More Confusion with 9" Animation 1

Update: 3/16/11 - Disney's Vinylmation blog today states that the general release windows they talked about yesterday were referring to the release dates of these figures at the Disney Parks. Seems like they still might be sporadically available at select Disney Stores. We placed a call to a Tampa Disney store and they said they just got a couple Willie the Whales in on Monday. Maybe spreading out the releases across both Disney Stores and Parks will cut down on the extra 9" figures that sit on the D-Street shelves for so long. We will keep you updated on an official release date for Animation 9" at the Disney Parks.

Today the Disney Vinylmation Blog announced the the rest of the Animation 1 9"s release date's are going to be spread out over the next year. Back on January 7th 2011 the first two 9" figures were released in D-Street stores. That was Pete's Dragon and the Beast. Now the blog states that Bolt and Merlin will officially be released in the Fall of 2011, and that sometime this spring we will be seeing Willie the Whale and the Hycacinth Hippo.
That's interesting and all, but since January 29th, all of them have been available (on and off) at the NYC Times Square store, as well as various Disney Stores across the US. So that leaves us with the question: What is Disney doing with these? Why are they already out in some places, but not officially out? We'd love to know your opinion. Leave a comment at the bottom.