# How long are movies in the Disney Vault?



## Chee Chick

When Disney puts their movies in the vault, how long before they release them again?  

There are a few Disney movies that I do not have in my collection that I really want to get.  I have found some on eBay.  I'm wondering if I should just buy them on eBay now or wait until Disney releases them again.  Cinderella is the main one.  It was last released in 2005.


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## Que_Sarah_Sarah

The Disney Vault is an arbitrary invention of the Disney Co. that makes their DVDs "rarer". In reality, it is a way to drive up demand for movies that would otherwise end up in the $5 bin. They re-release films in anniversary editions or other special editions to make people think they are different from earlier editions.

In my opinion, Ebay is a good option. Also, Half.com. What I've been doing is looking whenever I go to the thrift store to see if I can replace my VHS tapes with DVDs. I got to Goodwill early on Thursday and found a copy of the most recent release of Cinderella. Bambi was there also, but when buying used DVDs you need to look for scratches because the movie might not play. That copy of Bambi was beat beyond recognition, lol.


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## Northy

Cinderella is pegged to come out in 2012.


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## Chee Chick

Northy said:


> Cinderella is pegged to come out in 2012.



Yeah!  I googled it and it looks like you are right.  I am going to wait because I really want to have Cinderella on Blu-Ray.  Here are some other dates I found in that google search.

Lady and the Tramp Spring 2012
Cinderella Fall 2012
Peter Pan Spring 2013
The Little Mermaid Fall 2013
Spring 2014 101 Dalmatians
Fall 2014 The Jungle Book
Spring 2015 Pinocchio (Re-Release)
Fall 2015 Sleeping Beauty (Re-Release)


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## mousterpiece

Whatever happened to make Aladdin so unpopular at Disney? I don't doubt those preliminary dates, but why isn't Aladdin coming out on Blu-ray? Seems weird that they wouldn't release it, especially with next year being its 20th anniversary.


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## Micca

The whole "vault" concept will fade.  People buy used copies of movies or rent them, or worst case: download them illegally.  

Physical media is going to the way of the dodo.  I'd be surprised if any of those movies slated for 2015 actually get released on disc.  I prefer physical media so I hope I'm wrong, but technology marches on.


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## Babbletrish

In the pre-home media days, Disney re-released movies to theaters on their X Power of Ten Anniversary.  Additionally, up until 1990, you'd wait years and years for Disney films to arrive on video.  (Some studios/directors had weird, weird attitudes towards VHS.  Anyone remember when "E.T." was originally "never ever" going to be on video?)

"Little Mermaid" was, and this was a huge shock back then, put out on VHS a few months after it's theater run. That helped make it still possibly the most popular Disney animated film ever.  You may notice that whenever "Mermaid" or (most) other Bronze Age Disney films are sent out on DVD, it's extremely rare and they are vaulted almost immediately.  Meanwhile, we're on our fourth or fifth DVD of "Dumbo".  So basically, the vaulting "math" might go like this:

Most Popular Disney Movies - Rarely released on DVD, big occasion when they are.  ("Lion King", "Fantasia", "Sleeping Beauty", "Mary Poppins", ect.)

Moderately Popular - Released very often.  Not much of a marketing push for them. ("Dumbo", "Alice", ect.)

Unpopular - Ffft, good luck.  These were put out on DVD once and haven't been seen since.  (Anthology films, "So Dear to My Heart", "Victory Through Air Power", "Emporer's New Groove", "Atlantis", ect.)

Cold Day in Hell - "Song of the South".  I... may have a big, long essay about this coming up on my blog soon so sit tight for that.  For now, if you want to see what the big hubbub is all about, you'll only be able to find this on bootleg.


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## dontcallmeprincess

2013 for The Little Mermaid?  Looks like I'll have to stick to my old VHS for now. 

