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Hello everyone,
Christmas season is nearly upon us which means that the Disney Parks are gearing up for another spectacular season of holiday magic and wonder!
I thought we could take a look at what the Disneyland Resort in California has to offer this holiday season. Holiday Time at the Disneyland Resort will run from 13th November 2014 until 6th January 2015 inclusive this season.
We shall start with Disneyland Park.
At Disneyland Park you immediately find yourself in a winter wonderland as you step onto Main Street USA and discover their huge Christmas Tree and all the garlands, leading to the beautifully snow topped Sleeping Beauty Castle.
Walt's apartment gets a Christmas Tree in its window for the holidays, too.
Whilst on Main Street, you should stand and listen to the Dickens Yuletide Band play some classic Christmas tunes.
You should also stop by Town Square to give a warm hug to all your favourite Disney pals as they celebrate the season in their cute festive clothes!
As you head off of Central Plaza and into Adventureland you should take a cruise on the rivers of the world, aboard the Jingle Cruise! (Note that this is not yet confirmed on the Disneyland Resort website for this year).
Heading out of Adventureland and into New Orleans Square, visit Jack Skellington and all his creepy friends from Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas at the Haunted Mansion Holiday. This epic holiday overlay features exclusive scenes and awesome effects. This attraction is extremely popular though, so be sure to get a FastPass or be there early (FastPasses aren’t normally available for Haunted Mansion, but during the holidays they are due to the popularity of this overlay).
If taking a ride through the worlds of Christmas and Halloween collided wasn’t enough, you can also meet Jack Skellington and Sally Stitches near the Haunted Mansion.
From New Orleans Square, wander down to Critter Country where you can meet Winnie the Pooh and friends in their festive clothes.
In Frontierland you should definitely visit the Jingle Jangle Jamboree where you can meet Santa Claus himself (Santa only meets until Christmas Eve)! Some of your other favourite Disney pals might just show up too!
Fantasyland’s classic attraction “it’s a small world” becomes “it’s a small world” Holiday for the festive season, and is decked out with an incredible display of colour changing lights, which look awesome at night! Inside, the attraction celebrates holidays from around the world with festive costumes and scenes.
The must-see event at Disneyland Park is of course 'A Christmas Fantasy Parade'. Filled with all the most magical sights and sounds of Christmas, as well as the Disney characters, this parade is truly fantastic.
As night falls watch in awe as Sleeping Beauty Castle Becomes Sleeping Beauty’s Winter Castle, a wondrous snow capped ice palace.
To top it all, the skies high above Sleeping Beauty’s Winter Castle become an array of colour in the “Believe… In Holiday Magic” fireworks spectacular.
As well as all these exciting happenings, don’t forget to check out the beautiful decorations around the park, and of course watch snow fall on Main Street USA!
Of course, no day at Disneyland during Christmas would be complete without some treats!
Be sure to try some of the world famous Disneyland candy canes, too! These are very popular, and tickets are usually distributed first thing in the morning. (Note that the candy canes may also be made at Trolley Treats in Disney California Adventure - check on the day of your visit.)
Now let us take a look into Disney California Adventure’s holiday offerings.
Buena Vista Street celebrates a classic Christmas of days gone by, with period decoration and their splendid Christmas Tree.
While on Buena Vista Street why not stop and listen to the Community Bell Ringers as they celebrate the holidays with some seasonal sounds?
The Elias and Co. department store is the home to Santa Claus up until Christmas Eve.
Also, you can catch Mickey and friends, and the Citizens of Buena Vista Street, in their period costumes which have been given a Christmas twist.
At Paradise Pier, in previous years you were able to meet Duffy and Donald in cute Christmas outfits. It is not known yet if they will return this year, but I’ll share some of our photos nonetheless. It could be that other characters take their place.
Cars Land resident Tow Mater also joins the festivities, wearing a giant Santa hat!
As night falls on Buena Vista Street, the Community Bell Ringers, the Citizens of Buena Vista Street and the Disney characters all come together for the Holiday Tree Lighting Ceremony.
