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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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Yesterday various Disney travel agency websites started reporting that from today (Wednesday 26th March) Disney would be accepting bookings for Star Wars themed character dining opportunities at Disney's Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World. This morning guests have started calling the reservation line, and indeed Disney are now accepting reservations for these meals! Some people are reporting having to wait for an hour on hold, so if you want to stand a chance of experiencing them, then it's best to call as soon as possible!
Of course, in order to help you make your decision though, I have details of both meals, right here!
Both meals are being offered from 4th May through to 15th June inclusive, including weekdays, according to those who have already booked this morning. The meals are of course to coincide with the immensely popular Star Wars Weekends at the park, held Friday to Sunday from 16th May through 15th June inclusive this year.
Star Wars Galactic Dine-In Breakfast at the Sci-Fi Dine-In.
Held from 8am to 12 noon inclusive, you will get the opportunity to have breakfast with Stormtroopers, a Jawa, Greedo, Boba Fett and Darth Vader! Darth Vader will reportedly be at a set location when you enter. Included in the price is a digital download photo of your party meeting Darth Vader.
The restaurant's big screen will be playing Star Wars clips and trailers, and Star Wars music will fill the air.
Prices are $47.99 for adults, and $29.99 for children aged 3-9. Prices are not inclusive of taxes or tips.
Jedi Mickey's Star Wars Dine at Hollywood & Vine
Jedi Mickey, Princess Leia Minnie, Ewoks Chip and Dale, Stormtrooper Donald and Darth Goofy will be serving up dinner from 4.15pm until park closing (times vary depending on the day) every night at a special meal at the Hollywood & Dine Restaurant!
Chip and Dale will be at a photo-location at the start of the meal, and the photo will be available as a digital download for free (included in the price of the meal).
There is a Fantasmic! Package, which includes Fantasmic! priority seating: Prices are $59.99 for adults, and $36.99 for children aged 3-9. Prices are not inclusive of taxes or tips.
Regular package (no priority seating): Prices are $55.99 for adults, and $33.99 for children aged 3-9. Prices are not inclusive of taxes or tips.
As far as we are aware, the regular Play & Dine meals with the Disney Junior characters will still feature during breakfast and lunch at this restaurant.
Although these meals are a little expensive, they do have their benefits. The best thing about them is that you get to bypass the ridiculously long lines in the hot, Florida sun. The lines to meet Jedi Mickey, Ewok Chip and Dale, and Darth Vader can easily reach several hours (we've been there and done it!). Having them come to you, at your table, at an indoor, air conditioned location is definitely the best thing about these meals. $60 to meet 5 or 6 characters, have all your food and PhotoPass picture included without waiting for 3 hours in the sun is a huge selling point, and I can see that many people will want to do this.
Please be aware that all prices, availability and what is on offer at each meal can be changed or cancelled by Disney without prior notice, and is outside of our control.
Dan.
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Hello everyone,
This morning the Disney Parks Blog announced the official start date of their much anticipated brand new day parade, Festival of Fantasy. Sunday 9th March will be the first day of the new parade at the Magic Kingdom, which has replaced the former Celebrate a Dream Come True Parade, which ran for many years in various forms. It is a huge relief to finally have a new parade and we look forward to seeing the full performance, and what surprises Disney haven't yet revealed once it steps out for the first time!
Over at Disneyland Paris the rumour mill was working overtime again today, and it has been posted across many French fan communities that Spider-Man is set to become the first Marvel character to appear at the resort, by the end of March! Spider-Man's location will apparently be at the former annual passport office next to the Blockbuster Cafe (which itself recently got a new Iron Man theme). It would be a really exciting addition to the park, and a great opportunity to break the Marvel universe into Disneyland Paris. I did some asking around, and was told that it is true, but of course anything can change, so I really hope it is, and that we see Spider-Man there by the end of March. If he is a success, then it could pave the way for more Marvel heroes to show up there.
Lots more rumours have been going around today about the appearance of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit at Disneyland Paris and Tokyo Disney Resort, which I talked about in my news post yesterday. As with Spider-Man, I hope this isn't just a rumour that has gone wild, but instead based on some truth, and that Disneyland Paris and Tokyo get Oswald - we've been waiting a long time to finally welcome him to the Disney Character family!
Ok, that's everything for now. Have a great Monday everyone.
Dan. |
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Hello everyone,
This week the Disney Parks Blog announced that the insanely popular Star Wars Weekend at Walt Disney World's Hollywood Studios would be extended to a fifth weekend, up from its normal four. In addition, there would be brand new nightly fireworks (during the weekends), similar to those seen last year at the May the Fourth event. Other Disney news sites are also reporting that there will be a new "experience" to replace the long running and very popular Hyperspace Hoopla. There is no word yet as to why they are doing this and what exactly Hoopla will be replaced with, but we can only hope it's as energetic and fun as Hoopla has been in the past few years. We'll be sad to see Hoopla go, but look forward to having some new entertainment, hopefully!
