Mickey Mouse Club Big Figs

Posted on July 18, 2012 by Dis-LEE

Guest Blogger: Nick Maglio

On a trip to Walt Disney World in 2011, my wife and I fell in love with, and bought, these 2 big figs from the Animation Gallery at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

They were released to celebrate the 55th Anniversary of the Mickey Mouse Club, and are limited to 1955 pieces each.

Mickey is 14″ tall

Jiminy Cricket is 10 1/4 inches tall

Each day of the original Mickey Mouse  Club featured a different theme:

  • Monday – Fun with Music
  • Tuesday – Guest Star
  • Wednesday – Anything Can Happen
  • Thursday – Circus
  • Friday – Talent Round-up

There was an educational series of cartoons on the show as well, one featuring Jiminy Cricket, teaching, and yes, maybe preaching, the proper way to do certain activities. I got this list of the shorts from Wikipedia:

  • I’m No Fool With A Bicycle (10/06/55)
  • I’m No Fool With Fire (12/01/55)
  • I’m No Fool As A Pedestrian (10/08/56)
  • I’m No Fool with Water (11/15/56)
  • I’m No Fool Having Fun (12/15/56)
  • I’m No Fool in a Car (1957)
  • I’m No Fool in an Emergency (1957)
  • I’m No Fool in Unsafe Places (1957)
  • I’m No Fool in Unsafe Places II (1957)
  • I’m No Fool on Wheels (1957)
  • I’m No Fool with Safety at School (1957)
  • I’m No Fool with Electricity (1957)

You’ll note the ‘M’ in I’m and the ‘N’ in No are chipped. For whatever reason, neither my wife or I really took note if this when we bought them, and, indeed, didn’t even notice this until she took these pictures, and they have been sitting in a very prominent spot in our living room for over a year! Doh!

We agreed, we were just to blinded by Jiminy’s charm to notice.

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They say they were created especially for Disneyland, but we got them at Walt Disney World.

These were the only two figures they had left in stock, and were the only two we saw throughout our trip, and actually, I’ve never seen them since. So maybe it was just good fortune we came upon them to begin with?

Leaving the price stickers on helps to remind us of what we paid, and will serve as a reference point for pricing them if we ever decide to sell them later. Not likely!

Both figures were designed by artists Kevin Kidney and Jody Daily. There likely are other figures in this series.

Posted in Collectibles, Disneyland, Figurines, Limited Edition, Walt Disney World | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Simba Vinyl Bank

Posted on July 16, 2012 by Dis-LEE

This Simba Bank, or Simbank, (yes, I JUST came up with that, thank you) I believe was purchased at the Disney Store back when the Lion King came out in 1994.

It’s made of a heavy duty plastic.

I love the detailed sculpture of Simba, which is why I bought it originally, I’m sure.

Made by Just Toys, 1994.

I couldn’t find much info on Just Toys on Google, but I also have a Grumpy produced by the same company.

Posted in Merchandise | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Hallmark Ornament Premiere Weekend

Posted on July 15, 2012 by Dis-LEE

Guest Blogger: Nick Maglio

Readers know I collect Disney, and many may also know I collect ornaments. So, when Hallmark has its Keepsake Ornament Premiere Event each July, I’m at my local store, or stores, at opening, to get some Disney Ornaments!

Yesterday, at 8 A.M., I was at Joy’s Hallmark, in Burlington, NJ.

Let the magic begin!

I wonder if there will be any Disney ornaments?

Of course!

This is a set that will be coming out over the next several months. The ornaments released this weekend are Mickey and Pluto.

 

The Muppets are represented by Fozzie Bear:

Here are three of the wonderfully friendly employees at the store, wearing Mickey head name-tags, made with their new laser engraver, unique to this location.

There was one limited quantity Disney ornament.

Mickey, from the 1931 animated short “Traffic Troubles”

Of course, I bought one!

