Park 9 LE Explained

Park 9 LE Explained


(Park 9 Mystery Set Explained)


9″ The Land
Epcot
Caley Hicks

Release Date: July 20, 2012
Price: $44.95
LE: 1000

Find out about the history of The Land here.

9″ Feature Animation Building
Burback, CA
Billy Davis

Release Date: July 13, 2012
Price: $44.95
LE: 750

Find out about the history of the Feature Animation Building here.

9″ Art of Animation Poster
Tomorrowland, Disneyland
Monty Maldovan

Release Date: July 13, 2012
Price: $44.95
LE: 550

Find out about the history of the Art of Animation here.

9/3 Toy Story Midway Mania
Hollywood Studios
Lin Shih

Release Date: July 20, 2012
Price: $74.95
LE: 1000

The sides feature Woody and Bullseye logos.

Spaceman and Spacewoman
Disneyland
Thomas Scott

Release Date: August 17, 2010
Price: $26.95
LE: 1750

This set represents the Disneyland Space Man and Women that walked around Tomorrowland meeting with guests. Space was a fascination in the US during the 1950′s and 60′s and these costumed characters entertained guests until about 1967.

9″/3″ Boardwalk
and Swimmer
WDW Resort

Release Date: August 17, 2012
Price: $74.95
LE: 1000

9″ Indiana Jones Adventure
Disneyland

Release Date: August 10, 2012
Price: $44.95
LE: 1000

Dole Whips: Now Served… on eBay?

Dole Whips are a favorite treat at Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom. You can even find them at the Polynesian Resort. But I bet you didn’t know you can order one up on eBay today? A few readers pointed us toward an eBay auction from a Hong Kong seller selling a 3″ Dole Whip figure that we are expecting to see as part of Park 9. This figure is most likely a dumpster diver and as we said many times here and on the podcast, it is not a good idea to purchase these and we do not recommend it. It hurts the hobby and you get a figure with low quality not meant to be in the public’s hands. All that said, let’s take a look at the figure.

A look at the front shows swirls in the head with a cherry in the middle. There is an umbrella in one ear and the ice cream whipped up into a point on the other.
The back features some more swirls in the head, the other side of the umbrella and a pineapple ring. Do you think we may see a variant Orange Dole Whip as well? I for one enjoy the orange version better at the parks.

The interesting thing about the bottom is the figure is officially called “Frozen Drink.” We see that it is also designed by Caley Hicks.

WDW Trading Event; News We Learned

The WDW Trading Night was full of previews as usual. Not much we haven’t seen in some form or another, but some great news including: Release Dates for Park 9, Duffy and Park Starz Variants. A ghost bride reveals herself for the first time. We got our first look at the Mascot Series. And oh ya, we learned of more Mickey’s Circus vinyls for the fall event!


MICKEY’S CIRCUS
Registration: May 19
Event Dates: September 7-9
Details: We were told of some Vinylmation that are not yet in the preview catalog, but will be available for the event. There will be two 9″ figures each with an LE 100. The CMs would not disclose the identity of the figures. There will also be another 3″ two pack featuring two bears. Again, the identity of the bears was not disclosed, but we can speculate based on the pins and Disney bears that we know. No Vinyls were on display, but we did get a look at 3 of the special pins:

Breakfast Pin

 

Dessert Pin

 

Early Bird Pin



MASCOTS
Release Date: June 22
Price: $12.95
Details: 4 figure open window series. Foam fingers, flags and hats highlight this series.

Donald! The faces on this series are amazing. The hat is fantastic.

 

Goofy has one of the best accessories I have ever seen… foam finger! What do you think of the shape of the right arm to make that effect happen?

 

Mickey has a cool baseball cap.

 

We have seen this Pluto, but this is why you don’t buy dumpster divers… the real figure comes with a flag. How cool is that!!?? Maria Clapsis has out done herself with this series.

PARK 9

Release Date: July 20
Price: TBA
Details: 12 figure blind box series. We have seen a picture of the pin box in the past, but we have some higher quality pictures of the pins here that show some of the detail.

AK Camp Mickey and Minnie Bear, AK Bat, ???

