FROM: Vinylmation 360 Published Mondays

Vinylmation Trading at Disney World, Part 1

Collectibles like Vinylmation are collected, obviously, but they're also traded, and therein for most lies the greater thrill. During a recent trip to Disney World, Kelly did quite a bit of vinyl trading, and she recounts her techniques and her triumphs.

- by Kelly Firth, July 24, 2011

If you collect Vinylmation and have planned a trip to Disney World or Disneyland, trading is probably on your mind. But how does it work? Is it possible to get retired vinyls, chasers, or variants through trading?

I set out to answer all of these questions during my latest vacation. Back in May, I spent eight full days in Disney World, plus my arrival and departure days. Days 1-4 are covered in this first and lengthiest column; Days 5-7 will be the focus of the first August column; Days 8-9 and overall thoughts will be the focus of the second August column. (I did not trade on day 10, my departure day.)

Where to Get Traders

If you want to trade on your Disney trip, first you need to have some trader vinyls! Some collectors set aside blind boxed duplicate or unwanted vinyls to trade. Others buy extras at a cheaper price on eBay. A third option is to check the Orlando outlet malls or the Disney Store website for discounted blind boxed vinyls and stock up before heading to the parks.

Personally, I vote for a mix of all three approaches. Between the two unwanted vinyls I already had, lots on eBay, and a purchase from the Disney Store, I ended up with 30 vinyls to trade in the parks. It took me about a year to accumulate my stock.

What Are You Looking For?

Before you head to the park, decide what you are looking for the most and focus on that. Also choose several backup series to complete in case you cannot find your most wanted vinyls.

My main goal was to get a complete set of Park 6, find a few of the Star Wars vinyls (the series rereleased during my trip) and some of the Muppets 2 vinyls, and finish my Toy Story collection. My backup goal was to collect Holiday 2 vinyls. My ultimate goal was to find at least one chaser, variant, or truly old vinyl, such as Park 1 or 2, or Urban.

Did I succeed? Read on to find out!

Day 1

Character Premiere: Upon arrival, the first thing I did was head to Orlando Premium Outlets on Vineland to see what discounted park merchandise they had for sale. The only vinyls on sale were more Park 3 and Create-Your-Own (aka CYO) vinyls, along with regular priced Have a Laugh (aka HAL) vinyls. Always make sure to check the price tags in the outlet stores. Just because a vinyl series is there does NOT mean it is on sale. Most things in the store have been marked down significantly, but a few things are regular price.

This store also had Vinylmation trading. They had a clear box and a mystery trading box of either 24 or 15 slots. I was in a hurry and didn't have time to try mystery trading, but I did check the clear trading box. I saw Park 3's Big Al, HAL's Turtle, and HAL's Pluto's Sweater. Little did I know I would be seeing quite a bit of those three during the rest of my trip!

D-Street: From the outlet mall, I headed to Downtown Disney to look for Animation's 9" Hyacinth Hippo and check out the trading situation. D-Street had a mystery trading box of 24 behind the counter and a clear box at the register. I was still short on time, so I didn't try mystery trading. I spotted another Big Al and Toy Story's Big Baby, as well as Park 6's Norway Troll in the clear box. I didn't have any Park 6 vinyls, and I intended to collect them all. So I happily made my first trade, a Magenta Clear vinyl for the troll. The rules for clear box trading are simple: trade any good condition vinyl you have that is not a CYO for one in the clear box. You cannot trade in a vinyl that is already in the clear box.

That first trade taught me an important lesson: check the vinyl you are trading for before you walk away. If it is in bad shape, show the Cast Member and decline the trade. Since I was still in a hurry, I didn't think to look it over before I left. On my way back to the car, I noticed that he had black scuff marks on the back of his head. I was not happy, and I vowed to trade it and find another one. Now, did I want to put a bad vinyl back into circulation? No. However, I had just traded a mint condition vinyl and gotten a bad one in return. I was not going to just keep it.

