If you’ve visited a Disney theme park gift shop or Hallmark store over the past decade, then you should be very familiar with Enesco. Their line of collectible products include Jim Shore, Britto, and Disney Showcase. This year marked their first visit to Toy Fair, with a booth full of the classic brands you may already be collecting, and a look ahead at a few new concepts.
The World of Miss Mindy
Miss Mindy is an artist with some truly whimsical designs, which are being applied to a new line of vinyl collectibles debuting this year. The granddaughter of one of Walt Disney’s Ink & Paint girls, Mary Ellison Allen, Mindy’s unique style fits perfectly with characters from Alice in Wonderland, Snow White, Peter Pan, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and Fantasia. In addition to collectible figures, light-up pieces of some of Disney’s most classic heroines will soon be available, as well as a few takes on Mickey Mouse just in time for his 90th birthday.
Cookie Jars and Salt Shakers
Enesco is ready to plus your kitchen with some fantastic cookie jars and salt & pepper shakers. Character sets like Belle and Beast, Aurora and Maleficent, Mickey and Minnie, and Snow White and the Evil Queen make your kitchen table extra special. My personal favorite shaker is the one with Tinker Bell laughing while sitting on an alphabet block. Cookie Jars are available with poster art from Disney animated classics and Mickey Mouse shorts.
There are also cookie jars and shakers themed to Coco and The Nightmare Before Christmas.
Vinyl Figures
In addition to the World of Miss Mindy products, Enesco is getting into vinyl figures with characters that look exactly as they appear in the films. Rapunzel whipping her hair around is incredibly striking in person, looking like a still frame from Tangled. Stitch looks amazing as Experiment 626 from Lilo & Stitch.
Britto
Among the Britto display I was surprised to find Darkwing Duck, who I believe is the first Disney Afternoon character to receive this treatment. A variety of Mickey Mouse figures were on display, including his Sorcerer Mickey and classic red shorts looks. There are also new desk decorations with character faces inside of a shape, such as Belle in a rose and Snow White in an apple.
Jim Shore
One of the new concepts in the Jim Shore collection is clear figures on a light up base. These include Sorcerer Mickey, Christmas Mickey and Minnie, Stitch, and Tinker Bell.
My favorite item on display was the it’s a small world musical figure collection, where 9 figures each come with 30-seconds of the song in their own language when placed on the base. Collect them all to make the base play the entire 6-minute song. The figures are inspired by Italy, France, Holland, USA, Britain, Mexico, Switzerland, Japan, and India.
Disney Showcase
Disney Showcase’s Couture de Force collection expands with even more princesses, villains, and characters from The Nightmare Before Christmas. Several of these characters are receiving their second release. Belle, for example, was previously done in her gold dress and now receives her blue provincial dress in couture style. Ariel is now styled in her green theme park dress as well, and Elena of Avalor joins the collection for the first time.
Prior to Toy Fair, I had no idea that all of these brands fell under Enesco, who also owns Gund, the world famous teddy bear company, and Department 56, maker of fine light up mini villages.. It was surreal exiting their booth and realizing I wasn’t walking out of an Art of Disney store, but it made me even more excited for my next visit to a Disney Park. Disney fans who proudly display their fandom in their home decor likely already own a piece from several of these lines and with so many great releases planned, it’s time to start making your wish list for your next gift receiving holiday, including birthdays and unbirthdays.
Click here to see more Disney, Star Wars, and Marvel toys from Toy Fair 2018.