11.26.2012

Collecting Disney Vinylmations

I wanted to devote an entire blog post to collecting Vinylmations. I have used information from Wikipedia to first explain what Vinylmations are and other basic information about collecting them. I tried to type it out myself, but I was rambling way too much. I figured it was best to use their information for this post. So lets start with the basic facts first.

Vinylmation Title what is a vinyl
Vinylmation is a brand of 1.5", 3", and 9" vinyl collectibles sold at Disney theme parks, select Disney Stores, and the online Disney Store. The name Vinylmation is a combination of the word Animation and Vinyl. The figures are all shaped like Mickey Mouse but have different themed markings, colors and patterns. Vinylmation was first introduced in July 2008, and the first figures were introduced in November 2008.

Vinylmation Sign

Vinylmation Title trading
Trading of figures is officially encouraged and practiced at Disney locations in a fashion similar to Disney pin trading. There are designated places where guests may trade figures with cast members. Trading now takes place at select Disney Stores as well. Disney Parks allow people to trade in their Vinylmations for either one out of a mystery box numbered one through 24, or for one in a small clear case. If you do not like the Vinylmation from the mystery box then you may trade with one of three in a clear case that you can see which ones there are. You can trade them in at most stores throughout Walt Disney World, the Disneyland Resort, and in several Disney stores.

Vinylmation TradeBox

Vinylmation Title packaging
Vinylmation figures are sold in sealed packaging. The purchaser does not know which figure they are buying until they have opened it. Each figure belongs to a series and all of the figures in a series are printed on the packaging for that series and the series comes in a large box. Each series has one unknown figure, termed the chaser. Some come with cards, stickers or another figure to make a set. In addition to being a mystery figure the chaser is also the rarest figure in each series. Limited edition nine-inch figures are also sold and these are visible without opening the packaging. 3" figures can be purchased by the case. Each case comes with 24 vinyls: 2 of each known design, and 1 mystery chaser. To accommodate the chaser, one of the 11 known designs appears 3 times in each case.

Vinylmations Cody Dstreet

Above you can see Cody standing in the store called D-Street located at Downtown Disney. This is the best store to go to for purchasing Vinylmations. They have the largest selection. The store is basically all Vinylmations and is known for good trading. We went to D-Street many times in hope of finding some good Vinyl trades! D-Street also has a great selection of urban art and collectables...

DStreet2

As you can see above, there is also a great selection of open box Vinylmations to collect. Not all of them are mystery boxes. This is great for those who don't want to end up with a bunch of duplicates. We went on our Disney vacation we had 27 trades (duplicates). It was so exciting trading our entire vacation. Our duplicates were all paid for already so we ended up trading them all to get "new" ones to add to our collection! I actually ended up completing a series/set also! I was super excited about that! One of the best things about going to D-Street is all the Vinylmation eyecandy...

VInylmation Table

They have an entire table and display of Vinylmations. If you are really into collecting it almost is torture because all the "harder" to get Vinyl's are in that table behind a thin piece of glass. You honestly just want to take a hammer to it and grab them! HA! You see many Vinylmations behind that glass that are worth 1000's of dollars! Yes, I know, CRAZY!

Vinylmations Table detail

So what Vinyl's did we end up with while trading on our vacation?
Here is Cody with our very first trade!
Vinylmations ohmickeytrade

We were very excited to end up with this lime green guy. He is an older Vinylmation that retailed at $15 originally and is a few years old. I always wanted him! It was a good way to kick off our trading. We also traded for him at our Disney resort. That's another perk of trading. All the resorts have Vinyl trading. It makes it easy to trade every morning before heading to the parks! Now I am going to flood you with more photos! Below is everything we came home with. (Some were purchased)

Vinylmation collection and large

Aren't the above guys awesome? They are 9" Vinyl's that were purchased at the Orlando Disney Outlet store. They all retailed at $45 each originally and we paid less then $15 each for them. We don't have many of the 9" Vinyl's because they are so expensive. Some are even priced at $74! I think that's insane, so we only purchase sale ones.

Now for all the little guys... Vinylmations smallgroup1
Cody added a few more Star Wars figurines to his collection... Vinylmations smallgroup2
I purchased the entire set below for $20 at the outlet. Vinylmation smallgroup3

They are all so fun to look at. I really look forward to displaying them in our new house. A great way to learn more about Vinylmations is by visiting the Disney Vinlymation blog HERE. It keeps you updated on new Vinyl's that are coming out. The Disney online store runs some good sales occasionally on Vinylmations. You can also view the Vinylmation vault HERE to see all the series! Collecting Vinylmations becomes addicting. My collecting has slowed down because I feel like I have a lot. I don't even know how many I have, but I will tally them all up once I start decorating with them. :)

If you want to view all my posts about Vinylmations click HERE.
To view all my posts from my Disney Vacation click HERE.

2 comments:

  1. I loved this post!! My count of vinylmations is now...: 4 haha. I have two halloween ones and two from the jingle smells series. Unfortunately, I can only get them at a store 2 hours away from me and the uk store doesn't really have too much. That outlet shop sounds like pure heaven!! xo

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  2. Love this post. So rad seeing all your collection. We only have 2 that we picked up in Hing Kong Disneyland. They are tron legacy ones. :)

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