Wilderness Lodge Mercantile: After I finally got to Wilderness Lodge and checked in, I headed to the Mercantile (WL's only store, aside from the pin cart) and checked out the trading situation there. They had a mystery trading box of 24, but it was only brought out at certain times of the day. There was a clear box at the back register, but it had nothing of any interest to me. At the time, it contained Cutesters Too's Tiger Kid, Toy Story's Big Baby, and Park 3's Big Al. Anyone seeing a pattern here?

Day 2: Hollywood Studios

The first full day of my Disney World vacation was spent in Hollywood Studios. This was also opening day of Star Wars Weekends, and the grand re-opening of Star Tours. For those of you who didn't keep up with the news on this, George Lucas and Disney CEO Bob Iger came to the park that day, as did a significant number of reporters. Never mind all the Star Wars fanatics. It was hard just to walk around the park at times, let alone worry about trading, but I did my best.

Villains in Vogue: The Villains shop on Sunset Boulevard probably has the best vinyl selection in the park, with both clear and mystery 24 trading boxes available. All you have to do is wait your turn in line and then ask to trade. I was rushing to a lunch reservation, so I again had to pass up mystery trading. The clear trading box was a mix of the usual suspects: Big Baby, Cutesters Too's Squirrel Kid, and HAL's Pluto's Sweater.

Mickey's of Hollywood: This store is the main store in Hollywood Studios, located (if you are facing the Hat) on the left side of Hollywood Boulevard. I didn't spot a mystery trading box, but I had been told one was there. My guess is that they put it away for a while due to the crazy crowds. They did have two clear trading boxes. No surprises there, either! Cutesters Too's Tiger Kid made another appearance, along with her relatives: Cutesters Too Winter/Snow Kid and Cutesters Too Spring/Raincoat Kid (if these have more 'official' names, beats me) . HAL's Turtle was lonely and unwanted here too, while Animation 1's Phil (from Hercules) and a black Clear vinyl rounded out the selection. At this point, I began to realize that if I had any hopes of getting anything I wanted, I needed to start mystery trading, pronto.

Animation Gallery: This store is attached to the Art of Disney Animation attraction, over in the Animation Courtyard. Vinyls and pins are usually among the least expensive things you will find here. They have both clear box and mystery 24 box trading. I had to skip on the mystery box yet again due to another reservation, but I peeked at the clear box. Big Baby and Phil were still looking for a home, and Big Al joined them.

Stage One Company Store: This store is located near the exit of MuppetVision 3D and Pizza Planet. They only had mystery box trading this year (last year they also had a clear box). The trading rules for mystery boxes are murkier than clear box trading. You can trade any 3" vinyl that is not a CYO, and it doesn't matter if the vinyl you are trading is already in there. Some places let you trade multiple times and don't make you complete the trade; others only let you trade once and make you keep whatever you get. Every store and every Cast Member handles it differently, so ask what the rules are before you trade.

I did the first mystery trade of my trip here. Since Big Al was everywhere in the clear boxes, I figured it was a good idea to trade off one of the three I had to a mystery box. The first number I chose contained the Winter/Snow Kid. Luckily, this Cast Member was really nice - she noticed my disdain and let me choose another number. My second pick was Stromboli from the Villains series. He was a duplicate for me, but I figured I would keep him since he would be easy to trade away in the clear boxes.

With that, my first mystery trade and first park day was complete. I checked the Villains in Vogue and Mickey's of Hollywood clear boxes on my way out of the park that night, but little to nothing had changed in them since I was there earlier in the day.

Day 3: Epcot

I had expected trading to be more prevalent in Epcot, but it really isn't. Essentially, you can do mystery or clear box trading in Mouse Gear; in the shop located on the left-hand side of the breezeway between Future World and World Showcase; in the shop located near the boat launch from Future World to Germany; and in the Art of Disney shop. There may be other locations in Future World, but I did not see them. I never saw any trading locations in World Showcase.