Across the Twitterverse and beyond, many people have now been talking about the strong possibility that Oswald the Lucky Rabbit will finally be allowed to step out of Toontown and join the Disney Characters at the Disney Parks, for the first time ever this spring! It has been suggested by many that he will start appearing during Disneyland Paris' and Tokyo Disney Resort's spring events. Of course, it could be a rumour that has just spiralled and grown, or there could be something in it, but I have a feeling, and talking to some people I know, that it could very well be true! I guess we shall see at the end of next month! Let's hope it is true!
Speaking of the new spring season at Disneyland Paris, although I had talked about this before, and other sites have also all been talking about it, I wanted to just mention here what we know so far, to give a roundup of what we can expect.
There will be a brand new cavalcade at Disneyland Park, featuring around thirty characters, some of them I'm told are "uncommon". It's strongly hinted that Thumper and Miss Bunny will come to Disneyland Paris for the first time (as well as Oswald, who I mentioned above). The cavalcade will utilise the former Casey Jr train from years gone by, along with three of the cars from Stars 'n' Cars (Walt Disney Studios Park's parade). The cars being taken out of Stars 'n' Cars are Mary Poppins and Bert, Snow White and Dopey and Sulley. The loss of three cars and five characters means that the parade will no longer be able to operate in its current capacity, and therefore plans are in the works to use the remaining cars for a special meet 'n' greet cavalcade. Details are sketchy right now, so we will have to wait until next month to see how it all works out.
As well as the parade changes for both parks, Disneyland Park is also expected to get some awesome decorations, musicians, street artists and there has even been talk of a small show on Main Street, but, that's still as yet unconfirmed.
As you would expect, there will also be some special meet 'n' greets at Disneyland Park, with our favourite characters in special outfits.
Of course, as I said, much as all this is currently unconfirmed. Admittedly, a lot has come from usually very reliable sources, and the odd thing about DLP is that rumours more often than not tend to turn out true! So let's hope all of this works out that way, too!
Staying with DLP, I want to draw you attention my extensive report I posted the other day that covered the new changes at the Disney Hotels and character greetings around the park. It's a sort of hybrid trip report and news report, but if you're planning a trip to DLP soon, it's well worth reading.
Finally we skip over to Hong Kong Disneyland, where the popular blog Disney and More revealed that the long running Glow in the Park Halloween Parade will sadly not return this year. Jon and I saw it several times in 2012 and really liked it. However, the park will be gaining a brand new nighttime parade, titled 'Disney Paint the Night' which will be a permanent addition. This of course is awesome, but I'm sure the Hong Kong fan community will miss not having a dedicated Halloween parade during the season.
Ok, I think that's everything for today,
Dan. |
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Hello everyone,
Today the Disney Parks Blog announced that the First Avenger, Captain America, would soon be making his Disney Parks debut at Disneyland in California. Captain America had made his world debut as a Disney Character at D23 last summer, and has since been greeting young guests in the kids' area aboard the newly refurbished Disney Magic, but this marks the first time he will be made available for all guests in a public space at the parks.
Members on WDWMagic Forum have reported that Aristocat Marie has now taken to sporting her more up to date look while visiting Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom. The Magic Kingdom was the last place that Marie was yet to sport her gentler new look, having made her debut last Valentine's Day at Disneyland Paris.
Also on WDW Magic Forum, there has been speculation that the Christmas garlands that hang across the street will no longer be put up going forward, as the new parade is too high for them, which is somewhat disappointing. But of course, this is only rumour at this stage.
Speaking of the new parade, the Disney Parks Blog have been teasing fans with images of an as-of-yet unreported float for the Festival of Fantasy. As of right now we know for sure that there will be a balloon for Mickey, a boat for Rapunzel, Monstro for Pinocchio, a flower garden for some other princesses, giant bagpipes for Merida, a clam shell for Ariel and a cool looking swinging ship for Peter Pan. However, the new images reveal to us a strange, almost steampunk inspired oven, that really could be anything! Current speculation is that it is either Tiana's Palace, one of Maurice's inventions, or something even cooler such as a machine from Treasure Planet or Atlantis, though, those last two are pretty slim chances, sadly!
Moving on now, and last night Jon received a survey from Disney On Ice, which proved to be quite interesting. The text below is from the survey:
"Act 1
Mickey and Minnie invite you to enter the magical world of Disney On Ice’s newest ice show! Dive into the vibrant aquatic world “under the sea” with Ariel, Flounder & Sebastian from The Little Mermaid. Join Rapunzel and her unlikely companions, Flynn, and Maximus from Tangled as they take adventure to new lengths! Be bedazzled by Snow White and her seven most trusted friends. And, celebrate the courage and inner beauty of Cinderella. Journey to the jungle heat of Africa as Disney’s The Lion King comes to life on ice with majestic sets and thrilling special effects. Plus, the toys are back in town with memorable moments from all of your favorite Toy Story movies.