 

Typhoon Lagoon Gator, Dapper Dan, MK Train

 

Flick’s Flyers, Phantom Manor (Disneyland Paris) Ghost, Dumbo

 

Skyway
No Dole Whip pin, but the figure was on display

 

So was the Dumbo

PHINEAS AND FERB

Release Date: May 25
Price: $12.95
Details: 6 figure open window series. We got our first real up-close look and see the detail in the ears.

How cool is Agent P’s hat?

 

Candice’s expression makes more sense now that we see Jeremy is in her ear! Great touch!
Buford. Artist Ron Cohee went with clear ears and put some tufts of hair up into them.

 

Doofinshmirtz

 

Ferb. A better job could not have been done without a mold change to capture Phineas and Ferb’s faces!

 

Phineas

NERDS ROCK!

Release Date: no date given
Price: TBA
Details: Stitch and Figment “add-ons” to open window series. A really bad tease because no release date given, but they must be getting close… right???

Figment

 

Stitch

DUFFY

Release Date: June 22 (online), July 6 (parks)
Price: TBA
Details: 2 figure open window series

I was worried about the color, but looks great in person.

 

The detail in person is great. They look so well produced and designed. Also, the size of Duffy sitting is the size of a 3″ Vinylmation. It appeared it might be a bit bigger. Not a bad thing.

PARK STARZ VARIANTS

Release Date: Varies (see below)
Price: TBA
Details: 4 variant figures to the Park Starz series. Each has an LE of 2500

Haunted Mansion Bride (June 8). The surprise of the bunch and in my opinion the best. Makes perfect sense and looks great.

 

Figment (June 22 online only). Love the sweater. The online only release for such a localized WDW character makes little sense to me.

 

Abe Lincoln (May 25)

 

Yeti (June 22)

 

Episode 072 DCL Smokestack

Ep. 072 DCL Smokestack

This week we meander off the Vinylmation path just a bit to discuss other Disney topics, but once we get on track we have a ton of news. Many release dates and product first looks as well as a review of Urban 9. The Mystery Mail Bag is full and the events calender is long.

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Episode 063 Diver

Ep. 063 Diver

We have two great interviews this show. First is Laura Inglis, a contributor for Non-Sport Update Magazine. She chimes in on the collectibility of the Sorcerer of the Magic Kingdom cards. Then Zoe calls in to compare trading at her home DLR shops with her recent trip to WDW. We have all the latest news as well on Park 9, John Carter and overseas exclusives.


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All Aboard! A Park 9 Vinylmation is Previewed

Yesterday on the Vinylmation Facebook page…

They previewed for us a pretty amazing looking 3″ Park 9 design! It’s the No. 2 Lilly Belle locomotive from Walt Disney World. The Lilly Belle is named after Walt Disney’s wife Lillian Disney. Lilly Belle is also the name of the scaled-down steam locomotive Walt had built in his backyard. It is also the name of the special caboose car guests can board at the Disneyland Railroad.

This is a great shot of the Lilly Belle from the website StartedByAMouse.com. It is interesting to note that the Lilly Belle is a restored train that was built in 1928… does that year sound familiar? As important as trains were to Walt, I’m surprised it took us this long to see one of the locomotives made into Vinylmation. One of my favorite Walt Disney quotes, probably because it shows his gigantic creative thinking coupled with his child like qualities is “I just want it to look like nothing else in the world. And it should be surrounded by a train.” And this Vinylmation is like nothing else. What do you think of the top?

I really love it. If there was one negative, I would want a little more realness and grit tot he design instead of the clean illustration. But it looks very good and has me already anticipating Park 9. I can also see this one become an easy, and masterfully used, variant. We know practically the full line of Park 9 by the way. Check out this post from when the pins were leaked last fall.

Pesty Vinylmation

Today the vinylmation Facebook presented these two figures without any other explanation. The obvious guess is that these are part of the Urban 9 set that we already saw two figures of, the Sheep and Toaster. But then, maybe these are from a different creepier set.

Snake

A really detailed snake on a red background. Looks kinda like a California King Snake, but the marking seem just a little off.

Fly

Quick call Jeff Goldblum, there’s a fly about. Kinda freaky but still cool, I like the eyes. Great use of clear ears too.

What would you prefer? For these to be part of Urban 9 or some other set? Are these continuing to be too random and not “artsy” enough for Urban?

