If I had a nickel for every hour I spent playing with die-cast cars when I was little, I would already be retired on the island of Maui. I still have many of those cars that my son now plays with around the house. It appears that I’m not alone in Disney Theme Park Merchandise. I recently spoke with Brad Schoeneberg, Product Developer for Toys and Games, about his love for die-cast cars, especially Disney Racers.
“I loved die-cast cars when I was younger,” reminisced Brad. “I loved all of the accessories and play sets. I still have a case of my cars somewhere in my parents’ home, and there are probably a couple of cars I left in a sandbox somewhere.”
For the past five years, Brad has led the development of the Disney Racers brand for Disney Parks. We recently released a poster featuring the Disney Racers we have produced since 2005. This poster measures 22” x 34” and will come pre-folded into an 8 ½” x 11” size. Guests who make a purchase of a Disney Racer in select locations at Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World Resort will receive one of these posters (while supplies last, of course). Brad shared with me some of the history behind these super fast and super fun vehicles.
“The program first began in 2002 as Disney’s Wild Racers,” explained Brad. “At the time, development was being done by Disney Consumer Products and vehicles were sold in two packs. The program did so well at Disney Parks that we assumed development in 2003. We obtained several of the original car moulds and started work on some new ones. In 2005, the program was re-introduced as Disney Racers. Since then, we’ve released about 80 different individual vehicles.”
Brad has introduced many different vehicles inspired by classic Disney characters, Disney villains, Pixar characters and even characters from the Star Wars universe. “Lucasfilm loved the idea of using characters on the Racers,” said Brad. “Darth Vader is probably one of my favorites as it showed me the potential of [the Disney Racers brand].” There have been 24 different Star Wars inspired vehicles, including a special one created for Celebration V held last August in Orlando. Brad is working on some additional unique Star Wars vehicles coming next year (that’s another article for sure!).
Comments
We love collecting these for our 4 year old. We pick up a couple for him every time we go to Disney World…which has been 5 trips so far for him. I would love to see some of the older Disney characters and ones based on rides at Disney World. We try to get ones that remind us of something he loved on that trip. Like this past trip, he was really into Wall-e so we picked that one up. I would also love to find a list of all the ones that had been made and it would be great to find a case made by Disney to hold them that we could hang on the wall for display. I hope this is a product that they will continue to make!!
Steve
I’ve been looking for a list of all the Disney Racers to date. I just got back from Disneyland CA. pick up about 15 new one, however they did not know where I can obtain a list. They also did not tell me there was a poster available. You know how I can get one and also how I can be put on a list to receive notifications on new releases.
thanks Robert
of Suisun California
I agree that the Racers are cool, too.
Hope you folks will keep making them, since there are so many characters yet to be covered in the line.
For example: I really want to see a Racer car of Big Al (of Country Bears fame).
My daughter loves collecting these cars. We would be excited to see some girl ones!
My two nephews love collecting these cars. Every time we go to Disney, the Disney Racers are high on their list. They would love these posters. I need to really check it out and see which cars they are missing. My guess is not many.
Are they going to continue to come out with new cars?
@Marsha – Good news! I spoke with the on-line store team and the poster is coming to the store (http://www.DisneyParks.com/Store) on December 29. There are currently 13 Disney Racers on-line and there will be another seven launched in early January 2011.
@Matt – Here are some great places to find the Racers (and the poster):
Disneyland Resort – World of Disney at Downtown Disney District; Star Traders in Disneyland Park; and EnginEar Toys and Fly ‘n’ Buy in Disney California Adventure
Walt Disney World Resort – Once Upon a Toy and World of Disney at Downtown Disney Marketplace; Emporium at Magic Kingdom Park; and MouseGear at Epcot
@Katie – Good question about the Steamboat Willie Racer. I don’t know of any specific plans to re-release things. I also know that Brad is continually reviewing assortments, etc. He did share with me two concepts for new Racers coming in 2011. There is one featuring Perry from Phineas and Ferb and one based on TRON: Legacy (Awesome. End of line.).
I LOVE the Disney Racers die-cast line!!! I got into collecting them when they were the Disney/Hasbro Wild Racers and have been collecting them ever since. I have all but 2, the Steamboat Willie and the Boba Fett Nickel Plated that came out for Celebration V. Is there any chance on Disney re-releasing the Steamboat Willie Racer?
And what happened to Racers being released with 2 characters from a movie (i.e. Mr. Incredible, Syndrome)? I notice there is only a Chip, Tigger, Wall-E, Captain Hook, Jiminy Cricket, Roger Rabbit, Kermit the Frog, and Maleficent. Just wondering if there will be a companion car for these racers?
-Katie
Those are so cool. I’ve never known they exsisted. I need to keep an eye out on my next trip to The World.
What are some of the locations the can be purchased at?
As I have no way to afford going to any of your parks,I was wondering if there was any other way to get the poster? Perhaps I could order one of the racers thru the mail? My son would ~love~the racers and the poster! Thank you for your time,Marsha
Comments are closed.