Saturday, May 31, 2008

Disney Snowglobe - New Sneak Peek

Velvet sent us this sneak peek pic of a Band Concert snowglobe to enjoy. You should all stop by her website and say thank you.

Friday, May 30, 2008

Nitpicking the new globes

While adding the new snowglobes into my book manuscript, I noticed a couple of odd things. On the Beauty and the Beast globe, Belle is dancing with the Prince but all the enchanted objects are present. If the Beast was transformed to human then the enchanted objects should be human as well. I guess we can call that artistic license but it makes me wonder if the designer has even seen the movie.
In the product description for the Peter Pan globe, the teepee's of the Indian Village are called tents. First time I've ever heard a wigwam called a tent.

New Disney Snowglobes

These three snowglobes appeared on DisneyShopping.com today. I really like the look of this pedestal series. I hope they continue past the Princess movies.


Thursday, May 29, 2008

Kingdom Comics

The news of the day seems to be that Disney has created an inhouse department called Kingdom Comics to create original graphic novels that could possibly be used as film projects. As a Disney Comics fan can I just say... Yawn!
I suppose this could be good news, but Disney's track record when it comes to producing their own comics is poor at best. The in-house studio program from years ago produced some good things but mostly they were printed overseas and not even available in this country. Disney destroyed the nice niche market that Gladstone comics created in the 1990's by thinking they could do a better job themselves. They've split the comics license up into so many different pieces that it's hard for any licensee to make a profit. They purchased the CrossGen comics company and shut it down so they could get their hands on the Abadazad property and haven't done anything with it to speak of except turn it into a children's book series that they seem to have given up on. They made a development deal with Stan Lee which doesn't seem to have made much progress. Now they announce Kingdom Comics which is going to be run by film people as a development tool for film projects as well as possibly reinterpreting classic Disney live action properties.
Disney publishing has first look at anything they produce and if they don't want it then it may be published by someone else according to the press release so anything they may produce might not even get published.
Dark Horse is presently publishing Gremlins and possibly some more movie adaptations.
SLG has Haunted Mansion, Gargoyles, Tron and Wonderland.
Gemstone has Uncle Scrooge, Walt Disney's Comics and Stories and collections related to the duck and mouse families of characters.
Tokyo Pop has or had Kingdom Hearts, various Disney Channel stuff. not sure if they are still a licensee or not.
Now we will have Kingdom Comics which will be published by whoever. Sounds like it will be on a case by case basis.
The smart thing for Disney to do here would be to hire the people who run Gemstone and put all the comics under the same banner. Or let the different comic companies do their own projects but publish them all under the same banner.
Hopefully, Kingdom Comics will turn out to be a good thing, but hiring film people to develop comics that can be turned back into a film project isn't likely to work. You have to create a great comic first. If you have your eye on making a comic to turn it into a movie, odds are your not going to make a great comic.

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

I saw it on ebay

This 1960's Donald Duck kiddie ride didn't sell for $699 but this 1966 original club 33 chair sold for $1750.
This nifty bank from the 1950's sold for $344 and this cool Goofy car from Italy sold for around $267 in Australia.
Scrooge McDuck's ride sold for $199.99 and this Disneyland tray for $195.



Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Attraction News

Sorry for no post yesterday and I'm kind of cheating on todays by referring you to another site, but I started working in a new location yesterday on WDW property and it needs a lot of work and I'm tired.

Anyway, on to the news... Walt Disney World's Magic Kingsom will be getting a new attraction!!! How do I know? A Little Mermaid told me! (Hey what's that screaming sound. Is that you Velvet?) Ok, actually it was this guy that told me.

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Memorial Day Weekend

I hope everyone's enjoying their Memorial Day weekend. For those interested in Disney history, I suggest you visit this page of The Walt Disney Family Museum about the Disney Studio at War. The article is accompanied by videos, interviews and rare photos.

Saturday, May 24, 2008

Walt Disney's Merry Menagerie comic strip

We've allready established I'm a big fan of Disney comics. But even I had never heard of the Merry Menagerie comic strip that was syndicated by King Features. Here are some examples from original artwork that was sold on ebay.
The strip ran from 1947 to 1962 and was drawn by Bob Grant.

Mouskavision

So, according to the latest poll 5 out of 6 people don't know what Mouskavision is. If you'll look in the column to your right, just below the poll box is a box entitled Mouskavision. If you click on any of the pictures it will play a Disney related video for you to enjoy. These are not my videos, but are currently on you tube. Mouskavision is currently showcasing videos of the new Toy Story Midway Mania attraction that is opening at California Adventure and Hollywood Studios. Maybe I need a logo or something.

