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Disney Parks- Vinylmation: Star Wars The Last Jedi - First Order Executioner Trooper
Well, it’s been a little while since my last trip to a Disney Park and if you are a consistent reader of this blog you know that I don’t got too long between trips, so it's not too surprising. What was surprising is that I was able to still find some Vinylmations for purchase, a miracle given that the line is all but finished. Was a good run, but it will be a sad day when I can’t mark my vacation with a blind bagged vinyl figure shaped like Mickey Mouse but painted with some unique design. Maybe I’ll branch out and start collecting pins or something in the future; that is if I can get around the fact that they are not toys.
As mentioned I was pretty fortunate to find a case of this series at the Star Wars store located in Disney Springs which is basically an outdoor mall in Walt Disney World in Florida and in typical fashion I trusted one of my kids to make the selection of the blind box and I’ll be honest, I could not have been much happier with the selection given that the Trooper was easily the best of the bunch; not even Snoke who was the special “chase” figure was any good. Jeez, no wonder people are not buying these!?!
Just a quick note about the trip if anyone cares about theme parks. We were there for my daughter as her Cheerleading team was competing at the Worlds All Star Championships that happens every year in DIsney World. It’s a massive event and we were lucky enough to see her compete, but also to spend some time after enjoying the various Disney and Universal theme parks.
Some high points:
Generally speaking the Disney parks were light in terms of crowds. Sure there were 1000’s of cheerleaders running around, but they weren’t exactly hanging out in the line at Splash Mountain or anything. This allowed us to ride all the rides we intended without too much wait. Some advice for those planning a Disney World vacation, use the Fast Pass Plus system as MUCH as you can. There are some tricks you can use throughout the day to score a Fastpass even on the most popular rides.
The weather was fantastic. I have vacationed in Florida in January (when it snowed) and in July (when it was so hot that I thought I would die), but Florida in April is almost perfect. We were lucky having no rain, but I think we could have managed as it’s pretty well set up for it.
We were able to check out the new land at Hollywood Studios “Andy’s Backyard”, a land based on the Toy Story franchise. As you might imagine it was amazingly themed and we really enjoyed the new rollercoaster “slinky Dog Dash” despite the 60 min wait. (Fast Pass was not on our side for that one)
While the movie still has yet to leave an impression, the Land of Pandora, based on the Avatar movie, is still amazing. If you are planning a trip make sure you check out both rides and eat at the restaurant; totally worth it in my opinion.
We were also fortunate to spend a day at Universal Studios for what could amount to possibly my FAVORITE theme park day ever. The crowds were low, the weather was perfect and I was able to finally ride the Amazing Spiderman ride, something that I had missed on previous outings. THis outing also made my reconsdier my initial review of the newer Escape From Gringots Harry Potter ride as it was so much better than the first time. Again, if you are planning a trip to central Florida, Universal Studios should be on your list.
Lastly, this was the first trip to Disney we had some time to experience (not entirely true, but we were really young and my wife was pregnant with our daughter the first time) the parks on our own as well as with some other adults without kids. I’ll tell you its a much different experience when you are not so worried about kids being hungry or thirsty or wanting to buy everything.
Some low points
Unfortunately the airline lost my luggage and I spent the first few days in travel clothes. I was given some money to buy essentials, but for whatever reason clothes in my sizes were scarce.
The timing of this trip was just short a few weeks for the brand new Star Wars Galaxy's Edge land at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. This wasn’t a surprise or anything as I have been keeping an eye on the updates, but it would have been nice to see it.
There was a time when a trip to the USA meant a decent toy haul, but it seemed as though any toy aisle within distance of where we were staying was pretty picked over. I was lucky and did make it home form with a few Marvel Legends including Forge, Infamous Doom and an Amidala Black Series figure, but that was the result of a lot of hunting; really makes me appreciate Amazon.
Pros: This wave consisted of figures from the Last Jedi and I was pretty fortunate to get the best looking one of the bunch. I’m also a big fan of when they include accessories as you feel like you are getting a bit extra.
Cons: With these blind box figures you really do take a chance, but it worked out so no real con for me on this one. I will say that the price is a bit ridiculous considering they aren’t exactly flying off the shelves, but that's just the norm in Disney. Lastly and I know that I keep saying this, it will be a sad day when these are full discontinued.
