EPCOT Center World Showcase Collectors Plate

Posted on January 27, 2024 by Dis-LEE

I’ve been finding so many great Disney-themed plates lately!

My latest acquisition is this wonderful EPCOT Center World Showcase Collectors Plate:

EPCOT Center opened on October 1, 1982 and this plate is also copyrighted to that same year. Now we have a bit of a mystery. All eleven of the current pavilions are featured on this plate. Do you see the discrepancy?

Only nine pavilions existed when the park opened in 1982. Morocco didn’t join the World Showcase until 1984 and Norway held out until May of 1988.

I would speculate that this souvenir was released during or after 1988 and simply carries the earlier copyright for the EPCOT Center name. Notice that the Walt Disney Productions trademark isn’t used, as it was discontinued as of 1987. So we now see DISNEY as the copyright. This also dates the plate as 1988 or later.

How’d I do? Does that all make sense?

It still constitutes an early souvenir, as this park was renamed to EPCOT in 1994. Visitors would have been able to take this souvenir home only between 1988 and 1994, just six short years. So it is somewhere around 30 years old. Vintage? Oh yeah! And awesome? No question!

For another theme park related collectors plate, check out this one from MGM Disney Studios.

Posted in Artwork, Attractions, Collectibles, Disney Parks, Merchandise, Plates, Souvenirs, Theme Parks, Walt Disney World | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Walt Disney’s Story of The Ugly Dachshund LP Record

Posted on January 20, 2024 by Dis-LEE

I am sharing another gem from the greatest decade, indeed the greatest year, of all time: 1965. Yes, this was the year I was born. If you were born previous to this year, no doubt you remember hearing the fanfare! But I must humbly admit that some other notable events happened in this year as well, such as the release of Walt Disney’s Story of the Ugly Dachshund LP Record.

Although not as exciting as my birth, some may remember it. If not, let this post introduce you to the fun and somewhat weird compilation contained below:

As should be obvious, Side One contains a condensed retelling of the plot from The Ugly Dachshund, an amusing live-action movie from Disney starring Dean Jones and Suzanne Pleshette. And a Great Dane with an identity crisis. But more on this side of the record later.

Side Two is what I’d like to focus on. For some reason, Disney decided to couple Brutus with the Shaggy Dog, another famous canine but from an earlier time. 1959 to be exact. So we are treated to five original songs inspired by the Shaggy Dog movie, and its sequel, the Shaggy D.A.

Again, for reasons unknown, the record sleeve labels a different song list and order than what is actually contained on the LP. You can read below on the back of the sleeve what was advertised, but here is what we get:

  1. Shaggy Dog
  2. Dog-Gone It, It’s a Dog
  3. You’re My Friend
  4. Sweet Adeline
  5. Shaggy Dog Cha Cha Cha

P. Harcourt Frees, or Paul Frees, provided many voices for numerous Walt Disney productions. He does a near copy of Goofy while providing the voice of the Shaggy Dog for this LP.

Please enjoy a sample of his work below:

Dog-Gone It, It’s a Dog – Camarata / Dunham

The other songs for the Shaggy Dog side of the LP are fun and weird. The Shaggy Dog Cha Cha Cha is certainly a toe tapper!

Now back to Side One:

The record sleeve claims you can listen to this record as you follow the pictures provided. You cannot. Nope. Not even close. There are words. There are pictures. Do not try to match them up!

All in all, this is a wonderful piece of Disney history. If you liked either film, you’ll love this LP. If not, you may still find it fun and weird. And who doesn’t like fun and weird?

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Walt Disney World 15th Anniversary Commemorative Plate

Posted on January 13, 2024 by Dis-LEE

“The most exciting and challenging assignment we have ever tackled at Walt Disney Productions.”

– Walt Disney

This Walt Disney World 15th Anniversary Commemorative Plate comes in a beautiful red box that opens to reveal an even more beautiful image! It features many of WDW’s most iconic structures, and of course, a most iconic Mouse.

WDW opened on October 1st in 1971 and on October 1st in 1982 it was joined by EPCOT Center. These two parks carried on together until they were joined by a third park, MGM / Hollywood Studios, on May 1st of 1989. Animal Kingdom would bring up the rear on April 22, in 1998.