Park 9 Explained

Park 9
Release Date: July 13th 2012 (D-Streets), July 20 (Online)
Price: $12.95
(Park 9 LE Explained)

Update: 7/8/12 Updated with Combo Topper.


Update: 7/2/12 Disney released product shots of all 12 figures INCLUDING CHASER! See below. Also, Skyway picture points to variant.


Update: 6/22/12 Release date set for July 13, 2012. Dates for Park 9 LE’s released too, find those here.


Update: 6/11/12 Product shot of Typhoon Lagoon Gator added below.


Update: 5/14/12 Added some of our own Pin photos. Also added Dumbo Vinyl pic and release date!

Update: 8/28/11 According to Vinylnation.net, Dole Whip is the 11th figure and three of these have variants. Skyway and Dapper Dan have color variants and the AK Bat has an eyes open variant.

Thanks to @Kajiholic and a mistake by Downtown Disney in Anaheim, we have a look at Park 9.

Railroad
Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney World
Lin Shih

“I just want it to look like nothing else in the world. And it should be surrounded by a train.” —Walt Disney

The #2 Engine at WDW is named Lilly Belle after Lilian Disney, Walt’s wife. It was built in 1928, the same year Mickey Mouse was born. It no longer carries guests around the Magic Kingdom, but is used exclusively for the daily park opening ceremonies.

Camp Minnie-Mickey Bear
Animal Kingdom, Walt Disney World
Caley Hicks

This bear awaits guest at the entrance to this Animal Kingdom area.

Dapper Dan
Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney World
Thomas Scott

These guys serenade guests up and down Main Street USA.

Dumbo the Flying Elephant
Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney World
Caley Hicks

This classic Disney attraction has entertained guests young and old since 1955 in Disneyland. It is a staple in all 5 Disney parks worldwide. Some people have suggested it might be Jumbo, Dumbo’s mom.

Flick’s Flyers
Disney’s California Adventure
Maria Clapsis

I didn’t know what this one was, then a reader let us know. The very next day I visited Disney’s California Adventure for the first time and saw them for myself. There are various designs using different type boxes… this one is raisins.

Fruit Bat
Maharajah Jungle Trek, Animal Kingdom
Casey Jones

At Animal Kingdom in Orlando there are two can’t miss walking animal tours. On the Maharajah, you get to walk through the bat section. These creatures are hanging out all over the place in there.

Phantom Manor
Disneyland Paris
Thomas Scott

This guy appears in several locations in the Disneyland Paris version of the Haunted Mansion, but mostly in the graveyard and Phantom Canyon scenes

Skyway
Disneyland
Casey Jones

There was a Skyway at Disneyland, Magic Kingdom and Tokyo Disneyland. They all took you on a ride between Fantasyland and Tomorrowland. They are all now closed.

The pin based on this vinyl is green. There was already speculation, but this increases the odds there will be variants of this one.

Typhoon Lagoon Gator
Walt Disney World
Casey Jones

Lagoona Gator is the mascot of the Typhoon Lagoon water park at Walt Disney World in Orlando, FL. The park opened in 1989 and is home to the world’s largest wave pool. This gator is not to be confused with the blue Blizzard Beach Gator named Ice Gator.

Castaway Cay
Disney Cruise Line
Billy Davis

A cool underwater Mickey statue. Custom Artist Brian Shapiro sent us a pic he took while snorkeling around the inspiration for this figure:

Pineapple Dole Whip


A favorite frozen treat of park guests. Served at Disneyland, Walt Disney World and Disney’s Polynesian Resort… this figure, with the umbrella and cherry, represents the West Coast version.

Mystery Chaser


Click Mystery Chaser picture to reveal the chaser!

Combo Topper

Brave Little Tailor (1938)
Voiced by: Walt Disney
Release Date: July 27 D-Streets
Great looking figure.

Dapper Dan Variants


In addition to the regular Red, there are Purple, Yellow and Blue variants.

Episode 071 Astro Orbiter

 

Ep. 071 Astro Orbiter

This week we discuss the new Nightmare Before Christmas Set and its place in Vinylmation. We also bring up news about Disney Character Star Wars, Disneyland figures, DCLs and a ton of new, confirmed and changed release dates. We also get a voicemail in Mystery Mail Bag concerning the upcoming trading night. And yes, we sneak in some Avengers talk as well.

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