney, From 1984 to 2003, Roy E. Disney was vice-chairman of Disney’s board of directors and head of Disney Animation, where he helped to guide the Studio to a new golden age of animation with classics including The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and The Lion King.

Following Roy’s 2009 passing, the building was renamed and rededicated in his honor on May 7 2010, by The Walt Disney Company’s president and CEO, Bob Iger.

This was no easy structure to capture onto a canvas shaped like Mickey Mouse. Billy Davis did a very admirable job.

There are a ton of odd corners and crevasses on this building. The front is pretty straightforward, but turn it on its side and it is hard to capture the long part of the building with the orange and red stripes. If you mentally unwrap the art off the figure and lay it out 2D, I think you can see a perfect layout of the building. The artist does a nice job wrapping it around the figure instead of trying to create the front, back and sides. In doing it the way he did, the artist gets to keep the marque features.

The left arm is interesting. It represents the cubic structure just outside the building that is held up by a star and underneath you can see the stars on blue pattern, similar to the hat.

The other arm, I do not entirely get as it is all sky and clouds like it is not there. I do like the stylistic clouds on the head and ears. Ultimately, this was a wonderfully unique choice for a Vinylmation and the design seems to well suit the building itself.

As a fun side note, here are other Disney buildings designed by Robert A.M. Stern, Architects:

Disney’s Ambassador Hotel in Japan
Photo by Peter Aaron / Esto

Disney’s Boardwalk Hotel at Walt Disney World
Photo by Peter Aaron / Esto

Disney’s Yacht and Beach Club at Walt Disney World
Photo by Peter Aaron / Esto

Sources
http://www.ramsa.com/projects-search/office/feature.html
http://designarchives.aiga.org

9″ Park 9 Boardwalk Clown and Indy Adventure

WDWNT on September 12, 2012

Another clown! Yes, but this one is a truly great idea for a vinyl that I would never even have ever imagined. We already knew of most of the 9″ Park 9s (take a look at explained page), and the back of a box on display at the WDW Trade Night has shown us the rest of the lineup.

This LE 1000 9″/3″ Park 9 combo is an extremely fun tribute to one of the most beautiful resorts on WDW property, the Boardwalk. When we took Cutesters at the Beach around to all the resorts for a photoshoot, this was my favorite shot:

The Boardwalk Clown slide that drops guests into the swimming pool is the marque feature of the recreational side of this grand resort. It is made to look like an old school boardwalk amusement park roller coaster.  Walt Disney World has 20+ resorts… I have always thought more figures needed to give a nod to their features. The Boardwalk Clown Slide is an LE 1000. The kid swimmer that comes with it is perfect. I don’t know who wears Mickey Ears while swimming, but I DON’T CARE. Goggles, innertube and noseplugs are all great additions to the design. The second of the 9″ Park 9s on display at the WDW trade night was this Disneyland Indiana Jones Adventure themed figure.

I think Disneyland fanatics are saying… about time for a tribute to this great attraction. Here is a look at the statue this is based on:

And for a quick refresher… here is the rest of the 9″ Park 9s…

Park 9 Chaser and More

WDWNT on September 12, 2012

We now have a complete look at the Park 9 set due out July 13 (minus variants and combo topper). See our Park 9 Explained page for a full list. First off, click the image below to see the chaser.

The rumor was true and the figure does not disappoint. We also have a look at a possible variant. The rumor is the skyway, and it makes perfect sense. And in taking a look at the vinyl product shot…

and the pin…

We can see an almost certain variant already. The Tiki Mickey and fish figure was cleared up.

As some people commented, it is in fact a Disney Cruise Line piece. All in all we get 4 Walt Disney World representatives (2 Animal Kingdom, an MK and a Water Park).

1 is from Disney’s California Adventure. 1 represents Disneyland Paris. 1 represents the DCL. And in my mind, 5 represent multiple parks.

Disney’s website calls the Skyway DLR specific and Dapper Dans WDW specific, but unless there is slight differences in the vehicle or costume for each park, I think they could be found in more than one park. Overall, I love the look of this series. Dapper Dan and Camp Minnie and Mickey are some of my favorite park figs. The upside down bat is genius. Skyway is a perfect mold fit. More ride vehicles are a must. And the chaser may be the best Park series chaser of all-time.

Release Day: Friday, July 27, 2012

WDWNT on July 27, 2012

Roger Rabbit and The Land 9″ figures are both online and at D-Street

Last night, the links to purchase these figures went live at Midnight PST, but were hidden from searches for a good half hour. People also had issues checking out to purchase Roger Rabbit, but there seemed to plenty of quantity of the 1200 total available online as it is still available today. Or at least we all think this morning? I, along with many others got our confirmation emails… but past experience makes us hold our breath until the package arrives.

The Park 9 Combo Topper is also out today, only at D-Streets.