We are Ben and Brendt. And like the rest of you, we are obsessed with the 3” collectible known as Vinylmation. However, unlike many of you, we have the extreme disadvantage of living thousands of miles away from a Disney park. While those in Orlando and Anaheim get to enter Fantasyland or Futureworld to make their purchases and trades, we have to drive 30 minutes to the closest shopping mall. Not only is it a less glamorous setting, but also there are limitations to what is available for purchase. While we understand there is a market for the Disney Store exclusive sets, we are more interested in the Vinylmation that represent the Disney attractions and characters we have grown to love. There have been several sets sold in Disney Stores that meet these criteria, but there is not much room for our collection to grow when all that can be found in a trading box are Cutesters, Robots, and Under the Big Top.
Another option to getting our hands on limited edition sets and park exclusives is through DisneyStore.com. However, not everything that is available in the parks even goes up on the site. Even when we do get lucky, there is the added stress of hot items selling out very quickly. Not to mention that you don’t even know if your order went through. There have even been occasions where, after waiting a week for items to arrive, we open our package to find the items damaged. Being all the way in New Jersey, the only way to attempt to get items that are not in Disney Stores or online, is to get on the phone and call guest services. The disadvantage to this tactic is the products aren’t even available for us to order until two weeks after they are on sale in the parks. They even play Disney songs while on hold to torture and remind you how far from the parks you actually are. Now, all of this may sound a little cynical, but the truth of the matter is, we love collecting. We enjoy the chase of trying to finish sets, and anticipating what is in that blind box.
Recently we have discovered a whole community through Facebook and Instagram, to help further our trades. The fact of the matter is, it is still extremely possible to have a thriving collection, even in our conditions. Our goal with this column is to comment on our experiences of collecting in this environment. We look forward to hearing from others in the same boat as us.
I am in the same situation – I live in Massachusetts and not even close to a Disney Store. However, I have 1100 vinyls in my collection through visitng parks, stores, websites. I am getting to the point where the room is too small to accommodate any more and I am wondering what to do!
shelves! shelves! shelves!
As a collector from the UK, its even harder to get hold of items due to expensive international shipping…. there certainly does often feel like there is a two tiered collector the “dstreet” and the “out of towner”, though thankfully there are plenty of fab collectors who live near the parks who often help me out with the releases that i couldn’t get other than by using ebay.
I feel the same way! I live in Delaware and my closest Disney Store closed so now I have to travel farther to even attempt to trade, at least it is at the new interactive store. There is still nothing good in the glass box though.
I live in California, and my disney store is pretty basic. They always get most of the new releases, except for the parks exclusives such as Star Wars, or the Park series.
I live in Georgia, and our Disney Store sells regular series. Trading box has great vinyls in them, including variants from time to time. One of the stores has a drawer full of traders.