Sunday, August 29, 2010

Mr. Toad 3" Vinylmation

One of my favorite rides in Fantastyland (along with Peter Pan's Flight), this Vinylmation was a must have purely for sentimental reasons!

"Mr. Toad's Wild Ride is a dark ride at Disneyland Park. It is one of the few remaining attractions that was operational on the park's opening day in 1955. The ride's story is based on Disney's adaptation of The Wind in the Willows, one of the two segments of the film The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad."

Mr. Toad's Wild Ride in Fantasyland @ Disneyland


The Vinylmation inspired by the ride which in turn was inspired by Disney's 1949 animated feature film The Adventures of Ichabod & Mr. Toad. The film was an adapatation of "The Wind in the Willows", a classic of children's literature by Kenneth Grahame, first published in 1908.

The Adventures of Ichabod & Mr. Toad (Part 1)
(Part 2)
(Part 3)
(Part 4)

Trade City U.S.A. Vinylmation!!!

Americana: "Americana refers to artifacts, or a collection of artifacts, related to the history, geography, folklore and cultural heritage of the United States. Many kinds of material fall within the definition of Americana: paintings, prints and drawings; license plates or entire vehicles, household objects, tools and weapons; flags, plaques and statues, and so on. Patriotism and nostalgia play a defining role in the subject. The things involved need not be old, but need to have the appropriate associations."



Day of The Dead: "(Spanish: Día de los Muertos) is a holiday celebrated by many in Mexico and by some Mexican Americans living in the United States and Canada. The holiday focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died. The celebration occurs on November 2 in connection with the Catholic holidays of All Saints' Day (November 1) and All Souls' Day (November 2). Traditions connected with the holiday include building private altars honoring the deceased using sugar skulls, marigolds, and the favorite foods and beverages of the departed and visiting graves with these as gifts. The Day of the Dead is a time of celebration when eating and parties are common. Due to occurring shortly after Halloween, the Day of the Dead is sometimes thought to be a similar holiday, although the two are celebrated differently.This holiday is similar to All Saints Day."

Friday, August 27, 2010

Animal Kingdom Vinylmation

Dan Howard was at D-Street signing the newest Vinylmation release, The Animal Kingdom.














Toy Story Vinylmation

coming soon...

Friday, August 20, 2010

DLR Trading Night / How Do Trading Events Work?

So being on the VinylNation.net forum boards we constantly are gaining new members all the time. Most are new to the Vinylmation collecting game and thus we always see very similar questions being asked when a trading night comes around. So I thought it would be helpful to take a pictorial tour of the last trading event that took place at the Paradise Pier hotel, at the Disneyland Resort.

Quoting one of VinylNation.net's members Stephrz, here are some very commonly asked questions to those whom have yet to attend a trading event:

"(1) is this event only for pins or do people bring vinyls?
(2) how many traders usually attend these events? I've never been to a trade event and this sounds like fun."
And to answer the first and second question, these trading night events are still predominantly pin traders. I would say the vinylmation traders make up about 15-20% of the population. But we "VinylManiacs" are most definitely there in force faithfully every time.

Another common question is how trades take place. So here is a simple run down on how all the action works:

1.) Gather up all the vinyls you are willing to trade. I like putting my vinyls in little plastic bags so that I keep the vinyl and the cards safe, and it's easy to simply hand it to someone when I make a trade. Below is my humble set up I had going on for this particular night. As you can see I had select vinyls from Urban #4, #3, #2, some Vinylmation Jr.'s, Park #4's, and Park #3's to trade. (The Space Mountain 9" I acquired from Soulchild [Thank You!!!])

2.) Do some homework before the event. Know the value of your vinyls. Most of all, know what you're looking for. Obviously, you wouldn't walk into a trading event and trade your Park 1 Yeti for an Urban 4 Strawberry Field (or maybe you would?). Your Yeti is valued around $90 versus the $10 price tag for the recently released Urban 4. Now I have seen some people make great trades like the example above. The trader just had a duplicate vinyl and really wanted a vinyl another trader had to offer regardless of it's lower value. You really determine the value of your own collection. But it's good business to make the most of your trades. You should have an idea of what your looking for, and which of your vinyls could help you achieve that trade.

I have had traders come up to me and and offer their Cutester Owl for my Urban #2 Green Tea Mickey Chaser. I respectfully declined their gracious offer, for I know I could get 4 or 5 and possibly even more vinyls for my one chaser. So again, knowing your vinyls worth, and knowing what you want go hand in hand at these trading events.
3.) Pick a table, setup shop. All of us VinylManiacs usually sit in one central location and take up about 4-8 tables. Like the picture shown above, I think the best approach is to have everything you have out on display ready to go. When I first started going to the trading events I had all my vinyls for trade inside their boxes. I had a list of what vinyls I had available. But people like to actually see your vinyls, and will come to your table and stop and look if something catches their eye. I quickly switched to using the little plastics baggies, so that anyone can quickly glance at all I had to offer.

The Feisty One & The Outsider

4.) Trade Away! Trading is as simple as asking. Let's say you need a Fozzie Bear to complete your Muppets set. After you setup shop, you decide to walk around and scout for who has Fozzie. You find two people with that vinyl. I personally like to start by saying hello (of course), then asking if that person was looking for anything in particular for that Fozzie! Usually the person will ask "Well, what do you have?" Meaning they're not really looking for anything too in particular. You let the person know which vinyls you have that your willing to trade. They can either say yes, or no. As simple as that.

Now that first person you asked may say no. So you can always go ask the second person who had Fozzie. Or I like to ask both persons what they would trade their Fozzie for, and then I get to decide which trade benefits me the most.

