I'm putting this up front so you don't have to read the rest of this if you don't want to. I don't have an update with any information about upcoming releases or the status of the Olszewski miniatures collection. Bob had two signing times (not counting the signing time for VIP Sorcerer package guests) of about an hour each, and there were D23 Expo panels that I was attending that prevented me from being at the Dream Store during those times, so I was not able to have him sign our pieces or to be able to talk to him. Other collectors (a couple) that I ran into on Sunday told me that they happened to run into Bob that day and had a chance to talk to him. So I hope that those of you who might have been able to attend the signings or had the opportunity to randomly run into him had a chance to chat with him. I missed at least being able to say hi to Bob and see him, but with the schedule of events at the Expo, sometimes that happens. However, while like many of you, I have not been happy with the two-year silent wait, I'm hoping that the release of the 60th castle and the Gallery of Light piece will signal the return of the Olszewski product lines that we've all been waiting for. It's no secret how much I've been championing Storybookland, and I'm still not-so-patiently waiting for that.
With regard to the pieces released during the D23 Expo, we were able to go into the Dream Store on Saturday around 3:30. At that point, I saw two boxes of the castle on the shelf and multiple boxes of the Gallery of Light castle piece (Opening Morning, 1955), so I made sure to take one of the castle boxes just in case. We made our purchases of the two items. When we went back into the Dream Store on Sunday around noon, I happened to see a guy carrying a castle box. I didn't see any more on the shelf, and I heard him as he asked a cast member if there were any more boxes, and the cast member said no. I spoke to the cast member as well, who confirmed that the entire shipment of 60th anniversary castles was sold out, and they would not be making any more as it was a limited run, which meant there wouldn't be any available for purchase at Disneyland by those who didn't attend the Expo. He did say that any of the Gallery of Light castle pieces remaining after the Expo would be sold at Disneyland. There were quite a few left of those at noon on Sunday, so I expect there will be pieces available at the Disneyland Resort sometime in the next week or so. The cast member said that no more of those would be produced either, although the certificate of verification included with the piece indicates that it's an open edition.
I was a bit surprised that the 60th anniversary Sleeping Beauty Castle came in a very generic white box. The regular Main Street pieces come in a blue and white box with the Disneyland logo, the 50th anniversary pieces came in gold boxes, and some of the later pieces came with the Art of Disney logo. But this box just had lettering on one side to identify the product inside and a picture on one end. The box and lettering were similar for the Gallery of Light castle piece.
Side of the white box for the 60th anniversary Sleeping Beauty Castle.
One end of the 60th anniversary Sleeping Beauty Castle, identifying the product inside.
Front of the certificate of verification of the 60th anniversary Sleeping Beauty Castle.
Back of the certificate of verification of the 60th anniversary Sleeping Beauty Castle.
The wording seems to imply that the castle will be produced during the entire year
of celebrating Disneyland's 60th, rather than just the run that was made for sale at the D23 Expo,
especially as this batch is labeled as the "first edition",
which would imply to me that there could be more editions.
We did note that Bob Olszewski's miniatures were utilized in the Disneyland Archives exhibit at the D23 Expo. In one section, the fully completed Main Street platform was on display, with all of the floats from the Main Street Electrical Parade and the entire platform lit. It also included not the regular castle, but the 60th anniversary version of the castle.
Plaque on the side of the platform.
Later in the exhibit, there was mention of the House of the Future, and that display had the Olszewski Studios miniature of the House of the Future as part of the display.
That's all for now. Like all of you, I'm waiting for official announcements from Disneyland about future releases from Olszewski Studios, and I'm hoping that it's not a year or two before the next piece is released.
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