Windy City Tin Release: The Good, the Bad & the Ugly
Well I woke up bright and early today to head to Chicago for the windy city tin release. I had about a 3 hour drive so I decided to get on the road by 4:30 a.m. The disney store on Michigan Ave. doesn’t open until 9:00 a.m. so that should give me plenty of time just in case I had to stand in line. My wife had something else to attend to so I was going solo on this trip. It was kind of weird being in the car by myself because we always go together to Chicago. Oh well, crank up the music and hit the road.
The Good
I arrived in Chicago around 8:00 and found a spot to park that was only 3 blocks from the disney store. I only had to pay $3.00 for 2 hours. I was pleasantly surprised by this, first good thing of the day to happen. As I was walking down Michigan Ave. I tried to look ahead to see if I could see anything going on outside the disney store. As I arrived on the scene I was surprised to see this:
That’s right, not one single person was in line. Another good thing! I decided to look around the front of the building and took some pictures of the place since I had nothing to do. Here is what I found around the outside of the store:
About 10 minutes passed before another vinylmation collector showed up. He asked what time the store opened and we chatted about the Chicago release. Within the next 10-15 minutes another dozen or so people showed up for the release. One person asked me if I was on the vinylmation kingdom website and must have recognized me from my little green men avatar. I was able to meet MinnieMalice. We discussed all sorts of vinylmation related topics. How many do you have? Which ones are your favorite? Of course I had to mention the mold change. Park starz even came up. It was nice to meet someone else in the midwest who shares this addiction. The doors were opened on time and we all proceeded to the vinylmation section, found the windy city vinyls then made our way to the cash register. If you want to read what happened in between picking them off the shelf and paying for them, then scroll down now to the ugly.
The Bad
The only thing that was a let down was the inventory of vinyls at the store. I didn’t take any pictures of the area , but like everywhere else the only thing for sale was C2, CLY, Robots, some NBC and that was it. No urbans, villains, lion king nothing! So I beginning to wonder what is going on. Why is disney letting stock get depleted on these series? Are they trying to rid the stores of the old mold completely? I think there is an OMC conspiracy going on here!
The Ugly
Ok, well if you came to the section already then you know what to expect. I had never been to a vinylmation release before so this was my first. As we all made our way to the area with the windy city tins, there was probably 20-30 of them sitting on a shelf. The stock quickly vanished within seconds. So I had probably picked up 8 tins. I was trying to hold them all when another collector said to me that there was a limit of 5 to a person. I calmly explained to him that I called yesterday and was told there was no limit since it was an open edition. He then told me he called yesterday and was told there was a limit of 5. I then told him that I would ask the manager and if that was the case I would give him my extra ones. He then offered to carry the ones for me that I was having trouble holding onto, I told him that was ok I could carry them. So I followed the CM to the manager while she asked and the manager turned around and said since it was an open edition there was no limit. That was when it got ugly, he got very loud with the manager saying: “are you kidding me?, I called and was told there was a limit, I can’t believe this” This went on for a minute or so. Disney employees, I have to give you guys credit because I would not be able to control myself when someone loses control like that. So then she told him, “Sir we have more downstairs and they are brining them up”. Like magic a CM came out of nowhere and produced a container full of tins:
So then we was able to get his and I went to reach for a few more because I have TONS of people that want to trade for one of these. So as I was reaching over he looked right at me and said “You are incredibly rude!” So I followed the rule that I tell my 2nd graders all the time: If you can’t say something nice, then don’t say anything at all. So with that I conclude my first ever vinylmation release day!
WOOOOOOW! That guy was a jerk! Crazy4Vinyls, how did you not punch that guys lights out. Well, at least you had a good time.
I just walked away and went to pay for mine. I had to get to Garrett’s popcorn shop too before my time ran out on my parking meter!
Glad you got some Chicago VM they are soooo cool! You have better restraint then I do….I would have told that guy off in words that shouldn’t be said in a Disney store
Yes I was a bit surprised by his comment to me but I just walked away. I didn’t understand why he was so mad. He got what he wanted and I got what I wanted. So just be happy!
great field report crazy!
thank you for updating us!
that store looks like it has lots of character (and characters)!
“There’s nothing funnier than the human animal.”
– Walt Disney
glad you took the higher ground and hope you had a wonderful day!
Thanks, even though I was a little lonely it was a fun trip. I guess it was just weird driving up to Chicago at 4:30 in the morning and being there so early. Then I was back home by 1:30. It was a whirlwind of a day.
My best guess is that the person who was upset had heard stories of crazy releases or experienced it first hand. I know I would not be a happy camper if I went to go buy one but the entire stock was out while people walked around with 8 but would not exploded like this guy.
Well I guess he should have thought before he berated the disney store manager. All he had to do is ask if there were more in the back before becoming irate.
WOW that guy was incredibly rude! He was lucky that you even offered to give you his extras if there was a limit. I call those people “Vinyl freaks who need anger management” but you held your composure very well!
Thanks for telling us your experience! And I loved the pictures
The front of that Disney Store looks amazing!
Thanks for the shout out!
It was so nice to chat, hopefully we see each other soon
Yes maybe I will see you again in Chicago for the next release. I am thinking of some sort of Chi-Town vinyl next time.
That was you? KIDDING! Sorry you had a bad experience. My family and I went to the Blackhawks Fan Festival at the United Center today and since we were already downtown, drove over the Disney Store (not so lucky with the parking, it was $13 for 40 minutes….ughhhh), and bought a tin for ourselves and two more to trade. They DID have Lion King Vinyls, but were mostly on an endcap, with only a few in a case with the vinyls.
Ok, I must have missed them. Thanks for letting me know.
I would guess that guy wanted them for eBay:-)
Not sure, he did buy about 5-9 so who knows. I guess I felt there was no reason to get upset, because there was nothing to get upset about. In the end everyone got what they wanted and there were still plenty left after everyone in line got what they wanted. I can also bet that there was probably even more in the back.
You should speak out loud and ask why there is a “dog” barking… I thought animal not allow in this building, we should call animal control… this one definetely got rabies
Wow. This makes me happy the only release I went to was in NYC at the D23 event, everyone was nice and polite! I even helped some poor women who had a list and had NO idea what vinylmation were bc of course NYC had all the different 9″. It was crazy, but no one got bent out of shape. Glad you were able to take the higher road. And seriously, if it’s open edition, he just needed to chill out!
Was just in Chicago this weekend and picked up a few of the Chicago Vinyls at the Michigan Ave store.
There were about 30 left on the end cap and when I went to pay, I chatted with the Cast Member. She said that it was a bit crazy the first day of sales and the had a ton in storage. I also checked the Disney store on North State Street and they had about 20 tins on display.