The same situation applies when people approach you at your table. They ask if you need anything. They tell you what they want of yours. And you say yes or no. And since you have already done your homework as discussed in step 2 above you should have no problem making smart trades.

5.) And most importantly, have fun! Trading nights are suppose to be fun! Trading can be somewhat political and maybe even a little intimidating, but it is what you make it! I remember at my first trading event I was a little shy because I didn't really know anybody and everyone seems very familiar with each other. But I was so excited! I was running around the trade floor like a little kid in a toy store! I had so much fun! And now every time I go to an event, I recognize all the usual people whom are there all the time just like me!


Souldchild's setup, including her "My Neighbor Totoro" 9" and 3" custom, and her famous Care Bear 3" customs!
Steph's Keith Lapinig custom. An awesome spin on the Park 1 chaser, with Winnie the Pooh hanging on to a balloon made with a Clear Red vinyl head. Awesome job! Single vinyl display case provided by HauntedCollector created by ProTech!

Another nice setup, including some Toy Story 3's and a Mickey Bandleader 9"!

Our beloved Doug's amazing Vinylmation setup, including several one-of-a-kind customs! Awesome display!

Toy Story 3 9" Lotso and (a drunk looking) Buzz customs!

A custom 9" Maleficent ! Very cool!

Another awesome custom! Soulchild's 3" Cheshire Cat with Glow-in-the-Dark smile and eyes! Unique use of the newest "CYO" color!

More awesome customs! Hades from "Hercules", Emperor Zurg from the "Toy Story" series, and Ursula from "The Little Mermaid".

Christopher "Evilos" Avalos's Vinylmation setup! With plenty to trade and many customs to gawk at!

The famous "Mickey in Carbonite" custom by Evilos!

More amazing work from Evilos including custom 3" Eeyore, Winnie the Pooh, Evil Pooh, Cheshire Cat, and Tron! Love his work!

9" Custom Winnie the Pooh with custom Eeyore! Heavily guarded by an army of Orange Gears!

The Outsider & Evilos!

They have some coloring pages to keep the kids entertained and/or to satisfy your inner artist!

A sample of the many pin collections also at the event! Very neat and organized!

Another successful Trading Night in the books! :)

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

10th Anniversary Pin Trading Vinylmation


Disney Pin Trading celebrates its tenth birthday on October 1, 2009 with the start of a year-long celebration of all things pins titled, "A Decade of Magical Trades." The celebration will run through October 10, 2010 (or 10/10/10) at Walt Disney World® and Disneyland® Resorts.
"We focused on 'celebrating the trade' for this anniversary as trading is at the heart of what we do," said Steven Miller, Project Manager for Disney Trading. "During the past ten years, we've learned that Guests visiting Disney Parks love meeting others, trading an amazing variety of Disney pins and adding unique pins to their collections. This celebration will give Guests the opportunity to do all three things all year long."

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Noah: One-of-a-Kind World of Color Custom Vinylmation!

Upon arrival exactly at 6:03am, we were officially numbers 13 and 14 in line. As soon as we had jumped in line, Ronn (DLR's Special Events Coordinator) walked us into the Downtown Disney District to line up in front of D Street. Wristbands were given out at 7:09am, and everyone preceded to scatter for breakfast! :)
Finally, four hours later at 10am, D Street opened it's doors! They let everyone in one by one and gave you time to check out as many of the World of Color vinyls as you wanted to ensure you left the store with the one you wanted! Here's a shot of most of the vinyls lined up behind the counter.

We left Disneyland around 10:30am and headed down Katella Ave to have a proper breakfast at Denny's! Afterwards, we headed back to Disneyland and parked in the Mickey & Friends parking lot were we took a nap for about an hour and a half in the car. We headed back to D Street shortly after 1pm where we ran into this beauty pictured below. Noah's 5 foot World of Color Vinyl! Amazing!
The line was relatively short, and it wasn't long before we were in front of the man himself, Noah! We had him sign our World of Color vinyls first! Here he is carefully adding some details to the first vinyl.

Noah and The Feisty One!
Then, of course, I had him sign a 9" Black Create Your Own vinyl for me!
What attracted to me to this particular vinyl was the evenness of the colors. This vinyl immediately jumped out at me from behind the D Street register. The acrylic case completely comes off, up and over the base. Here are the two pieces side by side.
World of Color vinyl inside it's case.
Front view:
Right side:
Back view:
Left side:
Another reason why I picked this particular vinyl was that I really liked the "splash/water" design on the case. Out of all the vinyls and cases I examined, this one seemed to look the best!
World of Color case top view:
The vinyl has a piece of velcro on the bottom of its feet that loosely attaches to another piece of velcro attached to the base of the case. The top part of the acrylic case does not secure to the base at all, but rather just sits directly on top of it.
This is the label on the box that the vinyl came in. It reads number 1 of 24. I am not 100% sure if this is truly the 1st World of Color vinyl of 24? Can anyone confirm or deny this? For now, I'll just claim this one is number one! :)
And last but not least, the CYO 9" vinyl that Noah signed for me!
Noah's logo, followed by his signature on the head of the vinyl.
And my very own on-line moniker on the body! Noah made this look very cool!!!
And actually, in the picture from the very top of this post, Noah is actually holding my vinyl on top of his 5 foot vinyl! Pretty awesome! :)
All in all, this day was pretty awesome! Noah was super cool (as usual)! He is always very kind and happy to meet all of his fans. Noah's vinyls were already some of my favorite out of all the designs. But actually getting to meet him and speak with him makes me respect and appreciate him all the more.

And Noah, if your out there... keep up the amazing work! You are so humble in your demeanor! And I will continue to support and praise your work! God bless!

~ The Outsider