Okay so this is indeed a semi-Vinylmation blog after all. Until I manage to compose my thoughts on other topics, I will be doing these photo updates. So from this past weekend, I thought it would be a good idea to go visit Disney's Animal Kingdom, and it was a really nice hot day at that. Made me glad I didn't wore two shirts like last week. And to think I was planning to buy one of those Premiums and then had to double take at the price increase to $3.75 and resorted to going to Restaurantosaurus for a fountain beverage which by the way the coffee and hot cocoa dispensers were not working properly and it was a busy packed place, in fact it was packed everywhere in the park with over 50min at Dinosaur and 80min at Everest oh man how could I forget it was Columbus Day/Leif Erikson Day weekend and-
Oh. Uh.
Onto the update!
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| Island Mercantile |
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| Only location in DAK with Sleeping Beauty vinyls |
I should point out here that trading was actually very good. Managed to trade for Maleficent, the last vinyl I wanted from that Sleeping Beauty series, and even saw someone pull the Holiday 1 chaser! Of course by the end of the day it was back to the usual ugly trade fodder so no surprise there.
Meanwhile at Chester's and Hester's Dinosaur Treasures....
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| Park Starz! |
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| ¿Dónde está Donald? |
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| Nobody Loves Duffy |
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| Have you noticed something about Park 14 yet? |
Well, at this point in time, around 3pm, we decided it would be nice to head back to D-Street for the first time in
forever over 5 months along with checking out how different Downtown Disney is with the construction underway for Disney Springs.
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| Glad these haven't been auctioned off.....yet. |
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| PLUTO! Oh and Mickey. And Gravediggers. |
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| Yes those are the last 9" in the entire shop. |
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| Lots untouched. |
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| Same here. So many Spidermen. |
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| Note the Topiary combo toppers. |
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| Plenty Pirates there be. |
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| No cases on shelves with Star Wars, just bloxes. |
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| Seeing something about Park 14? |
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| No single P14 bloxes, only combo toppers. Yes these indeed sold quickly. No word when they'll be back but it's safe to say that it has been one of the more popular Park series in a while if only because the TTA, Soarin' vinyls. |
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| Meanwhile here's a mecca of Animation 5 and Sleeping Beauty. |
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| Fortunately mystery trades were better. |
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| Preproduction Tower of Terror set. |
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| Yes they're all signed. |
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| Casey Jones's Redhead still available. $1850. |
After that visit to D-Street, let's take a peek at Fun Finds...
Funny thing. Bought three Cutesters and one Urban Redux 2. All repeats of what I had. At least these will make good traders later on. Also, am surprised that Snow Day is available there.
And then a look at Disney Traders.
And that concludes this week's photo update! Keep your eyes peeled for any future updates (as well as other Disney related posts this blog will be posting very soon of!) and until then, we'll see you real soon!
EDIT 10/16
I forgot to mention this but an update to the Haunted Mansion with Mickey & Friends toppers.
For over a month they've been sold out at the parks (over two online) and it's strange how popular they were to sell out that quickly, even if they were Haunted Mansion related. It's still an expensive gamble in case you were to get multiples. I assumed these would come back, like with the Topiary toppers when they first came out, gone after a week but then back after three.
Then on October 12, this happened.
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| Credit to Vinylmation Kingdom. |
This pic was taken from the International Drive outlet, where it seemed a large handful of these toppers were dumped there, and yes that is indeed the Haunted Mansion toppers. The same toppers that disappeared from the parks. The same toppers that people were paying over $20-25 each vinyl on eBay because the ones online also disappeared. Also, these went fast, supposedly not lasting even an hour, thanks to the lucky locals who took advantage of a convenient situation.
Initially I was pissed off. I was looking all over for these, going to each park and shop that could have them. I mean, $25 is an expensive gamble like I said before. But the fact is these were just plain cool. In fact I dare say the best of these Reveal/Conceal toppers yet, if just for the artwork on the box and figures. They all had these great little details from the ears to the individual stitching on the painted clothing that make them unique.
And to see they were dropped off at a random location, you know what that tells me? They probably were sitting in storage somewhere on property, and were mixed in with the Park 12 and 13 toppers (which I would love to get BTW as those are some of the better Mickey toppers in a while). Probably from D-Street. Oh, and the best part is the Topiary toppers are still available at D-Street, 6 months after their release, while these were gone in a month or so...and you know, would be perfect in time for Halloween.
But then I realized something. In the end I'm not upset. Really. I'm not. I just find it ironic. All that searching and they wound up in the last place I expected. And then I asked why, in which it clicked for me - all those announced releases coming in October and November from the Imagination Gala. Interestingly enough it's mid-October and nothing new officially announced or released from the Gala besides the Popcorn Eachez. Then again a lot were Christmas related...Makes me wonder if it's another case of Halloween merch being taken out in preparation for the busy holiday season. And of course this could mean we're going to see something released very soon (NOTE: literally moments after I updated this, I see from Vinylmation World that one of the Gala previews, D-Tour 2, will be released tomorrow at both D-Streets and online).
By the way, another positive I found from this is if you check eBay enough, you'll find these HM vinyls could be priced lower now - I snagged a Donald for cheap the other day compared to the $24-26 he goes for on eBay. All I need now is Daisy, and I will complete this set!
