Disneyland Ceramic Castle Plate and Ashtray

Do you own either of these Disneyland Ceramic Castle Plate and Ashtray? If you’re a collector of Disneyland merchandise, you likely have some ceramics with Sleeping Beauty Castle on it.

Mugs. Bells. Spoons. And yes, plates and ashtrays.

This miniature offering is just 6 1/2″ in diameter, so not a wall hanging plate! And can you see the little detail that makes this plate special? Yes, those are Mickey Balloons lifting into the air over the Castle! And now for a pet peeve of mine: I hate it when the combined ‘Disneyland’ and ‘Walt Disney World’ branding appears on the back of an item that was created solely for sale in just one of those Parks! Is it just me?

Are you someone who misses smoking while walking down Main Street? Then this next item is likely something you would have purchased to remember your Disney trip:

At just 5″ in diameter, this little ashtray might not accommodate the chain smoker! But it does have three indentations if you wanted to smoke with your friends. It’s strange now to think that Disneyland once had a Tobacconist shop and you could buy cigars in the Park!

This ashtray is branded ‘Walt Disney Productions’ which dates this item to pre-1986 times.

I’ve lost count of how many variations of merchandise I have with the Castle motif. But one thing is sure: I will be increasing that number whenever possible!

Mickey Unlimited Donald Duck Pen by Kreisler

We all know the ‘Leader of the Band who is made for you and me’, right? But for this post, we must join a certain rascally mallard in yelling a hearty ‘DONALD DUCK’!

Yes, we are featuring a beautiful Mickey Unlimited Donald Duck Pen by Kreisler, and I think even Mickey would be proud to write with it:

The Mickey Unlimited brand has been quite pervasive in the past few decades. I don’t personally believe the merchandise to be of the highest quality but it is quite varied and usually very interesting. This pen is a good example.

Even though Donald should be getting the spotlight here, I just couldn’t resist geeking over the Mickey Hand in the box and how it holds the pen! This is packaging ramped up to eleven.

This pen sports the standard ‘Disney’ copyright with an additional marking of R.O.C. which I believe may stand for ‘Republic of China’. If this is right, it would be another way of saying ‘Made in China’.

And just who is Kreisler? Kreisler Pens have been offered for sale as far back as the 1960’s and have offered an extensive line of top quality writing tools. They still have a sales presence online. These Disney branded offerings seem to be from the 1990’s and can sell today for around $75.00 or more. Many different styles were offered but it seems the same box was used for all.

So if you’re on Team Donald, this tribute pen is for you!

Book Review: Disney’s The Emperor’s New Clothes

Publisher: Random House

Year: 1975

Pages: 44

Type: Hardcover

ISBN: 0-394-82568-3

“But he hasn’t got any clothes on!”

And with that innocent proclamation from a little girl the Emperor realizes that he is a fool after all! This simple children’s book is a retelling of the famous story by the Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. It has been reworked in many different mediums from books to movies. The Emperor’s New Clothes, a 1987 musical comedy adaptation of the fairy tale starring Sid Caesar, part of the Cannon Movie Tales series, is one to miss! I wish I had.

This particular effort by Disney uses established characters from the animated Robin Hood and Pinocchio movies. Prince John is the titular Emperor and Honest John and Gideon play the crafty weavers who trick their way to riches in exchange for clothes that only the wise can see.

Buyer beware?

Prince John is looking as vain as ever on the cover and in the liner pages below:

The artwork is par for the course for these Wonderful World of Reading efforts. The watercolor look is quite nice.

As said, Honest John and Gideon take a break from conning Pinocchio with much more success in their tailoring ‘business’.

The most famous scene in this story (as shown above) has a little girl innocently proclaiming the Emperor ‘naked’. But in this sanitized version, he is merely in his underwear! In the HCA original, the crowd wonders if the Emperor has become a naked ascetic.

This links to the Sanskrit word Digambara meaning “sky-clad”, referring to the traditional monastic practice of neither possessing nor wearing any clothes. Hey, each to his own!

And in a rare crime-does-pay moment, the last pages show the ‘weavers’ escaping with bags and bags of gold. It seems that in any situation, facing any opponent, ol’ Prince John loses the little gold coins he prizes so much. Oo de lally!

I would give this book 4 out of 5 Stars. It’s fun to see Disney characters stretch out into other roles, as it were, but the storytelling itself offers nothing new. It’s a fairly straightforward presentation of a well-worn (see what I did there?) story. But for young readers, it will entertain. And don’t forget that these books are made so that children can read them themselves.

FUN FACTS: Although Pinocchio had been out for decades when this book was released, the animated film that begat Prince John as a lion was only two years old, having been released in 1973.

Zani Chocolate Egg with Toy Mickey Mouse

It’s time to release your long-suppressed Sweet Tooth and let it have some fun! And what better treat to give it than this Zani Chocolate Egg with Toy Mickey Mouse:

I’m not a fan of how much packaging is used to deliver such a small toy to us, but it is what it is. Lots of foil and plastic between the packaging and the toy itself. But it is fun to break inside and see who or what you got!

And I got:

These crude pieces of plastic are just about 1 1/2″ tall. The finish and paint leave something to be desired, but I did buy it at a Dollar Store, so I really couldn’t expect much else.

The character selection is a line up of the usual suspects with the exceptions of a Conductor and Pete. There are also three gold surprises to find and collect.

I’ve never been able to figure out why these promotions choose to use multiple poses of one character, in this and almost every other case, Mickey Mouse, instead of including other popular Disney favorites. Donald Duck is conspicuously missing.

For any child, a big piece of chocolate and a plastic toy is always welcome, so for this reason, this product from Zanai hits the spot!

Disney’s Goofy Vinyl Figure with Cloth Clothes

Sometimes I find things in surprising places. Recently I was renovating a customer’s basement which required me to move copious amounts of stuff from side to side in order to complete my work. While moving a particular pile, I found a treasure!

When asked about it, the customer said I could have this Goofy Vinyl Figure with Cloth Clothes:

She remembered buying it at Walt Disney World during a family trip but admitted she never liked it. That’s okay. I love it!

Goofy is 9″ tall and made of vinyl. He is posable. His arms and legs move back and forth while his head moves side to side. And his ears swing to and fro. Don’t ya know!

No manufacturer is credited on the labels, just that it was made in Hong Kong for Walt Disney Distributing under the Walt Disney Productions copyright. Part of this information is also stamped on the bottom of Goofy’s left foot.

Also on the bottom of Goofy’s feet are the particulars of his purchase. My customer was at Disney in August of 1975. It also says ‘FLA’ which signifies Florida, so we know the ‘Disney’ in question is Walt Disney World.

Goofy was purchased just a few years after my first trip to WDW as a child. Did I see this little guy on a shelf when I was there? Did I beg my parents to buy him for me? I will never know, but it’s fun to think about and makes this vinyl figure very special to me!