Pirates of the Caribbean Vinylmation

Disney

I've become a real fan of Disney's Vinylmation figures recently. Honestly, unlike my ridiculous pin collection, I only have one vinylmation so far, but I can see where they would be fun to trade and collect. On July 1, 2011, Disney released a Pirates of the Caribbean collection of vinylmation. There are 11 regular vinylmations and one mystery one. Everyone had hoped the the mystery character would be "We wants the Redhead!" from the ride, but apparently it isn't. Well, whoever the mystery character is, I want the Jack Sparrow in a barrel vinylmation. I love Jack and this vinylmation is too funny!

Vinylmation Sushi

I just saw the coolest thing for collectors of Disney Vinylmation and fans of sushi: a Vinylmation Sushi bento box! It is so cute! I don't even eat sushi, but I think it's just adorable. My sister loves sushi and she fell in love with this Vinylmation set. The set is a limited edition of 2500. The set includes 6 3" figures: Shrimp, California Roll, Unagi, Salmon Roe, Tuna, & Salmon, and 2 mini figures Ginger and Wasabi. The set comes packaged in a bento box with a pair of chopsticks. Unfortunately, the set costs $99.95, but otherwise, it's awesome!

Halloween Vinylmation

Disney recently released two new Halloween Vinylmation sets, one available at the Disney Store and DisneyStore.com and the other a Park Exclusive. The Limited Release Spooky Series 1 features Mickey and Minnie as Frankenstein and the Bride of Frankenstein. They are so cute! They are currently available at DisneyStore.com, but are expected to sell out quickly. This first set will be $26.95 and more sets may follow in the Spooky Series.

Disney

The second Vinylmation is a 3" Halloween jack-o-lantern bucket full of candy. This is supposed to be the first in a series that will feature Halloween items. It has a clear head and black arms and legs. This special Halloween collectible will be available at any Disney World or Disneyland location selling Halloween merchandise as well as both D-Street locations. This Vinylmation will be available for $14.95 and will arrive in the display stage style box introduced last year.

Disney World Trip

So we took another trip to Disney World last weekend. We bought annual passes again, and we had a blast! Luckily, we were able to visit the EPCOT Flower and Garden Festival for the first time. The gardens were beautiful and the food was fantastic. My favorite was the candied strawberries from the China Pavilion. They were SO good!

We also visited the Magic Kingdom. We rode the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train just as the park was closing the night we arrived. It was only the second time we'd ridden it, and it was a lot of fun. We also found a few new popcorn buckets. I love the new shaped buckets. We got Cinderella's Carriage and a Seven Dwarfs Mine Train Cart. Both have moving wheels, the Carriage has an awesome soft strap for easier carrying, while the Mine Cart sways, just like on the ride. It was dreadfully hot last weekend, so I also discovered a ton of new shady places to rest. I'll be sure to share them soon.

photo courtesy of Disney

Our final day was spent at Hollywood Studios. I love the way it looks without the Sorcerer 's Hat. However, the view was somewhat obscured by the stage they'd already set up in anticipation of Star Wars Weekends. There were also several photo spot backdrops ready for costumed characters from Star Wars. We took advantage of the fact that they were empty and snapped a few photos. It was hot that day as well, so we took the time to see a preview for Cinderella as well as a drawing class in the Animation Academy. We drew Minnie Mouse and mine turned out fairly well (which was nice, because my Tinker Bell from a few years ago had a strangely misshapen head.) We also watched the Indiana Jones Stunt show because I'm not sure how much longer it will be there. We ate at Backlot Express for the first time. I'm rather surprised we'd missed it; the food really isn't too bad.

The only disappointing part of the trip was when we discovered that you can no longer trade vinylmation in the parks. I don't know whether Disney plans to phase out the collectible entirely or whether they simply plan to make series you'd actually want to collect all of (like the new Frozen set or Avengers), but you won't be able to trade them in the park. Pin trading, on the other hand, continues unchanged.

