Saturday, June 30, 2012

Bambi: Diamond Edition Premium Packaging

Some of you may be rolling your eyes (this is a pretty fresh Disney treasure, just went into the Disney Vault a couple months ago) but this is nonetheless a treasure - just a contemporary one!

This is the Bambi Diamond Edition Blu-ray/DVD combo pack, in the Disney Movie Club-exclusive Premium Packaging. I bought this when it was released in February 2011, and it officially went in the vault April 30, 2012. Kind of expensive (suggested retail price is $69.95) and doesn't come with any goodies inside, but the packaging is gorgeous IMO and, for me at least, Bambi is worth splurging for. By far one of my favorite Disney movies, possibly my favorite during Walt's lifetime.

Anyway - to the pictures!
Front cover. Really gorgeous packaging!
Thumper rolling and laughing. Great artwork, really captures his character!


Includes certificate of authenticity - I didn't sign it but I don't know who I'm going to need to validate it for ;-)

Back cover. Again, gorgeous! I almost wish this had been the front because I think this would better represent the movie, with the picture of Bambi and his mother on the back instead.
To me this seems to denote sadness...
While this represents the adventure and life experiences that I think the film is ultimately about.
 




No real "goodies" inside but if you are a sucker for presentation and quality packaging, I recommend trying to hunt this down. This had a limited print of just 2500 copies (which I didn't realize until I looked at the Certificate of Authenticity!) so if you are a hardcore collector it's probably worth it to you. Still, it's paying $70 for a Blu-ray combo pack you can buy in stores for $30, so it depends how much you value fancy packaging. (Clearly, I value it a lot hahaha!)

Also, I have not yet watched all of the special features for this Diamond Edition, but one that really blew me out of the water was the Disney Second Screen. This is a new technology Disney has developed, starting with this Bambi release, where you can synch up the movie viewing experience to your iPad. For Bambi, as the movie plays, the iPad shows concept art, work-in-progress animation, and games. I'm sure it varies release by release but this made the experience a lot of fun to explore. Definitely distracting if you haven't seen the movie before (you would barely look up at the TV!) but a lot of fun if you're already familiar with it.

Saturday, June 16, 2012

Main Street Electrical Parade Light

One of the first pieces I got (I was just a kid, around 4-6 when I was given it by my godfather/uncle). It's a purple light that was used in Disneyland's Main Street Electrical Parade, and was made available for sale after the parade's decades-long run at the park. (I can't recall exactly when these went on sale, but it was some time between 1996-1998.)

In retrospect, it's kind of funny that they sold these, considering the Parade was not retired after all, but rather traveled around the world to other Disney theme parks. Still, it's one of my favorite pieces, and it is really amazing to own an actual piece of Disney history. The Main Street Electrical Parade was and always will be one of my favorite experiences at Disneyland.