Friday, May 23, 2008

New Disney Snowglobes: Aladdin, Sleeping Beauty & Tinker Bell

The following three Disney snowglobes are now on DisneyShopping.com.
Remember my post about E-Bates? I got my first check today. It's real, it works, and nobody here has signed up. Nice to know you all have so much money that you don't need any more.

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Disney Snowglobes: New Tinker Bell

This new Tinker Bell snowglobe is now available on DisneyShopping.com. Judging by this picture which is the same we used back in previous sneak peek post, this was supposed to be a Mother's Day release. The card in the current picture says Linda. Seems odd that the Sleeping Beauty flowers that we previewed at the same time has not been released. I guess maybe they are experiencing production delays.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Disney SNowglobe from Hong Kong Disneyland

Found this one while searching through ebay. Still looking for correspondents in Honk Kong, Tokyo and California to help track the snowglobes from those areas.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Narnia

Saw the new Narnia film today. Most of the critics I've read don't seem to like it very much, but I enjoyed it. I think if, like me, you liked the first one, you will like this one even more. There are a couple of large plot holes in the movie, but most of the epic adventure movies of this sort have them and those same holes were in the books also. Many will compare it to the Lord of the Rings movies and there are some story elements that are similar, but again, the same is true of the books.
If you enjoy Disney movies, I really have to reccomend you start watching all the movies that Walden Media makes. I've liked everyone I've seen and many of them should have been Disney movies. Nim's Island which is in theatres now good. Their new movie coming in October is called City of Ember. It was one of the previews with Prince Caspian and it looks great.

Monday, May 19, 2008

Here we are again...

Well. here we are again with no snowglobes to talk about. The new Narnia film is out, haven't seen it yet, planning on seeing it this week at the Pleasure Island AMC theatre. No Narnia snowglobes in sight. Doesn't seem to be much merchandise for the new film at all. I wonder why there seems to be a long time between a film and a snowglobe for it when other merchandise seems to be available right away? It took quite awhile before the Enchanted snowglobe came out after the movie.

Here's another thing I saw on E-bay. Limited to 1000. It is just a figure, not a working doorknob. If they make a working model of these that was reasonably priced, I'd have em all over the house. This one sold for $810.

Disney should make a line of items like this that are functional. Who wouldn't want this as their front doorknob, a cogsworth clock sitting on the mantle and a Lumire candleabra on the table?

Sunday, May 18, 2008

I saw it on ebay


No snowglobe news again today, so I thought it might be fun to take a look at some of the stuff that has sold on ebay recently for high prices.


This Brayton-Laguna figure of Honest John sold for $1,975.


This working model steam engine and cars that replicate the train that used to run through Fort Wilderness sold for $1,775.
This full-size Princess Bounce House sold for $2,000. Disney started letting their characters be used on Bounce Houses a few
years ago. I understand that the company that makes them had to negotiate for a very very very long time in order to convince Disney to let them.
This nicely framed bank check with Walt Disney's signature went for $2,000.
This Mickey car kiddie ride did not sell. The seller wanted $2,495 for it. I found it interesting because at one time or another I probably worked on this machine. The seller claims it was located at Fort Wilderness but I seriously doubt that information. I'm pretty sure there was never one at Fort Wilderness. It probably is the one from Wilderness Lodge or the Polynesian. It also isn't complete. Originally these all had headlights on top of the front wheel covers but that is the first thing the kids break off. At one location, poor Mickey got beheaded. A more realistic price range for a used kiddie ride is probably $400-950. Perhaps more to a Disney collector but the fact that it isn't complete would lessen the value for a serious collector if they knew it.

Saturday, May 17, 2008

New Poll Question - Mouskavision

Nothing to post today, so I might as well start another poll. Should Mouskavision be spun off onto it's own blog with 1 disney video a day posted?

Friday, May 16, 2008

This Little Piggie Went to Market

DisneyShopping.com celebrates the 75th anniversary of the Big Bad Wolf and 3 porkchops on the hoof (sorry, it's almost dinner time). It has a blower, the pigs in the globe rotate and it plays "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf".
The Three Little Pigs was a Silly Symphony cartoon and the characters even appeared in a sequel. The characters went on to have a long career in comic books and the Big Bad Wolf is often used as one of the Disney Villians.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

That's a lot of Pooh


I was explaining the other day to someone why I thought that Winnie the Pooh globes never seem to sell for very much on ebay and such. Basically there's a LOT of Winnie the Pooh globes. And there really aren't that many that make you stop and think wow thats cool. I counted today and came up with a total of around 420 snowglobes that are devoted to Pooh and his family of characters. I'm sure there are more that I don't know about. That's not counting the group globes where Pooh appears as part of a larger grouping of Disney characters either.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Disney Snowglobe Toothbrushes

Visited Epcot to see Davy Jones yesterday and came across a Mickey Mouse and Tinkerbell toothbrush that match the Buzz Lightyear one I'd seen at Animal Kingdom a few weeks ago. There was no Buzz one with this display so who knows how many different characters there may be. No pictures because although I took my camera I stupidly left the memory stick in my computer when I took this picture of Snowball and the Seven Dwarfs.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Disney Snowglobes - Mulan Sneak Peek

Velvet sent me the following two pictures she found on DisneyShopping.com. Mulan doesn't have very many snowglobes devoted to it so this one may prove to be a good investment but I think the emphasis on Mushu hurts the overall appeal to the piece.
It will be interesting to see when they release the Chip n Dale one as I would think Valentines Day would be best but thats a long way off.
Thanks Velvet.

