Hi all,
This week has seen a bit more character news than recently,
but still nothing major, but here we go anyway!
As you are all aware, Tokyo Disney Resort remains closed
until the 21st March to complete safety checks and repairs from last
week’s devastating earthquake. In terms of character news, I have heard from my
sources in Japan that the Cast employed from the US and Paris parks were given
the opportunity to return home this week following the disaster. How this will
affect the resort’s operations such as shows and parades we do not yet know, as
we can only assume the new people due to go out (if they didn’t already)
probably would have been delayed or pulled from going. When the park reopens
next week we will have a clearer picture of how many Western CM’s decided to
stay, and whether the park will be void of face characters for a while.
Thankfully Disney reported no injuries between Cast and Guests. Our sympathy goes
out to all affected. May they find peace and light through these dark times.
Staying with Tokyo, but to something quite unrelated to the
quake, last week Jon found this post on the Micechat forum about the Lost River
Delta outfits compared to the Walt Disney World ones at Animal Kingdom. Whether
you agree or not, it makes an interesting read.
Jumping across the world to Walt Disney World now and the
Unofficial Disney Character Hunting Guide posted on their Facebook page that
they saw some random characters out this week in Epcot and Animal Kingdom. Walt
Disney World is notorious for not having random characters, so this was quite
special! In Epcot the Queen of Hearts and the White Rabbit were seen, and in
Animal Kingdom Brer Bear and Koda made appearances.
In other Walt Disney World news, it has been reported by
Studios Central that Lotso will soon be leaving to make way for the Pooh
characters (which we knew), and the area will be re-themed to be like
Christopher Robin’s bedroom (which we didn’t know yet).
Staying in the Studios, and Lightning McQueen is due to
depart, leaving Tow Mater on his own for the time being until the 18th
April when Mater will also leave. They will both return with a new Cars 2
themed backdrop on the May 16th. McQueen will apparently have a new
look, too.
Finally for the Studios, Phineas and Ferb will debut in the
park on May 16th also.
Over on the Character Central forums, our friend Hilde
posted the schedule for the St Patrick’s day events at Disneyland Paris,
featuring Irish Mickey and Minnie, and other entertainment. Loren also posted
about the upcoming release of the next Pirates of the Caribbean movie, and the
prospect of Jack Sparrow returning to the California park, along with a new
character by his side!
Finally, today is Walt Disney Studios Park’s 9th
Birthday. Check out my extended blog post tribute to the park that I posted
earlier this evening. Also be sure to check out this fantastic new tilt shift
video of the park released by Disneyland Paris themselves.
Ok, that’s all for now,
Dan.