Disney Parks Village

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Last June we drove to Dayton Ohio for the annual Disneyana Show and Sale hosted by the Dayton “Plane Crazy” Chapter of the Disneyana Fan Club.

Rob was surprised to see his mother Carol looking at a Department 56 Disney village set. “You already have a Dickens Village.” He told her.

Dickens Village

“And you have a Disney Village,” he added.

Disney Village

Rob was insistent, “You don’t need another village.”

“Oh,” she replied, “I need this one, it’s special!

It was a complete version of the Disney Parks Village set produced by Department 56. Each building is modeled after properties you can see in the Disney parks! How special is that?

The first pieces were produced and sold in 1994; a few of the later issues were only produced for a few months before the entire set was retired in 1996. Some of them are extremely rare, making this a very desirable collection!

Here’s what Carol came home with!

New Disney Village

Let’s look at each item individually.

The first piece to be issued, Mickey’s Christmas Carol, was two buildings, sold as a set. They were manufactured between 1994 and 1996 and retailed for $144.00.

Mickeys Christmas Carol 1

Mickeys Christmas Carol 2

Do they look familiar?

The next time you’re at the Magic Kingdom walk through Cinderella Castle from The Hub into Fantasyland. As you exit the castle look right at Sir Mickey’s.

Sir Mickeys

That building was the model for Mickey’s Christmas Carol.

Next to be issued was Olde World Antiques I, a quaint Colonial building, also modelled after a property found in the Magic Kingdom. It retailed for $45.00 in 1994.

Olde World Antiques I

Does this one look familiar? I’ll show you where you can find it a bit later!

The third piece offered in the Disney Parks Village series was Olde World Antiques II, another Colonial building from the Magic Kingdom which also sold for $45.00.

Olde World Antiques II

Let’s jump out of order and look at the fifth piece in the series, the Silversmith shop. Another Colonial structure from the Magic Kingdom. This one is built of stone to contrast with the first two which were brick. The Silversmith was only produced for a few months in 1995 and sold for $50.00. This piece is very rare!

Silversmith

Let’s put the three of them together and add an accessory which sold for $15.00, the Olde World Antiques Gate.

Olde World Antiques Gate

When the three buildings and the gate come together it might look familiar.

Ye Olde Christmas Shop

Do you recognize it now?

Ye Olde Christmas Shop

It’s Ye Olde Christmas Shoppe, on your left as you enter Liberty Square.

We skipped past the fourth piece issued, Disneyland Fire Department #105. This is the only item based on a building in Disneyland, the fire hall in Town Square. It sold between 1994 and 1996 for $45.00

Disneyland Fire Department #105

Disneyland Fire Hall

The sixth, and final piece offered began production in 1995 and was only manufactured for a few months before the series was retired. Tinker Bell’s Treasures sold for $60.00.

Tinker Bells Treasures

Remember earlier when I asked you to walk through Cinderella Castle and look at Sir Mickey’s shop? From that same vantage point look to the left, directly across the street from Sir Mickey’s and you’ll see Tinker Bell’s Treasures.

Tinker Bells Treasures

We looked at one of the accessories, the Olde World Antiques Gate already, but there were several others.

Mickey and Minnie dressed in their Christmas finery came as a two piece set selling for $22.50.

Mickey and Minnie

The Disney Parks Family was a set of three figures and sold for $32.50.

Disney Parks Family

The last accessory issued, The Balloon Seller, is another one of the rare pieces; it was only produced for a few months and originally sold for $25.00.

Balloon Seller

So Carol was absolutely delighted to bring this complete set home from Dayton. This Christmas it has found a place of honour in her Disney Room. Here’s how it looks when it’s all set up and accessorized!

Click on the image to see a larger version!
Disney Parks Village

Isn’t it great?

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Gary hails from Canada and he’s a lifelong Disney fan. In the 1950s he watched the original Mickey Mouse Club and The Wonderful World of Disney on a snowy old black-and-white television. Gary was mesmerized by the Disneyland that Walt introduced to the world during those Sunday night shows! In 1977 he took his young family to Walt Disney World for the first time and suddenly that Disney magic he experienced as a child was rekindled. Since then Gary and his wife Carol have enjoyed about 70 trips to Walt Disney World, 11 trips to Disneyland and 11 Disney Cruises.

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7 Replies to “Disney Parks Village”

  1. Thank you for this. I’m a lifetime Disney fan as well. My first trip was 1979 and have been to Disney world every year for two weeks till 1999 and I moved to Florida and go as often as I can now. I just found this first piece at a antique mall down the road from my house in perfect condition still in the box for 40.00 I’m going to try and find the rest of the set in my travels. Once again thank you for this it told me everything I needed to know👍 If you could contact me by my email I have a collector question I would like to ask you. Thanks

  2. We have the full.village as well. Had no idea that some of these pieces were so rare. It goes up every year.and we have added other Dept 56 pieces like.benches and trees, etc. We love it.

  3. I love this set, I have all of them, purchased at the time they came out. Another little piece of information, I remember this from a statement made by Dept 56. Dept 56 wanted to continue the series, but found it difficult dealing with Disney (fancy that!) The deal breaker was Cinderella’s castle. The manufacturing process back then wouldn’t allow them to make a strong structure for the towers and they wanted to make some design changes. Disney wouldn’t allow them to make anything but an exact replica. So the partnership called it quits and the entire series retired. I remember when I read the statement I was kind of shocked that they were so blunt about how difficult Disney was. Given the series that is being produced now, looks like they worked out their differences. 🙂

    [Gary writes: Hi FGM! Interesting to hear that background. I had also heard a rumor about a dispute between Department 56 and Disney but my rumor suggested that it revolved around marketing strategies. Regardless of whether it was marketing policies or product design which caused the “retirement” of that original series, I’m glad they work it out and we’re seeing more Disney product again.]

  4. I truly loved this article, Gary. I don’t know where you found all the details about production times and cost but it was very interesting. Best part was the picture comparison. Great find Carol!!

  5. I’m not too far from Dayton. Can anyone attend this Disneyana event? I would love come. If so, where can I find more info? Thank you.

    [Gary writes: Yes Nicole, Dayton Disneyana is open to any Disney fan. I have written several blogs about their annual event. Just use the search button in the banner at the top of this blog and search “Dayton Disneyana” (without quotation marks) to find those blogs. They contain links to the web site and Facebook page you’re looking for.]