At the beginning and end of this trip, we stopped at Character Warehouse at the Premium Outlets in Orlando. They had some fantastic deals! All of the Beautifully Disney makeup was marked way down. What was originally $24.95-$36.95 was now $3.99.and all of the nail polish, which were $11.95 each, were now 99¢. The best deal, in my opinion, was on the Vera Bradley bags. They've stopped selling the original blue pattern, so they had a few totes and hipsters left at the outlet store. I really wanted the hipster when it first debuted,  but I couldn't justify spending $75 on a purse. However, $19.99 was a great price, so I bought one. I was also able to find some of the Indiana Jones vinylmation for $3.99 each. And I lucked out and got exactly what I wanted: Indy, Marion, Sala, and the Golden Idol mystery figure from Raiders of the Lost Ark. As a huge Indiana Jones fan, I was ecstatic!

In all, it was a great three day trip. We had a chance to visit the theme park we love, ride a few of our favorite rides, see a beautiful festival from our Disney bucket list, and enjoy time together as a family. And isn't that what the magic of Disney is all about?

America on Parade Vinylmation

Disney

I love Americana! I always look forward to the Fourth of July. One of my favorite things at EPCOT is listening to the Voices of Liberty and the Spirit of America Fife & Drum Corps. Now, they've created a Vinylmation set that's perfect for collectors of Americana. America on Parade is a set of three Vinlymations, Mickey, Goofy, and Donald, that commemorate America's bicentennial celebration that occurred at Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom in 1975-76. The set is an online exclusive of the Disney Store and is available for $44.95.

America on Parade Vinylmation

Disney

Pssst... Did you know that now through July 9th, this Bicentennial set of 3 vinylmations is only $17.76? The set is normally $44.95 as it's a Limited Edition of 5000, so $17.76 is a great deal, but there's a limit of 4 per customer.

Here's the description from the Disney Store:
"This online exclusive Vinylmation Park 7 Series Set commemorates America on Parade, which took place in Disneyland and Magic Kingdom from 1975-1976. Enjoy nostalgic memories of the United States Bicentennial alongside Mickey, Donald, and Goofy!"

I've ordered mine, will you?

I Love My New Mickey Bathroom

So, I decided that our new house needed a little extra Mickey. After all, you can never get too much of the mouse, right? My latest Mickey project was the second floor bath that Bean and I share. The bathroom is very spacious for a guest bath, but was painted the most hideous colors when we moved in. The tub and sink area were a sort of dark royal blue and the toilet area was a rather unfortunate brown. The colors were definitely not me!

To begin with, I had to remove all of the hardware and fill a ton of holes in the walls. We decided to change out the curved shower curtain rod for a straight one because the door had been slammed into it one time too many. The mirror was missing when we moved in and the light fixtures just weren't the right style, so I took those down, too. And it was a good thing I did; there were no electrical boxed behind the lights and the holes were just knocked into the wall as though with a screwdriver. After installing boxes and a lot of patching, I was ready to paint.

First, I painted on two coats of Kilz on the walls to block the old colors and hide any stains. Then I painted on a pale yellow. It took three coats to get good coverage. Next, I put in the new, fun, bubbly-glass lights. Which was when I realized that the wall color was way too green! Ack! Back to Lowes for more paint. This time, I picked a brighter yellow from Valspar called Chickadee. I got it home, put two coats on the wall, and discovered that it perfectly matched the shoes on Bean's toy Mickey! Exactly what I was looking for!

Next, it was time for mirrors and not just any mirrors would do. I got two 22" round Kolja mirrors from IKEA and two sets of 5 small, round, black-framed mirrors from Kirklands, one 11", two 9", and two 7" (Home Depot has a similar set by Martha Stewart, but they were more expensive.) I hung one large mirror centered over one sink at a height that Bean could use and the other one over the second sink at a perfect height for me. Then I added two 9" mirrors for the ears. Voila! Mickey head mirrors. We used the remaining 11" and 7" mirrors to make smaller Mickey heads on the other walls. My dad offered to make frames for the 22" mirrors so that the look will be more Mickey.

I changed out the faucets as well. The old faucets were the ugly, single lever kind that always seem to break. The new faucets, which were fairly inexpensive at Lowe's, are classic and fit the design well. We really wanted the one's that resemble Mickey hands, but couldn't find any at a reasonable price.

The Mickey touches for the tub/shower were easy. A few months back, Target had a black and white and red Mickey bath set. The shower curtain, rug, and shower curtain rings from this collection were purchased at Target on clearance. The shower curtain rings are Mickey head shaped and spell out Mickey twice. I would have though they would spell out Mickey Mouse with a blank Mickey head in the middle, but no such luck. A second solid black Mickey head rug was purchased at Walmart.

There are a ton of fantastic Mickey accessories available for the bath, and I just had to have a few of them. I even found a cotton ball holder and soap dispenser shaped like Mickey's head! A second solid black Mickey head rug was purchased at Walmart. And while we were down at Disney World last October, we picked up two of the Mickey Glove bath mitts. Bean has a Minnie soap dispenser, also from Target, that came filled with lemonade scented foamy soap. She loves that it's Minnie and I love that you can refill it with any foaming soap, although for us it's got to be Bath & Body Works foaming soap. (I'm a total Bath & Body Works addict, if you hadn't noticed.)

The bathroom had lots of storage space already, but the area around the toilet looked unfinished, so I added a couple of Fullen cupboards from IKEA. They are a great place to store extra toilet paper and soaps as well as offering a chance to display pretty bottles of perfume. I also added a medicine cabinet to the left of the sinks. I always think it's a good idea to have one and when I found this one on clearance at Lowe's, I couldn't resist. I planned to add glass shelves over the toilet for some additional Mickey displays, but my sister thought we should put a framed Mickey poster there instead. I thought it would be fun to display some of our ever-growing collection of Vinylmation there, as they were taking over the top of the bookshelves in the living room. In the end, we compromised; we put glass shelves above the cupboards for the Vinylmation and bought a poster to replace the mirror above the toilet. We are also on the lookout for some ceramic Mickey glove shaped knobs to replace the silver ones on the sink cupboards and storage cupboards.

The glass Grundtal shelf under the window is also from IKEA. It's the perfect place to keep plants as the window itself was too small. However, when the plants died, I decided to use it for additional Vinylmations instead. The towel bar on the linen closet door seemed like a good fit due to the white ceramic knobs on the ends, and there really wasn't a good place to add a large towel bar, so, it works. I opted for solid black, yellow, and red towels for the main towels, although we have several Disney character towels as well. I especially like Bean's Minnie Mouse hooded towel. It even has Minnie gloves on the top corners and mouse ears on the hood.

I've had a blast bringing a little more Mickey to this bathroom and really love how it turned out. It was a lot of hard work and took a ton of paint, but it was definitely worth the effort. I hope you like it as much as we do!

Jingle Smells Vinylmation

All images: Disney

Have you seen the newest Christmas Vinylmations at the Disney Store? They are so cute! And they smell like holiday goodies to boot. The Marshmallow Snowman smells like marshmallows.

The Gingerbread Man smells like gingerbread.

The Chocolate Mickey smells like chocolate.

And the Peppermint Candy Cane smells like peppermint. I love these new 3" Vinylmations, which double as ornaments. They're $11.95 each and are packaged in display tubes reminiscent of a snow globe. I must say, I want them all!

Rogue One Merchandise

Photos courtesy of Disney

Disney has created a huge collection of merchandise to celebrate the upcoming film, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. The film revolves around a rogue band of resistance fighters who seek to steal the Death Star plans and bring hope to the galaxy. It arrives in theaters on December 16, but we won't have to wait as long for the merchandise, which will begin arriving at Disney Parks on September 30.

There's a wide variety of shirts for women, several with more style than the usual tees.

There's also clothing from Her Universe, including a dress covered with images of the Death Star and some leggings fit for a Rebel.

Graphic goodies include images of the Death Star and one that resembles a pilots uniform.

A set of limited release Vinylmation Shoretroopers begin a large selection of collectibles. There will also be a great variety of open edition pins and a 14 pin mystery collection, with one pin revealed and one a mystery. If you like making droids in the Droid Factory, be sure to look for a set of four Astromech figures inspired by the film.

At Walt Disney World, guests can find two limited release Magic Bands. 15 different designs for personalized phone cases for select iPhone and Samsung devices will be available at D-Tech on Demand stations around Disneyland and Disney World.

Select items from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story will be available at the following locations:

Disneyland

• Emporium
• The Star Trader
• Star Wars Launch Bay

California Adventure 

• Elias & Company
• Gone Hollywood

Downtown Disney

• World of Disney
• D-Street

Disney World

Magic Kingdom

• Emporium
• Merchant of Venus

EPCOT

• Mouse Gear

Hollywood Studios

• Tatooine Traders
•  Star Wars Launch Bay
• Legends of Hollywood
• Mickey's of Hollywood

Animal Kingdom

• Island Mercantile

Disney Springs

• World of Disney
• Once Upon a Toy
• Star Wars Galactic Outpost

Some items will also be available on the Shop Disney Parks app.

Star Wars Weekends Merchandise 2014

Star Wars Weekends will return to Disney's Hollywood Studios May 16 - June 15 this year. That means one extra weekend to feed your love of Star Wars. Disney recently released photos of some of this years merchandise and it looks amazing!

There will be several new pins and even a Battle of Yavin lanyard with a medal.

There are also several new toys this year, including Cars tractors dressed as stormtroopers. They're too funny! There will also be new Queen Amidala and Princess Leia Fashion sets.

Finally, the Star Wars: Series 4 Vinylmation mystery series will debut during this year's event. A new 9" and 3" set will feature the Rancor and his keeper. I really like the figurine set pictured above. I can't decide whether Chip and Dale or Donald in carbonite is my favorite.

Be sure to join the Rebel Alliance and find a treasure amongst the merchandise at Darth's Mall.

Photo Credit: Disney

Star Wars toys

Every year, just in time for Star Wars Weekends, Disney releases a new set of Star Wars toys. This year, they have a set of 4 die-cast racers, the fourth set to be released. These new racers feature Yoda, a Clone Trooper, Battle Droid, and Jedi Master Plo Koon. Each car will be available for $5.95. There is also a new set of Disney characters dressed as characters from Star Wars. This years characters include Mickey as Luke Skywalker complete with green lightsaber, Minnie as Princess Leia in her Boushh disguise with removable helmet and thermal grenade, Donald as Han Solo with a staff and encased in a block of carbonite, Goofy as C-3PO, and Pete as Boba Fett with removable helmet, jet pack and blaster. Each figure will be packaged individually and available for $8.95. Some time later this year, Disney will be releasing a Star Wars themed vinylmation set. So far, only three images of the set have been released: Darth Vader, a Storm Trooper, and Lando Calrissian. I can't decide if I like the vinylmations. Some of them are really cute, but they have a lot of weird ones too. However, the pictures released for the Star Wars ones look pretty cool.

Star Wars Weekends at Hollywood Studios

For four 3-day weekends each year, Disney's Hollywood Studios is invaded by characters from the Star Wars universe. This year, from May 16th to June 15th. It's a great time for those with a Disney and Star Wars obsession. My family was a little unsure about going because we'd heard that the crowds can be crazy! I finally convinced them that it would be fun to give it a try. We decided to go on a Friday during the second weekend in 2012. This was the perfect time to go. Star Wars Weekends are a blast!

There are several special events during Star Wars Weekends: Jedi Training Academy, the Star Wars Celebrity Motorcade, the Padawan Mind Challenge, celebrity autographs, character Meet & Greets, behind the scenes shows, as well as the Hyperspace Hoopla. And there are two new experiences this year: now you can have lunch with characters from Jedi Mickey to Darth Goofy at Hollywood and Vine or enjoy a Galactic Breakfast at the Sci-fi Dine-in Theater. And to cap off the night, Disney has added the new Symphony in the Stars fireworks. Each day is packed with a lot to see and do.

The Star Wars fun begins before you enter the park. Stormtroopers have been stationed above the gates and make comments about the crowds. They point out odd looking characters to each other and talk about what strange creatures the crowds are. Our favorite part was when the Stormtroopers decided that everyone must be holding up those little boxes (cameras) and pointing them as a way of greeting. The Stormtroopers then decided to greet the crowd in the same manner. It was hilarious! Throughout the park, you can hear many different themes from the Star Wars saga. I have always loved John Williams' themes, so I really appreciated this touch.

Ahsoka Tano

The Jedi Training Academy is extra special during Star Wars Weekends. The sign up station is moved near the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular and they take 30 kids for each show. (If you want to get a guaranteed spot, be there when the gates open and head immediately to the sign up station. Spots are filled very quickly, so you may wish to sign up during the week when it's less busy.) 15 Padawans, or Jedi Trainees, are up on the stage and 15 are on the ground in front of the stage. Jedi Master Vance Nadal trains those onstage and Ahsoka Tano, Anakin Skywalker's Padawan, trains those on the ground. The Padawans are taught a series of moves that they will be using to fight the Dark Side. Then, Darth Vader and his Stormtroopers arrive, along with a female Sith named Asajj Ventress. When Bean was selected to participate, she was delighted to be trained by Ahsoka and fight Asajj, as you can only see them during special times, like Star Wars Weekends.

Star Wars Weekends feature many character Meet & Greets that can only be found during these four weekends each year. The lines can be long, but you should be able to meet at least a few of the characters with relatively short wait times. Each character location has a fantastic backdrop from the films and a brief description of the characters that appear there. In Darth's Maul, we met a young Luke Skywalker. He was really nice and looked enough like Luke to be convincing. Sometimes, R2-D2 and C-3PO appear with Luke. After Luke, Princess Leia was meeting fans in the same locations. She also appears with R2-D2 and C-3PO at times. Near the Star Tours face painting station, we met Queen Amidala. The line for Amidala was fairly short and we only waited about 15 minutes. Near the speeder across from Star Tours, Chewbacca and a couple of Ewoks were posing for photos. In the Streets of America, near the San Francisco backdrop, you could meet either Anakin Skywalker, ShaakTi, Mace Windu, or Kit Fisto. Near the Phineas & Ferb and Cars Meet and Greet areas, you could find Captain Rex, Clone Troopers, Asajj Ventress or Ahsoka Tano. In the covered area near the Backlot Tour was a very long line to meet Darth Vader. By the ABC Commissary, you could meet Darth Maul or Goofy in his Darth Vader costume. Across from him, you could meet Boba or Jango Fett and stand with your arms and legs in shackles. Between the ABC Commissary and the Great Movie Ride was the area for Jedi Mickey, Leia Minnie, and Duck Maul. In addition to these character locations, there are also wandering characters, including Jawas, Tusken Raiders, Stromtroopers, and Tam Wesel.

Asajj Ventress

During our visit, we only met three characters, but they were all fantastic! Luke was very personable and kind to Bean and even spent several minutes talking with her and looking at her autograph photobook. Amidala was very in character and told us about her time in the Galactic Senate. ShaakTi suggested unique poses for each group of guests and really had quite a variety of fun poses to choose from. She was fantastic at putting guests at ease and getting them involved in some Star Wars fun.

In addition to the various costumed characters, different celebrities are available for autographs each weekend. To meet these celebrities, you must obtain a Fast Pass for that celebrity near the entrance to Hollywood Studios. There is a limit of one Fast Pass per person, so you must choose wisely. Also, the guest whose ticket was used to obtain the Fast Pass must be present to receive the Fast Pass, so you can't send one person with all of the tickets for a group to get your Fast Pass. Once you have a Fast Pass, you can go the the autograph for your chosen celebrity at the designated time to get your autograph. Also, you can only have one item autographed and one photo taken. Honestly, I'm not sure it's worth all of the hoops you have to jump through, so my family and I decided not to get any celebrity autographs.

The Star Wars Celebrity Motorcade is a parade of Star Wars characters. The parade lasts about 20 minutes and features groups of Stormtroopers, classic Star Wars characters, Mickey and friends in their Star Wars costumes, and cars full of Star Wars celebrities. Unfortunately, the celebrities can be somewhat obscure, such as a voice from the cartoons and may not be interesting to young children, but the costumed characters are a lot of fun. If you want to watch the parade, you'll need to get a seat early. I would recommend finding your spot at least 90 minutes before the parade starts as spaces fill up quickly.

The Padawan Mind Challenge is a trivia trial for kids age 11 and under. You do have to preregister to participate in this challenge. Kids use their knowledge of Star Wars: The Clone Wars to become Padawans, or Jedi Trainees. You can signup near the ABC Sound Studio, beginning when the park opens, but spaces fill up fast. There are only two shows a day, around 2 PM and 6:30 PM. The shows take place on the large stage set up in front of the Sorcerer's Hat. The crowds in this area can be very large, so if you'd like to watch the challenge, be sure to check your Times Guide and arrive early.

There are several special Behind the Scenes shows each weekend, hosted by one of the co-hosts of Star Wars Weekends. Ashley Eckstein, the voice of Ahsoka Tano, hosts Behind the Force: an insiders look at Star Wars: The Clone Wars cartoons. James Arnold Taylor, the voice of Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, hosts two different shows. The first, Stars of the Saga, invites that weekends celebrity guests to sit down for an interview about their work. The second, Obi-Wan and Beyond, is a glimpse into the world of voice acting. James Arnold Taylor voices around 150 characters, so he is the perfect actor for such a show.

One of the favorite stops for collectors during Star Wars Weekends is the special shopping area. Available only during Star Wars Weekends and located through the gates near Rock 'N' Roller Coaster, the name and theme changes yearly. In 2012, the shop was called Darth's Maul. During the opening weekend the line was a 90 minute wait to get in and a 90 minute wait to get out. By the second weekend, there was no wait to get in and very little wait to get out. Darth's Maul was a giant tent filled with Disney exclusive Star Wars merchandise. Limited edition merchandise is also available. 2012 saw the release of a new collection of women's clothing designed by Ashley Eckstein, the voice of Ahsoka Tano. The Her Universe collection debuted at Darth's Maul and included many shirts for women and girls as well as a few costume hoodies. The Princess Leia hoodie sported her famous hair buns and the girls Ahsoka hoodie looked just like Ahsoka. for the true collector, there were Darth Vader and Chewbacca costumes that cost over $100,000 each. Some of the limited edition goods were only available as a purchase with purchase. One was a photo frame with Duck Maul and Jedi Mickey. There was also a polar fleece throw with Duck Maul and a pin with the same design. There were quite a few pins that had been created especially for the event and two series of Vinylmation as well. We waited about 5 minutes to make our purchases, but the wait to purchase limited edition merchandise was 20-30 minutes. One of my favorite items was the Star Tours name tag. I purchased one with my name in Aurebesh, the language of the galaxy. You can also choose your home planet from one of the 15 available. I chose Endor because I love Ewoks. And new for 2012, the Droid Factory, a fun build-a-droid spot now permanently housed at Tatooine Traders.

One of my favorite collectibles from Star Wars Weekends was the R2-D2 popcorn buckets and lidded cups. The buckets were available filled with caramel popcorn, churros with chocolate sauce, a kids corndog and chips meal, or even a kids power pack with a cheese stick, carrots, yogurt, goldfish, and a cookie. The cups were available with either frozen lemonade, a milkshake, or hot fudge sundae. Other Star Wars treats included a Darth Vader cupcake, chocolate peanut butter flavored.Yum!

The final show of the night is the Hyperspace Hoopla. Described as an intergalactic dance competition, this show is loud and raucous. The characters dance to modern music with modern accessories. I have to say, this show was my least favorite part of Star Wars Weekends. The music is very loud! It can be heard throughout the park and is especially loud near the stage, which is located in front of the Sorcerer's Hat. I was also disappointed in the music, accessories, and dance styles that were used for the show. They were rather suggestive and not very family friendly. I wouldn't recommend taking small children to the Hyperpace Hoopla as I consider it to be an adult show.

If you want a VIP experience during Star Wars Weekends, those are available, too. The Feel the Force VIP dining event sounds like a lot of fun. You start with reserved seating for the Legends of the Force: Star Wars Celebrity Motorcade with beverages and snacks available. Then you also have reserved seating for the Symphony in the Stars fireworks which includes a Star Wars-themed dessert party. Finally, so the Force will be with you always, you receive a souvenir Disney Photopass card which includes complimentary Star Wars photos. This VIP event is a little pricey at $54 per adult and $32 per child, but I bet it's a lot of fun!

In all, I really enjoyed attending Star Wars Weekends. The characters were a lot of fun, the shows were great to watch, and the atmosphere was fantastic. I have always loved Star Wars and would recommend going to Star Wars Weekends to any fan.