Disleelandia

Disney’s PLANES Tractor Buck Character and Friend

Posted on January 10, 2016 by Dis-LEE

The movie Planes (which was simply a redo of the script for Cars) wasn’t one of my favorites. But the sequel, Planes: Fire and Rescue, was much better, and had some very interesting characters. And interesting characters means interesting merchandise!

To see some of this merchandise, please read my early posts entitled Disney CHiPs and CHoPs and Merchandise: Planes – Fire and Rescue. When you’re done, be sure to return and have a look at this:

TRACTOR BUCK

Tractors as dumber characters started in Cars with the tractor-tipping scene when Mater was showing Lightning McQueen a country good time. In Planes – Fire and Rescue, the theme is continued brilliantly with this buck decked out in John Deere green:

The wheels turn

Wondering what Tractor Buck would look like if he were tipped? Wonder no more:

When we visited Disneyland and got to tour the awesome Cars Land, we enjoyed the attraction Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree. The ride vehicle is made up of a cow tractor pulling a wagon. I was able to find this die-cast version:

We didn’t get tipped, just spun around!

Of all the clever nature-into-vehicles transformations, I think the cow-into-tractors and tractor buck are the most ingenious! What are your favorite Cars/Planes characters?

Posted in Attractions, Disneyland, Merchandise, Movies, Pixar | Tagged Attractions, Cars, Cars Land, Diecast, Disneyland, Mater's Junkyard Jamboree, Mattel, Merchandise, Movies, Pixar, Planes, Planes: Fire and Rescue, Ride Vehicle, Tractor Buck | Leave a comment

Retro Mickey Mouse Plush

Posted on January 8, 2016 by Dis-LEE

We have just recently moved to a new area, and now that our move is basically complete, I am finding collectibles I didn’t know I had, or had long ago forgot about. The plush in this post is a case in point:

Posed for action!

This is a copy, hence the ‘Retro’ designation in the title, of the original Mickey Mouse plush dolls one could buy back in the 1930’s.

I’m glad Disney decided to release these nice reproductions, as I would not be able to afford an actual vintage Mickey!

Love the tail!

Sitting pretty

The only part of Mickey that is posable are the legs. So you can have him standing on the shelf, or sitting pretty.

Although Mickey was a bit more rat-like in his early days of plush, I still think he was cute! Oh, and I hope you enjoyed the retro paneling in the background of the photos! I Thought it would make the post more retro-authentic!

Posted in Collectibles, Merchandise, Plush | Tagged Collectibles, Disney Retro Collection, Merchandise, Mickey Mouse, Plush, Retro | Leave a comment

Pixar’s INSIDE OUT Zanai Chocolate Eggs

Posted on January 4, 2016 by Dis-LEE

Zanai has done it again! Just when I think I can resist their chocolate eggs, they go and make them irresistable by adding Disney or Pixar characters I just have to have:

Two ways to view chocolate: Joy and Fear!

I recently stopped off at a local convenience store to pick up a chocolate bar (because I didn’t get up early enough to make breakfast or lunch for later) and noticed the Zanai chocolate display. There was a Barbie set, some generic-toy set, but in amongst them were just two remaining Inside Out eggs. And just like that, they were mine!

Fear wasn’t too excited about the unwrapping process

The capsule with the prize inside

One eraser (left) and one pendant (right)

Anger (above left) is, of course, one of the main characters from Inside Out. I was hoping for something that would depict him!

Rainbow Unicorn (above right) is a character who lives in Riley’s mind at Dream Productions, where she stars in Riley’s dreams. She was notably in a dream titled Fairy Dream Adventure Part 7. Joy is apparently a huge fan of her. She is the second Pixar character to be a unicorn after Buttercup from Toy Story 3.

Here is the full line of collectibles for this set

I haven’t found the remaining characters yet, but I am keeping a look-out for them. If you would like to see more Zanai chocolate eggs, and the characters within, please read our post entitled Disney’s Frozen Zanai Chocolate Eggs.

Posted in Food, Merchandise, Movies, Promotions, Toys | Tagged Anger, Chocolate, Chocolate Eggs, Eraser, Fear, Food, Inside Out, Joy, Merchandise, Movies, Pendants, Pixar, Promotions, Rainbow Unicorn, Toys, Zanai | Leave a comment

Pixar’s CARS Merchandise featuring Nascar #10

Posted on January 2, 2016 by Dis-LEE

The movie Cars by Pixar came out in 2006, and if scientists studied the matter, I’m sure they’d find some correlation between the number of stars in the sky and the number of die-cast models of the movie’s characters. Seriously.

