Disney Snowglobes - UK mini's

The Disney Store UK website has introduced 6 new mini snowglobes for 10 pounds each. There is also a Bambi/Thumper one, but the picture is not yet available. The website describes it as an Easter globe.

Snow White in Australia

This limited edition Snow White snowglobe that is currently for sale on DisneyShopping.com for 79.50 sold at an australian ebay auction for 167.50 in australian dollars which translates to approx 147.68 in american currency. I often see high prices on the Australian auctions.

Bambi II

Found this on a closed ebay auction. Hadn't seen this globe pictured before but immediately liked what I saw. I've mentioned before how stunning a simple globe can be and I think this is a perfect example of that.

Snowglobe Collectors Unite

Not much of a post today, as I am caught between a closing shift of 11pm and an opening shift of 7am with about an hours drive each way. Just thought I'd throw out a plea for information on Disney snowglobes from theme parks. I've got WDW pretty well covered but Disneyland, Tokyo Disneyland, Disneyland Paris and Hong Kong Disneyland is pretty much guesswork from what I can see on ebay. Do parks in other countries have the same globes as WDW? What's new or current in snowglobes at those parks? Please feel free to share your knowledge. All comments have to be approved by me before they become public, so if you want to contact me without it being a public message you can still leave a comment. If you have pictures you can send them to rjfunstar@yahoo.com. but I only check that address every once in awhile so please leave a comment if you send something. Any info that can be supplied especially about new globes would be much appreciated.

Buyer Beware

I've taken this picture from a closed ebay auction. This globe sold for 194.97 which is the current high amongst the closed auctions that actually sold. This post was going to be about some globes that have recently sold for over $100 but notice how the top of the snowglobe is cut off in the picture.

It's been my experience that anyone who does this is trying to hide the fact that the finial is missing or a huge air bubble. In this case, it seems the finial is probably missing since in the description the seller only mentions 2 of the duck nephews and the third is the finial.

Also beware of blurry pictures. Chances are anyone selling something on ebay has a digital camera and its almost hard to take a bad picture with one. If the picture is blurry, there's most likely a reason for it.

Exclusive Limited Edition Confusion

These wonderful Disney snowglobes are now appearing on DisneyShopping.com. Both are listed as having been created exclusively for Disney Store Europe. Ummmm. Then what the heck are they doing on DisneyShopping.com? The Bedknobs and Broomsticks (must have it, might not be able to wait for a sale on this one) globe is listed as a limited edition of 600. I do not have a UK listing to compare it to but the Hunchback snowglobe is listed as a limited edition of 750 and the UK website says it is limited to 2000. Ummmm. What the heck? Limited edition sizes and exclusives and so forth don't mean a lot to me. I buy what I like and I like what I buy, but it would be nice to know just what the facts are.

While writing this post, I decided to email guest services at DisneyShopping.com and was checking the UK site to make sure I had my facts straight. Turns out the UK listing states there are no more then 2000 made and after it being on the UK site for a number of weeks now you can still purchase one that has the number between 19 and 50. Guess maybe they aren't selling too well over there which explains why they are being made available here and the reduction in edition size.

And just so you know, I decided to buy the Bedknobs and Broomsticks snowglobe instead of taking a chance on missing out. There is a 15% off new arrivals code and I got 2 which put my total over $75 so I get free shipping with my Disney Visa. I figure there's a good chance this will be the only B&B globe ever produced.

Spaceship Earth

I visited EPCOT yesterday and have no new snowglobes to report. I did get to ride the newly reopened Spaceship Earth. I've read opinions of others who have ridden it, claiming that the redo is a catastrophe and terrible and the worst thing ever and, well, I liked it! In fact, I have to wonder if they were even on the same ride.

If you don't want any details about this attraction before you get a chance to ride it yourself, then stop reading now.

I found the first half of the ride to be vastly improved. Everything has been redone and it all looks great. Most of the old animatronic figures that barely moved have been replaced with the modern day figures that move all over the place. If you thought the old figures looked real wait until you see these guys. The sound system has been vastly improved and almost every scene has literally been brought to life.

Most people's complaints that I've read seem to be based on the descent after seeing the planet from outer space. There is really no scenery and you answer a few questions on a monitor screen that then shows you a cartoon about what your life could be like in the future. While I can understand that may not be to everyone's liking, I found it to be a lot of fun. Lets face it, the old descent was kinda boring. It was based on how computers are being used today not in the future. Well, I live in the present and know that computers are being used in classrooms and I can talk to other people all over the world from my pc. Why do I need to go past a bunch of scenes showing me present day? I think the cartoon about my future was much more entertaining and it seemed to me that the people getting off the ride around me were having a much better time then I have seen with the old ride.

