Hi all,

Just some small updates for you this evening.

First off, over in California Halloween Season has gotten under way this weekend. Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald, Chip and Dale have all began appearing in their seasonal costumes on Main Street, and the Villains have returned to the Small World Mall area. Over in DCA Duffy has donned a special pumpkin hat and sweater and his meet 'n' greet area has been given a neat seasonal overlay.

Loren should have a full photo update on the Character Central Forums by the end of the weekend, so look out for that one!

Across the country in Florida, and just one minor change to the characters at Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party - Donald and Daisy have moved from the Adventureland Gazebo to near the Winnie the Pooh attraction in Fantasyland. I imagine this is due to the fact there is quite a high volume of characters in that one small area of Adventureland, and they needed spreading out more (others just in Adventureland include Tarzan, Jane and Terk, Rafiki, the Fairies, Aladdin, Jasmine and Genie, and Jack Sparrow; hence the need for the move).
You can check out the full 2011 MNSSHP Character line up here.

Over in Disneyland Paris the Princess Pavilion in Fantasyland is coming along really nicely, and is expected to officially open on October 8th. It will be the new permanent home of the Disney Princesses and is a new, extravagantly themed indoor location. It utilises the space formerly occupied by the Small World post show.

Finally, staying in Paris, but in the Studios, Push the Talking Trash Can has made a random, but much welcomed return this week. He has been spotted out and about on a few occasions. We don't know if this is permanent yet, but we hope it is.

Ok, that's all for now,

Dan.

Hi all,

So last night saw the first Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party of the season at the Magic Kingdom, and so we can now officially confirm what the line-up is!

Starting on Main Street, in Town Square Theater's Princess Room there are Cinderella, Prince Charming, Rapunzel, Flynn Rider, Snow White and The Prince.

In the Magician's Dressing Room are Mickey and Minnie. Interestingly, when they go for their break from sets, they return in alternating outfits. So you could potentially see either the Magician and Witch outfits as seen from the last four years, or Pirate Mickey and Princess Minnie as seen at the old Pirate and Princess Parties from long ago.

In Town Square you can meet the Pooh friends. Three of the four's outfits remain unchanged from previous years (Pirate Tigger, Clown Eeyore and Butterfly Piglet), but this year Pooh has ditched the Super Sleuth outfit, and is now an orange and black Tigger-esque bumblebee!

On the other side of the street at the Tour Guide Garden Duffy joins the celebrations, and can be found wearing an orange pumpkin design sweater and a pumpkin hat.

Moving up to the Hub, and the Villains were as expected - the Tremaines, Lotso, Jafar and Gaston.

Moving left into Adventureland and Aladdin appeared with Jasmine and Genie, but I haven't seen anything of Abu yet. Hopefully he is there too, and was just on a break at the time!

Donald and Daisy have also moved to Adventureland this year due to the closure of Toontown. Daisy is still in her Princess costume, but Donald has now ditched his former pumpkin outfit in favour of the Pirate outfit as seen from the Pirate and Princess Parties, just like Mickey. UPDATE 17th September: Donald and Daisy have now moved to near the Winnie the pooh attraction in Fantasyland as Adventureland was getting quite crowded with all the characters!

As expected, Tinker Bell, Vidia and Rosetta were at in Pixie Hollow by the Veranda, and outside Tarzan, Jane and Terk, also as per previous years.

Rafiki was also in Adventureland, and I presume Timon, as he was meant to be, but I haven't seen anything about him as yet.

Jack Sparrow was meeting near Pirates of the Caribbean.

Going into Frontierland and by Splash Mountain were the Seven Dwarfs. In the Golden Horseshoe Woody, Jessie and Bullseye had their dance party as per previous years.

In Liberty Square Tiana and Naveen were at their regular daytime spot in the Glade.

Fantasyland features Alice and the Mad Hatter. Suzy and Perla also made an unannounced appearance, and later on Main Street, too.

In the Fairytale Garden was Aurora and Prince Phillip.

