Jim’s Mold-A-Rama page
FLORIDA, OHIO &
OTHER MACHINES
Mold-A-Rama collecting
is a lot of fun, but the resources on the Internet are rather sparse. Many websites that purport to be complete
listings are woefully out-of-date.
I will never be able to
compile a complete listing of Mold-A-Rama designs, locations or colors. Nonetheless, I have decided to post parts of
my collection to help give a more complete picture of the toys that are
available. More will be posted as I
photograph the collection. Worth noting:
there are no Mold-A-Rama machines at Disney World or Disneyland.
DUE TO THE NUMBER OF LISTINGS, I HAVE
SPLIT THE PAGE INTO SEPARATE STATES
My home is in the Detroit area, so I regularly
keep track of the Henry Ford Museum machines. All other machines are monitored
only during rare visits.
Recent
updates:
February 2023
– Henry Ford Museum
February 2023
– Universal Studios Orlando
(from January)
February 2023
– Museum of Science & Industry
Mold-a-Rama exhibit (from December 2022)
FLORIDA
Universal Studios Florida, Orlando,
Florida
Reported August 21, 2020: Although Halloween
Horror Nights was canceled for 2020, a HHN “tribute” store has opened at
Universal Studios with themed merchandise.
Inside the store is a M-A-R machine renamed as “Franken-Mold.” It makes a green full-body Frankenstein
monster with a cost of $6. I do not have
photos to share, but have seen photos from friends in Florida.
The store is quite busy, and there is typically
a 30-45 minute wait to enter in observance of social distancing rules. There are no other M-A-R machines at the
store, and we know of no machines in other sections of the park.
UPDATE: MARCH 16, 2022: Apologies for failing
to update this in a timely fashion – During my January 5, 2022 visit to the
Universal Legacy Store at Universal CityWalk I found two
machines. Jaws is offered in
silver-grey, and King Kong (gorilla) in dark red. I did not buy samples, but it appears they
each have “Universal Studios” on the base.
They cost $6 each.
UPDATE: JULY 15, 2022: In a press release,
Universal Studios Florida has announced the reopening of its Sahara Traders
store. The photo shows a “Franken-Mold”
machine with a grey monster. It appears the new price point is $8. I have not
personally confirmed availability. ▼
(photo courtesy
Universal Studios Florida)
UPDATE OCT. 23, 2022 – New designs and colors
have been added for Halloween season.
Friends have reported a green Creature from the Black Lagoon at the Red
(Dead) Coconut Club and a purple cat with witch’s hat (possibly at CityWalk).
UPDATE JANUARY 2023: Two molds are available at the Universal Legacy
Store in CityWalk.
Harvested on January 4, 2023 were the silver Jaws toy (this one has the
shark’s head) and grey Back to the Future clock tower. The price was $8.
Lowry
Park Zoo, Tampa, Florida.
Harvested April 2013. 8
machines available, cost $2 each as of 2013.
4 have been switched to dinosaur molds during the dinosaur exhibit,
which runs through late May 2013. It is
expected the machines will switch back to the molds shown below after the
special exhibit has run. The dinosaur
molds have the dinosaur name, but are not marked with the zoo’s name.
The dinosaur molds are stegosaurus,
brontosaurus, T-Rex, and pterodactyl.
These temporarily replace the panther, tiger, rhino, and manatee molds.
Of the other 4 molds, 2 have had color changes:
koala and elephant. The monkeys and
giraffe molds are the same color as last year.
Harvested April 2012 (below). There are 8 machines available, and the toys
cost $2 each. The black manatee is the same
mold as the silver TECO manatee viewing area design. The machines are located outdoors, except the
manatee machine (located under an overhang at the manatee underwater viewing
building).
The machines have the same basic design and
color scheme. Most machines are painted
green. The exceptions are the koala
machine (yellow) and the monkeys machine (blue). Designs: dark green elephant; black 3
monkeys; dark gray manatee; pink panther; orange tiger; red giraffes; dark
purple koala. Not shown: rhino (green). ▼▼▼▼
Lowry Park zoo machines
Tampa
Electric Company (TECO) manatee viewing area, Apollo Beach, Florida. Harvested in January 2012. This facility is open seasonally, and is
closed during summer months. There are
two machines on-site; each takes $2 to produce a toy (2012 price).