And I have purchased my fair share.

But not this many!

So now in a world where every extra automobile in the cast has his own ‘action figure’ on the market, it becomes increasingly hard to find a model that stands out as unique.

But I may have done so:

Scott Riggs (born January 1, 1971)

It’s not uncommon to link a Disney character with Nascar or other sporting industries. I have a larger Nascar model car sporting Daisy Duck. But you have to admit: a better marketing match than Cars and Nascar you will never find! This promotion was produced in 2005.

I’m always impressed with the level of detail they are able to add to such small models! But now let’s compare Scott’s actual car with the replica I just purchased:

Actual

Die cast model

Close enough. Sporting Lightning McQueen and The King on the hood is a nice touch, but represents the only indication of Cars imagery on the model.

I haven’t taken the car out of the packaging yet. As the packaging is damaged (with the Hot Wheels stocking hook missing) is it still worth more packaged than loose?

I’ll probably unpack it and park it next to my Lightning McQueen model. Maybe they’ll race!

Posted in Collectibles, Limited Edition, Merchandise, Movies, Toys, Transportation | Tagged #10, Cars, Collectibles, Diecast, Limited Edition, Merchandise, Movies, Nascar, Scott Riggs, Special Edition, Toys, Transportation, Valvoline | 2 Comments

Disney’s Fort Wilderness Mugs

Posted on December 31, 2015 by Dis-LEE

Friends of ours just gave us some older mugs that they no longer had room for. We’re always happy to give a good home to orphaned Disney merchandise!

And so I would like to share with you three (technically four) Fort Wilderness mugs:

6″ high

At one time you could buy a drink at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort and get these great souvenir boot mugs. It was little extras like this that made Disney such a magical place to visit back in the day!

Tin-style Logo Mug

I don’t know the year of this but it is fairly early. Although ceramic, it is modeled after the old tin cups that campers used to use. A very nice idea!

And last but not least:

Mickey and Minnie love to RV!

I believe this to be an early mug due to the globe-with-ears logo on the Fort Wilderness sign. And if we take a closer look, we can see some fun details:

Chip and Dale are about to drop a water balloon on Mickey’s RV
Mickey has a bird house attached to the side of his RV
Minnie has added a wooden flower box to the side of the RV, complete with flowers!
Goofy and Donald are putting up a tent as Mickey’s RV arrives (see below)

Donald looks upset already!

I must say, when Karen and I stayed at Fort Wilderness, we didn’t quite stay in something as luxurious as Mickey’s RV. But we had fun and would recommend a visit to Disney’s Fort Wilderness to anyone!

Posted in Kitchen, Resorts | Tagged Boot Mugs, Camping, Chip and Dale, Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort and Campground, Donald Duck, Goofy, Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Mugs, Pluto, Premiums, Resorts, RV | Leave a comment

Mickey Mouse Car by Burago

Posted on December 27, 2015 by Dis-LEE

I almost didn’t bother buying this die-cast model car. It did picture Mickey Mouse and is an item I had never seen before. The asking price was $9.00 CAN which I thought was a bit high. So I bundled it with two other cars (thank you American Pickers) and got a substantial reduction.

Who is Burago?

They manufacture toy cars and kits, among other items. Burago focuses on quality management systems. In the past twenty years, their factories have implemented QC, QA and IQC systems, and strictly adhered to international SQL standards. Additionally, all their factories have in-house laboratories equipped with qualified testing instruments. In 2005, their factory had successfully attained the ICTI (The International Council of Toy Industries ) CARE Process seal.

The purpose of the CARE Process is: To enable the worldwide toy industry to assure consumers that its products are manufactured in safe and humane environments. To achieve this, its intent is to provide a single, fair, thorough and consistent programmer to monitor toy factory compliance with the industry’s code of business practice.

Blah, blah, blah. But at least now we know that the toy featured in this post was not cruelly treated during its manufacture!

End of box

Now let’s have a closer look at the car itself:

1/43 Scale and Made in Italy

This is likely a Fiat, although no model is listed on the toy car or the packaging. But Fiat is the biggest automobile manufacturer in Italy, so it seems at least possible. I also found this picture of an early model Fiat on the Net for comparison:

Close! Again, this is a little unusual and so worth adding to my growing collection of Disney-themed die-cast cars.

