Tip Tuesday: Vinylmations™

Welcome to another Tip Tuesday!

My apologies for the late posting. Ever had one of those days when you had more to do than you have time to do it all?

Anyway, on to today's tip!

The latest collecting craze to come to the Disney community revolves around little figures made of painted vinyl. Naturally, it's called Vinylmation™ and practically overnight it's become a huge success.

Above you'll see just a portion of my family's Vinylmation™ collection. Yes, we're all into Vinylmation™. My kids enjoy collecting and trading (see my previous post about trading) Vinylmation™ figures.

According to the official Vinylmation™ Web site, Vinylmation™ is "a fun and affordable collectible designer toy created by Disney Theme Park Merchandise. At its core, Vinylmation™ is about creative expression and the mysterious thrill of the chase."

Vinylmation™ first appeared in mid-2008 as a pin set, and the highly-popular three-inch and nine-inch figures that are shaped generally like Mickey Mouse (though Disney says they specifically are not Mickey) were first available in late-2008.

From the beginning, Vinylmation™ was very different but similar to pin collecting. The major difference is that Vinylmation™ is a 3-D figure that can literally stand on it's own without the need for a lanyard, book or some other means to display like pins do.

Unlike pins, Vinylmations™ are far less diverse. There is a pin for practically everything you can think of, while Vinylmations™ come in different themed sets with around a dozen or so in each set. Most sets also include a mystery chaser figure that Disney keeps secret, at least at first.

An ode to Mr. Toad - this is an exclusive figure for Annual Passholders

When purchasing Vinylmations™, there are two types to look for. There's the more common three-inch figure and the less common (and more expensive) nine-inch figure. Most of the nine-inch figures are limited to some degree (some more limited than others) and they can and do sell out quickly.

Most of the three-inch figures come in sets (as I mentioned earlier). Each figure comes packaged as a mystery figure, so you really don't know what you're getting until you buy it to open and look inside.

To me, that's part of the major fun for Vinylmation™ - the hunt for those elusive figures that may be hard to find. If you don't have luck in buying them, there's always the option to trade.

So where can you find Vinylmation™ figures? Well, for most sets, they're everywhere you turn. The open edition sets are available in just about every store in every park. Most of the Art of Disney stores in the parks carry more limited figures.

But if you're looking for those really limited figures or new releases, then there's only one place to go and that's D-Street at Downtown Disney's West Side. D-Street is the official home for Vinylmation™ (at both Walt Disney World and Disneyland), so it really is the place to go for newly launched figures and really limited edition figures (like those nine-inch figures).

Disney does sometime release Vinylmations™ exclusively online as well, so the best place to stay in touch with everything happening in the world of Vinylmation™ is to keep and eye on the official Vinylmation™ Blog. As new releases are announced, it will be included on the blog.

Vinylmation™ is another fun Disney collection. For the most part, the three-inch figures are anywhere from $10-$15 each while the nine-inch figures can run anywhere from around $40 to $75 (some nine-inch figures also come with a three-inch figure).

What are your thoughts about Vinylmation™? Post a comment!