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Disneyland Thanksgiving Banquet, November 2017 - A Photo Report
DisneyDan  Friday, March 16, 2018 3:10:34 PM
Hello everyone,

In my continued effort to catch up on my reports, today I am going to share with you my photos from our amazing experience at the Disneyland Resort Thanksgiving Banquet.

The Thanksgiving Banquet was held on Thanksgiving day, November 2017, at the Disneyland Hotel. The Banquet was held in one of the main ballrooms, and required pre-booking at least 60 days in advance.

The main reason for us wanting to attend this experience is because in previous years they have had some really neat characters. While we didn't get anyone super rare at this one, there was a really good number of characters in attendance, including many of our favourites.

The food was pretty good, and was buffet style. We did have a server who brought drinks and saw to any requests we had. The buffet food was pretty good, and while there wasn't anything amazing for vegetarians, there was enough for us to eat.

For the money we paid (and while I don't recall the exact cost right now, it was certainly less than $100 per person), it was exceptionally good value. The sheer number of characters and the amount of time we spent there (at least four hours!), and the quality and quantity of the food, made it well worth it. Regular character meals can easily cost upwards of $60 per person these days, and the fact there were
18 characters at this meal made it phenomenally good value.

My only complaint is that the character lines were long (you lined up, as opposed to them coming to you), and they rotated without guarantee who you would get - hence why we spent four hours there! It took us three attempts of standing in line to get Horace, which was a little frustrating. However, the backgrounds were really nice, and well themed for Thanksgiving/fall.

Since it was several months ago now, I won't say anything more - so please enjoy these photos!
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Halloween Time and Mickey's Halloween Party Details and Dates
DisneyDan  Thursday, July 20, 2017 4:32:38 PM
Hello everyone,

Earlier this week the Disney Parks Blog announced the Disneyland Resort's plans for Halloween Time this year, including dates for the popular Mickey's Halloween Party event.

The daytime activities at Disneyland park are anticipated to be the same, with Mickey and friends greeting in their Halloween costumes, Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy, and the Haunted Mansion Holiday overlay. For the most part, the Mickey's Halloween Party event at Disneyland park sounds very much the same as last year, with the return of the Frightfully Fun Parade, which features the Headless Horseman, the Halloween Screams fireworks, character greetings, and more. I'll come back to the party a little later, however, Disney California Adventure will be joining the spooky festivities with its own Halloween celebration, with two key additions. Buena Vista Street will be taken over by Oogie Boogie, and Cars Land will feature "Haul-O-Ween".

The images below were shared by the DPB:
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Disneyland, February 2017 - A Trip Report
DisneyDan  Wednesday, March 15, 2017 10:41:27 AM
Hello everyone,

Last month I shared with you my report on our trip to Disneyland for AP Days and the return of the Main Street Electrical Parade. That report specifically focussed on those two things, can be found by clicking here.

In this second and final part of my trip report for our visit to Disneyland, I am going to share with you everything else that we managed to do in the whirlwind less-than-two-day adventure we had there!

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AP Days and the Main Street Electrical Parade Final Homecoming - A Trip Report, February 2017
DisneyDan  Thursday, February 16, 2017 11:37:23 AM
Hello everyone,

On January 19th this year the Main Street Electrical Parade came back to Disneyland at a special event, which was followed the next day by the start of its final daily run at the park, which will end on June 18th this year.

Last weekend (Friday 10th February), Disneyland began hosting the first of this year's AP Days events, which for this month is themed to the Main Street Electrical Parade. Running until March 9th, annual passholders can visit the park every week to receive special buttons, menu cards, and other giveaway items, and meet characters. We were there this past weekend for the 2017 debut of AP Days, and to see the Main Street Electrical Parade (MSEP), and so I have my report here for you now!   [ Read More... ]
NEWS - Summer of Heroes, Beauty and the Beast, Happily Ever After, and Doc McStuffins
DisneyDan  Thursday, February 16, 2017 9:07:28 AM
Hello everyone,

Yesterday the Disney Parks Blog (DPB) made a surprise announcement about an upcoming event at the Disneyland Resort. From May 27th - the day that the new Guardians of the Galaxy attraction opens at Disney California Adventure - until September 10th, the park will present the Summer of Heroes.

The DPB describes this new event as follows:   [ Read More... ]
News - Disney's Electrical Parade leaving WDW, coming to DL, DLP Halloween announcements and Christmas in TDR!
DisneyDan  Thursday, August 11, 2016 9:30:18 AM
Hello everyone,

Yesterday the Disney Parks Blog made the surprising announcement that Disney's Electrical Parade (fondly known as the Main Street Electrical Parade to fans) would be coming to an end after a final performance on 9th October. In an odd twist, they also announced that it would be moving to Disneyland in California for a "limited engagement", "early next year". As always, Disney are completely vague as to what they mean exactly - "early" could mean anywhere from January to April, and of course "limited engagement" could mean a month or six months! Even stranger still, just last week as I reported here on the blog, Disneyland are ending their popular Paint the Night parade, but instead of that moving somewhere else, the most recent update from the DPB suggests that Paint the Night will actually remain at the DLR and return for holiday events! Having two electrical parades at one park, that could potentially switch out depending on the day/season/event is quite odd, especially since it leaves WDW without a nighttime parade.