So at the 15-year mark, only The Magic Kingdom and EPCOT existed to be included on this commemorative plate.

Icons that made the front of the plate are The Contemporary Resort, Spaceship Earth, the monorail, Cinderella Castle, the acrylic pylon Fountain (in front of Spaceship Earth, removed but now returned), the Liberty Belle steamboat, and of course, Mickey Mouse!

I have many of these commemorative plates in my collection but am always stoked to find one for sale with its original box.

Released in 1986 (making it 38 years old as of posting) with just 10,000 units produced by Walt Disney Productions, it contained a quote from Walt Disney on the back. You read it at the beginning of this post. Walt Disney World certainly has lived up to its creator’s vision as an exciting place to visit and explore!

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Mickey Mouse Collection Steampunk Figure Stamps

Posted on January 6, 2024 by Dis-LEE

I’m a sucker for a new piece of merchandise, and you’d almost think Disney knew that! I recently walked into an interesting store and saw these boxes prominently featured. I could feel my wallet getting lighter the closer I got to the display!

Behold the glory that is the Mickey Mouse Collection Steampunk figure stamps:

This is a blind box purchase, which means you don’t know which of the seven characters you are going to get. So collecting the set can become quite expensive as one costs just under $20.00 CAN. I was hoping for Goofy but was happy with who I actually got.

The box art is excellent for this offering. I love any steampunk variation of the Disney characters so this was a no-brainer buy for me.

It was only moments after arriving home that I opened the box:

The first thing I saw was the card below telling me I had found Steampunk Minnie:

After seeing her in all her punky wonderfulness I believe I got the best variant of the series. Although I don’t know what the mystery figure is. It looks like Mickey in his Band Leader hat?

I was delighted to learn that these were stamps. I didn’t really read the box when I bought it. You simply pull the bottom off the base to reveal the soon-to-be inky image:

These awesome stamps are produced by Miniso Industry Co. Ltd. In North America, MINISO currently operates several stores in Canada, the U.S., and Mexico. The brand started in China in 2013. There is apparently much controversy surrounding this company as they try to project themselves as a Japanese entity, going so far as to copy Japanese-style products. Copyright infringement has also been something they have been accused of.

Here is the MINISO side of the story from their website:

“The MINISO Brand founder Jack Ye gained inspiration for MINISO while on vacation  with his family in Japan in 2013. He came across several specialty stores which  stocked good quality, well designed, and inexpensive products that were mostly manufactured in China. With his knowledge and experience in product development, supply chain,  and the fashion industry, Jack established MINISO with its headquarters in Guangzhou,  China, a brand catering to young people around the world.“

I couldn’t find any reference to an agreement with Disney on their website to show that these stamps are a licensed commodity. The stamps don’t appear on the official website, even though they are a current product. That being said, I’m glad to add this one to my collection!

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“Feelin’ Sheepish” Toy Story Collectors Plate

Posted on December 30, 2023 by Dis-LEE

The budding romance in the first Toy Story movie didn’t really pay off or continue in the next two movies. It took until Toy Story 4 for Bow Peep to return, albeit a changed woman!

But for today’s post we are returning to 1995 and the original blush of love between Woody and Bow Peep, as shown here in the “Feelin’ Sheepish” Toy Story collectors plate:

I’m not a big fan of such releases where the Bradford Exchange simply slaps an still from a movie onto a plate. This was the second plate in a series of such images. But I only paid a few dollars for it at a thrift store, so I added it to my growing plate collection.

What is interesting is the object Woody is holding. It is entitled Doodle Round Up and we are seeing the back of it above. Does this foreshadow the Woody’s Round Up television show that is mentioned in Toy Story 2? It appears to have been made up for the movie, but is based on a real vintage toy, as seen in the side-by-side comparison below:

Internet Image

As with all decorative plates, it is for display only and should never be eaten off of. To emphasize this point, I will defer to a sort-of Muppet celebrity of some renown:

As Tex Richman would say:

I made the potter make my plate out of ceramic.

But ‘No! No!’, don’t eat off it though, it’ll make you sick!

There ain’t no food to be consumed from a decorative art object.

Okay. His original song sounded much better.

Do you like these screen-grab plates, or do you prefer more artistic offerings?

EDITOR’S NOTE: Oops! We have duplicated the coverage of this plate! We also did a post in May of 2023. But it does contain different information so if you have enjoyed looking at this post, you may enjoy reading more here.

Posted in Animation, Artwork, Ceramics, Characters, Collectibles, Limited Edition, Movies, Pixar, Plates | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Campaign to Ban Landmines Mickey Mouse Amputee Mug

Posted on December 23, 2023 by Dis-LEE

When I saw this I was speechless. I had no idea what I was looking at. But I just had to purchase it (for $1.99 CAN at Value Village) to do the research so that I could understand! Why was Mickey Mouse mutilated?!? And that poor girl!

I learned that the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) is a coalition of non-governmental organizations whose objective is a world free of anti-personnel mines and cluster munitions, where survivors could see their rights respected and lead fulfilling lives. It was formed in 1992 by a core group of six organizations.

I can’t imagine, though, the thought process that went behind this International Campaign to Ban Landmines weird mug:

Translation: Landmines maim the body and also dreams

The author of this image was Dusan B. Lazig of whom I can find no mention of on the mighty Internet. Did this person have permission from Disney to use Mickey Mouse? And more importantly, would Disney have agreed to have Mickey’s arm and leg blown off? Definitely a Shock Image designed to get attention. It worked.

Translation: Author is Dusan B. Lazig of Yugoslavia

FANOFUNNY lists itself as a website for the best of humour and satire. I include the link for completeness but be careful as some content may not be suitable for all viewers. A search for Lazig turned up nothing on this site. But I must say it seems wrong to have the word ‘funny’ on this mug in any context.

You may have noticed that this mug is in Italian.

Translation: Italian Mine Campaign (For the Ban)

Italy was not amoung the first six members of this coalition but obviously joined some time later. I’m including a link to a letter written by H.E. Ambassador Marco Ricci, Head of the Italian Delegation. It will give you some idea of what the movement was trying to achieve. I believe it is from 2016.

So what do you think? Is this mug in bad taste or an effective tool to foster awareness?

Posted in Advertising, Ceramics, Characters, Events, History, Mugs, Promotions, Souvenirs | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Disney’s Growing Up Healthy

Posted on December 16, 2023 by Dis-LEE

Publisher: The Danbury Press / Grolier Enterprises Inc.

Year: 1975

Pages: 142

Type: Hardcover

ISBN: 0-7172-8106-X

“Children are entitled to know the truth.”

Disney has quite often delved into the realms of education. They have called this output ‘edutainment’ as they use Disney characters to get sensitive or difficult subjects over to young children. This book attempts to answer such questions as ‘Where did I come from?’ and ‘What is this between my legs?’ What parent couldn’t use help answering those questions? Yikes!

So Mickey is the doctor in residence and many of your favorite Disney characters are the patients, or individuals with the problems or questions.

Let’s refer to the note to the parents to explain the main thesis of Growing Up Healthy:

I must say that they haven’t shied away from blunt or graphic imagery to explain a subject. You can see simplified pictures of anatomy, the birthing process, and the changes of puberty, to mention a few. But there are also some very entertaining cartoons like this one:

I doubt this book would become the go-to read for any child in the family. More likely it would be the parent pulling it out only when a difficult topic was raised and some help to explain it was wanted.

I would give this book more than 3 out of 5 Stars even if I were reviewing it back in the 70’s. Again, although it is written so that very young children could understand the language, it may still be a bit beyond their ability to understand the concepts. So for the 5-year olds one would have to select which sections to consider while the 10-year olds may be able to grapple with the more mature messages. Letting children of any age read this book alone may end up raising more questions than the book itself answers!

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Roger Williams has a Happy Heart on the Matterhorn Bobsleds

Posted on December 9, 2023 by Dis-LEE

Roger Williams (October 1, 1924 – October 8, 2011) was an American popular music pianist. He had numerous singles and copious amounts of album releases. Don’t worry, I had never heard of him either until I saw this album cover! But if it helps, in 1955 he recorded ‘Autumn Leaves’, the only piano instrumental to reach No. 1 on Billboard’s popular music chart. And later in 1966 he had another Top Ten hit with the song ‘Born Free’ from the motion picture soundtrack of the same name.

This album was released in 1969 and features a rather striking Disney-ish image. Could this cover picture really be from the Disneyland Matterhorn Bobsleds?

We know that the Matterhorn Mountain was added to Disneyland in the big 1959 expansion of Tomorrowland. So there would be ten years between the opening of the attraction and the snapping of this cover pic.

Did the bobsleds really look like this, or could this be a knock-off ride? Lets have a close look at some of the original bobsleds from Disneyland:

So the shape, colour, and track configuration (steel rail) is authentic to Disneyland. But notice that the numbering and crest is missing in the album picture. This is likely to avoid a direct connection to Disney. With a little photo shop magic, Kapp Records could avoid problems with copyright infringement and the necessity to pay Disney for the use of their intellectual property.

Either way, it’s a fun little piece of history that preserves a fun attraction… wherever it may have been located. But it was located in Disneyland. It is the Matterhorn Bobsleds. Yup.

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Walt Disney’s Interlocking TV Picture Puzzle

Posted on December 2, 2023 by Dis-LEE

We travel back to a simpler time in 1962 when little ol’ me wasn’t even born yet. I love finding merchandise that is older than me!

Even though it is pretty beat up and missing one piece, I couldn’t pass up a chance to put together one of Walt Disney’s Interlocking TV picture puzzles. This one features The Disney Gang from TV:

Jaymar always does a good job with these easy puzzles for children. The imagery is playful and colourful, if not always ‘on model’. This one features a rather womanly Tinker Bell, a weird castle not found in any particular Park, and Goofy from his ‘Man-on-the-street’ cartoons. I believe the deer and squirrel are from Snow White’s story and are not meant to represent the world of Bambi.

The price was just $5.00 CAN so I didn’t have a lot to loose with this purchase. But when I saw the bag of pieces, I knew there was a good chance some pieces would be missing. I was right, but only one was missing.

We always start with the edge and then finish from there:

Can you spot the missing piece?

One thing that was quite delightful with this puzzle was the two creature shapes interspersed with the regular puzzle shapes:

Duck
Butterfly

Why not go back up the finished puzzle image and see if you can find where they fit in?

I have several Jaymar puzzles from this era, such as my Zorro version. Other big manufacturers of vintage Disney puzzles is Whitman, and you can see my Walt Disney World example here, and my Walt Disney Characters example by Parker Brothers here.

Posted in Animation, Artwork, Characters, Collectibles, Puzzles, Television, Theme Parks | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Walt Disney World 30th Anniversary Souvenir Plate

Posted on November 25, 2023 by Dis-LEE

Walt’s second Theme Park opened on October 1st, 1971. I had the pleasure of making my very first visit to the Magic Kingdom just a few years later. But many an anniversary has come and gone since then!

And that brings us nicely to our Walt Disney World 30th Anniversary Souvenir Plate:

Mickey and his friends never pass up an opportunity to throw a party! And in 2001, it was time to celebrate 30 long years of Magic and merriment. Is that confetti shooting out of the turrets of Cinderella Castle? Or is Cinderella Castle jumping out of the box to surprise the gang? Either way, it’s weird.

And don’t get me started on why this celebration is taking place in some random field.

Mickey is absconding with some presents! But I think they are for Minnie if the bow on top is any indication. So I guess it’s alright. And how cute is the 30 wearing Mickey ears?!?

These plates aren’t necessarily rare and can be found in charity shops and antique malls from time to time. In my opinion, one shouldn’t pay more than $10.00 for an example in good shape. They make great additions to any Disney collection, as they don’t take up much space, so there’s always room for one more plate! And then another. And then another…

Posted in Anniversaries, Ceramics, Merchandise, Plates, Promotions, Souvenirs, Theme Parks, Walt Disney World | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment