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Hi all,
This week various sources are reporting that Tinker Bell's newest Fairy friend from Pixie Hollow, Perrywinkle, will start appearing this autumn at the US Parks.
When we hear more we'll of course post here on the blog.
Over in Hong Kong, they are just about 4 weeks away from the second of the three new lands to open there, Grizzly Gulch. The official HK Disneyland Facebook page and the website both confirm that Mickey, Minnie, Chip and Dale will appear in the new land in Western themed outfits, as well as Koda and Kenai from Brother Bear (the link being here that Grizzly Gulch is named after the famed bear shaped mountain that casts a shadow over the small mining town).
We are going to be in HKDL on two trips this year, so we REALLY look forward to seeing that when we go!
Over in California Loren reports that Donald is replacing Mickey at Paradise Pier. The reason, apparently is because Mickey will now be appearing down in Buena Vista Street in his new 1920s outfit.
The flaw in that logic is that Donald also will be meeting down there in a new 1920s outfit too. But either way, it means Donald is getting a new outfit for Paradise Pier, as well as the 1920s one!
Finally, and also in DCA, Loren also reports that an inside source has told him that the new Dance Party over in the Backlot will feature random and possibly rare characters this summer!
As always, we'll keep you up to date with any changes!
One last thing to mention - Happy 18th Birthday The Lion King! Check out my special tribute here on the blog!
Dan. |
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Hi all,
Overall not too much going on in the character world this week, but there were a few interesting points to note.
Over in California, Buena Vista Street got it's previews, and some of the brand new Citizens of Buena Vista Street were out greeting for the first time, as well as Mickey and Friends in their brand new 1920's style Hollywood outfits!
I don't have any pictures to post here (all from my contacts, sadly), but if you find any, hit the Discuss button below and reply on our Forum! We'll also be there at the end of July for ourselves, and will meet them all, of course! We're really excited to be able to go to DCA so soon after the new things open!
Along with the Buena Vista Street preview, Cars Land also had a preview, and Mater, McQueen and the brand new Red character were there. Mater and McQueen have been park regulars for a long time now, and will continue to meet once DCA re-opens. Red will star in his own new show in Cars Land once the land opens this week! [ Read More... ] |
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Hi all!
Wow it has been a crazy few weeks for us, but things are finally settling down, and I can catch up on all the character news in the world! Ok, so we might be a little late on some of this, but it's good to have it all in one place, and who knows - you may have missed something!
So, first up California.
The Disney Parks Blog revealed a few things about the new Cars Land, and some coming entertainment offerings.
Big Red and DJ, both characters from the popular movie series will debut on June 15th - Cars Land official opening date - in two new unique shows.
All the details can be found here on the Parks Blog. We can't wait to see these this summer!
Across the Esplanade, Disneyland surprised us all by announcing that they will be adding a new weekend entertainment to the Ranch area of Frontierland. It sounds like there could be some really awesome things going on there, with some rarer characters too, such as the Country Bears, Clara Cluck, Clarabelle and Horace - as well as Mickey and the gang in special themed outfits!
We're not sure that this will still be there when we go in the late summer, but we hope it is, as it sounds really neat!
MiceAge king, Al Lutz reported that the new Fantasy Faire, which replaces the Carnation Gardens (which closed this past week), will feature a daytime show which will rotate between the different princesses, and a special new meet 'n' greet area. Apparently the new meet 'n' greet rooms will be better than the new WDW versions which are going in to the Snow White attraction's space, which doesn't surprise me to be honest!
Over in Tokyo, they are gearing up for a summer of fun, and the Disney Parks Blog (in an unusual move) released some details about some of their character filled events.
There are a few different festivals and celebrations going on, which includes all your favourite pals in some neat outfits. Sadly I think we'll probably miss these when we go, but if you are able to get there we'd love to see your pics on the Forums!
