really crappy news considering the 2nd of December is my birthday...

Looks like Amazon has now changed the release date to May 4th.

Oh man this sucks! Normally I'd have been fine with a delay for the various reasons others have noted, but the Disney Treasure series have become a traditional Christmas gift from me to my 2 daughters the last two years. Year one they got Mickey and SS, last year they got Goofy and Mickey in B&W, and this year was supposed to be Donald and Mickey V2.

Additionally, one of my daughters is very into her Mickey's Christmas Carol storybook right now and I was totally looking forward to seeing her realize that it was part of the set.

I'm not entirely sure why the delay has to be so long - couldn't they do the same thing Warner did when there was a shortage of Warner Classics DVD's?

Drebin!

I got an email from Buena Vista rep. here in Quebec, and the delay is cause by the delay in making the tin boxes........

No tin boxes = no Disney Treasures

Thank you god I got far to much shit on order and my gaming is taking up alot of my cash. I'm a happy boy about this news.

From NorthAmericanDVD:

Hello,

I am sorry to inform you that the Walt disney treasures Tins have been delayed until May 2004, would you like us to hold the order and ship to you upon release or would you like us to cancel the order ? I apologize for any inconvenience.

Regards and Thanks Angela

Why couldn't they just produce more and send them out when they were finished instead of delaying the whole thing??

I am really pissed about this. I mean, last year there were only 3 released, and this year we aren't getting any.

Hey, ya know - shit happens! Don't have a heart attack or a stroke over this okay?!

Because they probably already have tins that say XXX of 150,000 or whatever already made. They now need to start over completly with all new tins. Also it's mid November and Christmas is just around the corner. I'm sure the duplicating plants aren't just sitting around with nothing to do.

Unfortunately all the magical fairies they've had in their movies for years are just make believe. It's going to take them time to get the job done right and they're smart enough to realize that the whining now wouldn't even hold a candle to the whining that will take place if they do a rush job and end up with a crappy product. These sets are too good to not take the time to get the job done properly. Should it take till May to get the job done right? Beats me.

I'm disappointed, but happy that Disney is choosing to do the right thing here. I've been collecting them since the beginning and have been worried all year about getting a copy before the ebay'ers can swoop in and snatch them all up (I like buying my local so I can check out the tins). I'd rather wait a few more months than find myself unable to get a copy because the demand was too high.

According to Digital Bits:
(LATE UPDATE - 11/13/03 - 4 PM PDT)

We've just gotten official word that Disney's Walt Disney Treasures, Wave 3 has been delayed until May 18th, 2004. This includes The Chronological Donald, Volume 1 (1934-1941), Mickey Mouse in Living Color, Volume 2, Tomorrowland: Disney in Space and Beyond and Walt Disney On the Front Lines. We're told this has nothing to do with content issues - the delay is reportedly due to manufacturing capacity, or a lack thereof. With all the other big Disney titles being released, it's not possible to press enough copies of the WDT titles to meet demand by the originally scheduled release date. So just be aware. In the meantime, don't forget that you can catch up on the previously released Walt Disney Treasures titles at Costco right now if you act fast.

This implies it's pressing the actual disks, not the tin, but of course it's vague. I haven't been collecting them all, I've got the ones I'm 'interested' in, and this will give me a little time to decide which of this set I'm still interested in preordering.

And true, I'd rather them wait and put out a good, complete product than a hack rush job. But it's odd that it's taken this long to determine that they need another 5 months to put them together.

I agree, MEJH, Ebay has turned into a plague with regards to dvd's, especially collectible dvd's. People who buy a hundred copies, or even ten copies, of these 'limited disks' for the sole purpose of immediately hocking them on ebay for 3-10 times the original price are no better than the concert/sport ticket scalping b@st@rds.

http://www.dvdfile.com/software/dvd-...003/11_13.html

Direct quote:

Treasure Tales - 12:21am

Where's Walt? Last week, Buena Vista Home Entertainment announced a five-month delay for the latest four releases in the studio's highly popular Walt Disney Treasures collection, which has caused a small furor across the Internet about the true reasoning behind the postponement.

The Treasures collection, a series of limited edition tins that contain extensive collections of classic Disney animated shorts, television specials and vintage archival material, are usually released every December to commemorate Walt's birthday. The four titles - The Chronological Donald Volume 1, Mickey Mouse in Living Color 2, Walt Disney on the Front Lines and Tomorrowland - were originally scheduled for a December 2nd street date, and have now been pushed back to May 18th. But it is Walt Disney on the Front Lines that is causing all the controversy among enthusiasts, with many fans speculating that Disney has intentionally delayed the release to make alterations to the set in lieu of potentially controversial content.

To quell the mounting backlash, Disney has publicly denied the accusations of self-censorship, instead citing a simple problem of supply and demand. "We had the fortunate problem of having much higher demand than we had anticipated," says Disney executive Lori McPherson. "We thought orders would be a little bit higher because we knew there was going to be a lot of demand for the Disney on the Front Lines volume, but orders came in about fifty percent higher than even our most aggressive projection."

Unlike most DVD releases, which come in standard keepcase-like packaging, the Walt Disney Treasures series is also housed in a custom collectible tin, which must be imported from overseas and necessitated the delay. "There was no way (the studio) could get them in time," McPherson adds. "We were in a situation where we would have to allocate orders out to retailers, and that, combined with the fact that it is such a busy fourth quarter led us to decide that the best thing to do with these releases was to move them to May 18th."

And in what McPherson calls an "incorrect supposition," internet speculation has many fans worried that the Walt Disney on the Front Lines that will premiere in May will be different from what would have arrived in December. But "we are not changing anything," McPHerson assures. The discs "are already done and have been done for a number of months. I think some consumers were just surprised that we were releasing the war shorts, because we have never released them before."

Like all of the Walt Disney Treasures titles, Walt Disney on the Front Lines will be available only for a limited time, which McPherson believes is the main reason for the sudden surge in interest. "Retailers are realizing that we are only releasing them once. We are not repromoting them all year long. They really do go away."

huh??? did i miss something?

I am so glad they are delayed. There is just too much to buy right now.

Yup, stop by the "Bargains" forum sometime.

company all this week left me way behind on my DVDTalk routine.

Just got an e-mail today from Amazon re: the order being delayed.

I have to say, if it's all about capacity and not about censorship, I'm all for the delay (though wish they had realized it sooner and fixed it). As MJEH points out, if they could have only put 50,000 or so on the street, E-bay vultures would have controlled distribution too much.

Wal-Mart Canada has the Disney Treasures advertised in next weeks flyer (available Dec. 2nd) for $25.83 ea.

$25.83 Canadian by Dec 2?? I think I'll get em all!!!