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Hi all,
Sorry it has been a while again, but we have been ever busy, and to be honest, there hasn't been too much character news out there!
But, nonetheless I thought I'd just mention a few things that have happened in recent days.
At Disneyland Paris, the new Meet Mickey opened in Fantasyland at the former Fantasy Festival Stage location.
We don't have any of our own pictures to share right now, but from what I have seen of the inside, it is really neat! I think that they did a much better job of it than Town Square Theatre in the Magic Kingdom, that's for sure!
Disneyland Paris also released the new Winter brochure for this year, and it provides some small (very small) details about what to expect this Halloween and Christmas seasons.
Characters in themed outfits seem to be returning to both celebrations, and at Halloween the Villains too.
As we already knew, but now confirmed, the MNSSHPs are not returning (sadly), but the Soiree will.
At Christmas, Mickey's Winter Wonderland will return, and the description uses a plural - shows - so we expect that the Tree Lighting will return, and a new, reworked Castle Lighting (seeing that Central Plaza Stage has now gone).
Find a out a few more details, including dates, on our forum here (Christmas) and here (Halloween).
Over in Walt Disney World, Star Wars weekend began last week, and have, as always, been featuring all the best loved characters from the movies. I haven't heard of anything exceptional this year, or anyone new, but if I do I'll of course post it here.
Staying with the US Parks, both WDW and Disneyland launched Princess Merida from PIXAR's Brave last week.
Merida now meets at the Fairytale Garden in the Magic Kingdom, and near "it's a small world" in Disneyland.
Finally, last week I had posted a Happy Birthday Goofy post... I had done this because, according to numerous sources - including the Disney Parks Blog itself! - that it was indeed Goofy's Birthday. Now, according to Disney, it is Goofy's Birthday today!
I have double checked against various different sources, and most places seem to agree it is today, but some places still record it as the 12th of May!
Well, anyway, what ever the actual date (and my suspicion it is indeed today), we'll wish Goofy Happy Birthday again! Check out last week's post for a photo filled tribute to our favourite goof in action at the Parks and Resorts!
Ok, that's all for now,
Dan. |
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Hi all,
On our recent trip to Disneyland Paris we had the opportunity to eat at Auberge de Cendrillon at Parc Disneyland (DLP).
Auberge is the most expensive restaurant in the park, and probably the Resort, after Inventions at the Disneyland Hotel.
Auberge is located in Fantasyland, in the Courtyard, and offers fine dining, French style.
Named for Cinderella, the meal is "hosted" by Cinderella's mice friends, Suzy and Perla.
The restaurant reminds me of a mix of the Akershus at EPCOT, and Cinderella's Royal Table at the Magic Kingdom.
The main restaurant has murals on the walls depicting the story of Cinderella, and high ceilings. There is also a smaller additional room that features booths separated by engraved glass (pumpkins, of course!).
Overall the restaurant itself is nice, but given DLP's extravagant theming of everything else, for the top end dining in the park, it could be a bit more immersive.
Now we come to the food...
I have never been a fan if French food much anyway, and if anything confirmed that, it was the food here!
The starter choice was extremely French, with options such as liver pate and grilled vegetables - served cold - and they weren't even "normal" vegetables!
The main course was better. I had the veal, and it was ok. It came with some bizarre mushroom stuffing and something I think was mash potato.
The dessert was by far the best part of the meal, and was a set item, which consisted of three different items.
Served with your meal you get a selection of bread, and a non-alcoholic cocktail.
Overall the food was not my sort of thing at all. The dessert was by far the best part of the meal.
Of course this wouldn't be a character site if I didn't mention the characters we had that day!
Of course Suzy and Perla are always present, and Cinderella too.
I know for a fact that other princesses and princes frequent the restaurant. I know for example that Snow White and Aurora are nearly always there, sometimes with their princes, sometimes not.
Our visit was a bit different.
Prince Charming joined Cinderella, as well as the Fairy Godmother!
The Fairy Godmother doesn't normally make appearances in Paris, so this was a rare treat!
Tiana was also in attendance that day.
