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The Disney Parks Blog just announced that Anna, Elsa, Kristoff and everybody's favourite snowman Olaf will be coming to Mickey's Once Upon a Christmastime Parade at Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party this year!
They have also confirmed that Elsa will feature at Cinderella Castle, which will as always be turned into an ice palace - but presumably replacing Cinderella and the Fairy Godmother.
At Disney's Hollywood Studios, the Frozen Sing-a-long which features Anna, Elsa and Kristoff will run through the holidays.
We can't wait to see Olaf join the Disney character family this Christmas season!
Although not holiday related, it's also been announced that Frozen will take over EPCOT's Maelstrom (Norway) attraction, and "will take our guests to Arendelle and immerse them in many of their favorite moments and music from the film." The Blog also confirmed that Anna and Elsa would greet guests at the Norway pavilion, too.
Dare I say it? The only park missing a Frozen addition will be Animal Kingdom!...
Are you excited to see all these additions and changes at Walt Disney World for the holidays and beyond?
Dan. |
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No trip to a Disney Park would be complete without meeting everybody's favourite star, and the world's most famous mouse, Mickey! I've compiled a list of our top places to meet him at each of the 11 Disney Parks around the world. Some of them are not as obvious as you would initially anticipate, as I have tried to offer suggestions of places where you find him wearing different outfits, or where lines are shorter.
So, let's take a look! I've organised the locations purely by destination, and not in any kind of rank order.
1. Disneyland Park at the Disneyland Resort in California
Disneyland is the gateway to the whimsical world of Toontown, and where better to meet Mickey than in his house there? Depending on your time of visiting, Mickey could be wearing a variety of outfits which include his classic suit, his bandleader outfit, Steamboat Willie outfit or Sorcerer's Apprentice hat and gown. You never know which one he'll be wearing, and while you wait you get to explore the magical home of the world's most beloved mouse!
2. Disney California Adventure at the Disneyland Resort in California
When Mickey visits DCA, he greets is fans on the historical Buena Vista Street, wearing his 1920's Los Angeles clothes. It's a cute outfit and a fitting location indeed.
3. Magic Kingdom Park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida
Mickey's home at the Magic Kingdom is in Town Square Theater on Main Street USA. Here Mickey feels most comfortable, and actually talks to guests whilst wearing his special magicians costume! What sort of conversation will you have with him?
Sadly we haven't yet visited Mickey at Town Square Theater since he started talking to guests. The photo above is from a previous visit. The picture below is one taken by our good friend Lori, who has been lucky enough to meet him since he started talking!
4. EPCOT at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida
While visiting EPCOT, Mickey greets guests at the Character Spot. Although he doesn't wear a special outfit here, it is the only place you can meet him regularly in the park.
Note that the backdrop has changed since we last saw Mickey here, but remains largely similar.
5. Disney Hollywood Studios at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida
At Disney's Hollywood Studios, Mickey wears his Sorcerer's Apprentice inside the Magic of Disney Animation building. Which spells will you help him conjure up?
6. Disney's Animal Kingdom Theme Park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida
Join Mickey before he sets off on his next expedition, at the Adventurers Outpost on Discovery Island! Minnie is nearly always there too, also wearing her explorers costume.
7. Disneyland Park at Disneyland Paris
This one is a bit more obscure (you might have expected I had chose 'Meet Mickey Mouse' in Fantasyland), but I have chosen Discoveryland because when Mickey visits the retro-future he dons his special space suit. Although he doesn't come out daily in Discoveryland, unlike the rest of the locations listed above, it is fairly regular, and it is the only place in the world you will find Mickey wearing a space suit!
8. Walt Disney Studios Park at Disneyland Paris
When he's filming on location at the Studios, Mickey greets fans wearing his classic outfit at Toon Plaza, in Toon Studios. The backdrop is nearly always that of his house back in Toontown.
