New Magic Around the World Figure Released

WDWNT on July 10, 2012

We were pointed to a Facebook post by Disney Character Central today:

“Picked this up just now at a UK store (not London!). The info on the back more or less confirms the others will come soon too.”


This looks like a fun figure to celebrate the World Showcase at Epcot. With the Mickey head flags, it is very similar to the ornaments on the Christmas tree from the Holidays Around the World figure released a few years back. I would have liked a tiny more character to this figure instead of just a black background. Found at a UK Disney Store, it is an interesting universal figure seemingly meant to represent all the countries with Disney Stores perhaps? This is as opposed to those figures meant to represent specific cities.

Furry Friends in the UK

WDWNT on March 31, 2012


According to our friends at DisneyBrit.com, Furry Friends will be coming to the UK Disney Store. According to a flyer emailed to them, the UK Disney store looks to be introducing Villains 2 (along with the 9″/Jr Jafar/Genie vinyl) and Furry Friends. This will be great news to our British fans who often don’t have access to some of the cooler series that we get here in the states. In fact, this might be the start of a whole new campaign for Vinylmation across the pond. If you live in England, let us know What vinyl have you been able to collect, what do you want to collect?
For a good English commentary on the subject, check out this DisneyBrit article and follow the conversation on Twitter: #SaveUKVinylmation

Also, for those of you who have been asking about UK releases (we even had a Mystery Mailbag question about it this week in the podcast), we’re in the process of tracking down who has that info. It’s a different department than we deal with in the US and we hope to have a new contact there soon.

UK Vinylmation Update with Sophie

WDWNT on January 18, 2012

Sophie, who usually brings us some great graphics (like the one above), has written an article on the state of Vinylmation in the UK.

In response to Susan’s Facebook comment about Vinylmation releases in the UK, I decided to write up what Vinylmation are and what might be available via the Disney store website.

Firstly, good news Furry Friends is coming this month as annnounced on the most recent Disney store newsletter. Might there be donations to RSPCA I wonder? Hopefully these can be brought not only from the website but from stores as well.

Regarding other series Animation 2 will most likely be purchasable in the UK as we’ve already seen Animation 1, which sold out online a while Iago. I’m really hoping for the 25th Anniversary series to make an appearance. In contrast Cutesters on the Beach I’m not looking forward to, but will probably be purchasable as Cutesters Like You are no longer on the website and have not returned suggesting that stock is low in stores. Furthermore Robots 2 should come over sometime this year, as Robots 1 has previously been available.

When these series will be released in the UK (and if) is hard to estimate judging by previous releases. With newly released sets they can be just a few weeks after the US release such as the case with
Villains 2 (which is still up) and the Jafar Genie 9″. Or a month later as with robots. But unfortunately there can be an even longer wait… a.k.a. Lion King. However, recently released set have been pretty good with Alice in Wonderland being available rather quickly, and with plenty of stock as they’re still up on the website. Although regarding Alice In Wonderland you still need to search Alice In Wonderland rather than Vinylmations in order to to purchase them.

Other vinylmations that are on the Disney store website today include the UK Flag 3″, Have a Laugh and Villains £8.00 each ($12.30), Jafar and Genie 9″ £40.00 ($62) and the Peter Pan Kidada £50.00 ($77.50). Also the UK exclusive 9″ Taxi and Bus have been reduced down to a further £5.99, originally £29.99, down to £20.00 down to £9.99 and now this! Yes that’s correct, a 9″ figure is now cheaper than a single 3″. Either because there were too many produced, or they weren’t selling or even the Disney store need to get rid in order to stock a new UK exclusive vinyl, I’m hoping for the latter. What would you like to see as a UK Vinylmation?

Furry Friends released in England

WDWNT on January 18, 2012

Nick from England sent in these pictures and story from earlier today.

We’ve just been to the London Oxford St Flagship store and bought the last case of Furry Friends, a whole 2 days earlier then the worldwide release. We managed to get all 13 vinyls and the paint jobs are amazing in person. Almost looking flocked and giving a furry appearance. Pegasus is my favourite.

There were none left when we left the store, and another loose case had sold in just under 2 hours of being put out!


-Nick Branch, England.

Collecting Tips from The UK

WDWNT on September 7, 2011

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.

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.

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.

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!

London Exclusives Now Online in UK

WDWNT on January 1, 1970

We have a ton of international readers that will enjoy this news. Our friends over at Vinylmation World found out that the London Bus and London Taxi, both 9″ exclusives at the Oxford St. Disney Store, are now available at the Disney Store Online UK.

Link to London Taxi
For those state side collectors thinking they could now have access to these UK gems, think again. The Disney Store UK does not currently ship to the US… no matter how much you offer them for shipping. Collectors in the UK shouldn’t hesitate to pick up the double-decker bus. I have one and it is a spectacular figure. I did not get the taxi as I was a bit underwhelmed by the design.