Monday, May 12, 2008

In the Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Room

Disneyland is having a Enchanted Tiki Room Event to celebrate the 45th anniversary of the attraction on June 22nd. Here are some pics of a few of my favorite items. You can see all the items by clicking here.

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Happy Mother's Day

Here's what I got my Mom.
I got her the other two dwarfs as well but couldn't find a picture (yes, I'm too lazy to get up and go take a picture). Dopey, Doc and Sneezy all have solar charging light up effects. According to the ebay auctions I took these pics from, the figures are sold out nationwide. They did vanish from the DisneyShopping.com website fast. The set with Dopey is up to $120+ on ebay. They cost me around $30 for each set. (yes I'm too lazy to get up and go check the exact price). With Disney taking over the Disney Stores it will be interesting to see if Disney makes more of something that is this popular or if they will only have the one production run.
I got Mom the Snow White and animal friends figure too for her birthday next month, but she doesn't know that yet. She thinks the dwarfs are to complement the Snow White figure I got her awhile back, but the new figure was so much better that I had to get that too.





Saturday, May 10, 2008

Mickey Mouse Club snowglobe - ebay alert

This Mickey Mouse Club snowglobe sold for about $335 on ebay. This has always been a favorite globe in my personal collection and I've always been shocked that it never seemed to sell for very much when offered. Now I'm shocked that it sold for so much! I've never seen it even come close to $100 before.

Friday, May 9, 2008

Donald Duck Finds Pirate Gold


As you know, when I find Disney merch I find interesting I like to share it here even if it is not a snowglobe. The upcoming product today was obviously created with me in mind. Based on the first Disney comic that had art by Carl Barks,. This sculpture is part of the Walt Disney Classics Collection. Hopefully this is the first of many based on the comics.
The link will take you to pictures and information on the sculpture. The picture here is the original comic book cover that the sculpture is based on.

Thursday, May 8, 2008

Oops

Well, darn. The sneak peek I posted yesterday was supposed to be todays post but I guess I pushed the wrong button.

A new poll is up. Wasn't going to post another until sunday so I could stay on the same schedule but I got nothing else today so I might as well start one. We got one more vote on the last one which brings are participation up to 13 people. Thanks to all.

Tinkerbell and her fairy friends will start appearing in the theme parks this fall as live characters. Don't really like this idea myself, since they are supposed to be the size of something you can hold in your hand but I guess that doesn't matter. Of course most of the animal characters are full size but somehow it seems ok when it is a funny animal character vs a "real" character.

Disney stock seems to be performing quite well compared to other stocks right now despite the bad economy. With Narnia and Wall-E in the wings the next couple of quarters should be good too.

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Disney Snowglobes - Sneak Peeks

I went sneak peeking on DisneyShopping.com today and found these 2 pictures of future Disney snowglobes. Look Velvet! It's the Little Mermaid!

Scrooge McDuck snowglobe sells for over $100

This Uncle Scrooge globe from the first series of New England Collectors Society globes sold for $102.51 on sunday. Usually this globe sells for around 10 to 20 but usually it has snow in it that looks like silver coins. This one has white snow. Is that the reason it sold for so much? Was it a mistake at the manufacturers or was the globe fixed/repaired with the wrong kind of snow?

New Disney Snowglobe - Fab 5

Disneyshopping.com has finally unveiled this new Fab 5 snowglobe which we had a sneak peek of way back in january.

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Mary Poppins Snowglobe: Feed the Birds



It's been awhile since one of these showed up on ebay. One sold for 399 with free shipping but it was a buy it now auction and would have went for much more if the seller hadn't sold it that way.


A few days later another sold for 776.95.

Monday, May 5, 2008

While I was out

A few things happened during my short blogging break.

The Disney Stores are once again owned by the Disney company and there will be many stores closing. If you have a store near you, you might want to watch for sales/cloeouts.

Ebay is doing a Disney promotion where you can win trips. Interesting promotion, if you win an auction you get additional entries. I wonder if Disney and ebay will get back together and restart disney auctions?

This snowglobe is now available on DisneyShopping.com