Overall we had a pleasant experience at Auberge, but I do warn you that for the price, the food isn't the best, and the characters are readily available elsewhere. It isn't somewhere I'm going to go back to any time soon.
I know this hasn't been the most comprehensive review of our experience, but I hadn't reviewed it before and felt that being it's a character dining venue, it needed a mention.
I don't have any pictures from our experience there up yet on the site, which is why there was none in this review (the three I posted were all outside, and from previous trips), but you can check back on our Auberge page at a later date to see our most recent updates (probably won't be for a little while) - or click onto the page anyway to see past pictures.
Before I sign off, just a note to say that we have been working hard to add lots more content to the site! The keen eyed among you may have noticed some new locations, a new character, new character descriptions, some new autographs on character pages, a new Disney Cruise Line Forum, and many hundreds of new photos across the site.
Plus we have added an extra 15 new Blog banners too - so be sure to refresh this page to see them all (we have 26 in total now I think)! ;)
Dan. |
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UPDATE: This competition is now CLOSED. The winner will be notified later this week. Good luck everyone!
Hi all,
Just a reminder that there is just two days left for you to try and be in with a chance of winning our fantastic Disneyland Paris 20th Anniversary Prize Pack!
Just head over to the Forums and make 10 posts before the end of Monday and we'll do the rest!
Good luck everyone!
Dan. |
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Hi all,
Today for the first time I can reveal exclusively here on the blog what the prize pack for our special Disneyland Paris 20th Anniversary Give Away will look like! Click here to find out more... [ Read More... ] |
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Hi all!
We are finally back from our crazy 9 day trip to Disneyland Paris to celebrate the launch of their 20th anniversary, and WOW what a time we had!
I'm sure a lot of you have been following our adventures on our Facebook page where we were posting regular character picture updates, as well as the two blogs I managed to make (here on the blog). We also were on Twitter, but I don't use that so much, so Facebook was definitely the place to be for updates!
To be honest I don't even know where to begin with how absolutely FANTASTIC the events were for their birthday.
Of course throughout the 20th celebrations they are running the new anniversary version of the parade, there is the character meet 'n' greet train with the VIPS in their special costumes, the BREATHTAKING Disney Dreams! show and the decorations and merchandise throughout the park.
But, the big day itself saw an unprecedented number of special shows and character greetings that simply blew us away.
The day started with Euro Disney President Philippe Gas giving a welcome speech at the foot of Main Street USA in Town Square.
After he had finished, he stepped aside from the podium and Mickey came to greet him in his new 20th outfit. [ Read More... ] |
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Yesterday, Thursday April 12th was the official 20th birthday of Disneyland Resort Paris.
We were of course there to join the fun with them as they celebrated 20 magical years, and BOY WHAT A DAY IT WAS!
From the moment we stepped through the gates to the very end, the entire day was like nothing I have ever experienced at a Disney Park before.
We were very fortunate to have VIP Guides for the day, so we managed to get the best place for everything, BUT as a regular Guest there was SO MUCH going on to see and do, from the opening ceremony, 5 unique shows, very rare character meet 'n' greets, a flash mob, the Parade, Disney Dreams and much, much more (literally I mean MUCH more!), it was the most fantastic day you could imagine.
I got to meet some very special people too including Kat de Bois, and spoke with her and some other top DLP people, which I felt very privileged to do.
Anyway, it is nearly 4am here and I have been up for nearly 24 hours celebrating DLP's 20th anniversary, so I leave you with a select few (and I really mean SELECT FEW) pictures of today's/yesterday's festivities.
Also, why not check out some very special 20th anniversary event photos from yesterday? We met some VERY special characters yesterday, too!
But for now it is time for a much needed sleep!!
More tomorrow!!
Dan :) |
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 | Disney Dreams... they really DO come true! | |
| DisneyDan
Monday, April 9, 2012 9:52:00 AM |
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Hi all LIVE from Disneyland Paris!
I wanted to share this picture with you of the awesome new Disney Dreams show at Disneyland Paris.
