Theme Park Favorites Photoshoot

Austin and I decided to break the Theme Park Favorites out of their open window cages and take them around Downtown Disney for some photos.

Disney’s Facebook Vinylmation Shop: Like it?

Update: 4/7/12 The shop now has a working checkout button and it significantly changes my opinion.

The button links to a Checkout page at DisneyStore.com. This means that you can add whatever you want from Facebook, including the Facebook exclusive figure, and then check out at DisneyStore.com receiving all the benefits there in. Meaning you can then add other items, Vinylmation or not, from the Disney Store into your cart. You can also apply all discount codes including free shipping. You can also of course log into your DisneyStore.com account. I still will not purposefully shop through Facebook unless I really desire the exclusive being offered, but it makes me feel better about the process.

4/5/12 Disney has introduced a Shop section on the official Vinylmation Facebook page. I’ll be honest, I did not know such an application existed to shop on Facebook. On the surface it is remarkably brilliant for a company as a way to increase impulse purchases. I mean how many people go to Facebook for the purpose of purchasing an item? The interface however seems a bit clunky and I could not actually find a way to pay for the items in my checkout cart. (and by some comments, I wasn’t the only one) The later is an issue I’d assume will be fixed ASAP. So why would you want to purchase through Facebook you ask? For Facebook exclusive figures. The Theme Park Favorites Blue Ringer Tee figure made it’s debut yesterday. Here is a rundown of how to shop, the interface and a look at the exclusive figure. First, you have to “like” the official Disney Vinylmation Facebook page. Then you can click on the Shop icon. Next you have to accept some application notices before you can access the shop.

Right now, the shop only features a few select departments with a limited amount of Vinylmation. Teams, Theme Park Favorites, 2012s, Light Ups and Park 7 LE Fife and Drum are among the initial offerings.

You can then select a department and look at individual items that you can then add to your cart, wish list, share listing with FB friends or let FB friends know you want it.

That is the Facebook exclusive Blue Ringer Tee figure for $12.95. It is a variation on the Red and Yellow versions we have already seen.

You can then add figures to your cart, but there is no checkout button to actually pay for you items yet. So we will continue to check on that (unless someone out there has found the way and can share?)

There are a few other interesting items around the shop. Such as the “Meet the Artist” windows that pop up. Right now, Eric Caszatt is the only one I saw, but this is a brilliant idea. We asked Disney to do this at least a year ago and they told us they didn’t have the man-power to put it together. We did offer to talk to the artists and put it on DV, but they kindly declined. I really hope they put more of these up, they are an invaluable tool to get to know the artists. There are also some tabs that do not seem to have a function yet, but point to added features down the road. These include “Rewards” and “Badges”. I don’t care much for Badges, but if we can rack up Reward points for buying Vinylmation, I’m all for it. How about a Nintendo style point system where we can register our Vinylmation purchases online and rack up points to get rewards or exclusive figures at the end of the year? To me, seeing the “Rewards” tab could make Facebook shopping worth it. I am passing on Blue Ringer, but will certainly use Facebook for exclusive figures that I desire to add to my collection. It will also be interesting to see if Facebook carries vinyls found in the Parks but not Online (right now, that is not the case.) So other than exclusives, and with Free Shipping and Discount codes at DisneyStore.com, there is not an incentive to buy through Facebook for me at this time. Will you be shopping for vinyl at Facebook? Have you ever shopped through Facebook? And what do you think about Rewards and where that can go down the road?

Release Weekend News

A few interesting notes about the latest slue of Vinylmation releases. First off, D-Tour. One of the original six designs that we saw Disney release photos of was NOT available for purchase at D-Street this weekend.

Flowers & Vines has not yet, to our knowledge seen the store shelves. In it’s place was a design Disney hadn’t told us about.

Headphones Mickey, a figure we reported for sale on eBay a few days ago, is fully stocked at D-Street. Here’s a peek at the shelf as it looked last night.

I saw a lot of interest in these new designs. We also learned via Disney Artist Eric Caszatt’s Twitter that: “Artists at DDG created flat 2D art that Maria Clapsis translated to the Vinylmation Mickey platform.” I was wondering about that as the first thing I did when I ripped open my first D-Tour was check the bottom of the feet… no credit given.

Next up, when Disney released the turn around pictures for the Theme Park Favorites, there were two we had not seen on the series poster.

They are variant designs of the yellow “Classic Fan” figure from the poster. A look in the D-Street display case…

…and the shelves…

…show no sign of the Red and Blue versions. Might these be more variant Cast Traders? In retrospect, this is a great series to have such traders. As this is series geared toward the guests of the parks that are not necessarily into Vinylmation yet and Disney would like to hook them on the idea of trading. A concept that hooked a lot of us into this hobby in the first place. Your thoughts?

Also available this weekend for the first time state side, the Chinese Zodiac series.

No oddities here. And the final release was this 9″ Valentine’s Day piece from Holiday 3.

Also of note around Downtown Disney…

The shelves where stocked with plenty of Astrology, 2012s, Flags and Nerds Rock! (minus Daisy) but notably missing from D-Street were the WDW 40th figures and Sea Creatures. Granted, there are a ton of new releases, so they probably had to move them around property to make space.

We also saw signs that Urban 6 is on sale for Buy One, Get One 50% off. Did you pick up any new Vinylmation this busy weekend?

Episode 056 Herbie

Ep. 056 Herbie


This week we talk about the latest releases including the Chinese Zodiacs and Theme Park Favorites. We review the D-Tour series. And Annemarie joins us to talk Variants… do we like them? What ones make sense? And as always, we open the Mystery Mail Bag and read your questions and comments.

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Today In Review

Wow, a ton of announcements today.

Disney put a January 20th release date on this 9″ Holiday 3 Valentine’s Day figure we saw on a poster at D-Street.

Details

January 20th will be a popular day at D-Steet. D-Tour will also hit the shelves.

How about Theme Park Favorites? A set of open window figures will also be out… you guessed it, January 20th.

Details

This crazy little hamster appeared on Vinylmation’s Facebook page. It’s Rhino from Bolt! And yes, that’s his own plastic ball. I saw a great comment speculating is is an Animation 2 LE. How cool would that be?
Oh ya, and this little set came across from China. It’s the Chinese Zodiac set. This drops in the states on… January 20th!

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We also had a special treat… Vinylmation projects from the 7th and 8th grade art classes of the Millennium Middle School.

Episode 055 Elephant Bathing Pool

Ep. 055 Elephant Bathing Pool


This week we talk about Furry Friends and Disney’s decision to pull the product from store shelves. Annemarie joins us once again to give her first hand input. We also review the newly released Animation 2 series. There are a ton of new releases dates to let you know about as well. And we interview special guest Mellisa French. A teach who used Vinylmation as the base of a series of class art projects.

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