 | 2014 - A Character Filled Year in Review |
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| DisneyDan
Wednesday, December 31, 2014 11:05:51 AM |
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Hello everyone,
Well, 2014 is nearly said and done, and 2015 draws ever nearer! It’s been a fantastic year here at Character Central, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank each one of our fans for supporting us for another year of laughter and magic.
In 2014 we had so many adventures, it would be impossible to claim any one of them was our favourite. From starting the year with the Einsteins at Disneyland Paris, Easter with the Aristocats, meeting Oswald for the first time in Tokyo DisneySea, to Christmas at Walt Disney World, it has been simply incredible. If I tried to share every magical moment we had in 2014 I’d not only be here for a week embedding the photos, but you would also get bored! So, this year, instead of my epic "post ever single character we saw" review, I thought I would share with everyone a selection of our favourite character moments from the year (just characters, because if I shared other photos and moments too, again, I’d be here forever!). Having said that, a "selection" from the incredible amount of things we've done means that this post is still really long, so just be warned if you have a slow internet connection!
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 | Advent Calendar - Christmas Eve | |
| DisneyDan
Wednesday, December 24, 2014 12:18:16 PM |
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It's Christmas Eve! The big day is almost here and Mickey and all his friends are getting ready for an early night! Aren't they adorable in their PJs?!
Have a wonderful day everyone!
Dan. |
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 | Advent Calendar - 23rd December 2014 | |
| DisneyDan
Tuesday, December 23, 2014 4:37:47 PM |
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Hello everyone,
It's the 23rd December, which means it's time to open the twenty-third door of our very special Character Central Advent Calendar!
Here we go!...
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 | Advent Calendar - 22nd December 2014 | |
| DisneyDan
Monday, December 22, 2014 8:13:17 PM |
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Hello everyone,
It's the 22nd December, which means it's time to open the twenty second door of our very special Character Central Advent Calendar!
Here we go!...
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Hello everyone,
This is the third part of my Walt Disney World Christmas trip report. In case you missed parts one and two, here are the links:
Part 1 - The Magic Kingdom
Part 2 - Epcot
In this part I am going to share the festive fun we had at Disney’s Animal Kingdom and Disney's Hollywood Studios.
Let’s start with Animal Kingdom.
At the main entrance, the beautiful Christmas Tree welcomed us.
On Discovery Island we met Mickey and Minnie in their Christmas attire, and Daisy was greeting in her safari wear, with some small little holiday additions - some holly and a candy cane striped scarf and ribbons.
Up at Rafiki’s Planet Watch, Chip and Dale were inside the building due to the rain, but they were wearing winter scarves and hats. They were so cute!
In Asia, King Louie and Baloo were wearing winter scarves, and had a great backdrop with Christmas Trees and garlands with bananas on them!
In DinoLand USA, Santa Goofy and his trusty helper, Pluto (who has bells on his collar) had a nice setup with their own Christmas Trees, too. Donald Duck was at his location near Dinosaur, and while his outfit was his regular one, he had a festive addition to his hat, and a candy cane striped scarf.
It was really nice to see so many characters wearing Christmas outfits at Animal Kingdom - I just wish that there were as many at the Magic Kingdom (during regular hours), too!
Now let’s move onto Hollywood Studios.
Phineas and Ferb were at their regular location wearing Christmas hats and scarves (the same ones they wore at the Club Tinsel dance party at Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party, which we saw in part one of this report).
Santa Goofy was greeting fans on the Streets of America, and while he wears the same outfit as he over at Animal Kingdom, it was nice to meet him with a different festive backdrop.
Hollywood Studios has some nice Christmas decorations, too, including a large tree at the main entrance.
Of course, the highlight for me for Hollywood Studios, and one of the top things from the whole trip was seeing the Osborne Lights. I love the Osborne Lights, and was so happy to finally get to see them again having spent several Christmases at the other Disney Parks around the world. The lights are nothing short of spectacular. The colours, the way they dance to the music - they are simply awesome. No amount of photos can ever do them justice, but I’ll try nonetheless!
I took some short video clips on my phone, which I’ll post below, but just be aware that the quality might not be the best!
So, this report along with the previous two parts, we have now covered everything festive that we experienced during our recent Walt Disney World trip. I think I’ll probably try to make a final part to just share with everyone the other things that we did during our trip that were not Christmas related, but that might not come until next week.
Have a great Christmas everyone!
Dan.
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Want to discover the magic of all the Disney Parks worldwide without leaving your seat?! Then be sure to check out my “Grand Circle Tour”, which is currently touring Main Street, Adventureland and Frontierland, here on the Character Central Blog! See below for links.
Part 1 - Main Street USA
Part 2 - Adventureland
Part 3 - Frontierland
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| Advent Calendar - 21st December 2014 | |
| DisneyDan
Sunday, December 21, 2014 6:09:10 PM |
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Hello everyone,
It's the 21st December, which means it's time to open the twenty-first door of our very special Character Central Advent Calendar!
Here we go!...
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 | Advent Calendar - 20th December 2014 | |
| DisneyDan
Saturday, December 20, 2014 9:25:33 PM |
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Hello everyone,
It's the 20th December, which means it's time to open the twentieth door of our very special Character Central Advent Calendar!
Here we go!...