To me, the vault feels ridiculously old fashioned. I have a three year old who is just getting into the Disney Princess films in a slightly obsessive manner, but my old VHS tapes are getting old and worn out, and I can't always find the films I want on EBay or wherever. It's a shame, and a complete PITA.


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## Micca

dontcallmeprincess said:


> 2013 for The Little Mermaid?  Looks like I'll have to stick to my old VHS for now.
> 
> To me, the vault feels ridiculously old fashioned. I have a three year old who is just getting into the Disney Princess films in a slightly obsessive manner, but my old VHS tapes are getting old and worn out, and I can't always find the films I want on EBay or wherever. It's a shame, and a complete PITA.



This is why the whole concept is outmoded.  You are ready to give Disney your money today, but they are not in a postition to take it.  Your options are ebay or Craiglist, or maybe a yardsale.  If you buy a copy from one of those sources you won't need another copy in 2013.  If you don't find a used one, what happens if your DD has "moved on" to other interests by 2013?  Disney loses money.  How can they allow that to happen?


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## dontcallmeprincess

Micca said:


> This is why the whole concept is outmoded.  You are ready to give Disney your money today, but they are not in a postition to take it.  Your options are ebay or Craiglist, or maybe a yardsale.  If you buy a copy from one of those sources you won't need another copy in 2013.  If you don't find a used one, what happens if your DD has "moved on" to other interests by 2013?  Disney loses money.  How can they allow that to happen?



DS  I have a rather modern son, who loves the Disney Princess range as much as the Pixar range. Talking of which, do the Pixar films go back in the vault? Or is it just the "classics"  I don't get why they'd willingly miss out on a large section of fans. It's never made sense to me.


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## Micca

dontcallmeprincess said:


> DS  I have a rather modern son, who loves the Disney Princess range as much as the Pixar range. Talking of which, do the Pixar films go back in the vault? Or is it just the "classics"  I don't get why they'd willingly miss out on a large section of fans. It's never made sense to me.



Oops, sorry for the gender swap Clearly your DS has excellent tastes in Disney literature.  A certain sign of being raised right.


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## bellanotte10

yeah i've never understood the vault, though I was able to buy hercules, Emperor's new groove and nightmare before christmas with no problem. I feel like they just don't have the clout (like pp said) to even be considered for the vault. Though watch I say this and they all go away and my friend who was going to buy hercules soon will hunt me down. 

Bringing them in and out of the vault increases sales when people know that they're going to be going into the vault because they won't get it for quite some time, and when they're coming back out of the vault its a mad dash to buy them because you don't know how long it'll last. I know i'm going to make a mad dash to buy Lion King


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## bellanotte10

AulaniOwner said:


> I just bought Lion King brand new on DVD for $10 on Amazon.



dude seriously?! I may have to check this out.....


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## castmember19

Since the actual question was how long they stay in the vault, I believe the number is seven years. Also, I believe there are only a few movies in the vault, rather than every Disney movie ever- you can look that information up on Google. I'm not entirely certain.

I've been personally buying every movie that has come out of the vault (and Tangled) on DVD/Blu-Ray combo pack because let's face it... in seven+ years, Blu-Ray will probably have taken over DVD players completely. Of course there will still be DVD players available (I know I have a VHS player that goes completely unused except for when it comes to homemade movies) but Blu-Ray will probably be the new norm.


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## tara lynn

Micca said:


> This is why the whole concept is outmoded.  You are ready to give Disney your money today, but they are not in a postition to take it.  Your options are ebay or Craiglist, or maybe a yardsale.  If you buy a copy from one of those sources you won't need another copy in 2013.  If you don't find a used one, what happens if your DD has "moved on" to other interests by 2013?  Disney loses money.  How can they allow that to happen?



I totally agree... it doesn't make much sense nowadays to continue with the vault. I've been working on building my Disney DVD collection and if there are movies that I can't buy new, I just go to eBay or stores like FYE that sell used DVDs. I assume there are lots of other people who do the same thing.


