Hi all,

The last week or so has been fairly quiet overall (again) for character news, but I have the following to share.

Not character related, but Disneyland Paris have now launched an official fan survey, where you can give quite in-depth feedback. There is a section on there to mention websites that you frequent for all you DLP news and information needs - so Jon and I would be eternally grateful if you would list us!

Staying with Disneyland Paris, and after months of speculation, and nearly happening (I mentioned this back in June I think), Disney's Stars 'n' Cars has finally dropped the show part of the show/parade at the Studios.

It has always been a bit of a struggle for them to make it work feasibly, ensuring everyone can see the show and the parade, and so now I guess they finally gave up trying. With the limited space and many disappointed guests who cannot get to the show part in time enough to get a good space, a straight out parade seems the most logical option.

Of course, they do now need to beef it up a bit with some more characters or performers along the parade route, but we'll see what happens...

Earlier in the year, when I was discussing the upcoming changes to the Once Upon a Dream Parade in DLP, I mentioned that the Dreams of Power (Villains) float would be dropped. Although this is still the case, we have heard that it will be back for Halloween next year, implying maybe that DLP are going to make a return to some special Halloween additions to the Parade, which were dropped for the first time this year, with much uproar from the fans. Maybe they learned their lesson?

Be sure to check out the latest instalment of my Grand Circle Tour of DLP which of course includes some character encounters, and stay tuned for the next part coming this week.

Finally for Paris, construction on Mickey's new meet 'n' greet location at the former Fantasy Festival Stage has begun, and you can check out my special report on it here. Discover the wonder and magic of this new location in Fantasyland!

Jumping across the pond now to Florida, and I realise I'm a bit late on this one, but the Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Parties have started in Florida, and as expected, no-one really special has showed up. Although Phineas and Ferb are appearing in Christmas hats and scarves, which is a nice addition to their usual costumes (they normally meet at DHS in the daytime).

Also in Florida, Holidays Around the World started this week at EPCOT, and saw the return of many favourite characters including Father Christmas and Nowell the Lumberjack.

Florida has also had some sort of divine inspiration this last week or two, and our friends on the ground have been reporting some cool random appearances, including Li Shang in China (who will be back on December 1st - so go check him out!) and John Smith. Ther have been some others too, but they were the most exciting ones!

Over in California, Loren posted his latest report, and includes some of the character related Holiday happenigs there.

Finally, Hong Kong Disneyland opened it's brand new Toy Story Land, and Woody, Jessie and the Green Army Men are reported to now be appearing regularly.

Ok I think that's all for now. Nothing extraordinary, but good to catch up nonetheless!

Dan.

Hi all,

To begin with today, Walt Disney World are going to be hosting a series of DVC promotional events, and characters will be present! More information can be found on the Forum here.

Staying in WDW, for the 4th of July the patriotic Mickey, Goofy and Donald as seen in previous years are set to make appearances at the American Adventure.

Jumping across the world to Hong Kong, and we have heard that the Glow in the Dark Halloween parade will be returning once again. It looks really neat, and we hope we can see it some day! The park runs it during the evenings of October as an additional parade, without having to buy special tickets (unlike the US parks).

Staying with Halloween, and flying back to the US, Disneyland Resort today put their Mickey's Halloween Treat tickets on general sale. We already have ours (Loren booked them when they went on sale to AP holders!), and will be attending two in mid-October - and we can't wait! It will be our first time to Halloween in California (having done Paris and Florida multiple times the last few years).

Finally in Paris, I heard from a friend that Darth Vader and Chewbacca are going to be making appearances again throughout the summer as part of the Magical Moments Festival. They previously appeared for the last three months of last year, but disappeared in January.

Ok, that's all for now,

Dan.

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.

Hi all,

So after a slow week for character news, I now have quite a lot to tell you!

First off Disneyland Paris has redesigned Jack Sparrow’s costume, and he is due to start appearing in his updated gear very soon, to coincide with the new movie. He already wears his new outfit in California, where the film had its premiere last week.  [ Read More... ]

Hi all,

Over on the forum Jon posted a video of the new night time mini parade at Tokyo Disneyland, called Nightfall Glow Parade. The idea of it has two purposes. It is currently filling the gap between now and when the revised version of Dreamlights launches, and when that does launch, this new mini parade will be the Park's "Rainy Day" version. If there is enough rainfall in one night to warrant cancelling Dreamlights, this new parade has been specially designed to cope with the wet conditions - albeit in a cut down format.

I have to say that as short as it is, it looks amazing, and to be honest if they decided to make a whole new night time parade for any of the parks using the same technology I would not complain! The "light up panels" effect and the smooth, cleaner more defined lines and image of the floats makes it look modern and yet magical at the same time. Well done Tokyo Disneyland!

Also over on the forum Jon posted the meeting times of the upcoming PIXAR Weekend at EPCOT. Check it out now to plan your fun filled character hunting weekend!

Finally, staying with EPCOT, we have heard from a Character attendant friend of ours that for the time being the Fairies are to stay in EPCOT past the end of Flower and Garden Festival, and not move back to the Magic Kingdom.

Ok, that's all for now,

Dan.

Hi all,

Hi all,

Stitch Kingdom posted two days ago some exclusive news about a fantastic PIXAR weekend at Epcot from May 13th thru 15th. To commemorate the 25th anniversary of the PIXAR Studios, Epcot will be hosting virtually all the PIXAR stars ever seen at the Parks, including some very rare treats such as the Bugs characters, and Wall-E! Sadly we will not be there for this (we will be in WDW this week though for Angelica's debut!), but we look forward to seeing all the amazing photos from this event.  [ Read More... ]

Hi all,

Yesterday was of course Valentine’s Day, which in the past at Disneyland Paris has meant some great random and rare character appearances, but sadly, not this year.

Our friends from Characters Photos Blog were there all day, and alas had no luck, except right at the end of the day when they went to the Santa Fe and there was some mini-show happening. Mickey and Minnie were there in their Valentine’s outfits from last year to provide the entertainment.  [ Read More... ]

Hi all,

Yesterday saw the last day of operation for Mickey’s Toontown Faire at the Magic Kingdom in Florida. This went on to have an affect on character appearances today.  [ Read More... ]