[ Read More... ] |
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| Advent Calendar - 19th December 2014 | |
| DisneyDan
Friday, December 19, 2014 4:40:31 PM |
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Hello everyone,
It's the 19th December, which means it's time to open the nineteenth door of our very special Character Central Advent Calendar!
Here we go!...
[ Read More... ] |
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Hello everyone,
In this second part to my Walt Disney World Christmas Trip Report, I am going to share the fun we had at Epcot across several days, for their Holidays Around the World, and other festive things.
We start our journey at the front of the park of course, where we shall stop to look at the Christmas decorations and topiaries of Future World. We took day and night shots of some of the topiaries, as they had a different look and feel to them at different times of the day, so I’ll share both with you.
Future World is also host to a religious musical performance - “Joyful! A Gospel Celebration of the Season”.
The main Epcot Christmas Tree is located on the walkway that links Future World to World Showcase. We took day and night photos of this, too, of course!
Duffy the Disney Bear has his permanent location near the Christmas Tree, on Showcase Plaza, and for the holidays he wears his cute Christmas outfit.
Now we shall make our way around World Showcase to discover their holiday offerings, starting in Canada.
Canada used to be home to the Canadian Pere Noel, but sadly he has departed for voyages into the great wilderness of Canada, and has been replaced with a live band. The Canadian Holiday Voyageurs perform what are told to us to be Canadian Christmas songs and music styles from the different provinces and territories of Canada. The band and the music has a strong Christian rock overtone, although there are some songs that are non-religious too.
In the United Kingdom you can listen to Father Christmas as he shares stories of festive British traditions, including mistletoe and Christmas cards.
I’m sure these next two will make my fellow Brits chuckle. A giant Christmas tea set, and Christmas crackers on a garland - because that’s what we all use and decorate our homes with, right?!
Crossing the ”English Channel” (AKA the bridge across to France), we can discover the enchanting Pere Noel, and his story of Babette and her brother, Francois, who didn’t believe in Pere Noel.
In Morocco you can learn all about traditional Muslim festivals and food, where celebration is “the spice of life!”
Japan hosts the Daruma vendor who tries to sell everyone her Daruma dolls. You also learn about the Japanese New Year traditions.
At the American Adventure, you can discover the traditions of Hanukkah and Kwanzaa, as well as meet Santa Claus and Mrs Claus, and wander around the Santa’s Village they have there. The American Adventure is the permanent home to the Voices of Liberty, and while we were there they were singing traditional carols, dressed in Dickens wear. Sadly we didn’t get any photos of them - they were the only thing from Holidays Around the World we missed!
Three times per night Epcot hosts its Candlelight Processional at the America Gardens Theater. Candlelight Processional is an epic musical retelling of the traditional Christmas story. During its run the narrator is always a celebrity, and while we were there it was Jonathan Groff - known more recently as Kristoff from Frozen! While we aren’t really into religious retellings and religious carols, it was pretty neat to hear him speak live, and the musicians and choir are exceptionally talented.
I have included a short video clip below. It was taken on my phone, and I didn’t want to be rude and sit there holding my phone above everyone for a minutes on end, so the quality is poor, but I thought I’d share it anyway, to give you some idea of what the experience is like.
Moving on to Italy, and we learnt about the story of the good witch, La Befana, who leaves presents for good children on the Eve of Epiphany, having searched the world for Christ for thousands of years.
In Germany Helga tells her story of her very first Nutcracker, which comes to life as if by magic!
The Germany snowman topiary by day…
...and by night!
In previous years, China used to be home to the Monkey King, but like Pere Noel in Canada, he had to depart and make way for new entertainment. This year the Chinese Lion Dancers entertain guests.
As with the video for Candlelight Processional, this was taken on my phone, so don’t expect great quality - I just wanted to capture the moment!
Next up is Norway. Here, Sigrid tells the story of the Christmas gnome, Julenissen, however, she doesn’t believe in him! With a little bit of magic, faith and trust, she eventually realises he’s real! For some reason this is the only Holidays Around the World that I didn’t take a picture of the storyboard for. There is also a video below, and like the previous two, it was taken on my phone.
The final stop on our tour around the holidays of the world is Mexico. Previously the Three Kings would tell their story, but sadly they have now gone too. This year instead there is a Mariachi band and some performers who show us what it is like to celebrate Navidad the Mexican way. In addition, Donald Duck, who always greets in Mexico, dons a new outfit this year to celebrate Navidad. There are two videos for the Mariachi performers, below.
That’s wrap! We have discovered all the Holidays Around the World! We really enjoyed Holidays Around the World this year, even if they did cut some of the storytellers in favour of musicians. I don’t mind the musicians, but I wish they had been in addition to the storytellers, instead of replacing them. Also, I didn’t mention it in the main part above, but for the storytellers that remain, you can’t always meet them now, either. In the past it would be that they would stop for photos and autographs afterwards, but now most of them do not, and the ones that do feel very rushed, which is a shame.
In case you missed part one, which was all about Christmas at the Magic Kingdom (including Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party), you can read that here. Part three of this report, which will be about Christmas at Disney's Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom, will come in the next week or so, so look out for that!
Dan.
***
Want to discover the magic of all the Disney Parks worldwide without leaving your seat?! Then be sure to check out my “Grand Circle Tour”, which is currently touring Main Street, Adventureland and Frontierland, here on the Character Central Blog! See below for links.
Part 1 - Main Street USA
Part 2 - Adventureland
Part 3 - Frontierland
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