Hi all,

This week saw the official opening of Disney's Aulani resort in Hawaii. Mickey and Minnie were there in their Hawaiian finest of course, along with some of the top Disney executives. There are loads of posts on the Disney Parks Blog about it, so head over there to see one of the many videos and photos they have posted.

Speaking of Hawaii and Disney Cruise Line announced that it will be offering a second LA to Hawaii cruise late next year. This presents a really amazing opportunity for those lucky enough to be able to do it - you could start your trip in Disneyland, then sail on a Disney Cruise to Hawaii, then finish your stay at the new Aulani resort! Imagine the character fun to be had on a trip like that!

While we are on the subject of Disneyland, the Parks Blog also released some artwork for the upcoming Pirate Palooza that will be featured at the Halloween Parties this year. We really look forward to seeing these new pirate outfits, especially Chip and Dale's!

Staying with Halloween, but over in Florida, and the it was also announced that Fort Wilderness would be offering a special one night only event on Halloween itself, involving food and Disney Characters in their Halloween costumes! It sounds like it could be a lot of fun!

We have also been hearing a lot of rumours back and forth about what WDW will be doing for the 40th anniversary next Saturday. Some sources are saying that there will be some character flood in the Magic Kingdom at some point in the day; other source are saying this might still happen but has been cut back a lot due to budget; and others say it just won't happen! I know this isn't all too useful, but for the most part we seem to get the impression that there will be something. I guess we'll just have to wait and see about what kind of scale it ends up being on.

In Disneyland Paris, we have heard from our friends that during the new Halloween hub show (I believe the regular daytime one, but it wasn't made clear) the Queen will transform herself into the Witch. This will be a first for DLP, and will be really neat to see how they pull it off, since the stage has a 360 degree view, unlike for Fantasmic! in the US. Although they do have characters appear and disappear on the stage, it is never normally simultaneously; this will require a quick transition to make the effect seem smooth and continuous. Even during the current Mickey's Magical Celebration, there is a pause between Mickey disappearing and reappearing in his Sorcerer outfit, while the Fairy Godmother casts the spell. Will they use the same tactic for the Queen or will the Queen truly transform before our eyes? I guess we'll see next week!

Speaking of that show, it has been announced also that due to the deconstruction of the stage (which I had already revealed exclusively earlier this year), the last performance of this show will be on January 7th. As far as we know, a new, smaller stage will be built in it's place, but as always, we'll have to wait and see!

Lastly for Paris, Halloween has really started to take over the park now and the Castle Stage especially has seen quite a transformation. The Castle Stage of course is going to be used for Mickey's Halloween Treat in the Street, a new mini show performed multiple times per day. The stage saw some action this weekend when Devil Donald arrived early for Halloween, for a photoshoot at the newly decorated stage.

Finally, Rapunzel will officially become a Disney Princess next Saturday, when she is crowned at a very special ceremony in Kensington Gardens, London! The event will be free to attend by the public, and will include all the other Disney Princesses in a special mini parade through Kensington Gardens in horse drawn carriages. Check out the official site here, and the parade route/location map here.

Ok, that's all for now,

Dan.