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Hi all,
Welcome to this first in a special series of articles looking at the top 10 best places for meeting the Disney Characters at the Disney Parks and Resorts.
In this first edition we look at Walt Disney World Resort's top ten. Throughout the article you can click the links to the specific places mentioned to find more detailed information about meeting characters there. At the end of the top ten, be sure to check our links to other hints and tips pages on this site!
So, let us begin in the Magic Kingdom...
1. Town Square - Town Square has a number of different character meet 'n' greet oppportunities, namely the Town Square Theater. At Town Square Theater you can meet Mickey and Minnie Mouse at Mickey's backstage dressing room. In a separate room of the theatre you can also meet the Disney Princesses. There are usually three, and are usually from the main 5 (Belle, Aurora, Cinderella, Ariel or Snow White), although Tiana and Rapunzel are there from time to time also.
Outside in the street, by the flagpole you can normally meet Daisy Duck or Pluto. Sometimes Pinocchio makes appearances too. You may bump into the Citizens of Main Street from time to time, including Mayor Weaver, Victoria Trumpetto and Fire Chief Smokey Miller.
2. Adventureland - Adventureland is the new home of the Fairies of Pixie Hollow, who were evicted from their previous location last year to make way for the new Fantasyland expansion. Tinker Bell is almost a dead cert, and these days either Terence or Vidia with her, although you may find any one of the other 4 Fairies instead (Silvermist, Fawn, Rosetta or Iridessa).
Adventureland is also the home to Pirate Goofy, Aladdin and Jasmine. For a small area of the park you can meet a good number of characters in a short space of time!
3. Halloween or Christmas Parties - These are EXCELLENT opportunities for meeting some neat characters, and meeting characters in special outfits. They can vary from year to year, but most recently the two different seasonal events have seen the likes of the Seven Dwarfs, Gaston and the Princes, to name but a few. Mickey and Minnie are on hand to meet fans at the Town Square Theater, and will be in special themed costumes, and look out for other favourite characteres around the park wearing seasonal attire approriate for that party.
Now let's take the Monorail over to EPCOT...
4. Future World - Future World is home to the EPCOT Character Spot (opposite Innoventions West), where you can meet Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy and Pluto all in one go. Opposite the Character Spot, Chip and Dale usually meet their fans. Inside Innoventions West, for those who hold a Disney VISA card you can have a special meet 'n' greet with two random characters (you'll need to show your card and ID, and will not know which characters are inside until you enter).
At the main entrance in Future World you will often find Stitch or Daisy Duck meeting near Spaceship Earth.
Sometimes, if you're lucky you can find random/rare characters inside the hallway behind the Character Spot.
5. World Showcase - World Showcase offers some fantastic character meeting opportunities. Here are some of our favourites:
Mexican Donald at Mexico
Mary Poppins, Alice and three random Pooh friends at the United Kingom
Marie, Aurora, Belle and Beast at France
There are more, but those are the more noteworthy ones!
At Christmas World Showcase offers the fantastic Holidays Around the World Celebration, which means you can meet a whole load more special seasonal characters, from the Monkey King in China, the Three Kings in Mexico, the Nutcracker in Germany and many more!
On occasion you may also find random characters appearing at International Gateway, World Showplace (near Canada and UK pavilions) or to the side of the American Adventure. Recently fans have met the likes of John Smith, Meg and Foulfellow to name but a few rare ones!
We exit through the International Gateway and make our way down the river to Hollywood Studios now...
6. Animation Building - The Animation Building is home to Sorcerer Mickey, the Incredibles (any combination of Mr, Mrs or Frozone), plus lots of random ones down on the floor later the day. These can vary widely from day to day but can include Goofy, Mulan, Aladdin, Pocahontas and more! We think this is a great place to cool off, and meet some random characters!
7. Star Wars Weekends - During the early summer (May/June), Hollywood Studios hosts the ridiculously popular Star Wars Weekends. A fantastic experience, but immensly busy, you can meet Stormtroopers, Anakin, Darth Vader, Ewoks, Leia, Luke and many, many more (there are far too many to list). On top of that, the Fab 5 friends get in on the act too, and you can find Jedi Mickey, Vader Goofy, Stormtrooper Donald and Leia Minnie! We highly recommend these weekends to anyone, especially Star Wars and Character fans, but be prepared for long waits!
Let us cool off now under the shade and trees of Animal Kingdom...
8. Discovery Island - At Discovery Island you can find Flik and any given three Pooh friends (nearly always Pooh, Tigger and Eeyore - but Piglet has been known to appear also).
9. Camp Minnie-Mickey - probably the best place in the park for characters, here you can meet Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald or Daisy all dressed in their Camp Councillor outfits at the Greetings Trails. Wandering around Camp Minnie-Mickey you can almost always find some other loveable pals to hang out with.