Disneyland Paris yesterday released its Halloween press release, and everything sounds just about the same as it has for the past couple of years. That isn't altogether a bad thing since the Halloween season there has been quite strong and reasonably successful in recent years, so there isn't much need to change the formula I suppose. Returning to Parc Disneyland this Halloween season will be Mickey's Halloween Celebration, which is their daily Halloween cavalcade (not quite a full parade, for those wondering). It’s Good to Be Bad with the Disney Villains!, which stars Jafar, Cruella, the Queen of Hearts, Captain Hook, The Witch, Frollo and Dr Facilier, will also be returning to the Castle Stage. Daisy and Stitch will appear at Costume Corner (Daisy replacing Minnie this year), and Maleficent will return to the Castle Courtyard. Rumours have gone around the internet of other character appearances, such as Marie and even Cheshire Cat - but I'll say what I always say: nothing is certain until Disney says otherwise, and even then, things can change on a daily basis! All we know right now is what I have mentioned above. Disney's Halloween will run from 1st October until 2nd November, with Disney's Halloween Soiree ticketed event featuring on 31st October, as per usual.

Tokyo Disney Resort revealed its Christmas offerings yesterday, and since much of it was new last year (TDR tend to have a three-to-five year life cycle of its seasonal entertainment), it wasn't much of a surprise that it will all be pretty much the same. At Tokyo Disneyland we can expect the return of the Disney Christmas Stories parade, the Christmas version of Dreamlights, and the seasonal overlays to the bands, Haunted Mansion and the Country Bears, and other minor entertainment. At Tokyo DisneySea we can expect to see the return of A Perfect Christmas, Colors of Christmas, and again, the overlays to regular entertainment such as A Table is Waiting and the bands. We were lucky enough to be in Tokyo Disney Resort for Christmas season last year, and you can read my report about it here on the blog!

That's everything for today. Have a great day everyone.

Dan.
News - Halloween Time and Mickey's Halloween Party dates announced - with new surprises!
DisneyDan  Thursday, July 14, 2016 8:59:38 AM
Hello everyone,

Yesterday the Disney Parks Blog finally officially announced the dates for Mickey's Halloween Party at Disneyland this year, as well as the dates the tickets go on sale to various groups of guests.

The blog confirmed the return of Haunted Mansion Holiday and Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy for the season, as well as the return of the Halloween Screams fireworks for the parties. They did also reveal that new for this year, the Headless Horseman would make a "spooky ride" through the park each party night! The Magic Kingdom's Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party has done this for many years, so it'll be interesting and fun to see the ghoulish horseman at Disneyland this year!

Halloween Time will run from 9th September until 31st October, inclusive, with Mickey's Halloween Party running on 17 select nights from 23rd September until 31st October.

The dates for the parties are as follows:

September 23, 26, 28 and 30.
October 3, 5, 7, 10, 12, 14, 17, 19, 21, 24, 26, 29 and 31.

Tickets go on sale for Disneyland Resort Annual Passholders, Disney Visa Reward members and Disney Vacation Club members next week, on the 21st July, and to the general public on 28th July. Prices start from $72 (plus tax) and go up to $99 (plus tax), depending on the night.

Have a great day everyone,

Dan.
NEWS - Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps coming to the US Parks, Kristoff and Olaf coming to Blizzard Beach
DisneyDan  Wednesday, March 2, 2016 11:42:42 AM
Hello everyone,

Today the Disney Parks Blog made two announcements regarding character offerings coming to Walt Disney World Resort and Disneyland Resort.

In the first, it was announced that Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps from the latest animated movie, 'Zootopia', would be coming to both Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World Resort. At Disneyland guests will be able to meet the pair on Hollywood Boulevard, at Disney California Adventure. At Walt Disney World, unfortunately, you will only be able to wave to them - and maybe dance, depending on how they use them - from the sidelines, as they appear in Move It! Shake It! Dance and Play It! Street Party at the Magic Kingdom.
While I generally try to remain neutral here on the blog in most cases, I have to say that it is immensely disappointing that, once again, Walt Disney World are getting the bad deal out of new characters. For example, Olaf has been greeting in Disneyland and Hong Kong Disneyland for what seems like forever now, yet he is nowhere to be seen at Walt Disney World. It is very frustrating that guests to Walt Disney World are going to have to suffer watching the street party in order just to see the characters, when guests in California can meet them. In addition, while the movie comes out this week, we will have to wait until "later this spring" to even see them, whenever that may be!

The second announcement is just about as frustrating as the first. It was revealed that during the "summer" (again, with no definitive time frame given), guests will be able to see Kristoff and Olaf at Disney's Blizzard Beach Water Park, hosting "Frozen Games".
To quote the Parks Blog:

"Guests visiting the waterpark can to join "Team Kristoff" or "Team Olaf" and participate in a variety of activities, including Ice Pail Relays, a Snowball Toss to Ski Pole Limbo and Slide Races.
Olaf and Kristoff will join the Winter Games Committee members in the games’ Opening and Closing Ceremonies, and will give updates throughout the games to report on their team’s achievements."

Clearly Disney understand that these characters are popular, so why aren't they out greeting? As I said above, meanwhile at the other parks, guests can meet Olaf.

I have created a poll for this blog post, which you can participate in by logging onto our forum and clicking on this thread, here.

Have a great week everyone,

Dan.
Character Central Advent Calendar - 11th and 12th December
DisneyDan  Sunday, December 13, 2015 9:47:43 AM
Hello everyone,

We have had an exceptionally busy weekend and so I didn't get chance to post these sadly, but here we are now!

Let's see who was behind doors eleven and twelve!

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Character Central Advent Calendar - 3rd and 4th December
DisneyDan  Friday, December 4, 2015 9:09:21 AM
Hello everyone,

We were travelling yesterday and so I couldn't post an advent calendar blog, so today I'll share two photos instead of the usual one.

Let's see who is behind the doors today!

  [ Read More... ]
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