Manatee viewing area:
blue dolphin; silver manatee
TECO manatee viewing
center machines
Museum of
Science & Industry (MOSI), Tampa, Florida. One machine (red butterfly) is located on the
first floor, beyond the Information desk, near the back door leading to the
outside amphitheater area. There may be
other machines in the museum – some listings show 3 machines without revealing
their locations. The butterfly machine
can be reached without paying museum admission.
Price of M-A-R: $2. (info current
as of June 2012; probably outdated now)
Busch Gardens, Tampa, Florida: I have not been to
Busch Gardens, but my son tells me the price was $3 per figure (in 2012).
TOLEDO ZOO, Toledo, Ohio: OCT. 2022 UPDATE
– After a 3-year absence, I visited on September 28, 2022 and found some
changes to the molds, a lot of color changes, and a price increase to $5.
New molds: dark green monkeys replace the lion,
and a red panda replaces the koala. This
is timely, considering the popularity of the Disney/Pixar film “Turning
Red.” I purchased a red panda, but had
to just take pictures through the glass of the other designs. Photos of each are shown below.
The current list: white polar bear; dark green
monkeys; blue leaping cougar; yellow mother & baby giraffe; red red panda;
black gorilla; grey penguin; red hippo; brown elephant; orange crouching tiger.
The signage in October 2022 was inaccurate,
still showing the older 2019 selection that included the koala and lion, as
well as other colors:
10/3/2019. The zoo has 10 machines scattered across the
property and call their machines “Mold-A-Matic.” They reportedly substitute some Halloween-themed
molds during that season. When I visited
on August 29 and October 3, 2019, they had the following: reddish-pink koala;
grey gorilla (toy displayed in the machine is black); yellow mother & baby
giraffe; brown elephant; white polar bear; grey penguin; green lion; light blue
cougar; orange tiger; and reddish-pink hippo.
All have “TOLEDO ZOO” on the base.
The tiger mold has “TIGER” on the back of the base, and the koala toy
has “KOALA” just above the base on the front.
None of the others have the animal name listed on them.
Here is the complete set of 10 toys:
Toledo Zoo, August
& October 2019
The Toledo Zoo
machines:
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Toledo Zoo sign – not a
map, though
OTHERS
TENNESSEE
Third Man Records, Nashville TN – Purchased
at the store, pre-made, for $2 because they felt sorry for me for making a long
trip only to find the machine out of order.
Third Man Records is a music store owned by Jack White of the White
Stripes. There are various novelty
machines such as a mini-recording studio the size of a phone booth. Like his Detroit store, they have a
“Wax-O-Matic” machine. This one makes a
red guitar that is approximately 5.5” tall and 3.5” wide (the Detroit store
produces a yellow mobile record store truck).
Purchased May 16, 2021. The
normal price is probably $3 as in Detroit.
WISCONSIN
Kalahari Resort, Wisconsin Dells – sometimes
you find them when you least expect them.
This dark grey elephant is available at Kalahari Resorts in Wisconsin
Dells. The machine is located near the
ticketing area for the water park (indoors and accessible from the resort
lobby). The cost is $3 (on April 30,
2022). The toy’s base has “KALAHARI RESORT”
on one side and “WISCONSIN DELLS” on the other.
It measures about 4-1/8” tall.
August 22, 2022 update: When I visited on this
date, there were no mold machines on the property. I had heard of a second design, but neither
one was there that day. I’m thinking
they may be updating the machine(s) to raise the price, but I don’t know for
sure.
Mickey Mouse – base
says “Mickey Mouse,” and back base has copyright info for Walt Disney company.
Origin unknown, but
most likely a museum in Chicago or Dearborn.
This appears to be
the same mold in a
now-inoperable World’s Fair/Disneyland machine at the Volo Auto Museum in Illinois.
Dinosaurs – Yellow Rex
is marked “Tyrannosaurus” on one side and “COSI” on the other – from COSI
Toledo
Beige Rex is marked
“Tyrannosaurus” on one side, and no markings on other side. Mold is otherwise identical to yellow Rex.
Blue stegosaurus is
marked “Stegosaurus,” but with no origin noted.
red Stegosaurus is old,
and is from the Sinclair traveling World’s Fair exhibit – marked “Sinclair
Dinoland”
On occasion I will list
Mold-a-Rama toys on eBay. Link to my
auctions:
New 04/29/2012
Revised 2/19/2023