Posted in Collectibles, Limited Edition | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Used Walt Disney World Postcards

Posted on July 14, 2012 by Dis-LEE

Having a postcard that is actually written on, telling of someone’s vacation, the weather, and how much fun they are having, is a special treat!

The older of the 2 cards featured in this post takes us all the way back to July, 1975, taking a spin on the Tea Cups with Goofy:


Here we learn, not surprisingly, it was hot in July.


This next card is from 9/15/1983:


Again, we learn its hot. OK, Florida = Hot. Got it!


I really love the fact that they describe how they went for 18 hours on 5 hours sleep.
Haven’t we all been there, and done that!

For more postcards, see posts featuring Mickey, Epcot, Disneyland, and Walt Disney World by clicking the links.

So how do you like to find vintage postcard? Written on, or blank?

Posted in Collectibles, Ephemera, Theme Parks, Travel, Walt Disney World | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Villainous Disney Vinylmations

Posted on July 12, 2012 by Dis-LEE

Are you a collector of just hero Vinylmations, or is there room in your collection for a few villains? Villains 3 Series offers some unsavory characters you may not be able to say ‘no’ to.

To begin, take a look at this wonderfully grumpy 25th Anniversary Series figure:

By artist Jim Valeri

Grumpy looks especially…grumpy. Perhaps he doesn’t like all the sparkles?

Take a look at the chaser to the Villains series as well:

By artist Ignacio Rodriguez

Mortimer Mouse is Mickey’s rival for Minnie’s affection! As if anyone could steal Minnie away from Mickey!

As many of you probably know, Mortimer was the name Walt Disney had given his newly created mouse character, but his wife, Lillian, didn’t like it, and suggested Mickey. Lucky for us, because M-I-C-K-E-Y is a lot easier to sing than M-O-R-T-I-M-E-R!

Not sure this character plays well on the Mickey shape vinylmation body, what with the long nose and everything. But he does look evil!

Maniacal laugh. Maniacal laugh! That’s the only way to end a post about villains!

Posted in Collectibles, Figurines, Vinylmations | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Animal Kingdom Happy Meal Toys, Part 2

Posted on July 8, 2012 by Dis-LEE

Guest Blogger: Nick Maglio

In my last post, I shared 6 out of a set of 12 Animal Kingdom McDonald’s Happy Meal Toys from 1998. If you missed it, please feel free to check out my Part One post. I’ll wait.

Back? Good! So, let’s take a look at the remaining toys.

First, we have a dragon! Why a dragon? There aren’t any dragons at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Well, back when the park first opened, there was a planned area called Beastly Kingdom, which would have featured mythical creatures, such as unicorns, and, of course, dragons. In fact, the original logo for the park prominently features a dragon.

This toys wings flap when you press the button on his chest. I assume this is supposed to be a push and release feature, but, as I mentioned in my last post, these toys were a little the worse for wear when I received them, and the button sticks on mine.

Next up, we have a couple of clip on type toys. First this Crocodile:

And this Lemur:

Then we have a couple of pull and release toys. The Rhino does not work unfortunately, so no charging:

The Cheetah does leap into action however. Well, he actually stays crouched and lunges, but at least he works, so I’m not complaining!

Last, but not least, we have a squirt gun Elephant:

Just put water in the hole on the back of his neck:

This works amazingly well, shooting water at least 15 feet!

Doing a little more digging, I discovered there is actually an exclusive Tortoise toy that was available at McDonald’s locations located in Walmart stores. If I come upon it, you will be among the first to know!

Posted in Figurines, Promotions, Toys, Walt Disney World | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Animal Kingdom Happy Meal Toys – Part 1

Posted on July 6, 2012 by Dis-LEE

Guest Blogger: Nick Maglio

While looking for Disney McDonald’s Happy Meal Toys on eBay recently, I came upon a set of Animal Kingdom Toys. I had no idea these existed until that moment! They were released in 1998, the opening year of Disney’s Animal Kingdom park at Walt Disney World.

