More Vinylmation News! Ears Hat! Animal!

It seems that the Disney Parks just can't get enough of the Muppets in their wildly-popular Vinylmation series of figures. Disney recently released a new selection of their famous Ears Hats based on their Vinylmation figures. These included a pair of ears for The Muppets Vinylmation Series 2 which look a little something like this...

Image courtesy of Cindy Ferenburg

These Animal ears come in a very-much stylized box and include two exclusive Vinylmation figures that can only be acquired by purchasing these ears. These include a 3" Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem logo figure and a smaller Vinylmation Jr. figure with the Dr. Teeth mouth logo on it. Check them out below...

Image courtesy of Vinylmania.com

Unfortunately, the retail price for these ears is $69.99, which is nothing to spit at. (Why would you spit anyway? It's gross!) Plus, they're only available at a few stores within Disneyland and Walt Disney World. But... if you're a Vinylmation completist, these Ears and exclusive figures are something you may want to consider purchasing!

The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier

Ryan's Adventures in Walt Disney World, 2011

Ryan Dosier - Greetings, Muppet fans! I can't tell you how disappointed I am to be back from Walt Disney World... I mean, do you realize how difficult it is to be at the Magic Kingdom one day and then sitting in Anthropology class the next? It's no Zip-a-Dee-Do-Dah day, let me assure you. But you don't really care about that, do you? No, you care about the Muppet presence at Walt Disney World--and who can blame you? With the new movie, The Muppets, coming out in 245 days one would obviously have to wonder what sort of Muppety things are happening at the largest Disney park in the world. Well... the answer will disappoint most but shock hardly no one. Let's break it down by park, shall we?

EPCOT
The first day of my Disney journey began in EPCOT, where you can take a world tour and become a crash-test dummy all in one afternoon (unless the lines are brutally long, then it might last into the night). The Muppet presence was especially strong at the Experimental Prototype City of Tomorrow on March 13th because it just so happened that Steve Swanson of The MuppetCast was hanging around Orlando as well! Seriously people, we did not plan this! It was just a wonderful coincidence. Steve, as always, was great to hang out with. He bought two Muppet Vinylmations for us to open while being filmed on his handy-dandy Flip-Cam. Steve pulled out Sweetums (lucky dog) and I got Waldorf... so now I have to spend thirteen bucks to buy Statler on eBay--thanks a lot, Steve. (Seriously though, thanks!)

Anyway... other than that there wasn't too much Muppet stuff to go around at EPCOT. I did buy a Kermit Kooky Pen which was $7 or something ridiculous like that... but I loved it and probably wouldn't be a real Muppet fan if I didn't buy it. (Even though I didn't buy the three piece Kermit, Piggy, and Beaker pen set--in my defense, it was $21!) Other than that there were Muppet Vinylmation nearly everywhere they sold the addictive things. I was very pleased to see that, considering last year when I went they were sold out virtually everywhere so it's nice to see that they were popular enough to warrant more production.

Oh, one more thing! I wore a Kermit t-shirt to EPCOT and I got quite a few comments from quite a few people (including a cute girl--*waggles eyebrows*) about how awesome they thought it was. People love that Frog!

Disney's Animal Kingdom
Much like last year there was hardly any Muppet merchandise at the Animal Kingdom park... which really didn't surprise me. Vinylmation were present in a few Dinoland USA gift shops and I think I saw a Fozzie plush somewhere, but I'm not positive. So... in place of Muppet merchandise, enjoy this picture of me with Brer Rabbit!

Magic Kingdom
The Magic Kingdom... my favorite place on earth. (Note: I haven't been many places.) In between my trips through Space Mountain, my rollicking on Splash Mountain, and my waiting an hour to see Ariel (long story) (even longer line), I kept my eyes peeled for Muppety things and... well, same old, same old. They had the Kooky pens, the Vinylmation everywehere, and, my favorite, the Kermit Ears Hat (seen at right). Other than that there wasn't much... a few plush dolls hidden in the corners here and there but not much else. I think the Muppets--and a lot of other Disney properties--were being overshadowed by the huge amount of Walt Disney World 40th Anniversary merchandise... cause there was a lot of it.

However, I did wear my Muppets walking down Abbey Road t-shirt to the Magic Kingdom and the response it got was epic. A girl came up to me and asked if she could take a picture of my shirt--just my shirt, a few Cast Members commented on it, and one working at an ice cream stand made sure that everyone else working in said stand saw how awesome the shirt was. They were all impressed that I got it at Target and not Hollywood Studios... and quite frankly so was I.