There were a few things I didn't like. The family is no longer watching Walt Disney on their television. Snow White is no longer playing at the theatre. As a Disney fan, I didn't like seeing this little tributes to Walt go away but at the same time I recognize that they didn't really fit the story of innovention in communication that was being told. In the roman scene the little cartoon horse and chariot projection that races through the street was not there. For some reason I always liked that and thought it was neat but again realize that it may have been removed so as not to detract from the realism of the scene. Then again, maybe it will be back, the ride doesn't officially open until sometime in february so minor things like this could still be changed. I did find the new narration a bit annoying. Most of that was because it was a little to loud but some of it seemed a little to close together and talking over the scenery when I would have preferred it quiet so as to take in the whole scene better. A tighter narration in a spot or two to shorten it would help but that's just my opinion.

All in all, I enjoyed it and found it to be a vast improvement over what was replaced. The ride, once again does what an EPCOT ride is supposed to do. It educates, it entertains and most importantly, you get off feeling optimistic about the future.

More Pooh

This Winnie the Pooh snowglobe popped up on the Disney Store UK website today.

waterless globes for Easter

These snowglobes by Gemmy will be available in Wal-Mart for Easter. They have no water, just a blower and confetti. They also play music.

Current WDW snowglobes

Some of the current snowglobes at Walt Disney World as seen at the Pop Century Resort.

Whats Missing From This Picture?

This is a picture of the new gift shop that was constructed on the 4th floor of the Contemporary Resort at Walt Disney World. It's not to my taste, mostly because I don't feel it fits in with the charm and elegance of the rest of the resort. It blocks the view of the monorail as it glides through and I guess some people just cant stand to see an empty space without deciding to put a gift shop in.
Anyway, this was opened shortly before Christmas and I just took this picture last week. Can you tell what is missing? I walked past it for a few weeks after it opened before it dawned on me that it has no doors. I asked someone I know who works next door to the shop how they close it at night and he started laughing. It seems the company hired to construct the shop forgot it needed doors. The story has now changed to the company creating the doors didn't have them ready in time but the first story I heard was they forgot. Every night they drag that cute little fence acroos the entrance and a security guard has to stay inside the shop all night until the staff comes in the next morning.

Current Paris snowglobe?

Found this Disney snowglobe on a closed ebay auction. I believe it is one that is either currently or recently available at Disneyland Paris. I know from my statistics that there are at least a few regular readers from Europe. Can anyone confirm?

All About Ariel

If you haven't checked out Velvet's Little Mermaid site yet, you should. It's a great site, well done, with a truckload of pictures of Little Mermaid collectibles including a large amount of snowglobes. I found about ten that were new to me that I hadn't seen before. So, take a deep breath, hold your nose and jump in. The water's fine under the sea at MyLittleMermaid.com.

More Sneak Peeks

So those Bedknobs and Broomsticks and Sword in the Stone globes in yesterdays post are pretty cool, don't ya think? Velvet posted again pointing me to the Aladdin globe shown below and that inspired me to do some more searching....



The following images have been found on DisneyShopping.com. Again they are a mix of globes we haven't seen and other globes from the past. It's hard to believe that these images would still be in the database from several years ago so I expect they will be rereleased.

Sword in the Stone arrives in the UK

I was checking the DisneyStore UK site tonight and found that the Sword in the Stone globe we shown a spotlight on earlier is now listed on their site. It has a blower and plays "Higitus Figitus"

We can only hope that it comes here to the states. The description says it is exclusive to the Disney Store (meaning the UK stores) but don't let that fool you. There have been others that said that and were available here on DisneyShopping.com.

There is also this Valentines Winnie the Pooh trinket box snowglobe with Pooh dressed as a bee.

These must have just been put on the site as I write this because I can't get a page with them on it all of the time. If you don't see them when you go to the site try again in a little while.

DisneyShopping Sneak Peeks

Velvet left a comment on the 101 Dalmations post that taught me how to discover pictures on the DisneyShopping site that are not shown in the products for sale. The snowglobe pics I discovered fell into 3 distinct categories.

The first are globes that have appeared allready in the UK but they show us a clearer picture. I'm not positive that these will appear on the US website, only time will tell. A couple of these are listed as limited editions of 2000 in the UK, so it seems odd that they would be available here as well.

The 2nd Category are globes that we've seen before. These are perhaps globes that Disney is getting to rerelease as we have seen with other globes of the past recently.

The Third category is, of course, globes that I've never seen before so I assume they are upcoming globes. All of this information is pure conjecture on my part and I don't know if these will actually be released or not but I can't think of any other reason they would have pictures of them. Many thanks to Velvet for posting. Her one post has given me a few days worth of material for this blog and probably many more as I will now have to play detective and try to find out what future releases DisneyShopping has in store.