Thumper, Miss Bunny and Chip 'n' Dale are nearly always there. We have also seen Meeko, Pocahontas, Brer Bear and Brer Rabbit there recently. In the past Koda and Kenai would meet fairly often too, but not so much any more.
Finally for our top 10 WDW character hot spots is something special at the Grand Floridian...
10. 1900 Park Fare - Although 1900 Park Fare is a character meal which you have to pay extra for, there variety of characters is good, and can vary depending on the time of day/type of meal. You can meet the Tremaines, Cinderella, Prince Charming, Mary Poppins, Alice, Pooh, the Mad Hatter or others depending on the time of your visit, making it probably the most varied character meal on property (the others are very specific such as Princesses, Playhouse Disney or Fab 5, where as this one can vary).
I hope you all found that useful!
You might also want to check out our special Hints and Tips Blog Post here, and join our members discussion about hints and tips for meeting characters here on our Forum. Other users have posted some great tips, so be sure to check those out and maybe make your own contributions!
Stay tuned over the next few days for my next in this series which will be Disneyland Paris's Top 10!
Dan. |
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Hi all,
There hasn't been much in the way of news recently, but I do have just a couple of things to share.
We have been hearing for a while that Princess Merida will appear at WDW later this year, once the new PIXAR movie 'Brave' is released.
We now hear from several different sources that Merida will be appearing with her brothers, but with a twist! We hear that they are going to be moving into Caspian's old location in Hollywood Studios, and Merida will be a face character (PIXAR's first!) and her three brothers will be puppets! We're not sure how this will work as yet, but will keep you posted as always when we hear more.
Over at Disneyland, Loren took part in another marathon, this time the brand new Never Land 5K. He got to meet some awesome characters, so why not check out his character picture filled post about here on our Forum!
We have been working hard as always to add more and more content to the site. Many, many pages have a lot of new photos showing in their "Most Recent" sections, so next time you visit a location or character page be sure to scroll down to see if there is anything new.
We have also added a new section to our Forum - Collector's Corner, where you can discuss all things collectible! From Vinylmations to Pin Trading, we have it covered!
Ok, that's about it for now. I have some special new articles coming later this week so be sure to check back for those!
Dan. |
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 | 54 Years of Walking Once Upon a Dream... | |
| DisneyDan
Sunday, January 29, 2012 6:23:58 AM |
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Today is the 54th anniversary of the premier of Walt Disney's masterpiece, Sleeping Beauty.
Although it is thought the fairytale of Sleeping Beauty goes back even further, the first actual written account of the story was by French author Charles Perrault in the late 17th century.
Let us take a look now at the character filled magic of Sleeping Beauty at the Disney Parks and Resorts worldwide, and what better way to begin than with Charles Perrault himself (as featured at Disneyland Paris in 2011). [ Read More... ] |
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 | Happy 51st Anniversary 101 Dalmatians! | |
| DisneyDan
Wednesday, January 25, 2012 9:09:32 AM |
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Today is the 51st anniversary of Disney's 17th animated classic, 101 Dalmatians.
Sadly the only character to ever have real representation in the parks is the villainous Cruella de Vil.
Her bumbling henchmen did briefly make appearances during the Disney Cinema Parade in Paris some years ago, but haven't been seen in a very long time.
But, nonetheless, let's celebrate as we always do, by taking a look at some of Cruella's highlights from her appearances in the parks.
Dan. |
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 | Toontown Celebrates 19 years! | |
| DisneyDan
Tuesday, January 24, 2012 9:19:38 AM |
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On this day 19 years ago, Disneyland was allowed to open up the magical portal to the world of Toontown - the place where all Disney's most cherished animated Characters live, work, and play!
So let's celebrate the occasion with some of our Character filled memories of Toontown over the years!
Why not start your day in the big city with an introductory ceremony for all new visitors. You'll become an honorary citizen of the most colourful place on Earth!
You never know who you might find wandering around Toontown...
Finally, why not take the time to visit Mickey Mouse at home. You might be lucky enough to find him wearing an outfit from one of his most famous starring roles...
Here's to another 19 years of magic at Toontown!
Dan. |
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 | Happy Lunar New Year! | |
| DisneyDan
Monday, January 23, 2012 7:59:53 AM |
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Today is Lunar New Year across various parts of Asia, including China.
To celebrate I have put together some character pictures of Mulan, Mushu, Li Shang, Shan Yu and Pluto (at Hong Kong Disneyland wearing his Chinese collar and hat!) for you to enjoy.
You should also check out Loren's post on our Forums about all the special Lunar New Year happenings at Disneyland in California. With special Character meet 'n' greets and performances, if you're near to DL you should stop by and check it out!
Happy Lunar New Year everyone!
Dan.
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As we all know, Disney never throws anything away. This could not be more true in the case of the Casey Jr Circus Train at Disneyland Paris.