Posted in Collectibles, Merchandise, Toys, Transportation | Tagged Burago, Collectibles, Diecast, Disney Collection, Fiat, Merchandise, Mickey Mouse, Toys, Transportation | Leave a comment

Schmid Belle Musical Figurine

Posted on December 25, 2015 by Dis-LEE

There is no shortage of Disney Princess merchandise. Much of it is cute, some of it is pretty. But what I am sharing with you today I believe to be truly beautiful:

Schmid Musical Belle Figurine

You can see the activation switch at the base of Belle’s gown which is used to turn on the rotating figure and music once you have wound it up. The song played is of course ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and, once wound, the figurine turns and plays for several minutes.

Wind by rotating the brass base

We have many examples of the Schmid line of Disney figurines. They are a solid company with a history of creating beautiful collectibles!

Posted in Collectibles, Figurines, Music | Tagged Beauty and the Beast, Belle, Collectibles, Figurines, Music, Schmid | Leave a comment

Glow in the Dark ‘Inside Out’ ANGER Figurine

Posted on December 21, 2015 by Dis-LEE

I’m quite taken with the Anger character from Pixar’s hit movie Inside Out. I now have several likenesses of him. This latest one may be on the fast track to become my favorite:

This is a figure released in the Disney Showcase Collection. It is produced by Enesco. And this particular one does something special:

I haven’t been able to expose the figure to enough light to see this feature in action, but it is something to look forward to, no?

So when people wonder about my love of Disney, and express how it might not be totally appropriate for a man of my age (over 30, ah-hem), I like to point out the last line that you see above: ‘Intended for Adults Only’.

I rest my case. And I intend to keep collecting!

Before I close this post, I would like to share two more items that we have collected for my wife, Karen. If I relate to the character of Anger, her favorite is of a different color:

The little figure on the left is, of course, Sadness from the Disney Infinity collection of playable characters. The plush on the right is an 8″ figure of Sadness that we obtained by redeeming points with Disney Movie Rewards.

Of the five emotions in Inside Out, we definitely like Anger and Sadness the best! Which character is your favorite?

Posted in Collectibles, Merchandise, Movies, Pixar, Plush | Tagged Anger, Collectibles, Disney Infinity, Disney Movie Rewards, Disney Showcase Collection, Enesco, Glow-in-the-dark, Merchandise, Movies, Pixar, Plush, Sadness | Leave a comment

Die Cast Metal Superstar Limo

Posted on December 19, 2015 by Dis-LEE

Disney’s California Adventure didn’t get off to a good start. The attractions left a little to be desired, including the one featured today. Superstar Limo was situated in the Hollywood Pictures Backlot area of the park and was one of the original attractions featured on opening day on February 8, 2001. The attraction closed in 2002, earning the distinction of being the park’s first attraction to permanently close.

But it did spawn its share of merchandise, like this nice die-cast model of the ride vehicle:

The attraction’s purple “stretch limo” ride vehicles took riders through a cartoony rendition of Hollywood. Riders were introduced to stars, some of whom appeared at the time on ABC shows. Among the celebrities were Joan Rivers, Regis Philbin, Melanie Griffith, Antonio Banderas, Cindy Crawford, Tim Allen, Jackie Chan, Drew Carey, Cher, and Whoopi Goldberg. Whoopee Doo!

Out on the town!

This originally sold for $8.00 US back in 2001 but the asking price at the collectible store where I purchased it was $20.00 CAN. I grouped it with two other Disney die-cast cars and was able to get it for a reduced price.

So whether we have fond memories of Superstar Limo or not, there will always be room in my Disney collection for cool attraction-based merchandise!

Posted in Attractions, Collectibles, Theme Parks, Toys | Tagged Attractions, Collectibles, Diecast, Disney's California Adventure, Donald Duck, Merchandise, Mickey Mouse, Pluto, Superstar Limo, Theme Parks, Toys | 1 Comment

Found Disney: ‘The Henry Ford’ Disney Memorabilia

Posted on December 18, 2015 by Dis-LEE

Karen and I just recently took a little trip back to one of our favorite museums: The Henry Ford in Dearborn, MI.

But this post is about some Disney memorabilia I found in a display cabinet in the museum. There is a section where you can see the things that represent the decade you grew up in.

Early 1900’s

Both Snow White and Pinocchio are represented above. The Snow White piece is a music sheet, and Pinocchio has both a puppet set and a paper doll set.

There is no greater thrill for me than to find a bit of Disney peeking out at me!

Posted in Collectibles, Found Disney, Games, Merchandise, Music | Tagged Collectibles, Found Disney, Games, Merchandise, Music, Paper Cut-out, Paper Dolls, Pinocchio, Puppet Show, Snow White, The Henry Ford Museum | Leave a comment