The Parks Blog ALSO announced information regarding Tokyo's 30th Anniversary, which is coming up next April. The new parade will be titled Happiness is Here, and will replace the current day time parade, Jubilation (which incidentally is just four years old right now!). Tokyo sure do like to get through new parades! You can find a link to the official OLC Press Release on the Forum here.
Over in Walt Disney World, Princess Merida has been making surprise appearances ahead of her grand debut. She has been spotted by fans in EPCOT this week. Our fans here at Character Central have posted some awesome pictures to this thread here on our Forum, so be sure to check those out!
Finally, WDW have announced their dates for this years Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween and Very Merry Christmas Parties.
Check out all the dates and prices here for Halloween, and here for Christmas!
We attended Halloween last year and were really happy to see some great additions such as Gaston to the line-up. We can't attend this year due to other plans (how about Tokyo and Hong Kong for Halloween instead?! ;) ), but we look forward to hearing which villains might show up this year!
If you posted to our forums in the last month, be sure to check out the results of our competition that was held for our forum users!
Ok, that's all for now!
Dan. |
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 | Happy 11th Birthday Disney California Adventure! | |
| DisneyDan
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 7:16:25 AM |
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Eleven years ago today, the then named Disney's California Adventure Park opened at the newly branded Disneyland Resort in California, becoming Disney's 8th theme park around the world.
The park has seen many changes over the years, and this year is going to experience the grand opening it's most daring project yet!
So let's celebrate by taking a look back at our character adventures at Disney California Adventure, with many more to come! [ Read More... ] |
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Hi all,
This week sees some sad news from Disney's Animal Kingdom. Apparently due to the new character lunch at Tusker House, WDW feel it apparently necessary to cut a whole bunch of characters from the Park's meet 'n' greet line up. To be honest nothing actually surprises me with WDW any more, and this is just another sad change that will go unchecked.
Quite why they have to cut regular meet 'n' greet characters - especially popular ones such as Lilo and Stitch, when they are receiving money for the meals anyway, is quite baffling. Doesn't it already cost enough to get into Disney, without having to pay for a meal to meet characters? Shouldn't the cost of the meal cover that service? Why should regular meet 'n' greets suffer? Let us know your thoughts on this by replying to this article, below.
Over at the Magic Kingdom, our friend Drew has posted some rumoured characters for Pete's Silly Sideshow. We hope that there are no cutbacks there, and some of those mentioned indeed come true! Oswald would be particularly amazing!
At Disney's Hollywood Studios Jake has finally made his official debut at both the Play 'n' Dine and outside Disney Junior Live at a meet 'n' greet. Sadly, once again, in favour of this one new character, ALL the Little Einsteins have faced the axe! The only one left that I am aware of is June, who still meets at the Play 'n' Dine (which is of course a paying service...) Jake has also started greeting at Hollywood Pictures Backlot in Disney California Adventure. I am sure Loren will have all the updates form that next weekend!
Here in Europe at Disneyland Paris, artwork has been released showing what is expected to be some of the changes to the Once Upon a Dream Parade for the 20th anniversary. I had already posted on the blog back in the early summer that the Fairies would appear at the front, and Mickey and Friends would move to the back onto Princess 2, but this seems to now be confirmed.
It also looks like there could be some new characters in the parade, such as Mowgli and Mike Wazowski. The Mickey and Friends characters are expected to have new outfits, which are the same ones which have been used for all the 20th anniversary advertising so far. Hopefully that will translate into meet 'n' greet outfits too, as they look pretty cool!
Regarding next year and Halloween, I had mentioned before that Halloween may be facing some cuts next year due to the massive expediture on the new "Dreams" night time spectacular. The new brochure (which can be found here, and also has a lot of the new artwork in it) does indeed confirm the sad demise of Mickey's Halloween Parties, but leaves the Soirée in place. It does confirm however that ther ewill be a Halloween Season, filled with characters and Disney Villains. Hopefully that means at least the Fab 5 friends, Pooh (Fab 5 and Pooh in Halloween outfits that is) and Jack and Sally will continue to meet, as they have always done, as well as all the cool Villains.