The train started it's life in the Wonderful World of Disney Parade in the 1990's.
In 2007 Disneyland Paris celebrated it's 15th anniversary, and the cute little engine became the Disney Character Express. The Character Express was a fantastic way of meeting some quite random characters, from Peter Pan, the Sheriff of Nottingham, Eeyore and many more.
After the 15th ended its (2 year) run, the train underwent it's second transformation to become its third incarnation - Minnie's Party Train.
A similar idea to the Character Express, but somewhat more limited in characters - and virtually always including Minnie Mouse the Party Train stayed for a year, then became the Disney All Stars Express.
Once again, a way of meeting an increasingly less random number of characters - and usually PIXAR or Fab 5.
Last year for Mickey's Magical Celebration, the poor train suffered another make over, but this time around lost the meet 'n' greet part, and presented a small interactive show called the Disney Dance Express.
Probably the most popular version of the train since the Character Express, the show sadly ended just recently... and guess what?
You got it! The Casey Jr will be returning once again for the 20th anniversary in its SIXTH incarnation, but this time as the 20th Anniversary Celebration Train (name subject to change).
From the concept art we have seen, this looks to probably be our personal favourite since the Character Express way back in 2007.
With new colours, and fantastic new 20th anniversary costumes for the characters, we look forward to singing Choo Choo Papa, Choo Choo Papa for at least another year!
Dan. |
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.jpg) | Penguin Awareness Day | |
| DisneyDan
Friday, January 20, 2012 9:08:37 AM |
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Today (20th January) is Penguin Awareness Day. It is a day where people should recognise the significance of these beautiful creatures - one of the very few native inhabitants of Antarctica.
In celebration of these wonderful animals, here are some of our favourite Disney Penguins having fun at the Parks!
Dan. |
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Hi all,
This week the Disney Parks Blog announced that there would again be Chinese Lunar New Year Celebrations at Disneyland in California. Moving this year from the Festival Arena though, to near "it's a small world", the event will run from the 20th through to the 29th of January. It will feature Mulan, Mushu and other Disney Characters. We hope that it means there will be some neat costumes for the Characters. Loren will be there, and we look forward to his updates as usual! You can discuss this topic on our topic about it here on our forum.
Staying with Disneyland, the Parks Blog also announced a special "meet-up" event at California Adventure involving Jake and his pirate band from the hit show, Jake and the Neverland Pirates. RSVPs are opening next week apparently, so keep checking their blog for more information. Loren hopes he can attend - we hope he can too! Discuss this event on our forum topic about it here!
Be sure to check out Loren's weekly Character updates from Disneyland - the latest instalment is here.
Finally for California, I thought this was a cool picture from the Disney Parks Blog - the Tick Tock Croc in a tea cup! Now if only he would come out of hiding to meet his fans once again...
Jumping over to Paris now, and DLRP Today posted some more detailed concept art from the new version of the parade. I have to say it looks really neat, and we really look forward to seeing all the cool changes to it in April. From new characters (Fairies and Merlin to name some!), some brand new mini-floats (carriages for the Princesses), new costumes, new music and newly redesigned old floats (that look simply stunning!), the new version of the parade really looks set to be the fantastic boost that the day parade needed (despite our LOVE of Once Upon a Dream Parade!).
Finally, we have heard confirmation from numerous sources across the Internet that the Tarzan show will be returning for another season this year at Parc Disneyland.
Ok, that's all for now!
Dan. |
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Hi all,
A couple of small things today.
After quite some time of ambiguity over it's fate - and being pushed back some months - the Disney Parks Blog finally confirmed that the "Minnie's Fly Girls Charter Airlines" show starring Minnie Mouse will finally be coming to Disney California Adventure from February 17th.
Although not really Character related, Disneyland Paris released the following video for the upcoming 20th Anniversary. I am posting this here because even with the absence of Characters, this new night time show looks set to be nothing short of eye-poppingly spectacular! (Yes, I know I just invented a word!)
Jon and I will be there in April for the opening of the 20th Anniversary and cannot wait to see everything. Between Mickey's new meet 'n' greet location, the new version of the parade with it's newly redesigned floats, new music, new characters and new costumes, and this awesome new Dreams show, the 20th Anniversary will undoubtedly be the best year yet!
Finally, we have been working to add some more new content to the site over the last few days, as well as update some older pages that were a bit out of date. New content includes Stitch's Hawaiian Brunch at Inventions (DLP), Christmas at the Disneyland Hotel (DLP) which includes three events, Princess Aurora's Christmas Wish (DLP) and the Disney On Ice show, Dare to Dream, which includes several new characters to the site. So be sure to check them out! Some of the pages are still being worked on and so might not have many pictures yet, but rest assured they will be added to over time!
Ok, that's all for now,
Dan. |
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