Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Alert for Disney Little Mermaid Fans - Walmart Exclusive Gift Set



I almost decided not to feature this set because after 5 failed telephone attempts to get a price from 4 local Walmart stores, I feel pi**ed at Walmart. I placed the calls, asked for the product, told the individuals answering the phone that the item is NOT on their website, and waited for 10-20 minutes each call only to realize that no one would return to the phone until I hung up. Three of the workers tried to help, but they were in other departments or happened to find the phone off the hook. Puff.

Little Mermaid fan? Do you know one? Well, you might be interested in this Walmart Exclusive Little Mermaid Lagoon Gift Set. The set includes a humanized Ariel, human Eric. a yellow fish, a cooked but talking lobster, and a musical boat that SHOULD NOT be placed in water.

Two aspects stand out for me about this set:

1. that the boat should not be placed in water

2. that the red lobster looks alive

Shouldn't the boat be able to float on water? But then, it is a musical boat. It plays tunes from the movie ... according to the box description. Why does the boat play music? To set the atmosphere, I suppose. Wouldn't it be more fun if the boat could float? Shrug the first.

The lobster next. Okay, Disney is full of animals as friendly, happy, cheerful chatterers. And Ariel as a [once/former?] mermaid has lots of sea creature friends. Including fish and lobsters. That lobster though is red. I mean red lobster = cooked. Cooked = dead = not a friendly, happy, cheerful chatterer. I can suspend disbelief about Ariel changing from mermaid to human for love. (I can not imagine a love that self- destructive: possibly a shortcoming on my part.) But why is the dead red lobster all smiley-faced animated?

Then again, I did not see this movie - surprised? - so maybe there were extenuating circumstances. I dislike the original Hans Christian Andersen mermaid story so I assumed I would like the Disney version even less. (The treacly Disney version does not depress as the Andersen story does. Whew. But the goo factor leaves me cantankerous.)

As for this gift set, I wish those interested MUCH luck in finding them. I am going to send a tweet about Walmart customer service and send a Facebook post about my difficulties. Waste my time ... I'll show them.

15 comments:

Heather said...

Awww, Sebastian has always been red. I suspect Disney made him that color because it's the color most folks (especially kids) associate with lobsters if all they ever do is see them in their "prepared" state. XD

Although he's usually a darker shade of red. XD

The boat not floating is just dumb.

Unknown said...

Vaya no lo sabiaaa gracias por decirlo http://cosasdecosturadecarmele.blogspot.com

Besosss

Lindaivette38 said...

Estare al tanto, para ver si llega a nuestras tiendas. Gracias.

Bridgette said...

He's a crab anyway, not a lobster :)

D7ana said...

Hi Heather, Carmen Gutierrez, Lindaivette Montes de Oca, and Muppet the Mophead!

You are welcome. Thanks for naming the sea creature er crab and for the correction about his species, lol. I did not know ;-)

I like that the dolls' heads are smaller in this set. I hope all who want this set are able to find it.

Sebastian? I have not heard that name in many years.

***

Usted es bienvenido. Gracias por nombrar a la criatura marina er cangrejo y para la corrección de sus especies, lol. No sabía;-)

Me gusta que las cabezas de las muñecas son más pequeños en este conjunto. Espero que todos los que quieren este juego son capaces de encontrarlo.

Sebastian? No he oído ese nombre en muchos años.

Muff said...

LOL @ your Walmart rant! I have noticed that a lot of the things they have on their website are becoming "on line" only. I used to be able look for something on their website and then go get it in the store. Now it's site to store for most stuffs.

If I was a kid the first thing I would do is take that boat and the dolls into the tub with me. And when it sank and the music sputtered off I'd be like, "WTF!"

Muff said...

And P.S. you should totally check out the movie from the library. It's actually rather good with some of the best songs ever. I wore out my soundtrack cassette - back when cassettes were in vogue, lol.

Vanessa said...

Cute set, but a non floating boat just doesn't work. This is one of my all-time favorite Disney movies. Loved it. As with a lot of Disney movies, there's a lot of adult theme there too. And you can't have the little Mermaid with Sebastian. A definite must.

D7ana said...

Hi Muff and Vanessa - okay, I yield. I'm going to get these Disney movies from the Free Library: The Little Mermaid, The Princess and the Frog, and Brave. The only Disney film I ever saw was Snow White.

@Muff, the thing that left me incensed was the holding on and nobody returning. Ahhhh! LOL. I mean just tell me to go to the store where I saw it. Then again, maybe they thought I was a prank call. Or maybe I was being pranked.

Now whoa, cassettes are no longer in vogue? No wonder I can't find a new double cassette radio player ... ;-)

@Vanessa - now I really, really have to see that film. And this Sebastian character sounds like a charmer.

@Muff - lol at the thought of Little Muff going WTF about the non-floating, music-ceasing boat.

Cindi Mortensen said...

You tell 'em D7ana! Tell the nits at Walmart that one should never leave a customer on hold. Ever! I saw this set at my local store. I think it was $24.97 or something like that. Non-floating boats don't work for me either! LOL :-)

V. said...

I agree with Muff, the movie is very funny indeed and has great songs! you'll totally forget that the lobster is red XD (you're right, but I just never thought of it). And of course Disney always changes the original stories. Most of them are traditionally very depressing/violent.

Barb the Evil Genius said...

As far as the music, that is one of the biggest musical scenes in the movie. Sebastian is trying to create a romantic mood so Eric will "Kiss the Girl" and Ariel can be human forever and get her voice back. Plus I don't know how well they could get a boat that size to float without capsizing. But it would have been cool.

http://mylittledollcorner.blogspot.com/

D7ana said...

Hi and thanks for stopping by Cindi Mortensen, V., and Barb the Evil Genius.

@Cindi - thanks for the boat price. Non-floating boats ;-P

@V. - I tried to get that movie from my library only to find that there are 6 others before me in a queue for it. That speaks well for it. I am going to see it ... someday.

I prefer happier endings.

@Barb - Sebastian sounds like a sweetie. Yes, a floating boat would have been neat. Cool. Pity that.

Thanks for sharing the link to your doll blog. I left a message on your Sindy post.

Cindi Mortensen said...

D7ana,
I went to Walmart last night for something and went back to look at that Ariel set. The actual price on it was $49.45!! I thought it was 24 something. Hmm. Almost $50 for a non-floating boat. LOL :-)

D7ana said...

WHAT!?

Thanks, Cindi Mortensen. OMG, somebody has forgotten the situation with the U.S. economy.