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## mousterpiece

*castmember19*, I doubt it'll take 7+ years for Blu-ray to completely take over DVDs, but your point is pretty spot on. Also, I do think you're right that it's 7 years, as that was also the amount of time it took for movies to get rereleased by Disney, back when that was something they did regularly, not for special occasions like Lion King 3D.


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## Northy

Babbletrish said:


> "Victory Through Air Power".


Presuming you mean the short, Walt Disney Treasures: On the Front Lines has it as does Archive.org.


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## BrytEydBelle

tara lynn said:


> I totally agree... it doesn't make much sense nowadays to continue with the vault. I've been working on building my Disney DVD collection and if there are movies that I can't buy new, I just go to eBay or stores like FYE that sell used DVDs. I assume there are lots of other people who do the same thing.



Yeah, I don't really see the point of vaulting items in the age of technology we live in. I would love to purchase Disney's Halloween Treats (and know several other Disneyphiles who would as well), but it simply isn't available. The entire show can be found on youtube, but I would rather purchase a legal copy so I can have it permanently.


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## thehowells

i bought cinderella, new on dvd within the last 2 years, so the 7 year thing isn't always true

also, stores that have dvd's will likely hold onto them until they sell them
fantasia is "in the vault" right now, but my wal-mart has 3 copies


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## siskaren

thehowells said:


> i bought cinderella, new on dvd within the last 2 years, so the 7 year thing isn't always true
> 
> also, stores that have dvd's will likely hold onto them until they sell them
> fantasia is "in the vault" right now, but my wal-mart has 3 copies



Cinderella came out on DVD in 2005.  And when Disney says they put the movies back in the vault, they just mean that they won't send any more copies out to stores, but the stores are allowed to keep the copies they have on the sales floor until they sell out.  However, it did seem to me that a Target I go to had Fantasia just a few days before it was going back into the vault, but then a few days after it was gone, but it's certainly possible that they just happened to sell their last copies during that time.


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## BorkBorkBork

I agree with the PP who wondered what happened to Aladdin. I had high hopes that with the 20th anniversary coming up they would put it out on Blu-ray but it's looking bleak.

If you have a Half Price Books by you, that's another place to check. I've gotten The Many Adventures of Winnie-the-Pooh, The Little Mermaid, and my long searched for copy of Peter Pan there in recent years. Still looking for Aladdin and Cinderella!


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## castmember19

BorkBorkBork said:


> I agree with the PP who wondered what happened to Aladdin. I had high hopes that with the 20th anniversary coming up they would put it out on Blu-ray but it's looking bleak.
> 
> If you have a Half Price Books by you, that's another place to check. I've gotten The Many Adventures of Winnie-the-Pooh, The Little Mermaid, and my long searched for copy of Peter Pan there in recent years. Still looking for Aladdin and Cinderella!



Cinderella should be out in the holiday season of 2012. Think this time next year. 

As for Aladdin... I have no idea! I don't even think Aladdin is in the vault system.

I checked Wikipedia (I know it's not the most accurate source but w/e) and it says...



> In the US, Aladdin was originally included, but this has now been replaced by Fantasia.



So does that mean it'll never have a big re-release like the others?!


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## thehowells

siskaren said:


> Cinderella came out on DVD in 2005.  And when Disney says they put the movies back in the vault, they just mean that they won't send any more copies out to stores, but the stores are allowed to keep the copies they have on the sales floor until they sell out.  However, it did seem to me that a Target I go to had Fantasia just a few days before it was going back into the vault, but then a few days after it was gone, but it's certainly possible that they just happened to sell their last copies during that time.



we bought it from the disney movie club, even more recently than that, my daughter is 5 and we got our first shipment from dmc when she was about 2


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## Reddog1134

From my limited "investigation" it seems like they release the movies every 7 years.  Each time they complete a cycle they start over with a new edition (Gold, Platinum, Diamond, etc).  In addition to this, they do milestone anniversary editions (25th anniversary, 50th anniversary, etc).


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