Sneak Peek at Disney Cupcakes Snowglobes

Looking at these new snowglobes that will be coming to DisneyShopping.com makes me think the Disney bakeries should actually make these.
This sneak peek brought to you by Velvet Cake.

Gemstone Disney Comics R.I.P.

Gemstone Publishing has announced that they are not renewing their license with Disney to continue publishing Disney Comics. Sad news as that leaves the USA once again without a comics publisher of Mickey, Donald, Uncle Scrooge and their friends.
Interesting that this should come out now just as the new line of Pixar comics from Boom Studios are hitting the shops. Maybe it won't be too long before Scrooge and the gang find a new home there.

D23 gets a clubhouse

D23 is now the sponsor of the One Man's Dream attraction at the Disney-Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World. The article on the D23 website doesn't make it clear if anything will change other then adding some signage and the addition of the D23 window that we've allready talked about here.
Hopefully this is the start of wonderful things.

D23 Magazine

I received my membership certificate and magazine for D23 yesterday. Both are very nice. The magazine is a definite step up in content from the other magazines the company has done. The magazine is an odd size and while I appreciate the larger pictures it does make it difficult for it to just be a casual read. I would have preferred a more standard magazine size. That's my only complaint except the comics were printed too small. Why have the larger size if your not going to use it?
This first issue has an interesting snowglobe anecdote in Dave Smith's article about how he acquired the snowglobe prop from Mary Poppins. Seems a janitor had it sitting on a shelf, didn't know what it was and he had gotten it from a trash can!

Four Parks One World Snowdome

Here's another addition to the new line of snowdomes available at WDW.

Hey Kids: Disney Comics!

Boom Studios, the publisher of the new line of Pixar and Muppet comic books has opened a new website entitled Boom Kids and you can read a few pages of the new Incredibles and Muppet Show comic book here at CBR. Judging from the previews this is going to be good stuff.

D23 Fails to Impress

I joined D23 and so far have received my membership card and welcome gift. The membership card came in a folded slick mailer and wasn't in a envelope. It came mutilated and ripped up. Luckily my card was still intact. Sending it like this instead of in an envelope was just plain stupid on Disney's part.
My welcome gift arrived today and turns out to be a lithograph of a painting of Mickey Mouse. I was hoping for something a heck of a lot better then this.
I have not yet received the magazine and consider what I have recieved thus far to be of little value.
Is Walt Disney World even participating? A merchandise event was held at Disneyland. Promotional buttons were given away at Disneyland. Stock holders at the annual gathering were given a promotional pin. I'm a stock holder but apparently you had to be at the meeting in California to get one. Walt Disney World hads done nothing so far as I know. People who aren't members have recieved items more interesting then what I've received as a charter member. The D23 Expo will be held in California for the next 4 years. Seems D23 doesn't think much of us easterners.
This club could be really cool and will hopefully grow into something worthwhile but it should have been worthwhile from the start.

Narnia Snowdome Mystery

Can anyone tell me where this is from? It appears to be a kids meal type toy or premium. It has a push-button on the back. What does it do?

Runaway Brain & Sheriff of Bullet Valley

Here's a few upcoming pieces from the Walt Disney Classics Collection that I like but wont be able to afford.

Vinylmation Updates

The Vinylnation website has more information about upcoming Vinylmation releases then I would ever want to know.

New Finding Nemo Seagull Snowglobe

Found this new Finding Nemo snowglobe at the World of Disney store the other day. I didn't notice the tailfeathers broke off when I purchased it so it took a few days to get it replaced and posted. Retails for $19.95. Surprisingly affordable since most of the new ones this size that don't have any extra features are 24.95. Hopefully thats a good sign for prices in the future.

Disney Store Snowglobes

These Disney snowglobes, now available on DisneyShopping.com have previously been available at the DIsney Stores.

Race (don't run) to see Witch Mountain

Much to my surprise, I really enjoyed the new "Race to Witch Mountain" movie. Not being a big fan of Disney's modern versions of their old movies I wasn't sure what to expect and while not a great movie that blows you away it is a solidly entertaiing film. I enjoyed this version more then I ever did the originals.

I hope it earns enough to warrant sequels.

Skull Rock

It occurs to me that the Pirates of the Carribean snowdome in the previous post depicts Skull Rock which was originally at Disneyland and moved to Paris. Walt Disney World has never had one. This dome does say Pirates of the Carribean on the back.

Walt Disney World's New Snowdome Line

In addition to the 2009 and "What Will You Celebrate" snowdomes I showed in a previous post, I found these today in the World of Disney Store. Each sells for $6.95 and has a drain/fill plug.
I'm happy to see this as a line and hope it will continue, although I'm not real thrilled with the design choices. I did purchase the Castle and Pirates ones but have never cared for stylized version of the characters so had to pass on Cuties and the Princesses, Not real thrilled with the Pirate character either but the rest of the design I liked. Mickey and Minnie are ok but too touristy for my taste since I live here.
The Cinderella Castle one with Tinker Bell is pretty neat. You can't see it in the pic but Tink is on seperate plastic then the castle so it gives her a kind of 3D quality much like a multiplane camera is used in animation.
I hope to see this line continue with special event domes and domes based on attractions and animated features.