Over in Paradise Bay, the magical World of Color becomes “World of Color - Winter Dreams”, a seasonal holiday version of this now classic nighttime spectacular.
Just like at Disneyland Park, don’t forget to check out all the decorations throughout the park.
You should also try some delicious treats, available from Trolley Treats Candy.
In previous years Disney California Adventure has also featured a special screening of Prep and Landing at the Muppet’s theatre, and a holiday version of the Phineas and Ferb show. There is currently no confirmation of either of these though, and they are not listed on the Disneyland website. However, I’ll share some photo below for reference.
Disney California Adventure also celebrates Navidad, however we have no photos of this currently, sadly (we shall soon though!).
At the Disney hotels you can also meet Santa Claus at select times, up until Christmas Eve.
In previous years on Christmas Eve, Mickey and friends have appeared on Main Street in their cute PJs ready for bed as they anticipate the arrival of Santa Claus. They usually appear for very limited set times in the evening of Christmas Eve only, so be sure to look out for them!
For New Year’s Eve the parks put on special entertainment offerings, including mind blowing fireworks at the turn of the year. We were at Disney California Adventure for New Year two years ago, so I will share some of our photos and video from that, however, be aware this year’s offerings may differ.
Will you be visiting the Disneyland Resort this holiday season? What are you looking forward to the most?
Happy Holidays everyone!
Dan.
All information in this article is subject to change or cancellation at any time, without prior notice by Disney. We offer this information purely as a guide to some of the things that may be experienced during Holiday Time at the Disneyland Resort.
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Hello everyone,
In part 1 of our grand circle tour of the world's Magic Kingdoms, we toured Main Street USA and World Bazaar.
In this second part we are going to adventure into the depths of Adventureland. For reasons that will become clear later, I'll also be including New Orleans Square in this tour.
Before we begin, I just want to clarify the usage of certain names in this article. Some of you may dislike the fact I refer to each park by its location, but please bear in mind that when referring to “Disneyland”, there are actually four parks that carry that name in one way or another, and while I could type “Tokyo Disneyland”, for example, each time, it would be very time consuming. So, to avoid confusion, for the most part I will simply refer to each park by their physical location, to avoid any confusion (for example, Paris, for Disneyland Paris).
Throughout this tour you will also discover that not everywhere has a comparable experience in the other Magic Kingdom style parks, but in fact sometimes lie in other parks. Although we are comparing Adventureland overall, you will find that I throw in other parks too, where necessary, in order to show the comparable experiences.
There are many, many photos in this article, so be warned, it might take a few minutes to fully load! [ Read More... ] |
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Hello everyone,
I'm starting a new series here on the blog in which I aim to share my thoughts and experiences of the different lands of the Magic Kingdom style parks around the world. Think of it as the ultimate "grand circle tour of the Magic Kingdom", to coin a classic phrase!
Of course, there will be many, many photos, so be warned, this post might take a while to load!
[ Read More... ] |
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 | Happy 59th Birthday Disneyland! | |
| DisneyDan
Thursday, July 17, 2014 11:52:47 AM |
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Hello everyone,
Today (17th July) is the 59th anniversary of the grand opening of the original Disney theme park, Disneyland in Anaheim, California!
For a change, for my photo tribute, I thought I'd share with you non-character pictures. Let's celebrate and enjoy the beauty of the park itself!
Happy 59th Birthday Disneyland!
Dan. |
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Hello everyone,
Sorry for the lack of news updates lately. I, as always, have been quite busy with normal life. Anyway, there are a number of things I want to talk about that have come up in the last couple of weeks.
We'll start with Tokyo Disney Resort, and work our way around the world.
From 24th June until 7th July at Tokyo Disney Resort, you can celebrate the magic of Disney Tanabata Days, also known as the Star Festival.