Act 2
Bundle up and enjoy the dazzling winter wonderland and enchanting world of Arendelle as Frozen, Disney’s newest comedy-adventure takes to the ice. Be amazed as Anna teams up with mountain man Kristoff, his reindeer Sven and the hysterically funny snowman Olaf on an epic journey to find Anna's sister Elsa, The Snow Queen, and, through the power of sisterly love, puts an end to her icy spell and frees Arendelle from eternal winter.
From loveable toys to your favorite Disney Princesses to glorious ice palaces, your family's favorite Disney/Pixar moments come to life at Disney On Ice with dazzling skating, special effects and beloved characters certain to create a lifetime of memories."
(Copyright Disney and Feld Entertainment)
The survey then went on to ask questions specifically about the characters Anna, Elsa, Sven, Olaf and Kristoff (who were all mentioned in the above text), which leads us to believe that they will all soon be seen as characters in Disney On Ice shows! We are really excited about the prospects of them leaving Arendelle to make their public debut, and look forward to seeing them!
Ok that's everything for this evening, but if you want to catch up on all the news from earlier this week and last week, I have posted the links below.
Have a great weekends everyone,
Dan.
For news on the new Spring events at Disneyland Paris, rare character appearances at Animal Kingdom and Princess Aurora's dress, click here.
For news about Doc McStuffins, Star Wars Weekends and more, click here.
For my photo tribute to the now closed Camp Minnie-Mickey, click here.
For my tribute to the now retired Celebrate a Dream Come True Parade, click here.
To see my massive, photo filled review of all our adventures in 2013, click here.
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Hello everyone,
As you all probably know by now, and as I mentioned in my news article yesterday, Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom's Celebrate a Dream Come True Parade permanently ended two days ago, after more than 12 years as the park's main day parade.
Twelve years for any Disney production is a very long time, especially a day parade, and although over the years it underwent some cosmetic changes, and even two different name changes, the essence of the parade remained the same.
Starting life on 1st October 2001 as the Share a Dream Come True Parade, it was a celebration of Walt Disney's 100 birthday, for the 100 Years of Magic event.
From late 2006 the parade was altered, and became the Disney Dreams Come True Parade, which was essentially the same parade, except for the snow globes on the floats were removed.
In 2009 the music and name were changed again, and many of the original characters in the parade were replaced by performers and other characters. This incarnation saw the biggest change, and actually at the time was quite an unpopular move. Eventually more characters were added back in, and for the past 4 years the parade continued to bring a unique energy to the streets of the Magic Kingdom.
The cast, characters and performers of the parade - some of which I know were there from the start of Share a Dream Come True Parade, deserve a huge congratulations on their dedication to one of the longest running parades in Disney history, for their constant enthusiasm and smiles, and bringing life to a parade that had been out of date for several years now.
Although many people I know will miss this parade, as with everything, change is constant, and something like a parade that showcases the wonderful, magical worlds of our beloved Disney characters, needs to remain fresh and to bring something brand new. In the spring of this year the Magic Kingdom will welcome the Festival of Fantasy Parade, and I for one, cannot wait!
Let's celebrate the life and times of Celebrate a Dream Come True Parade with a photo tribute from Jon and I's favourite moments watching it over the years.
Dan. |
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 | 2013 - A Character Filled Year in Review | |
| DisneyDan
Friday, January 3, 2014 10:27:12 AM |
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Hello everyone,
Last year, 2013, was an incredible year for us here at Character Central, filled with some awesome moments.
For the past couple of years I have done my 'Year in Review' here on the blog, but I don't think any of them will compare to this one!
Let's start at the beginning of the year of course, at the Disneyland Resort in California, where we finished up a wonderful Christmas trip on New Year's Day meeting some characters around Disneyland Park.
Warning! This is a very long, photo-heavy post! If you're on the Blog home, then click to continue! [ Read More... ] |
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 | Advent Calendar - 21st December | |
| DisneyDan
Sunday, December 22, 2013 2:12:24 AM |
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It's the 21st December which means it is time to open the next door of our very special Character Central advent calendar!
Click to find out who it is today!
[ Read More... ] |
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 | Advent Calendar - 14th December | |
| DisneyDan
Saturday, December 14, 2013 10:29:54 AM |
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It's the 14th December, so it's time to open the fourteenth door of our very special Character Central Advent Calendar!
Click to find out who it is today!
[ Read More... ] |
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 | Advent Calendar - 12th December | |
| DisneyDan
Thursday, December 12, 2013 2:30:31 PM |
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It's the 12th December, so it's time to open the twelfth door of our very special Character Central Advent Calendar!
Click to find out who it is today!
[ Read More... ] |
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