Of course, no characters involved, but this is way off the scale to not be showcased here!
We have seen it 5 times so far, and depending on weather, we should see it another 5 or 6 times in the next two weeks (including our second trip here in 2 weeks time).
We of course will have MANY more pictures to come of all our adventures, but wanted to share this for now :)
Be sure to check our Facebook page out as we have been posting a lot of LIVE character updates and photos there!
Dan. |
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 | And we're off! (AGAIN!) | |
| DisneyDan
Thursday, April 5, 2012 12:11:23 PM |
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Hi all,
Once again we'll be off on our travels tomorrow to Disneyland Paris to celebrate their 20th anniversary.
We will be there until next Sunday, so just over a week.
While we're there we hope to keep you updated via our Twitter and Facebook pages as usual, so be sure to check those daily.
We will be attending some very special happenings for the 20th, so stay tuned for all of that!
One last thing before I go; earlier in the week we teased you with some information about a brand new competition we will be holding here at Character Central.
To be in with a chance of winning a fantastic 20th Anniversary prize package from Disneyland Paris, all you need to do is join our friendly Character Forums and make at least 10 posts in the next 3 weeks (by April 30th).
You can reply to any subject already in discussion, or maybe start you own!
It's free and easy to join, and you could win a prize!
Ok, that's all for now - you'll hear more from us once we arrive in Paris!
Dan. |
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Hi all,
I know we haven't had any proper updates in a while, but it's all been a bit crazy here since getting back from the Cruise and WDW.
And of course at the end of next week we'll be in DLP for the 20th for a week... so as you can imagine we have a lot to do, and can't always keep things as up to date as we'd like.
That all said, we do have a few updates to share with you this evening.
Disneyland Paris has of course been having "soft opening" showings of it's new version of the Parade (Disney Magic On Parade) and the once again revamped character train, now the 20th Anniversary Celebration Train.
The Parade has seen some cool changes. The soundtrack is of course different, but here a list of other changes we have noticed so far.
Wendy, Pluto, Belle, Prince Adam, Aladdin and Jasmine have all been dropped. In their place we have gained the Blue Fairy, Merlin, the Fairy Godmother, Flora, Fauna, Merryweather, Geppetto, Rapunzel, Flynn Rider and Duffy. Tinker Bell is also due to soon re-join the parade, having been absent the last 2 days.
I don't think losing 6 characters for 11 new ones was a bad trade overall! Do you?
Peter Pan has lost his parade-specific outfit.
The Dreams of Imagination and Dreams of Romance 1 floats have been revamped and re-themed, and Mickey and friends have been switched form the front to the back of the parade, complete with brand new wizard costumes.
There are a bunch of new performer costumes.
Baloo and King Louie no longer have their grass skirts.
The floats have been re-ordered, and characters moved from the float to the ground (such as Jessie and Bert).
There are undoubtedly more than that, but I felt those were the more noteworthy ones for now.
The Celebration Train has now lost it's face, sadly. Which kind of takes away form it's overall appeal I think. He had a little personality before, now it's just a train.
The characters who currently appear for meets in Central Plaza when the train stops are Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Pluto, Goofy, Clarice, Chip and Dale. No Mickey yet, but we have heard he may appear in the future.
You can check out a video of the new parade here, and the new character train here.
Staying with Paris, and work continues on the new Mickey meet 'n' greet in Fantasyland, but while that is being completed, they have temporarily converted the Woody's Roundup area into a "Meet Mickey" experience, which features Mickey and Minnie in their regular outfits.
It is an interesting move, seeing as Minnie will be on the train all year (not saying she can't meet here also), and Mickey will be moving soon to Fantasyland... makes me wonder why go to all that trouble just for the time being?
Finally, jumping over to Florida, and Flik sadly went back to the ant hill this week, and has been replaced by Russell and Dug form UP.
I think that this was quite a nice change, and look forward to seeing them next time we'rein DAK!
Ok, that's all for now. Don't forget to catch up on my latest part of my Cruise Trip Report - there shall be another one coming in the next day or two, so stay tuned!
Dan. |
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