In Tomorrowland, Buzz Lightyear occupied his regular daytime spot, and Stitch donned his 626 outfit and joined Space Chip, Dale, Pluto and Goofy for his dance party at the Rockettower Plaza Stage.

The Villains Dance Mix and Mingle sees the return of Frollo as opposed to Jafar this year (last year Frollo was dropped in favour of Dr. Facilier, who also still stars).

As previous years, you can meet the Villains after the show. The Queen, Maleficent, The Queen of Hearts, Dr. Facilier, Cruella, Hook and Frollo come down from the stage for a short meet.

Finally to the parade. The opening title float has changed, and there is now a new mini Haunted Mansion float featuring some gravestones. Different characters now include Angelica, Christopher Robin (who used to be in it, but not for a few years) and Pooh in his new outfit that I described above. Sadly Horace Horsecollar has been dropped, and Clarabelle is now at the begining.

I think that's everything. If I have missed anything be sure to hit the Discuss button below and mention it on our forum!

That's all for now,

Dan.

Hi all,

This week has been fairly quiet on the character news front, but there are now a few more details emerging about the upcoming Halloween Season across the parks.

At Walt Disney World the Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party line up has been released and can be found on our forums here. There are no real surprises as rumours had been flying around for a while. Just confirmation really of some of those expected, including Jack Sparrow, Lotso and Gaston.  [ Read More... ]

Hi all,

Today I learned that Disneyland Paris are due to be releasing their press statement regarding Christmas season very imminently. I had a sneak peak at it from a contact, and providing the information I saw does not change, then Duffy will be making his début at the park for the first time to the general public.  [ Read More... ]

Hi all,

We start the news this week with D23 over in California.

Sadly, much to the fans disappointment there were no real major announcements but one thing did come out of the Parks talk, and that is that the Carnation Plaza Stage area of Main Street in Disneyland will be re-themed. It will in fact become part of Fantasyland and will take on the look of a small village complete with a Rapunzel Tower and a small stage for shows. No other real details yet, but it looked fairly sizeable considering the relatively small space up in that area. Interestingly the new area will be called Fantasy Faire. It will house the Disney Princesses, and is likely to replace the current, similarly named, Princess Fantasy Faire that already exists in Fantasyland. Hopefully PFF will be returned to it's former glory and house some neat shows once again.  [ Read More... ]

Hi all,

We are now getting back into our regular schedules following our whistle-stop trip to DLP this past weekend.

We had a good time as always, but sadly on Saturday evening things didn't quite go to plan for one reason or another, and it resulted in us making a very serious formal complaint at City Hall. It is the first time I have ever had to do so at any park (I don't just mean minor issues here and there, this was quite serious), but I have to say that despite the fact I had to make the complaint, we were seen to by the Cast Members at City Hall with care and respect, and we thank them greatly for the efforts to compensate us for our grievance. In fact, I think you'll be surprised to learn that they managed not only to give us a free pin of our choice each from the stores, but we actually got a private meet 'n' greet with our four favourite characters in a back room of City Hall, the following day! They managed to arrange for us to meet Peter Pan, Stitch and Chip and Dale (who were in their Frontierland Native American outfits no less)!  [ Read More... ]

Hi all,

Let us begin in Florida, where last week saw Suzy and Perla make a surprise appearance in the courtyard area behind Cinderella Castle. Apart from the meal they host at the grossly overpriced and massively overbooked restaurant in the castle, Suzy and Perla are near impossible to find in the US.

Hi all,

This week sees the launch of Tinker Bell and her friend's brand new home in Adventureland in the Magic Kingdom. After spending quite some time in a rather uninspiring location in EPCOT, the Fairies have now moved into the neat looking Magical Nook at the old Adventureland Veranda. With props from the old Pixie Hollow, and some new things thrown in, Tinker Bell is joined by either Rosetta or Vidia currently on a continuous basis as she used to be, before she left for EPCOT. Inside the Magic posted this really lovely video of the new location. We hope that the other Fairies rejoin her real soon.  [ Read More... ]

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... ]