Disney DVDs - need some education pls!

[swan01]

DD is turning 4 in a couple weeks. She just saw Fantasia at my MIL's house this weekend and I would love to get it for her for her birthday. I just assumed I could buy something like this on Amazon, but I guess not? I am looking for the 2000 Platinum edition (I think). I was also looking for Little Mermaid and Cinderella - thoughts?

Thanks!

[egoldber]

The way Disney does things is they have a movie available ("released from the vault") for about a year. Then the movie goes "back in the vault" for some period of time, typically 2-5 years. So right now I think Cinderella, The Little Mermaid and Fantasia are "in the vault" and not available.

Your best bet is eBay and craigslist. But be careful there are a LOT of foreign imports of pirated Disney DVDs on eBay.

[SnuggleBuggles]

I imagine that they are back in the "vault." The movies are released on about 7 year cycles. They come out for a few months every 7 years then that is it.

I know Cinderella and The Little Mermaid were out in recent years so I think you missed this cycle.

I'm not a fan of this at all. I learned a long time ago though that you need to act if you actually want a Disney pic before your child grows up!

Beth

[mamalia]

I recently bought Little Mermaid at Costco. And we found Peter Pan at Disney Store. I think places keep stock on hand until sold, so maybe you could try there?

We also got something in the mail that we were thinking about doing...the Disney Movie Club. I'm not really sure about the details...but I think you buy four for a really cheap amount and then have the option to buy more later on.

Not to hijack, but has anyone ever participated in that? Here's a link to the online info: DisneyMovieClub.com

[kransden]

You are in luck! Sleeping Beauty(Oct 7), The Little Mermaid and Cinderella are all out! http://www.target.com/b/ref=/602-8531791-5189422?node=163416 at Target. The one I keep waiting for is Beauty and the Beast.

Like Beth said, they put the movies in the vault for a undetermined amount of time. It used to be 7 years, but that is typically not true anymore the time is much shorter. Cinderella is an example of this. They are out for a year, but often discounters like Target and Costco will buy a lot and will have them longer than the Disney stores. Some movies like Pocahontas are shown on the Disney Channel and are almost always in the stores.

The best time to buy a movie is the week it comes out. The price will be cheaper and there is often a give away with it. True with Barbie movies too.

As for the Disney Movie Club, I did the pricing and in the end you don't save anything unless you buy a large amount of movies. You often will forget and get an unwanted movie shipped to you.

[JTsMom]

We just joined the Disney Movie Club recently- so far, so good. We got 6 movies for $32 something. Now we have to buy 5 (I think?) more movies before the end of our 2 yr membership. We're going to Disney this winter, and I wanted to buy several movies so DS would be familiar with the characters, and this seemed like a reasonably inexpensive way to do it.

The catch is that every month there is a "featured selection" that you either decline (which you can do online in 10 seconds) or you can accept it, and it goes towards your required total. If you forget to decline it before the deadline (they give you about a month), they mail it to you BUT you can still return it for 30 or so days.

I did the math, and the way I figured it, it saves about $4 or $5 a movie on average. The downside is that if it's a newly released movie, the club doesn't get it until after stores have had it for a while, so if you want things right away, it won't work. We wanted a bunch of classics, so it was perfect for us.

ETA: There are different intro deals- some are better than others. I think the way I got my invite was by signing up on the Disney site.

[JTsMom]

Sorry, one more thought- I also picked up a couple of Disney movies at a kids consignment shop- Kid to Kid IIRC. That's another way to pick up an "in the vault" dvd, as long as you don't mind used.

[kdeunc]

We just joined the movie club this weekend. (We are going to Disney this winter too). We got 7 movies for $25.00 and have to buy three more. It seemed to work out to be a pretty good deal and it saves me the trouble of searching all over town for movies :)

[randomkid]

You are in luck! Sleeping Beauty(Oct 7), The Little Mermaid and Cinderella are all out! http://www.target.com/b/ref=/602-8531791-5189422?node=163416 at Target. The one I keep waiting for is Beauty and the Beast.

Dang! DD loves Belle right now and I was going to get Beauty and the Beast next. I guess she saw it at the sitter's house. She'll just have to watch our VHS version. Fortunately, I do have all of those Disney movies on VHS from when my stepdaughters were little.

To OP, if you are interested, here are some of the Disney movies my DD likes - again on VHS, so I don't know if they are all available right now.

Aristocats
101 Dalmations - animated and live action
Mary Poppins
Toy Story (will soon be going "back into the vault" along with Toy Story 2)
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang - although I don't know why as it can be a little scary
The Jungle Book
Peter Pan
Fantasia
Dumbo
Finding Nemo
Chicken Little
A Bug's Life

[floridamommy]

I just bought the Special edition of The Little Mermaid at BJ's Wholesale Club last week ($19.99, I think).

[Tondi G]

Just wanted to chime in here! If you like the Disney Pixar movies... Toy Story 1 and 2, CARS, Monsters Inc, Finding Nemo, Incredibles, A Bugs Life etc.... Costco is selling a boxed set of these movies for something like 90 dollars. It is a good deal... if we didn't already own them I would buy this set!

[mom2binsd]

Go to garage sales...I've gotten so many VHS and DVD's super cheap....we have a combo VHS/DVD and so if it's a movie I know they'll like I pick them up...usually no more than a dollar.

[Asianmommy]

For the titles that aren't available right now, you can always rent them from Blockbuster's or Netflix or even the library and have a special movie night with popcorn. We do that sometimes.

[kransden]

FYI Here is a great link to all things Disney DVD http://www.ultimatedisney.com/comingsoon.html

@#$!% Beauty and the Beast is Oct 2010 I was hoping for it next year\, but that's Snow White - again :(.

FYI, I did buy my Beauty and the Beast from overseas. Not great quality, but worth it for my dd. I'll buy the original when it comes out.