9. Tokyo Disneyland at Tokyo Disney Resort
Again, you might have expected me to chose Mickey's permanent location in Toontown, but that can often get lines of 4 hours or more, and so I have picked somewhere a bit more "relaxed". Although he doesn't come out daily in Westernland, when he does, Mickey wears his special Western outfit. The Japanese call this a "free" character set, meaning he will walk around greeting guests, instead of having a multi-hour wait! Be warned though, when he appears, there will nearly always be hoards of Japanese fans screaming for the attention of their idol! The experience of watching them do that is alone worth meeting Mickey here over any structured location!
10. Tokyo DisneySea at Tokyo Disney Resort
Deep in the heart of the Lost River Delta, Mickey is on an excavation trip. When he's taking a break from digging up ancient ruins, he greets his fans in his tent, wearing his cute archaeologist outfit. This is one of the few places at Tokyo Disney Resort where a structured meet 'n' greet location has relatively "short" lines, too, making it a great place to visit Mickey and friends!
11. Hong Kong Disneyland at the Hong Kong Disneyland Resort
Bears and gold are the main attraction in the little town of Grizzly Gulch. It's also where Mickey likes to hang out when visiting Hong Kong Disneyland, and he does it in style, wearing his excellent gold rush costume! Minnie nearly always appears alongside him, too.
Of course, these locations aren't the only places at the parks where you can meet the Big Cheese, but are the ones that I felt were different or unique in some way.
Dan. |
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Hello everyone,
Today we finally have official confirmation from Tokyo Disney Resort that Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, who had been rumoured to start appearing for some time, will appear from the 2nd April at Tokyo DisneySea's Cape Cod area! This will be the first time ever that Walt Disney's original cartoon star will appear at a Disney Park, and hopefully paves the way for him to make future appearances around the world!
It is not known if he will remain after their spring festivities end, as at the moment he is only listed under the spring pages of the Japanese language website. We can only hope he will remain!
Other offerings this spring at Tokyo Disney Resort include a brand new Easter parade at Tokyo Disneyland, Mickey and Duffy's Spring Voyage at DisneySea which features three separate shows around the park's ports, and greetings with Duffy who will be wearing a special outfit.
Over in WDW, the Disney Parks Blog today announced that Anna and Elsa would be leaving Norway at EPCOT and moving to the Princess Fairytale Hall at the Magic Kingdom from 20th April. FastPass+ is expected to be available. Cinderella and Rapunzel should still be available in one room, but Anna and Elsa will be replacing Aurora and Snow White in the other. The Parks Blog have said that Anna and Elsa would only be greeting during the day, and in the evening other princesses shall visit, meaning that hopefully Snow White and Aurora will still be greeting at some point during any given day.
Finally, Disneyland Paris last week celebrated their annual Welsh St. David's Day festival, and this coming Monday (17th) will be celebrating the Irish St. Patrick's Day. The schedule of events will include character greetings with Mickey and Minnie in special Irish costumes, lucky (and rather mischievous!) Leprechauns roaming around Frontierland, a small dance show featuring Chip 'n' Dale in their Irish finest, and a pre-parade featuring the Disney characters in their special Irish clothes. The day will be topped off with special St. Patrick's Day fireworks over Disneyland Park.
Have a great weekend everyone,
Dan. |
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| Hello everyone,
Starting from an as-of-yet unspecified date in November, the new stars will greet fans at Disneyland Park in California, and at Norway in Epcot at Walt Disney World. Over in Disneyland Paris, Anna and Elsa will debut aboard the newly redesigned Dreams of Romance float, alongside Rapunzel and Flynn. Rapunzel remains on the swing, as with the previous version of the float - it's the front half that's changed to accommodate Anna and Elsa, meaning the loss of Ariel and Eric. I have heard that there was a picture of the new float posted in the latest annual passholder magazine, Envie+, but I as of yet have not received my copy (DLP are notoriously bad about sending them out!). Disneyland Paris have not yet confirmed whether Anna and Elsa will also be greeting fans, but rumour has it that they might appear randomly. If I find out more, I'll be sure to post it here.