Ok, that's all for now,
Dan. |
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Hi all, Today we begin in Disneyland Paris. The summer season started three days ago, which meant the return of Disney's FantIllusion, their night time parade. Maleficent has been given a slight makeover, and now appears as face character. She had previously been a masked character in the parade. What was strange is that FantIllusion was the only place she appeared like that! Returning her to her regular self is definitely an improvement. Sadly I do not have any picutres to share, but if I come across any I will be sure to post them here. [ Read More... ] |
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Hi all, Just some updates regarding news I already brought you earlier in the week. The new Redwood Creek area in DCA has opened, with Russell and Dug are now meeting there. There is a mini-show for the kids as well as the meet 'n' greet. This post on MiceChat has all the details (and I'm sure Loren will post something to the forum after the weekend!) Over in Florida, I had mentioned that some new villains may appear in WDW this year. Our Facebook friends seem to think that Hades might return, but as a face character, which would be interesting. There has been suggestion that Shan Yu might appear too, but as always, these things are not confirmed as yet (though we DO know three new villains will appear - it's just the who!) Finally, I also saw from a friend that he heard Gaston may appear in the New Fanatasyland once it opens with the new Beauty and the Beast area. Gaston appears for meets fairly often in DLP, but has not been seen anywhere else in many, many years. I think that's all for now. I'm sure I'll remember something later and wish I had posted it! Dan. |
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Hi all, It has been a while since I updated properly here, but as you all know we have been away on a mega trip to DLP and DL CA! As I stated earlier in the week, we have been working hard to get as much new content from the trip up as possible, but it takes time. There hasn't been too much news since we went away, but here is a round-up of what I have heard. [ Read More... ] |
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Hi all,
It has been a fairly quiet week on the character front, but I have some small pieces of info for you.
At the Walt Disney World Resort, Phineas and Ferb finally made their much anticipated debut at their new photolocation in Hollywood Studios. Jon found this video online, and you can see photos from Inside the Magic here. Don’t forget that Phineas and Ferb are due to start meeting very soon in California Adventure too – and Jon and I are going to be there in just two weeks, so we’ll have the latest up to date pictures right after they debut! [ Read More... ] |
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Hi all, Disneyland Paris yesterday had it's premier showing of the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie (not the French premier though). Disney Central Plaza posted to their Facebook page a photo of Jack Sparrow and Davy Jones meeting Guests at the cinema in Disney Village! There is some conflict of information as to whether these were real or not, but whether these characters were provided by Disney, or by the cinema, they were certainly very convincing, and were on Disney property for a Disney movie premier! In our eyes that makes them characters, but take a look and make your own judgement. Let me know what you think by hitting the Discuss button at the end of this post. I have also just literally heard from an inside source that Café Mickey in Disney Village, sadly, is no longer offering random characters at the meals! From now on it is only the Fab 5 and friends! This is quite a shame, as this was one of Disney best Character meal experiences around, and you never knew who you would get! Loren posted his latest Character Updates to the Character Central Forum. Jon also posted to the forum that a user on MiceChat heard that Phineas and Ferb would be coming to Disney California Adventure at the start of June! Of course the biggest news was from Florida where the D23 event came to a spectacular finish. None other than Dreamfinder and Figment made a surprise, and much welcomed appearance on stage. Check out the video Jon posted in the Forum here. Staying with Florida, I heard that Rapunzel and Flynn made a random appearance at International Gateway in EPCOT, and Tinker Bell is now greeting alone in the temporary Fairy Garden near Mouse Gear. She has six set times with no friends joining her. This is a massive come down from the glory days of her appearing from open to close with two other friends in Pixie Hollow in the Magic Kingdom. The lines get far too long, and she is way too popular to only have six half hour slots per day. Hopefully when she moves back to Adventureland, things will be restored to order. Don't forget to check out the latest Character of the Week, and vote for next week's star. Ok, that's all for now, Dan. |
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