At Tokyo DisneySea you can meet ShellieMay and Duffy in their special Disney Tanabata Days costumes at Cape Cod's Village Greeting Place in American Waterfront. You can also see Mickey and friends in a very special show on Mediterranean Harbor, three times per day (10.45am, 1pm and 4.30pm) wearing their special Star Festival costumes.
At Tokyo Disneyland there is a special parade each day at 11.20am and 4.15pm, featuring your favourite Disney friends wearing yet more beautifully crafted costumes.
At both parks guests will be given the opportunity to make a wish on special cards, and tie them to specially dedicated "Wishing Places" in the parks.
After the Disney Tanabata Days end, summer season arrives at the resort, and so does the water! Jon and I have been to Tokyo Disney Resort in the summer before, and I must warn you - prepare to get wet!
At Tokyo DisneySea's Summer Festival, Minnie's Tropical Splash is described as being a "carnival celebrating the bountiful harvest of fruit" and where "hot Latin rhythms begin to throb as colourful fruit themed barges appear on the Harbor". The TDR website then goes on to describe the "torrent of water" that then sprays from the barges and the shore! Characters appearing in the show - and in new costumes this year too - are Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy and Clarice. The show will be presented three times daily and lasts about 20 minutes.
At Tokyo Disneyland's Natsu Matsuri event, "hot and lively dances" are the thing at the Castle Stage, during Garyo Gunbu. Team Miyabi Kenran starring Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Max and Pluto compete against Team Ryobu Shippu's Donald, Daisy, Chip, Dale and Clarice in a water filled dance battle! We've seen these water canons in action, and trust me when I say, if you don't want to get wet, avoid Central Plaza during your visit!
The show will be presented three times per day and lasts about 13 minutes.
The other show at Castle Stage will be Ondo-Ko-Don! which will be presented once per day, morning only, lasting 11 minutes. It will feature Mickey, Minnie, Donald and "others" in a special performance of a Japanese dance called the "ondo".
At both Tokyo DisneySea and Tokyo Disneyland there will be special merchandise, decorations and menu items to accompany these events.
Summer season at both parks runs from 8th July through 31st August inclusive.
We have a discussion topic about the summer fun, here on our forum.
A week later on the 7th September, the long running Legend of Mythica will end. If you're visiting before then, be sure to see this jaw dropping show before it goes away forever!
After the summer, we come to Halloween. At Tokyo DisneySea, the park will be filled with Disney Skeletons! In American Waterfront you can join the skeletons as well as the Disney characters in special costumes for their brand new show "New York's Halloween Follies". At Mediterranean Harbor you can join skeletons for "Welcome Skeleton Friends" in a participation show as they try to make new friends. In the Lost River Delta you can watch Chip 'n' Dale's Skeleton Fiesta, and finally "Street Party of the Skeleton" will be carried out in multiple areas of the park, where skeletons will dance and play around, interacting with guests and greeting them.
At Tokyo Disneyland, from what I can make out from the Japanese release, the Happy Halloween Harvest parade will return with the theme of a Halloween fair.
As with every event in Japan, there will be decorations, merchandise and food involved, too! Halloween at Tokyo Disney Resort runs from 8th September until 31st October inclusive.
Don't forget that throughout the year you can enjoy the brand new nightly spectacular at Cinderella Castle, Once Upon a Time. You can read my review of it from opening week, last month, here.
Additionally, remember that Oswald the Lucky Rabbit made his Disney Parks debut just about 8 weeks ago at Tokyo DisneySea's American Waterfront! He is super cute and gives you yet another reason to visit this summer - as if you needed ay more excuses, right?! You can check out my blog post about meeting Oswald for the first time, here, and our dedicated Oswald page, here.
Finally for Tokyo, member Ryo on our forum posted that OLC have announced some new changes to Dreamlights in 2015, including the addition of Rapunzel and an update to Peter Pan's float! I can't seem to find the actual OLC release for this, as it's probably entirely in Japanese, but if I do, I'll link it here.