The Parks Blog also announced that coming in 'late 2016' Hong Kong Disneyland would get an Iron Man themed e-ticket attraction in Tomorrowland, along with a meet 'n' greet for Tony Stark's alter ego himself. It is the first time that Disney have confirmed that a Marvel attraction will be built inside a theme park, and the second time they have announced a Marvel meet 'n' greet for a theme park - the first being Thor for Disneyland (CA) this winter.
Ok, that's all for this evening. Jon and I will be at Disneyland Paris to celebrate Halloween Season this weekend, so be sure to follow our Facebook and Twitter pages for all the latest live updates from the parks!
Dan. |
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 | Happy 42nd Birthday Walt Disney World Resort! | |
| DisneyDan
Tuesday, October 1, 2013 11:27:53 AM |
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Today is the 42nd anniversary of the grand opening of the Magic Kingdom at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida.
Since the opening of Disneyland, in Anaheim, CA, Walt Disney's dreams had grown even bigger. The limit of space in the Southern California park had meant that Walt's ultimate dreams had to be confined to a relatively small area.
In the early 1960's Walt Disney set about bringing to life his beloved Disneyland on a much larger scale, this time somewhere where there was all the land he could ever imagine - Florida.
Sadly, Walt passed away before his dream had became a reality, but his brother, Roy, ensured that the park kept on track, and finally on the 1st October 1971, the Magic Kingdom opened, at Walt Disney World - renamed by Roy from just Disney World in honour of his brother.
Since then, more and more of Walt's dreams have come true, including the opening of EPCOT, also on October 1st, in 1982.
EPCOT was Walt's vision of the future, where people worked and played together in a utopian community.
Although some may say this dream has never fully been realised, since EPCOT isn't quite how Walt envisaged it, I think that actually, it has, and more.
The Walt Disney World Resort brings together people from all over the world, not just to visit, but to live and work, too. With its hugely diverse Cast Members, international cuisines, celebrations of different cultures, and world class entertainment, shopping, dining and indeed living (Celebration, Golden Oaks, Cast Member housing etc), Walt's ultimate dream truly has become a reality.
Since 1971, millions upon millions of dreams have come true, simply because one man believed that if you could dream it, you could do it.
Happy 42nd birthday Walt Disney World, here's to many, many more!
In our usual style, here's a cavalcade of photos of our magical experiences at Walt Disney World over the years. I have deliberately left out character images for today, since I really wanted to celebrate the beauty of the parks, and the work of the dreamers who believed they could build this magical place.
Dan. |
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Hello everyone,
There really hasn't been a lot of news surrounding Disney Characters for some time, but finally today, I have a few small things to tell you.
In the last couple of weeks Sofia the First from the Disney Channel show of the same name has began making regular appearances at Disney California Adventure. I don't think she has started appearing in WDW yet, but I could be wrong. I haven't seen anything saying she has.
In a random piece of "news", Disney's ever popular Vinylmation series released a new Beauty and the Beast set. The chaser was Beast in human form. Now, as some of you may be aware the fan community usually refer, unofficially, to him as Prince Adam. This stems from a really old, rather random, PC-CD ROM trivia game that mentioned his name. Well, guess what? Some 20 years later and the bottom of the new Vinyl says the character's name is Prince Adam! I guess we can now all breathe a sigh of relief and live content in the knowledge that he is indeed Prince Adam!
Of course the biggest news is the latest Limited Time Magic offerings.
Disneyland doesn't really have anything exciting lined up. More of the Dapper Dans singing out-of-character songs, and musicians on the side of the Matterhorn.
Over in WDW though they have had a few interesting weeks, with more lined up.
The 4th July celebrations saw Mickey and Friends appear at EPCOT and some WDW Resort Hotels in patriotic costumes. Sadly we weren't there, but it looked like fun.
Then, this week Mickey and friends have been rocking out the America Gardens Theater in an energetic show featuring hip-hop, acrobatics and more.
Then there is the latest news... The next Long Lost Friends Week vote is in, and dates are revealed!
