 | 2013 - A Character Filled Year in Review |
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| DisneyDan
Friday, January 3, 2014 10:27:12 AM |
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Hello everyone,
Last year, 2013, was an incredible year for us here at Character Central, filled with some awesome moments.
For the past couple of years I have done my 'Year in Review' here on the blog, but I don't think any of them will compare to this one!
Let's start at the beginning of the year of course, at the Disneyland Resort in California, where we finished up a wonderful Christmas trip on New Year's Day meeting some characters around Disneyland Park.
Warning! This is a very long, photo-heavy post! If you're on the Blog home, then click to continue!
Immediately after that trip, we saw Disney On Ice - Rockin' Ever After, in Philadelphia.
The following month was of course February, and we were in Disneyland Paris, where they not only had some extra special Valentine's happenings, but they held the world debut of the adorable Aristocats! Berlioz and Toulouse joined their sister Marie for the first time ever at a Disney Park!
We also had a ton of fun meeting lots of other cool and rare characters that appeared that same weekend.
Here are some parade photos from that trip.
March saw us head to Walt Disney World where we had some new experiences and enjoyed their Easter offerings.
Here's an extract from my earlier photo report from that trip (saves me writing it all over again!)
For Easter WDW had the Easter Bunnies out in Magic Kingdom's Town Square and EPCOT's UK pavilion. We had met them before in Town Square a few years ago, but never in EPCOT.
Also for Easter, WDW also had a pre-parade at the Magic Kingdom. They usually do this every year, but this year they added a little bit more to it, which was nice.
On Easter Sunday, many of the hotel resorts had special character appearances for Easter. We managed to make it over to the Contemporary, Polynesian and Grand Floridian to check out who was there.
We met Chip and Dale in Frontierland, for the first time since they moved.
Of course, the biggest thing of all was New Fantasyland! We explored all of Belle's Village (except Enchanted Tales, which we had previewed on our previous trip and didn't care for again!), dined at Be Our Guest for dinner, rode the new Little Mermaid attraction (definitely an improvement over DCA's!), and met Ariel in her Grotto. We also met Minnie and Friends on the Silly Sideshow for the first time. The rest of Storybook Circus had been open before when we went.
For the first time in eons (at least several years!) we made time to see the Beauty and the Beast show, the Indiana Jones stunt show, Jedi Training Academy and Fantasmic! I had actually forgotten how different WDW's Fantasmic! is to Disneyland's, and how much better Disneyland's is!
We also caught up with some of the Studios' entertainment, including Mulch, Sweat and Shears, and some of the Citizens of Hollywood.
Also, for the first time, we met Woody and Buzz at their indoor location, at PIXAR Place! Again, seeing as it always has very long lines, and we've met Woody and Buzz before, this had never been a high priority, but this trip we finally took the plunge!
We had dinner at BOMA at Animal Kingdom Logde one night. Visiting AKL was a first for me. It's a really beautiful resort, and I would love to stay there one day!
One morning we had breakfast at Ohana at the Polynesian, which is probably my favourite hotel resort and restaurant at WDW! I love the hotel, I love the breakfast, and of course it has Stitch! All round win! It had been a while since we had been over there, so it was great to revisit. One evening we also took it easy, and got a drink at their pool bar by the beach. Perfection!
Some character changes had happened since our last trip too, including Character Spot being temporarily moved while they create the new version. This meant Mickey and co have new temporary backdrops while they wait for their new location to be done.
Goofy has now replaced Stitch at the main entrance (sadly), and Daisy also has a backdrop at the entrance now too.
We also met Chip and Dale, who are always in Future World, but it was their birthday the day of our visit! So of course we had to stop by!
March led us to April, where we finished up our WDW trip and had a few weeks off before heading over to Hong Kong Disneyland for the start of the ultimate Disney experience with Disney Dreamers Everywhere! We were extremely fortunate to be invited on this once in a lifetime event, where we not only visited every Disney Park within a month, but met some ridiculously rare characters, as well as some brand new ones! We attended a lot of very special events, and got tot see some cool shows and happenings at the other Disney Parks that we hadn't seen before.
Hong Kong Disneyland:
Tokyo Disney Resort:
Disneyland Resort:
Walt Disney World:
And to the grand finale in Disneyland Paris:
Following that epic adventure, we had a little time off from the parks. June and July were left free of Disney magic, but then comes August!
We attended Disney Junior Live on Stage in August, which is fun show.
At the end of August we went back to Disneyland in California, where we had a blast as always, including meeting Princess Sofia for the first time.
We were in Disneyland through to the start of September. Fall arrived and led into October where we found ourselves back at Disneyland Paris for their newly revamped Halloween season, which included a brand new cavalcade!
November was another Disney-free month, but December arrived and we headed back to Paris for their Christmas season.
Following the short trip at Christmas, we returned the following week for New Year's Eve, where we attended some of their very special New Years happenings.
Wow, what a year! This year we already have planned several trips for the first few months, and I'm certain more will come after those!
We had a truly breathtaking year of spectacular proportions, and we hope that you enjoyed following us on our journey.
Character Central is four years old this year, and we have come a very long way since the beginning, and we couldn't have done it without the support and enthusiasm of our fans.
Thank you all for your continued dedication and friendship, and may your 2014 be filled with many special moments, just like our 2013 was.
I'm going to finish up this post with some non-character photos from the past year, as they too are part of our magical experiences during 2013. Some of them include us, and some includes our friends who have helped make 2013 our most magical year yet!
Happy New Year Everyone!
Dan. |