Ok, moving on to Walt Disney World now, and the Disney Parks Blog released a short list of some of the characters we can expect at the Unleash the Villains event on 23rd August this year. This is the only official list posted so far, but rumours have been flying around the internet of all sorts of rare appearances! None of the characters on the current list come as any great surprise, so it'll be interesting to see who else they put into the mix. We have a discussion topic about the event here on our forum, so join us in the speculation!
The new Harambe Theater District opened in Animal Kingdom just recently, and is now the new home to the Festival of the Lion King, after a short hiatus when it closed in Camp Minnie-Mickey. Not too much to report here, but people seem to like the new location and the show remains as popular as ever. I'm glad that Timon and friends have now moved back to their native Africa after spending the past ten years in an American Summer Camp!
Finally for WDW, our friends on our forum noticed that when visiting the Magic Kingdom recently, Winnie the Pooh has decided to sport a slightly different expression! Check out this discussion thread to see how he looks now when greeting at the Crystal Palace.
Jumping across the continent to Disneyland in California, and summer has kicked off with a special Frozen pre-parade at Disneyland Park. You can check out this video of it from Inside the Magic here, and discuss it here on our forum.
Also at Disneyland, Merida has now stopped meeting at her location near "it's a small world", and has been moved to inside the Royal Hall, where I guess her appearances will be more random (switching with her royal friends). In other princess news, Anna and Elsa's greeting times have apparently been extended, and they now meet until 8pm daily.
Flying across the Atlantic to Disneyland Paris, the press preview of the brand new Ratatouille attraction and restaurant happens this weekend. The restaurant is believed to be character dining (based on concept art and even one lady on the reservation line at Disneyland Paris), but is yet to actually be confirmed - we shall find out in the next day or two for sure! Rumours have been circulating for quite some time now, and have additionally strongly suggested that Linguini will appear in the new area (not inside the restaurant)! I'll let you know of any developments on those rumours as the weekend progresses. Jon and I have reservations for Chez Remy in August, and cannot wait to see the new land! You can join our discussion topic about Chez Remy (the new restaurant), here on our forum.
Staying in France, and DisneylandBerry on Twitter (who is often very reliable) has suggested that long running show Animagique will close at some point in 2015. As much as I love this show, it would be great if they put in a brand new show, since this once has been here for over 10 years now! Disneyland Paris are notoriously bad at announcing anything, so we won't know if this is actually true for quite some time yet, I would imagine. Our members are discussing this topic here on our forum.
Finally for Disneyland Paris, InsideDLParis revealed that from 5th July this year Disney's Stars 'n' Cars parade would end. The meet 'n' greets that currently take place using the same characters and cars would be extended to include more set times, and 4 of the current cars would be used to transport the characters on and off set from the greetings. InsideDLParis also revealed that the Incredibles would return to the park for the summer near the new Spider-Man location.
To our final topic today, Iron Man. Our good friend DisneyMart discovered something interesting yesterday, while randomly poking around the Disney Consumer Products website. The recent Disney Consumer Products at Licensing Expo 2014 featured Iron Man as a character, alongside Mickey Mouse, Stormtroopers and Buzz Lightyear! What's interesting is that his appearance has been kept so quiet. He did appear at D23 last year, but since then fans have discovered that the Marvel characters at the event were not wearing their official Disney outfits, meaning that Iron Man and Spider-Man were not appearing as they will at the Disney Parks. I have no idea if this is the case for this most recent appearance, and it could be why Disney have kept hush about it, not wanting people to believe they have already developed Tony Stark's new outfit for him, but instead using an older outside design of his!
Finally, although it was a couple of weeks ago now, why not check out my previous news post to read about the Frozen Disney On Ice show and Hong Kong Disneyland's new nighttime parade!
Ok, that is everything for today! Have a great weekend everyone,
Dan.
To read my May 2014 review of Tokyo Disneyland's Crystal Palace Character Dining, click here.
To read my May 2014 review of Tokyo Disneyland's Mickey and Company Dinner Show, click here.
To read my May 2014 review of Tokyo Disneyland's Mickey and Minnie's Polynesian Paradise Dinner Show, click here.