From 15th July through the 21st, guests can meet the following at the Magic Kingdom:
- Louis and Dr Faciilier
- Chicken Little and Abby Mallard
- Robin Hood and Friends
- and Br'er Rabbit, Br'er Bear and Br'er Fox.
What is interesting is that on the official Disney Parks Blog they fail to mention Br'er Rabbit, or Louis and Facilier, yet they are mentioned on the in the blurb on the Limited Time Magic page.
Hopefully all four sets will turn up, and there aren't any oddities.
Anyway, that is everything for today. If I hear anything else, I'll be sure to post it, as always.
Have a great weekend,
Dan. |
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Hello everyone,
There's a few things of interest this week that I thought I'd share. Sadly I haven't really had time to catch up properly recently after the big around the world trip, so you'll have to just go with it!
Anyway, Disney's Monstrous Summer at both US resorts has now started, and brings with it some new characters and greeting opportunities.
At Walt Disney's World's Disney's Hollywood Studios, Mike and Sulley can be met in their new MU dorm setting (same place as their old location), in their new MU outfits.
At the Big Hat they perform in the homecoming show, which is basically a large pop/rock dance party.
At Disney California Adventure, Mike and Sulley can be met, again at a new MU dorm setting, down in Hollywood Land.
The PIXAR Play Parade has been refreshed too, and stars Mike, Sulley and some brand new Monsters friends! Art, Scott "Squishy" Squibbles, Terry and Terri, and Archie the Scare Pig all join them! We'll be there in August and really look forward to seeing them!
Art was out for meets during the most recent 24 hour event back in May. Sadly we were not there to meet him (we were in DLP at the time!).
From the 1st to the 7th of July at both US resorts, Independence Day will be celebrated for a whole week, and will feature special character opportunities.
At Disneyland you will be able to meet Mickey Mouse in patriotic clothes, in Town Square every evening.
At Walt Disney World Goofy, Donald and Pluto will feature in patriotic clothes in a special pre-parade at the Magic Kingdom, which will also feature EPCOT's Fife and Drum Corps, as well as the much loved Citizens of Main Street (just how WDW use them in other pre-parades).
Interestingly, WDW have not yet said whether there will be character greetings at the American Adventure in EPCOT this year. Every year, for the last few years at least, WDW have featured Mickey and friends in patriotic clothes, as well as appearances by historical figures such Betty Ross and Benjamin Franklin.
I hope that the pre-parade is not a replacement for those greetings. That would be quite sad indeed to cut those.
You can read more about what is happening during Independence Week at the US Parks on the Disney Parks Blog which I linked to above (includes details of 4th July fireworks and more)
Probably the biggest news this week is that for the first time ever Disney will feature Marvel characters! Of course, they will be for limited sets at this years D23 Expo event in August, but it is a huge step nonetheless.
It is expected that Spider-Man and Iron Man will appear for limited sets on one of the days.
D23 will also feature Sofia the First (who debuted in the Christmas Day Parade at WDW last year, but not seen since), and for the first time Doc McStuffins!
The programme of events also listed characters from Jake and the Neverland Pirates, but of course we already have Jake at the parks, sparking speculation that maybe Izzy or Cubby might be coming!
Our friends at Inside the Magic have a complete breakdown of the entire event, with the greeting times, so be sure to check out their post here.
Here at Character Central we have been working hard to update the website and add more new content, including characters, autographs and movies. Be sure to check them all out! (You'll have to look for them - I don't want to make it too easy for you!)
Ok, I think that's everything for today.
Dan. |
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Hello everyone,
If you had been following our Twitter last week, you will know that we spent 5 days in WDW over the Easter period.
Of course, going to WDW is nothing new for us (!), and so I don't usually post a review or trip report these days, but, there were a lot of new things on this trip that we hadn't experienced before, so I thought I would cover them in a short photo report (as opposed to a full trip report), so that you can all see some of our adventures.
[ Read More... ] |
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Hi all,
Just two updates today.
Following my lengthy blog about Limited Time Magic the other day, we finally got to find out what WDW's latest offering would be today.