Little Mermaid variation

Here's another look at the forthcoming Little Mermaid snowglobe as shown on the Disney Japan website.

New Disney Snowglobe Sneak Peeks

Once again Velvet provides us with a look into DisneyShopping.com future...
The Tigger's Treehouse is the most interesting Pooh snowglobe I've seen in awhile.
That Fab 5 snowglobe is the same one that's been available in Europe for awhile.
Thanks for all the recent pics and info Velvet. I wouldn't have known about any of these recent globes if you hadn't brought them to my attention.

Vinylmation release date moved up

The release date for the next series of Vinylmation has been moved from march 20th to march 17th.

Disney Snowglobes at Claires

During Velvet's recent shopping trip, she spotted these inside Claires which is a store I've never heard of but according to the internet is a fashion boutique. Their website, alas, does not have these globes availalbe.

New snowglobes spotted in the Magic Kingdom

Spotted these two new snowglobes in the Magic Kingdom Emporium. The pne pictured above is tiny and retails for 12.95. The base has a wide variety of characters on it as you can see. Nice to see someone from the Country Bears makeing a snowglobe appearance.
The Cinderella snowglobe seems awfully familiar to me but I couldn't find a record of it anywhere. I guess it just seems familiar because it is so close to figurines I've seen. I think itwas 24.95 but don't quote me.

New Disney Store Snowglobes

Velvet sent in these pics she recently took at a Disney Store. I really like the Snow White one.

Here's a closer look at Ariel from an ebay auction.

New Disney Events Website

Disney has opened a new Events website called The Art of Disney Parks that is much easier to use and easier on the eyes then the old Disney Gallery one. I was going to see about attending the Haunted Mansion 40th Event since it is 1 day before the D23 Expo but found out that the Haunted Mansion Event is allready sold out at every price level. Spooky!

D23 Update

I'll probably be joining D23 sooner then I thought. Here's some pics I took today inside the One Man's Dream attraction at Disney-Hollywood Studios. I hope that ugly green bag isn't the gift.

Old New Nightmare Before Christmas Snowglobes

These two Jack Skellington Snowglobes are currently available at the Disney-Hollywood Studios.
The above snowglobe is $40 and has been around for awhile but this is the first time I've seen one in person. I believe it originally was available online for 79.95. There is a series of them featuring different Nightmare characters but I think this is the only one still being made.

The snowglobe below was originally available in the Disney Catalog in 2001 as part of a 2 globe set for $19.95. It is now available in the theme parks for 12.95.

It seems it is going to get more and more difficult to date the various snowglobes as long as they keep reissueing old designs.

D23 thoughts

Well I got home and have spent the last couple of hours viewing what D23 has to offer and I know your all just dying to hear my thoughts so here we go...


I dunno.

Things I like:

• Convention/ Disney Expo! Yay conventions are back!


• Disney produced fan magazine! Yay Disney Magazine is back!


• Comic strips on the website! Yay I'm a comics fan!

Nagging Doubts Department:

It sounds like it could evolve into something pretty special but... It costs $74.95 to be a member and for those $75 Disney Dollars you get a membership card, a certificate, a subscription to the magazine and the right to spend more money on events and merchandise. Oh. And a welcome gift that they dont tell you what it is.

The only real item of value that we know what it is is the magazine. But you can buy the magazine without being a member of the club. You can also go to the convention without being a member of the club and the price for attending is (surprise!) reasonable.

Still the price of 4 magazines and the discounted savings for attending the 4 days of the convention add up to more then the membership so I guess I will probably be joining and be taking my vacation to attend the expo.

I'm a bit disappointed because it feels like Disney is just rebranding some things they've done before and it feels like I'm being asked to pay for the right to be a Disney fan without receiving much in return and what I do get I could get even if I wasn't a member.

I'll wait awhile before I join. I'm sure some other blogger will join and then I can see what the gift is and hopefully feel better about joining.

Questions: Can I buy additional discounted expo tickets or only one? There really isn't any point in the same household having more then 1 membership. Do discounts on DisneyShopping.com work on the exclusive merchandise or even on the membership?

The ability and setup is there for this whole concept to turn into something very special but I don't feel it's quite there yet.

Vinylmation Update

The new series of Vinylmation figures will go on sale March 20th. You can see pics at the new Disney Vinylmation website.

Donlad Duck Snowdome auction price

It's been awhile since we've had any prices to report, probably because of the bad economy. One of these plastic figural Donald's recently sold for $70 on ebay and I thought it was worth mentioning.

Are you 23?

StitchKingdom has gotten his hands on a copy of the first issue of the D23 magazine that I used as a teaser image last saturday. Click here to read his review. Sounds like a high class version of the old Disney Magazine. That sounds great, but $15.95 for a magazine? Seriously?

Figaro, Ratatouille & Pluto get new snowglobes

These 3 new Disney snowglobes are now available on DisneyShopping.com.