Welcome back to another Disney Stuff.
Each trip to Walt Disney World brings new memories, new experiences, and if you're a Disney collector like me… more new Disney stuff. This past summer was certainly no exception. There are a few select things that I look for each year. Somehow, someway, a Mickey Mouse watch always comes home with me. This time, as I mentioned in my last Disney Stuff article, the watch came from a “purchase with a purchase” in Epcot's Germany pavilion. There's a crisp new Disney aloha shirt hanging in my closet from the gift shop at Caribbean Beach. I came home with pins. I came home with a new Expedition Everest ball cap to match my Everest jacket. Of course, the kids came home with some new plush toys, pins, and a set of one of my favorite little collectibles, the Disney Collector Packs.
The kids and I have been coming home with Disney Collector Packs for several years now. Last year around this time, I wrote a Stuff article about them and received, and continue to receive emails and comments about these great little bits of Disney memorabilia. I thought I'd catch you up on the latest release, Park Series 13: Disney Villains.
For those of you that don't know, the Collector Packs are sold in the Disney parks and Disney resort gift shops. There are 18 figures in this series. You can usually find them on the shelves next to a large Plexiglas display case featuring the entire collection in stores like Magic Kingdom's Emporium or my favorite shop—MouseGear at Epcot. They come in a “blind” bag of three. The blind bag phenomenon is quite prevalent in toy shopping today. My boys are heavily into the LEGO Mini Figures that come in tightly sealed bags. There are several other major small toy figures marketed this way as well. Disney has capitalized on this method of sales with their Vinylmation line of figures as well as these Collector Packs. It's even drifted into pin collecting. I guess the thrill of not knowing what you're going to get builds up so much anticipation in the buyer that it becomes quite addictive. Of course it's that same addictive thinking that causes us to buy more and more until we get the ones that we're desperately looking for. Or, in the case of my boys and I this summer, you complete the whole set. All things considered, at $6.95 per pack it's a pretty reasonable collectible.
As I mentioned above, this series focuses on a classic mix of Disney villains. My favorite of the series would have to be Brer Fox from Disney's Song of the South and the Splash Mountain attractions.
Brer Fox from Park Series 13. Photo by Chris Barry.
I was thrilled to see that they included this transformed Mickey Mouse from the 1995 short, Runaway Brain.
Runaway Brain Mickey from Park Series 13. Photo by Chris Barry.
I've always been a big fan of Pete. He's a true classic.
Pete from Park Series 13. Photo by Chris Barry.
Staying in that classic vein, here's the evil Chernabog from Fantasia.
Chernabog from Park Series 13. Photo by Chris Barry.
The coolest looking Disney villain of all time has got to be Maleficient.
Maleficient from Park Series 13. Photo by Chris Barry.
It's good to see Hades from the Disney film Hercules, which, in my humble opinion, is an oft-overlooked Disney modern classic.
Hades from Park Series 13. Photo by Chris Barry.
Randall from Monster's Inc. made the cut…
Randall from Park Series 13. Photo by Chris Barry.
… as did Shere Khan from one of my favorite Disney films The Jungle Book.
Shere Khan from Park Series 13. Photo by Chris Barry.
Here is the rest of Park Series 13.
Gaston, Jafar and Captain Hook from Park Series 13. Photo by Chris Barry.
Scar, Oogie Boogie and Lotso from Park Series 13. Photo by Chris Barry.
The Queen of Hearts, The Wicked Queen, Cruella DeVille and Ursula. Photo by Chris Barry.
On our first day at Disney when we reached the Emporium on Main Street U.S.A., my boys set out to find the aforementioned Plexiglas case and were seriously disappointed to not find a new edition to their favorite collector series. On our second day, they casually passed by the case again and were beyond thrilled to spot this new series on the shelves. Either we caught the first day, or as we would later grow to suspect, these were extremely popular. They were disappearing off of the shelves rather quickly, in some cases as quickly as we could buy them. Still, between the three of us and thanks to their Disney Gift Cards from the grandparents the collection was soon made whole.
The boys collect and they play. I collect and display. The bottom line is these little bits of Disney magic make us all quite happy. They are inexpensive, well-designed little collectibles that manage to pay homage to some true classic Disney characters. I hope there's a new series the next time that we're there. I'm sure we'll snap them up as quickly as we did these. Judging by how popular these figures have been, we expect to see more of them in the near future.
What do you all think of the Disney Collector Packs, especially this set, Park Series 13? Is it something that you enjoy collecting or want to start collecting? We'd like to hear what you have to say. Click on the “Discuss this article on the MousePad” link below and let us hear your thoughts.