The Disney Parks Blog announced that from January 14th through 20th, EPCOT's Canada pavilion would host 'Winter Wonderland', where you would be able to meet your favourite Disney Characters. Their example shows a picture of Donald Duck in special clothes, and I imagine other will be there too.
Given this promotions massive anticlimax so far, this is a start, I guess!
As I was writing this, the Disney Parks Blog ALSO announced Disneyland's next offering (select dates through February 12th), which, again going back to my criticism of the Limited stuff so far this year in my last blog post, is a previous years' recycled event, that they are branding as "Limited Time Magic". Sigh.
Well, nonetheless, Disneyland will be celebrating Mardi Gras again this year with the characters from The Princess and the Frog, including a cute mini-show with Tiana, Naveen and Louis, and lots of live bands. Also, look out for Mickey and the gang in their cool Mardi Gras clothes!
Over at Disneyland Paris, the rumour mill has been turning...
DLRP Express posted on Facebook an interesting picture. The old Lion King set at the Videopolis Theatre is being disassembled this evening! Although the show has been gone for years, the set of the old Lion King show has always been there, not really doing anyone harm, but not being very useful either.
Disney being Disney, and with money being tight, I can only imagine that they have plans for the stage, rather than fruitlessly wasting time taking all the set down. I can dream, right?...
Ok, that's all for now.
Dan. |
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Hi all,
This is a very brief news update, as we are on our way to Hong Kong Disneyland later today!
I saw a couple of character related things around the internet this week that were worth mentioning.
First off, and maybe the biggest news was that the US Parks and Resorts, next year (2013), will be dubbed "Limited Time Magic", and will feature a year full of new and interesting events on both coasts.
Of course there are some oddball ones, such as the Dapper Dans singing pop songs (!), but there are also some for us character fans, including "Long Lost Friends Week", which is due to feature, to quote, "lesser known" Disney characters.
There will also be themed weeks, such as the week of 4th July, that will feature Mickey and Friends in their patriotic clothes, and Pirate Week, which, as you can imagine, features them in their pirate gear.
We look forward to hearing more about these events, and the full line-up for the year. We only hope that they release dates for each specific week in advance enough so that everyone can plan the week they want to attend.
You can check out our member's forum post about it here, which also has a link to the Parks Blog post.
In WDW, EPCOT is due to close the Character spot for a lengthy - and long overdue - overhaul.
The new version is due to reopen in February. In the meantime Mickey and Friends are being moved around the park. Though nothing official has been announced yet regarding the future of it, it is expected that they are going to take a leaf out of their own books, and their recent efforts at the brand new Silly Sideshow at the Magic Kingdom. Hopefully EPCOT will finally get an appropriately themed character location, with Mickey and Friends wearing some neat new Future World outfits.
Again, you can check out our forum post about it here.
Over in DL, although this is not official, Miceage king Al Lutz has reported that the West Coast park is due to cut their Christmas offering s from 2013, and instead host ticketed Christmas Parties, like the Magic Kingdom. I won't get into the whole thing here, as I am on limited time (our flight to HKDL awaits! LOL!), but you can read his article here. I for one would be sad if DL went down this route. DL's seasonal offerings are one of the many great things that often sets them apart from WDW, and is another anil in the coffin towards the US Parks becoming standardised, much to the fans disappointment.
With the announcement in NY earlier this week regarding the Limited Time Magic, it was also made apparent that the Disney Princesses would be getting a makeover. Cinderella was there, and if you check that Parks Blog post I mentioned above, you'll see a picture of her in her new dress and hairstyle. I have also heard that the other core Princesses will also be receiving makeovers. As yet, as far as I know, there is no date for their official relaunch. If anyone knows otherwise, just let me know!
Ok, I think that's all for now then.
Like I said, we're off to Hong Kong Disneyland tonight, and later next week Tokyo Disney Resort!
We'll try to update our Facebook page regularly, as well as our Twitter account, with pictures from our adventures at the parks, so be sure to follow us there!
Dan. |
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