Disney's Hollywood Studios
Ah, yes... the home of Muppet*Vision 3D, the place you are guaranteed to find at least some Muppet merchandise. But... how much? The answer... not much. Yes, once again I was incredibly disappointed with the haul at the Muppet*Vision gift shop... especially because it had essentially the exact same stuff it had last year. The only thing that I saw that was new this year was a Kermit mug that I forgot to go back and buy--and it wasn't even that cool! They had a few t-shirts (read: five), Vinylmation, and the same old plush dolls they've always had.

This is once again a case of Disney holding off on the Muppet merchandise wave until their promotion for the movie begins, I think. I spoke to the cast members working the gift shop and they didn't know much... but they were extremely hopeful and seemed to think that lots of merchandise was on the way with the movie promotion. I agree with them and certainly hope that's factual.

But this was my first time seeing Muppet*Vision after the new Disney Digital 3D transfer and I must say... it was absolutely gorgeous. I've seen this film so many times and became accustomed to the slight graininess it had acquired over the years, but 20 years later after this brilliant refurbishment I am thrilled to say that the film looks like it was made this year. It's gorgeous! Kermit and Fozzie never looked better. I just wish that they could do the same to the pre-show. It's such a hilarious gem and it would be nice to see it get a bit of a touch up because it is definitely showing signs of aging.

Well... there you have it, Muppet fans. So there's not much going on, Muppet-wise, at Walt Disney World at the moment... but I just know that as we get closer to the release date of the movie we'll be seeing a flood of Muppets at the Parks. I just wish I could be there then. Ah, well. Also, I've been hearing that the second series of Muppet Vinylmation will be released on April 15th and that Dr. Teeth is confirmed to be included... so that gives us Janice, Floyd Pepper, Sam Eagle, and Dr. Teeth confirmed so far. I'll keep you posted as I hear more!

Have a Magical Day, Muppet fans!

The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier

Lisa the Intern Takes Command

Lisa Alexander - Hello there, folks! Lisa the Intern here. As you've seen, Ryan is on vacation, which means I'm in charge for the week. He even sent me a cute little document called "How to Run the Muppet Mindset," which I am keeping under lock and key in a concrete vault in the center of an underground labyrinth so that it will never fall into the hands of The British Correspondent. Which is actually why today's post is a bit late... I got a little lost in that labyrinth, triggered a couple trip wires, strained my back trying to get through a nasty web of lasers... by the way, is that my flesh I smell burning? Ah, crap... Lemme find some water...

Right! There we go. Now the bad news is that unlike last year, Ryan's Spring Break doesn't line up with mine, so while he's off gallivanting in Disney World, I am back at school trying to run this blog while I write ten-page papers and read post-modern theory and study for an Anthropology exam, which really wouldn't be too much of a problem except that he didn't leave me much in the way of posts to put up while he's gone. So just bear with me here, alright?

For the record, I am not at all bitter about being stuck here at school in Cornfield Central, slaving away under a huge stack of textbooks, while Ryan has a grand ol' time in the happiest place in the world filling his suitcase with all the Muppet merchandise known to mankind. ...Well, not VERY bitter, I mean. Or at least not as bitter as I USUALLY am. I mean, the guy goes to Disney just about every single year, and with as long as we've known each other... I'm just used to it by now, right? ...Yeah, not so much. More like I'm feeling tolerant because I get my own Disney trip at the end of May.

So as I mentioned, Ryan didn't leave much for me to post, and since I have a huge paper due tomorrow that I haven't really started yet, I don't exactly have time to sit here and make something up on the spot. So instead, I will show you a piece of my fan art, which I figure I'll display more fully later in the week unless I can think of something better.

But stay tuned, because we've got an interesting week ahead of us, starting with a fantastic announcement tomorrow!

In the meantime... I'm out.

The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier

Muppet Hunting at Walt Disney World - Christmas Edition

Blake (of BlakeOnline.com) - Hello, all! Today I’ll be discussing something else that is very close to me: Walt Disney World. I am a huge Disney fan and very much enjoy visiting the most magical place on Earth. Also being a Muppet fan, it has been fun for me to see the slow but sure progression of the Muppets’ presence in the spotlight during the past couple of years and the different ways that Disney has been utilizing Kermit and company. So naturally, during my recent trip to Walt Disney World, I was intrigued to see how much the Muppets were featured throughout the resort in various merchandise and atmospheric elements. Here are my observations:

To see all of the Muppety pictures from Blake's trip, check out our album on The Muppet Mindset's Photobucket account!

