Last summer, for the one year anniversary of Cars Land at California Adventure, Disney Merchandise released these two exclusive, amazing commemorative sets! Both sets are from the
Cars Toon short film
Time Travel Mater (which can be watched
here).
I missed this 1 year anniversary event by only two months (I was there in April, the anniversary was in June) and when I tried to order these by phone when they were first released, the Disney Parks merchandise hot line told me they were sold out already! I'm like, seriously? I called within a few days of their release. Needless to say, these were dang popular!
At the time, they were selling on eBay for ridiculous prices (now you can get them for as low as about $50 each, which is pretty reasonable for Park exclusive sets like these) so I needed to find another way to add these to my collection.
Not long after I had tweeted about having difficulty finding these, my friend and fellow Pixar fan Brian Hughes contacted me and helped find a way to track these down from the Disney Parks! Thank you so much man.
I'm a really big Mattel Cars collector but was never into collecting the diecast characters from the Cars Toons shorts. I had to draw the line somewhere because there are just way too many cars released from the shorts that I would never be able to stay on top of them (or afford them all). However, this was an exception for a few reasons:
1.) It's a rare, exclusive Pixar commemorative item
2.) Time Travel Mater is my absolute favorite Cars Toon of them all (it has just a class and charm that I love and I also appreciate the Back to the Future references)
3.) The packaging on these are just fantastic
4.) I loved Cars Land so much and these sets are the perfect items to remember it by. All in all, these were too cool to pass up. There...justified.
These sets are just awesome. I love the sepia tone coloring on cars from the Radiator Springs Beginnings set. The characters look just as they do in the short since that segment of the film is also sepia tone. It's cool to have a (non-statue) car of Radiator Springs' founder Stanley as well!
Radiator Springs Beginnings
Wedding Day
Do you think Cars Land will continue this tradition of releasing exclusive items celebrating its anniversary each year? Could we see a two year anniversary item(s) in June this year? I can only hope! I would love that. Any ideas on a product(s) they could release? What would you like to see, a toy? A collectible? An art piece? Let me know in the comments below.
One other thing I wanted to note is that I also loved all the references to this Cars Toon at the actual Radiator Springs Racer ride in Cars Land! There was a wedding picture of Lizzie and Stanley hanging on one of the walls and there is the actual springs of Radiator Springs (you'll see both while waiting in line). In addition, at the end of the ride you even drive through "Taillight Cavern" also seen in the short film. Pretty cool! If you haven't gone to Cars Land but plan to, keep an eye out for those! If you have gone to Cars Land, did you catch any more references to Time Travel Mater?
Another big thanks to my awesome, supportive parents for getting me these Gift Packs for Christmas!
...And be sure to check back daily for even more updates from my Pixar collection. As always, stay tuned!