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Holiday Inspired Vinylmation Series in Disney Parks

Steven Miller

by , Senior Manager, Corporate Social Responsibility, Walt Disney World Resort

The Vinylmation Holiday Series #1 is in Disney Parks.

For those unfamiliar with the “Vinylmation,” don’t worry – here is a brief introduction.

“Vinylmation is about expressing creativity and the mysterious thrill of the chase,” said Donald Ferro, Product Developer for these new vinyl figures, when I asked him to summarize Vinylmation in one sentence.

It’s a thrill for our Disney Artists to who see the Vinylmation figure as a blank canvas. Their inspiration comes from everywhere – Disney Park icons, urban landscapes and even holidays (like the new set mentioned above). With each figure having a distinctive art style and personality, the difficult part for me is choosing a favorite. I’m still looking for that SMRT-1 figure from the Park Series #1. Any help?

So how does this Vinylmation thing work?

There are a variety of figures to collect – from 3” limited releases to 9” limited edition figures. For 3” limited releases, there are typically 12 figures per series. Eleven figures are known while the twelfth is called the mystery “chaser.” Each 3” Vinylmation is packaged in a “blind pack” – which means you won’t know which figure you’re getting until purchased. The 3” figures are sold individually or you can get a whole tray (which means you’ll find the chaser, and potentially become the best friend to many collectors).

For the Holiday Series #1, there are four additional 9” limited edition figures. Unlike their 3” cousins, the 9” figures are sold sans mystery (or in a window box). The 9” figures have a finite production run, meaning only so many were made. Once a limited edition figure is gone, it’s gone. Sorry.

One of my favorite 9” figures from the new Holiday series was inspired by the “Skeleton Dance,” the first Silly Symphony cartoon released in 1929. I loved the music by Carl Stalling from that animated short. Add it to my favorites!

Check out more from the world of Vinylmation at http://www.Vinylmation.com

Destinations: Walt Disney World Resort

Comments

  • I love Vinylmation, but I have to agree with the comment above from Dana (Oct. 8).

    They are coming out too quickly, in my opinion.

    I love the thrill of picking one up and not knowing what I will find inside…and I love the small details (although, truth be told, my favorite is probably the all gold chaser from the Urban 1 series, not a huge amount of detail there 😉 ).

    I think that spacing the releases out a little bit more, and giving people time to work on their collections, save up a little money, would really benefit the whole series.

    I would also love to see more “Chasers” or even more limited editions (Like kidrobot ‘golden tickets’)

    But either way I look forward to the Muppet Series, and picking up one or two from the other upcoming series, blindly of course.

  • Also will the event exclusives be available online, also will there be an official vinylmation website soon?

  • Thanks for the answers! Do you know what the “on-line” exclusive will look like?

  • I discovered the Vinylmation figures at MK in March, and I think they’re awesome. I don’t consider myself a collector generally, but I like these because they’re “edgier” than traditional character merchandise. I like that they have guest artists, and appreciate that Disney is flexible enough with their branding to encourage the artist’s creativity in their designs. I also wish Disney would slow down the releases firstly so I can catch up and secondly, so they remain special. Thank you for making them available on the website, I’m especially stoked about the skeleton and “Nightmare Before Christmas” homages!

    • Thank you for the compliments. I know our Disney Artists really enjoy having a blank canvas upon which to express their unique art styles. To me, that is the coolest part about Vinylmation – anyone can be creative.

      Look for a special “on-line” exclusive Vinylmation coming in 2010. This would be sold through the Disney Parks on-line merchandise store.

  • These vinylmations are totally addictive. I have every single piece from Day one (with the exception of Park One 3 inch figures) I was a bit skeptical at first!! Now I’m scouring the web waiting for the next release date. My landlord installed more shelves in my apartment so I now have more room to display my great collection!

  • I love vinylmations and collect all the park series! Do you think you guys can slow down the releases? Also, will the upcoming Holiday Event ones be there for the first day of the events?

    • Currently, we are on track to have the “Holiday Event” Vinylmation available for the start of the various events (such as Spectacle of Dancing Lights, Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party). Please note that these unique Vinylmation will also be carried in California and Florida (as they aren’t really branded to those events listed above). One could say they were inspired by the holiday events.

  • These are pretty cool.

  • We just saw these for the first time a few weeks ago at Disneyland. We were so intrigued that we bought two just to find out what it was all about. My son loves these and we might have another Disney collection to start!

  • I gotta get my hands on a SMRT-1 too! Loving the Holiday Series, I have the giant Retro EPCOT Logo one. Certainly a favorite of mine.

    • How cool – another SMRT-1 fan! My love of SMRT-1 comes from many hours spent in Communicore as a child. Then again, I also liked his cousin ORAC-1, the commuter computer. If you liked the SMRT-1, you may also like the 9″ Dreamfinder packaged with a 3″ Figment coming in late 2010!

  • Became addicted to collecting these back in February when I was at WDW! It was so much fun opening up to see which one you got. Now, thanks to WDW mail order I can keep up with the new releases! The holiday one’s are already on display (at least the Halloween ones are)!

  • I’m going to WDW in November, and suspect that I will get hooked on Vinylmations once I see them! But at least my pin addiction has started to wane a little!

  • Vinylmations are very cool. You get to see a lot of originality in each piece since unlike pins, there is a fixed model (Mickey) that is used for every design. I’m excited to try and get the Christmas Tree Mickey.

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