To read my May 2014 review of Tokyo Disney Resort's Chef Mickey Character Dining, click here.
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Hello everyone,
First of all, apologies for being absent recently, we have had a lot going on here (real life) and so I haven't had chance to keep as up to date as I would like. Anyway, there are some cool new things I want to talk about today.
First of all the big event of the week will be the 24 hour event, "Rock Your Disney Side", coming to Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom and both Disneyland Resort theme parks on Friday this week (23rd).
Details are a bit sketchy right now though, sadly, as Disney seem to want to keep tight-lipped about which characters will appear, when and where. Of course, this doesn't make planning easy, especially since it is likely to be exceptionally busy like the previous events!
I have highlighted below some of the key moments (mainly character experiences) for Disneyland Resort, as per the Disney Parks Blog:
Event operating hours: 6 a.m May 23rd until 6 a.m May 24th.
At Disneyland Park:
In terms of characters, that's pretty much all that has been announced for DLR, sadly. Of course everyone anticipates that there will be a lot of characters out and about, and there is speculation floating around that some characters - villains in particular - may replace the princesses at Royal Hall, but that has not been confirmed publicly by Disney yet.
Over in Walt Disney World, the Disney Parks Blog reported the following (again, I've only highlighted the important moments and character experiences):
Event operating hours: 6 a.m May 23rd until 6 am May 24th.- Everything kicks off with a special edition of the Welcome Show, as heroes and villains make their way to Magic Kingdom Park.
- The Move It! Shake It! Celebrate It! Street Party will feature Disney heroes at 10 a.m and Disney villains at 1:30 p.m. When it comes to the 5:45 p.m. performance, though, exactly who makes an appearance will be determined by your votes throughout the day! (More information on how you can vote will be posted on Friday morning on the Disney Parks Blog).
- Magic Kingdom Park parades will each have two performances. “Disney Festival of Fantasy Parade” will be at 12 p.m and 3:30 p.m, and Disney’s Main Street Electrical Parade at 11 p.m and 1 a.m.
- Wishes Nighttime Spectacular fireworks at 9 p.m
- Prior to each presentation of Disney’s Main Street Electrical Parade, the Disney villains roll through Magic Kingdom Park in a pre-parade, celebrating how “It’s Good to Be Bad!”
- Starting at 11 p.m half of Princess Fairytale Hall becomes Scary Tale Hall, where you can meet Maleficent and the Queen. The other side of the hall will still feature favourite royals Anna and Elsa.
- Around 1:45 a.m, the villains will take over the rest of the park’s character greeting locations. Where Aladdin and Jasmine appear in Adventureland during the day, expect to find Jafar. Dr. Facilier takes the place of Princess Tiana in Liberty Square, Captain Hook replaces Peter Pan in Fantasyland, and more!
- In Tomorrowland, the INCREDIBLES Super Dance Party rocks the Rockettower Plaza Stage from 4:30 p.m – 10 p.m, and is expected to feature characters from 'The Incredibles'.
- Disney’s “Up All Night” Dance Party at Cinderella Castle and the Frontierland Dance Party will run from 2 a.m – 5:45 a.m, and may (or may not...) feature Disney characters (no official confirmation, yet)
- The event concludes with a special “Kiss Goodnight” at 5:50 a.m at the Railroad Station in Town Square on Main Street, U.S.A.
The Move It Shake It heroes line up is likely to include Hercules, who has been seen out and about at EPCOT the past few weeks in preparation for his starring role in this event!
It should be noted that for both WDW and DLR there were more things announced such as bands, food and merchandise, which you can find out about if you search the Disney Parks Blog. Here at Character Central our main focus is of course characters!
Staying with Walt Disney World, and this year's Star Wars Weekends Celebrity Welcome and Motorcade saw the debut of three new characters to the Disney Parks! Sabine, Ezra and a grumpy droid named Chopper have all landed on Earth for the special weekends this year, from their new Star Wars TV show, 'Star Wars Rebels'.
Check out this video below from Attractions Magazine, which features the new characters in the Motorcade!
At the Magic Kingdom, Tinker Bell and her fairy friends have left the Nook in Adventureland, and sadly all the fairies have now left Florida and are heading back to Pixie Hollow. Tinker Bell has found a new home at Town Square Theatre on Main Street USA, filling the empty space left by the princesses when they moved into the new Fairytale Hall.
Other recent character changes in Walt Disney World include the Pooh characters leaving Animal Kingdom, and Donald and Daisy replacing them - just in regular outfits, sadly (I wonder what happened to their special DAK costumes from when they met in Camp Minnie-Mickey?).
Taking the heat off the summer at Disneyland Park in California, the Disney Parks Blog announced the other day that Anna and Elsa from the ever-popular Frozen will feature in a brand new pre-parade addition to Soundsational. At the moment no other details are known except they will feature from "mid-June".
Keeping with Frozen, and the big news this week was that there will be a brand new Disney On Ice show this autumn featuring the characters from Frozen! You may recall that I actually reported about this way back in January, when I even suggested that characters such as Olaf and Sven would appear, and now it has come true! The video below was posted by Disney On Ice and shows some great concept art for the new show.
The description on the Disney On Ice website also specifically mentions Olaf, Kristoff, Sven and the magical trolls, leading us to believe they will all feature in the new show!
Finally for news, and Hong Kong Disneyland finally announced today that their new nighttime parade will debut in October, ending long running speculation that it would start in the autumn. The brand new electric light parade will use innovative new technology and will be interactive, too, whereby guests can use a mobile app to control the colour changes on the floats!
Don't forget that Disney's Swing into Spring season continues at Disneyland Paris until the 22nd June, and features a fabulous new show-parade, characters and other offerings. You can read my review of it here, and visit our dedicated guidebook page to it here.
You can also continue to meet Spider-man at Disneyland Paris until the 10th July. The Walt Disney Studios is the only place in the world you can currently meet the webbed hero! You can read my review of our meeting with him here, and visit our dedicated location page here for more photos and information.
Finally, don't forget that the Halloween and Christmas party dates for WDW were released less than two weeks ago. You can check all the dates on my previous blog post, here.
Ok, that's everything for today,
Dan.
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Hello everyone,
Today we are pleased to announce the exciting news that Oswald the Lucky Rabbit finally made his official Disney Parks debut at Tokyo DisneySea in Japan! Greeting fans at a special location in American Waterfront at the park, he has been received with instant love from the entire Disney community, and a sense of completeness now that he has taken his rightful place in the Disney family.
Although we personally could not be there at his debut, many fan pages and accounts are posting pictures across the internet, and it's almost impossible not to find good photos of him! The Disney Parks Blog even posted about his debut, and shared this photo, which I have inserted below.
Image (C) The Walt Disney Company
Jon and I will be at Tokyo Disney Resort in less than 8 weeks time, and intend to be at park opening to meet him on our first day at the resort!
Over at Disneyland in California, another very rare rabbit appeared this week for the Springtime Roundup at Big Thunder Ranch - Roger Rabbit! Having been part of the Bunny Hop on Main Street last year, Roger now joins the new festivities at the Ranch, greeting guests for some Easter fun. We understand that he is expected to appear daily until the Springtime Roundup ends on April 20th, but of course that is subject to change at any time. Character Central forum member Dan-Tasmic! posted some photos of Roger greeting just yesterday, in our Springtime Roundup topic, here on the forum.
Ok, that's all for now.
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,
Hot on the heels of the Marvel/Spider-Man news the last few days from Disneyland Paris, which I talked about yesterday, today the Disney Parks Blog announced that the Disneyland Resort would be hosting an Avengers half marathon from 14th - 16th November this year! The promotional video clearly states that Avengers characters and entertainment would be at the event, with the picture showing a cartoon of Iron Man, Thor and Captain America, who have all previously featured as characters, but also now the Hulk! If the image is accurate then as far as we know right now, this will be the first time the Hulk will be featured as a character at the Disney Parks! There is of course the chance he may appear before then anyway, or he may not show up at all, but I am guessing they are going to be fairly accurate with their concept portrayal and who actually shows up. Very exciting news indeed!
EDIT: I just checked the official runDisney site, and it states "Join the Avengers team of Captain America, Thor, Hulk, Black Widow, Hawkeye, and Tony Stark for the Inaugural Avengers Super Heroes Half Marathon Weekend." Could this mean that Black Widow and Hawkeye will come to Disneyland, too? It would be amazing if true!
Also, the blog site Disney and More posted yesterday that the new Hong Kong Disneyland nighttime parade, Paint the Night, that I had previously mentioned could be on its way to Disneyland for their 60th anniversary next year also! This would mean that, sadly, it would only be a Hong Kong exclusive for a few months before Disneyland get their own version. Although it is awesome that Disneyland could get a new night parade again, it is sad that they have to degrade the uniqueness of Hong Kong's efforts by copying it. Nonetheless, I'm sure it will be a welcomed addition to both resorts.
There has been a ton of news the last few days, so why not check out my previous blog posts for all the latest information. Links below.
Read here the news about Spider-Man at Disneyland Paris, Festival of Fantasy at WDW and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.
Read here the news about Star Wars Weekends at WDW, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Spring season at Disneyland Paris and parade changes at Hong Kong Disneyland.
That's all for now!
Dan. |
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Hello everyone,
The Disney Parks Blog announced this week that Disney California Adventure would play host to Disneyland Resort's Lunar New Year Celebrations this year, which will feature Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Chip and Dale, Mulan and Mushu over at Paradise Gardens. There will be crafting, Chinese dragon and lion dances, as well as Vietnamese and Korean dance groups. The event will run from 31st January until 2nd February inclusive, from 11am until 5pm.
The Disney Parks Blog also announced that the Disneyland Resort is playing host to another round of rare character weekends from now until May, yes May! Every Friday through Sunday you can head over to the Big Thunder Ranch Jamboree to see who is appearing. Our good friend Loren was there last weekend, and you can check out his report on who he met, here.
The Tokyo Disney Resort Blog made a post revealing some information (albeit all in Japanese) about this year's spring events at the resort. From the 2nd April through 23rd June inclusive, the resort will play host to various shows and parades at both parks.
At Tokyo Disneyland, after a hiatus last year, the park sees a spring parade back on its streets, titled Hippiti-Hoppiti Spring Time. The parade will feature seven new floats, starring Mickey and his friends in their spring finest, as well as Marie. The blog also mentions Easter Bunnies, but it's hard to make out whether it means that the Easter Bunny himself will feature, or if he's just a statue on a float.
At Tokyo DisneySea, Lido Isle Welcome to Spring, Easter in New York and Springtime Surprise all return for another year, at the various ports around the park.
In addition to the shows and parade featuring the characters, there will be special menus, merchandise and decorations.
Jon and I will be there in May, and cannot wait to see the new parade!
I want to also point you to my previous news posts from the last week or so, in case you missed them, because there were some interesting things that are still relevant.
To find out about news for Captain America, Marie, and a brand new Disney On Ice show featuring the Frozen characters, click here.
To find out about Disneyland Paris Spring events, queue lines, Aurora and Camp Minnie-Mickey, click here.
To find out about Doc McStuffins and other news, click here.
For my tribute to the recently retired Celebrate a Dream Come True Parade, click here.
For my tribute to the recently closed Camp Minnie-Mickey, click here.
For my massive photo-filled year in review for 2013, click here.
For my most recent dining review for Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, click here.
Finally, I have been adding more and more content to the site, including locations and characters! As well as that, new photos show up across the site on many pages almost daily, as we continue to work through our massive backlog! Whenever you visit a page on the site, you never know what you might see that's new or different! So be sure to check back regularly.
Ok, I think that's everything for this evening,
Dan. |
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