There are 12 toys in this set! I found a set at what I thought was a reasonable price, and bought it. Sadly, when they came, I was not at all happy with the condition the bags were in. Worse, upon opening them, I found that water must have gotten into some of the bags somehow, as there were actually rusted screws on a couple!

 

Another interesting thing about these toys, while they all feature some sort of interactive element, there is no indication as to what it is, or how to activate it.

Some activation methods are obvious, like on this zebra. Wind him up, and his front legs propel him forward:

Others are not as obvious, like this lion:

Obviously, his mouth opens, but how to get it open?

You have to lift his front paw!

The next one is a very simple interactive toy. Lift the gorillas arms, and his baby flips around:

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This Toucan makes a tweeting noise when you push in on his chest:

Dinosaurs weren’t left out in this line of toys:

For the life of me, I can’t figure out what this Triceratops is supposed to do, or how to do it. Whatever it is, I’m assuming it’s noise related, because of these openings in his stomach:

 

This Iguanodon has an opening mouth feature, like the lion, but how to get it to work? No clue. It’s constantly in an open position, so perhaps the mechanism to activate it is broken:

 

Be sure to see Part Two where I’ll share the remaining 6 toys from this terrific set.

Posted in Figurines, Promotions, Toys | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

America on Parade Lunch Box

Posted on July 4, 2012 by Dis-LEE

The United States of America celebrated it’s 200th Birthday, or Bicentennial on July 4th, 1976. Disneyland and Walt Disney World started celebrating this momentous occasion on June 6th, 1975 and continued to do so through September 6th, 1976 with a spectacular parade that served as a daytime and nighttime extravaganza.

There were plenty of souvenirs to commemorate this commemorative commemoration, such as this metal lunch box:

The front features Mickey, Goofy, and Donald paying homage to the painting “Yankee Doodle 1776”, by Archibald M. Willard.

The other side shows an example of the floats, which focused on American historical events, innovations, and leisure activities.

The floats were made in a large and exaggerated scale so everyone would “view the parade through the eyes of a child”.

The inside doesn’t have a clip for the thermos for some reason.

The thermos essentially features the same images as the lunch box:

Did you get to see this parade? In 1976, a TV Special “Walt Disney’s America on Parade” aired, showing the parade presented by Red Skelton.

Posted in Collectibles, Disneyland, Parades, Walt Disney World | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Disney Cruise Line Commemorative Stationary Set

Posted on June 30, 2012 by Dis-LEE

Guest Blogger: Nick Maglio

My wife and I took a cruise to Alaska on the Disney Wonder recently. What we ourselves didn’t realize, until our second night on the cruise, was that it was the inaugural sailing from the Port of Seattle.

To commemorate this, we returned to our room on that second evening to find this card:

And this stationary set:

The cards are blank inside, and are very nicely illustrated.

Even the envelopes are really nice:

The only issue I have is, I’m not sure what we’ll use them for, as I don’t know when we’d have an occasion to send a card with “Seattle” written on it. Oh well, regardless, it’s a lovely reminder of an absolutely amazing trip!

Posted in Disney Cruise Line, Ephemera, Swag, Travel | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Orange Bird Vinyl Bank

Posted on June 12, 2012 by Dis-LEE

And this little fella didn’t break the bank!


I’ve been trying to get one of these Orange Bird Banks for a few months now, but the prices have been too high. Amazingly, I saw one at our local flea market last Summer, and it was even more expensive than I’ve seen on eBay!

I got this at a reasonable price off of eBay for a good reason. It is missing its stopper. But since I wasn’t looking to buy this as an investment, or to hold change, I was fine with that:


Copyright: Walt Disney Productions, but no indication of exact production year


This very happy bird measures 5 inches high


Until next time, think orange thoughts!

Posted in Collectibles, Figurines | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments