Saturday, November 28, 2009

Disney Store on line released new Main Street collectible replicas, and more...



Christmas day is in four weeks from now and i think it's the right time for a little Disney collectibles article. The Disney Store on line released recently new items and some of them were a surprise as i never thought they will ever produce this kind of small replica of the famous Main Street windows!

Frankly, it's not a bad idea but who could have imagine that they will do it? After all, it just prove that everything is possible with Disney! However, no surprise about their choices as the first one above is the Magic Kingdom window dedicated to Elias Disney, the "family patriarch" as they say in the caption of the picture which is right as Walt's name was Walt "Elias" Disney but also his father first name was Elias. Size is 9" high and price is $50. Limited edition of 250.

Also released this other Magic Kingdom window dedicated to Roy E. Disney. Same size - 9" high -and price: $50. Limited edition of 250.



Always about Main Street area this replica of the famous dedication plaque found at the Magic Kingdom reproducing the inspirational words read by Roy O. Disney on October 25, 1971. Today it rests below the Town Square flagpole on Main Street U.S.A: ''Walt Disney World is a tribute to the philosophy and life of Walter Elias Disney... and to the talents, the dedication, and the loyalty of the entire Disney organization that made Walt Disney World bring Joy and Inspiration and New Knowledge to all who come to this happy place... a Magic Kingdom where the young at heart of all ages can laugh and play and learn - together. Dedicated this 25th day of October, 1971 - Roy O. Disney''.
The plaque itself is really in Bronze with black resin base. 5" high and wide, $45.00.



Always available, the famous ''Partners'' Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse Statue a detailed bronze replica of the famous ''Hub'' statue. Also in Bronze, 9" high, 135.00.



Something different, now. The Disney Store guys are always trying to find a new kind of merchandise item and i must say that considering the hundreds of thousands Disney merch items that were produced during the last 60 years, it's probably not an easy task. However they succeed with this new "Princess and their wishing well" series! Frankly, the idea of the wishing well is the one that was missing!

More seriously, they did six new items on that theme with Cinderella, Jasmine, Ariel, the inevitable Tinker Bell (not a princess but who cares ) and of course Snow White, probably the most legitimate as there is really a wishing well in the movie. Limited Edition of 750, 9" high, $75.











As usual the design is a bit kitch but if i had to choose my favourite for the design it would be the one with Sleeping Beauty.



You will note that it's not always a "wishing well" but sometime "fountains". Unfortunately it's not "real" fountains - which would have been much better - and the reason why is probably a manufacturing cost. In fact, it's perfectly possible to do it but it's not possible to do it and have it work well with cheap pumps. From what i've heard they did a bad choice - translate: a cheap choice - recently on the Tiki Room fountain collectible and people had a lot of problems as the fountain stopped many times after a few minutes. If that is the truth, then it could explain why they didn't do real fountains on this new series but instead a "translucent resin fountain".


Thanks to leave a comment or discuss this article on D&M english forum on Mice Chat

All pictures: copyright Disney

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

mon dieu que c'est laid et kitsch...

Alain Littaye said...

C'est ce que j'ai dit: C'EST kitch!

Mike said...

Will the Walt and Mickey statue also be available at Disneyland Paris? I tried to order one from the American website but shipping fees for the Netherlands were 65 Dollars :(

Jones said...

How in the world can anyone love Disney and call these "laid"? Or is "laid" a term similar to "Kitsch", i.e. not necessarily all negative? I don´t think so, but my French is limited...

Anonymous said...

"and the reason why is probably a manufacturing cost" - it´s really sad that Disney cares so much about manufacturing costs. These figurines sell for 75 USD - it´s perfectly possible to manufacture sth like this with high quality parts and still make a very decent profit. So many of the Disney products I´ve bought recently are of really bad quality. Strangely enough, that does not stop me from buying Disney stuff - so from a mere economic standpoint, the Disney managers may even be right - people (like me) will buy the products anyway, so why nor choose the cheapest manufacturer available...

Alain Littaye said...

To Mike: I am not sure it will be sold at DLP. The shipping cost to Netherlands is always expensive from Disney Shopping because they send the items by DHL or UPS, not to mention that you WILL have to pay custom taxes as UPS or DHL do declare to customs systematically. If you have a friend living in the U.S the best is to ask Disney Shopping to send the item to him and then your friend send it back to you, but not everyone have a friend in the U.S, unfortunately...

To Jones: Yes "laid" in french means "ugly"in english. Personally i don't agree with the french comment calling the items "ugly and kitch" as i think the sculptors did a decent job in respect of the original design of the Disney characters. "kitch" may be a little bit, yes, but "ugly", no.