Overall
First off, Muppet Vinylmation figures were EVERYWHERE! Honestly, there were only three series that I repeatedly saw virtually everywhere, and one of those series was the Muppets! More often than not, if a gift shop sold Vinylmation, they sold Muppet Vinylmation. At first I merely thought, "Hmm, that’s cool. It’s neat to see Muppet Vinylmation sold at so many places." But then the longer my trip went on, it was more like “Wow, they’re everywhere!” It’s worth noting that the only other individual sets of characters to be given their own Vinylmation series are the Toy Story crew and The Nightmare Before Christmas bunch. As a random side note, a second wave in the Muppets series is coming in spring 2011.

The other Muppet-related merchandise item that I saw in multiple locations was the Kermit-themed mouse ears. Mouse ears aren’t available abundantly, but they’re not difficult to track down, either. I would say maybe one or two locations per park sell them and most mouse ear locations had Kermit mouse ears available. There are probably only a dozen or so mouse ear designs available, so Kermit should consider it an honor to have his image depicted on this classic Disney novelty.

Additionally, there were several Kermit pins. The locations that I found them at didn’t really seem to have any tie-in to the surrounding area. One in the hotel gift shop was part of a four-pin set that highlighted Walt Disney quotes. It had Kermit on it and said "Happiness is a state of mind." Considering the only other character to be included in this pin collection was Mickey Mouse, I thought it was pretty cool for Kermit to be part of the set. (And although I didn’t see it during my trip, this also somewhat relates to the Miss Piggy pin that was included in a new Disney Princess pin set among the likes of Snow White and Cinderella.) A pin that I found at the gift shop in Epcot’s Imagination pavilion featured Kermit’s face and read “It’s easy being green,” which referred to the pin’s packaging being made of recycled paper.


Magic Kingdom

Ever since the Honorary VoluntEARS Cavalcade was removed from the afternoon parade last October, there pretty much haven’t been any Muppet happenings in the Magic Kingdom. Plenty of Kermit ears and Vinylmation, though! However, Kermit and Miss Piggy made a rare appearance at the Magic Kingdom on December 3 during the filming of the Disney Parks Christmas Day Parade, which will air on December 25 on ABC. So be on the lookout for them! They’re in the same car they rode in during the Honorary VoluntEARS Cavalcade. There are several different air-times for the parade this year depending on which part of the United States you live in, so be sure to check your local listings.

Epcot

He’s not a Muppet, but Figment from the Journey Into Your Imagination ride is voiced by Dave Goelz. Here’s to hoping that the Muppet Mobile Lab will one day be brought back to Epcot!

Disney’s Hollywood Studios

Since this is the park with the Muppets’ only permanent attraction, I was expecting the most Muppet presence to be at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and my expectations were happily succeeded.

First off, Muppet*Vision 3D. The courtyard surrounding the attraction has a few Christmas decorations added to it for the season; nothing too extravagant, but neat enough to bring a few smiles to your face. Not every attraction has Christmas decorations, only those that thematically make sense. So while the Muppets easily lend themselves to receiving some Christmas finery, something like, say, Expedition Everest, doesn’t.
Most of Muppet*Vision’s decorations consisted of tinsel garland, tinsel Christmas trees, and giant Christmas lights. Here’s what the area looks like at night with the lights in action.

Background music throughout the area includes songs from The Muppet Christmas Carol, John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together, and A Red and Green Christmas. Oddly enough, I didn’t hear anything from A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa, but it’s possible that I may not have been in the area long enough to hear the entire music loop.

And now on to Muppet*Vision itself. The digital remastering that the film received last May looks excellent. I probably wouldn’t have noticed it if I didn’t know it had been changed, but it looks simply brilliant. The colors are crisper, the footage is clearer, and the general presentation is overall much better. I don’t know if they were added during the restoration or not, but there were also several in-theater effects that I didn’t remember being there before, like fireworks being visible on the ceiling. The bubbles were also working during Miss Piggy’s number, which I hadn’t seen used in a while.