Art of Disney: Since I was on my way to another lunch reservation, I had to skip mystery trading here, too. They did have a clear box, and it had Urban 5's Biker, the Spring/Raincoat Kid, and (surprise!) Big Baby. I did a quick U-turn and headed to lunch.

Mouse Gears: The clear box had another smattering of Big Baby, a Cutesters Too Kid, and Phil, so I tried my luck at mystery box trading again. This Cast Member also let me pick twice, and said I could keep my original vinyl if I still didn't like the second one I chose. I finally lucked out and got a mint condition vinyl I didn't have: the Groundhog from Holiday 2. I wasn't looking for him, per se, but I quickly learned that as long as I didn't have the vinyl and didn't hate it, the old saying "beggars can't be choosy" applied to vinyl trading. I checked the clear box again later in the day, and it contained the same vinyls that were there in the morning.

Port of Entry: I am not entirely sure if this is the correct name for this store. There are two stores that look identical from the outside at the entrance to World Showcase, and the one I mean is closest to Mexico. I tried my hand at the mystery trading box here; the clear box was not available. This mystery box only had 15 slots, and the Cast Member said I could only pick once and I had to give her my vinyl first. I ended up with Park 5's John (the father in Carousel of Progress), another vinyl that I already owned. I was disappointed, but put it away to trade later. That was my last trade of the day.

Day 4: Magic Kingdom

In the Magic Kingdom, I spotted trading boxes at the Art of Disney store on Main Street; Merchant of Venus in Tomorrowland; and Frontierland Trading Post. Each location had clear trading boxes and mystery boxes. I am told that other locations in the park offer trading as well, but I didn't get to those stores on this trip or didn't see the boxes while I was there.

Art of Disney: Nothing interesting in the clear box here, so I tried the mystery trading. The rule here was you only got to pick one number, and you were really supposed to trade for whatever you got. I think I traded in a Cutesters Owl and got the Holiday 2 Patriot Girl. Nothing terribly exciting, but at least I didn't have her.

Frontierland Trading Post: By this point, I was wondering if I would ever find anything I actually wanted in these boxes. My trip was almost half over, and I had found a grand total of two "keeper" vinyls. I traded in one of my extra vinyls and got incredibly lucky: the number I chose ended up being HAL's Pumpkin Mickey. Along with the Conductor Pete Chaser, that is the most popular vinyl from that series and one I was looking for. Finally, some success! Someone in my traveling party traded as well and received a sideways Mickey from Urban 6. That vinyl actually came with its card, the first and only time I saw that happen on my vacation.

Merchant of Venus: I only spotted a mystery box at this store, and it was another smaller one with only 15 slots. This was another location that allowed me to pick a second time if I didn't like the first vinyl. I ended up receiving Urban 3's Cookie Jar. That was fine by me, since I didn't have it.

At the end of my Magic Kingdom day, I had beyond given up on the idea of being able to trade for all of Park 6 and some Star Wars vinyls. By then, I was happy to trade for just about anything that wasn't Big Baby, Phil, the Turtle, the Kids, or the Biker. Fortunately for me, my luck started to turn around on Day 5. Check back on August 7 for Part 2 of my trading story!

Mark Your Calendars

Friday, July 29: Park 6 Davy Crockett and Animal Kingdom Crate 9" vinyls scheduled for release at D-Street WDW and D-Street DLR, and on DisneyStore.com. Davy Crockett: LE 1000. Animal Kingdom Crate: LE 800. Retail price: $44.95.

Friday, July 29: Disney Afternoon: Doug two-3" vinyl set scheduled for release on DisneyStore.com. LE 1000. Retail price: $26.95.

Now available at local Disney Stores and on DisneyStore.com:

• Robots 3" blindbox series and three 9" vinyls are on sale now
• 3" series: Limited Release. Retail: $9.95
• 9" vinyls: Each design is an LE of 600. Retail: $44.95

Remember that the monthly Q&A; is scheduled for next week. Please leave your questions in the comments section below or email them to me NO LATER than Thursday, July 28th. Until then, happy trading and collecting!

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