The pictures don’t show it because they were taken in the park’s first hour of opening, but later on, around 12:30pm, when I went to actually see Muppet*Vision, there was quite a considerable crowd waiting to get in! Cast Members had us wait outside the theater and then moved us into the pre-show area once the previous pre-show area unloaded as opposed to cramming us all in the hallway preceding the pre-show area.

I didn’t see the parody movie posters that were added to the Muppet*Vision queue in 2009 (like Pirates of the Amphibian and Hammah Montana), so my only guess is that they must have been in the outside queue area surrounding the building, which is hardly ever used. I hope they weren’t removed because they were funny!

Adjacent to Muppet*Vision is the Stage One Company Store, the best place on property to find Muppet merchandise.  There are items here that you can typically find outside of Walt Disney World (like the Muppet version of Monopoly, Muppet comic books, and the books written by Muppet characters—It’s Hard Out Here For a Shrimp, etc.), as well as exclusive items that are only sold in Disney.  Here are a few of the most interesting items:

• A few cool Beaker shirts.
• A Statler and Waldorf coffee mug that reads “Old...It Sure Beats Dead!” and a Kermit thermos.
• A sketch of Fozzie. I embarrassingly don’t remember if the sketches behind this one were more Fozzie drawings or if they were of other characters.
• Animal antenna toppers, LOL!
• Kermit, Fozzie, and Miss Piggy pressed pennies.
• A snazzy merchandise display.

I didn’t get any pictures of them, but there were also Beaker and Animal beanie caps available. When I visited, Animal was currently sold out.

And you thought this was an ordinary gift shop—wrong! This is Happiness Hotel! Don’t try to order dinner, there’s no kitchen anymore. Overall this is one of the most details gift shops in all of Walt Disney World. There are gags and trinkets everywhere, and taking some time to look around will undoubtedly make you laugh.

A little ways down from Muppet*Vision, sort of in between the attraction’s exit and the Stage One Company Store, is the most elaborate Muppet-themed piece of Christmas décor in the area. This whole section of Hollywood Studios is themed to look like the streets of several urban American cities, complete with exteriors of apartments and shops. On one of these exteriors is a fire escape, and clearly the Muppets have left their mark. Adorning the fire escape are ribbons, Beaker-esque ornaments, boas, and rubber chickens!

Surprisingly, there were several areas beyond Muppet*Vision in Hollywood Studios that included Muppet-related findings.  In the prop room during the Backlot Tour, there was a car labeled “Muppet Cab.” I didn’t see a tag on it like many of the other props had, so I don’t know what specific Muppet production it was used in. Does anyone know? In the gift shop at the exit of the Backlot Tour, there was another Muppets merchandise display similar to the one in the Stage One Company Store. In the Animation Gallery (the gift shop at the exit of The Magic of Disney Animation) there was a piece of art featuring Fozzie and a few of his favorite props.

At nighttime, Hollywood Studios puts on an elaborate display of Christmas lights called the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights (which astonishingly originated at a family’s home). The lights are absolutely wonderful and seeing them is a very immersive, sensory experience. Anyway, every few minutes or so, the lights “dance” in synchronized motion to a Christmas song. The tunes range from classics like “Feliz Navidad” to newer versions of Christmas favorites performed by Disney Channel singers. One of the songs included in the lineup was “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” as sung by Gonzo and Rizzo from A Red and Green Christmas! While the background music I talked about earlier was more of a subtle touch that you almost don’t even notice (but definitely helps to set the mood for the atmosphere), the Osborne Lights music was L-O-U-D. It was so awesome to hear Gonzo and Rizzo’s voices so prominently and to see the lights all move to a Muppet song.


Disney’s Animal Kingdom

I was really excited to see what was new at the park named after the Electric Mayhem’s crazed drummer... kidding, of course. I understandably really didn’t expect to see anything about the Muppets at Animal Kingdom. I think I might have seen some Kermit mouse ears, but that was it. I don’t really blame Disney, though; the Muppets don’t really fit in anywhere at Animal Kingdom, anyway.

That just about wraps it up! Maybe now you an idea of the Muppets’ current theme park status, and hopefully we’ll be seeing plenty more of them in the parks soon. I enjoyed trying to find as many Muppet things as possible; I was overall quite satisfied with what I saw, especially merchandise-wise. After several years of having to track down the Muppets, it now seems that it’s difficult to escape them.

The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier