 | Happy World Book Day! |
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| DisneyDan
Thursday, March 7, 2013 11:59:07 AM |
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Hello everyone,
Today is World Book Day, which celebrates the magic of reading, stories, authors and of course books themselves.
Stories have been told and passed down through millennia, from the time of the cavemen who drew pictures on the walls, right to the modern day gadgets such as Kindles that can store thousands of books.
Without these stories, our imaginations would never be stimulated, and we would never dream of far off lands, castles with magical inhabitants, heroes and villains battling across space and time, and fairytales that offer escapism and fantasy.
Virtually every Disney story finds its inspiration in an old tale or ancient fable. The Disney Parks are built upon the stories told by Walt Disney and his successors, through film, television, theatre and other art forms, which are translated into the fantastical realms we can discover at the Disney Parks.
Remember on this World Book Day to pick up and read. Feed your imagination, and never lose the curiosity of what a real book might hold within its covers. You never know what you may discover!
Here to celebrate are some of Character Central's favourite storybook characters!
Pinocchio and friends, as brought to life by Carlo Collodi
The Jungle Book gang, as brought to life by Rudyard Kipling
Ariel and Eric, as brought to life by Hans Christian Andersen
Alice and the Wonderland friends, as brought to life by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym "Lewis Carroll"
Peter Pan, Wendy and John, as brought to life by Sir James Barrie
Dan. |
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 | Happy 30th Birthday Dreamfinder and Figment!! | |
| PeterPanFan
Tuesday, March 5, 2013 7:40:33 PM |
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| 30 Years ago today Journey Into Imagination opened at EPCOT Center introducing two great characters: Dreamfinder and Figment! Sadly their amazing original attraction was later replaced and they no longer meet in the park; however, Figment still lives on in the current "Journey Into Imagination with Figment" attraction. Many Disney fans, myself included, hold out hope that someday Dreamfinder will return too (and that they both will meet their many fans in the parks). Unfortunately the only pictures of Dreamfinder and the original attraction I have are on film and haven't been scanned in but we do have more recent pictures so here is a Character Central picture tribute to both Figment and Dreamfinder!
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 | Tokyo Disney Resort Trip Planning - Part Three | |
| DisneyDan
Saturday, March 2, 2013 11:35:24 AM |
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Hello everyone,
Earlier this week I published my two part trip planning guide to Tokyo Disney Resort.
Since then, I have had some questions, and thought of some additional things I think might be useful for you to know.
So, here we have a part three, albeit much smaller than the previous two parts.
[ Read More... ] |
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 | Happy St David's Day! | |
| DisneyDan
Friday, March 1, 2013 1:51:59 PM |
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Today is St. David's Day in the United Kingdom constituent country of Wales.
There aren't really any Welsh Disney Characters, but there is one who is thought to be originally from Wales, and that is Merlin.
So, let's celebrate with Merlin now, and take a look at some of his adventures at the Disney Parks!
Happy St. David's Day everyone!
Dan. |
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| Hello everyone,
I have some character related updates for you this afternoon.
In Tokyo, our friend attended a Disneyana convention, and made a report on our forums about what he saw, which includes Mickey and Friends in their brand new 30th Anniversary outfits! I believe this is the first time they have been out for any public event, so he was very lucky to see them! I have to say, they do look better in person than what the previous artwork releases had made them appear. We'll be in Tokyo Disney Resort in May, shortly after the 30th launch, so we can't wait to see all the cool new stuff, including their brand new parade! For those interested, also in that thread are pictures of the brand new 30th merchandise, including pins.
The Disney Parks Blog has officially confirmed that the new Fantasy Faire in Disneyland will open on March 12th (less than 2 weeks away!). The Disneyland website has been updated accordingly, and now includes lots of info of what we can expect to find there! It details the new stage which will bring to life two beloved Disney stories. One will be Beauty and the Beast, and will star Belle; the other will be about Tangled, and star Flynn Rider. The website specifically says "Disney heroes and heroines". I think they are deliberately going for a Flynn oriented story for Tangled, to appeal to the boys, which will be cool. It also mentions the new Princess met 'n' greet, which sounds like it will be really detailed, and much better than the Princess meet 'n' greet in either Magic Kingdom or Paris. We'll be there in May, and can't wait to see it all!
Over in Animal Kingdom, the new Mickey and Minnie meet 'n' greet will open in "the spring", which could mean anytime soon basically! Taking over the former Beastly Bazaar store (because DAK really needs less retail...), it will literally just feature Mickey and Minnie. Donald and Daisy are apparently moving to Discovery Island where the Pooh friends currently are, and Goofy is already seen in Dinoland practically all day. Camp Minnie-Mickey is remaining as-is, less the Greeting Trails, for the time being, and you can continue to meet some critter friends and other random Disney pals, as well as watch the Lion King show. The Pooh friends are suspected to move into C M-M, maybe to Greeting Trails, but no official confirmation of that, as yet.
Limited Time Magic continues to be a bit of a flop, with the Golden Horseshoe Revue (DL) and Long Lost Friends Week (WDW) still being the best ones so far. Disneyland is yet to hold its own Long Lost Friends Week, and I have heard rumours that they want to out-do Florida, and so we might be treated to some really cool characters! Other upcoming events include Pirate Week (Jack Sparrow rumoured to appear. No date yet), Independence Week (Patriotic characters) and Friday 13th Villains Dance Party (Villains of course! September 13th).
Remember also that this new version of the site has some wonderful new features, including the ability to create your own profile and check off all the characters you have met! They'll appear on your profile in a big list! Find out how, here!
Ok, that's all for today,
Dan. |
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 | Tokyo Disney Resort Trip Planning - Part Two | |
| DisneyDan
Wednesday, February 27, 2013 10:59:48 AM |
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Hello everyone,
Welcome to part two of my Tokyo Disney Resort trip planning article.
In the first part we discussed the challenges of booking flights, hotels, park tickets, arriving at the resort, transport and Ikspiari.
Tokyo Disneyland is often described as being the most popular or successful theme park of all time (a fact I personally can't prove, but honestly don't doubt!). On all our ventures into the park, from open 'til close we have always experienced complete and utter mayhem.
In this part, I'll talk extensively about how to get the most out of your day at the TDR parks, covering attractions, shows, parades, shopping and dining. [ Read More... ] |
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 | Tokyo Disney Resort Trip Planning - Part One | |
| DisneyDan
Friday, February 22, 2013 9:53:07 AM |
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So you want to go to Tokyo Disney Resort?…
Planning a trip to Disney can be exciting, rewarding and indeed frustrating - and that's just to the US Parks! Now consider this, you find yourself wanting to visit Tokyo Disney Resort. Sounds exotic, right? Land of the Rising Sun, the Far East. Fortunately for you, Jon and I will be going for the third time this spring, and we are quite familiar now with the bizarre and even infuriating systems and hoops you have to jump through to get a trip organised. Hotels, tickets and dining reservations are not as easy as the US and DLP to arrange, and take some concentration and forward thinking.
Let us begin where all trips would begin, and that's with booking flights and hotels. [ Read More... ] |
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Hello everyone,
If you had been following our Twitter and Facebook updates since last Wednesday, you would have noticed some extraordinary happenings at Disneyland Paris!
For Valentine's Day itself there were some exceptional new and rare characters greeting that day, plus a small cavalcade featuring some new characters, too!
After Valentine's Day, for Friday, Saturday and Sunday, DLP decided to extend the rare character offerings and have a full weekend programme of cool meet 'n' greets. This idea, and the new Valentine's concept itself, stems from DLP gaining a new vice president of entertainment. He has previously worked in Tokyo, and of course, we all know that TDR get some awesome characters, shows and parades! When you see the following report (below), you will immediately notice that the characters that were out greeting definitely remind you of those often seen in TDR!
Needless to say, it was an awesome weekend, that started out with the fantastic addition of two new characters on Valentine's, and extended into being a further 3 days that definitely blows any of the Limited Time Magic stuff from the US Parks out of the water!
So, let us begin our trip through the awesome weekend, with a recap of all the characters out greeting on Valentine's Day itself, and the cavalcade, then we'll move on to the rest of the weekend!
During Extra Magic Hours, two BRAND NEW characters made their debut. Berlioz and Toulouse (Marie's brothers) from the 1970 Disney classic The Aristocats made their grand debut! Lucky guests saw them in Town Square where they appeared briefly. The brothers did not stay to meet guests, sadly, but they were awesome to see all the same! (The opportunity to meet them would come later, as we'll discover...)
Also debuting was Marie's brand new look! Marie met guests throughout the day.
Then, throughout the day, there were other random meet 'n' greet opportunities.
The Mickey and Friends, were in search of their sweethearts, and had roses to give them.
Duffy, for the first time ever, had a special Valentine's outfit. Someone had suggested that he had worn a Valentine's outfit in Tokyo, but that actually was for the Sweet Duffy event, and is not actually linked to Valentine's. So, once again, DLP have the exclusive debut on something neat!
Esmeralda and Phoebus were in Central Plaza.
Stitch and Angel were in Discoveryland.
Chicken Little and Abby Mallard were in the Studios.
Peter and Wendy were in Adventureland.
Woody and Jessie were meant to meet in Frontierland, but due to the rain I think we were the only ones who saw them, as they had to leave again, sadly.
Bernard and Bianca were supposed to be out, but sadly were also cancelled due to the rain, but, we managed to grab a few pictures before they went back to the Rescue Aid Society!
Then there was the new cavalcade, which featured the Aristocats. There were performers in special costumes, and CMs handing out Valentine's roses, candy and Aristocats postcards that had the cats' signatures on (just like the Limited Time Magic cards in the US).
At the seven Disney Hotels, characters were meeting in special outfits. We were so busy and so tired, that we only saw Mickey and Minnie at the Disneyland Hotel sadly, but there were lots more around the resort!
So that was Valentine's Day. Then we come to Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Each day was different, and had a variety of characters to offer. Let's start with Friday.
Marie was back in Town Square.
The Robin Hood characters were in Central Plaza.
The Three Little Pigs were in Fantasyland.
On Saturday the day started again with Marie in Town Square.
Mary Poppins and Mr Pengin were also out in Town Square.
In Central Plaza, Esmeralda was back, but not with Phoebus this time... but Quasimodo instead!
Mulan and Mushu were in Fantasyland.
We also saw Terk, and she was meant to be out for guests all weekend, but I have heard that for some reason she didn't appear all four days, but nonetheless, she was spotted by several people, at various times - including us!
Then finally we come to Sunday.
The Aristocats were back! All three were meeting guests in Town Square, and they were incredibly popular!
In Fantasyland, Snow White, The Prince, and all 7 Dwarfs appeared!
Megara also made one rare appearance in Fantasyland, albeit very briefly, but guests were able to get pictures before she returned to ancient Greece!
So, there we have it! An AMAZING weekend, mainly thanks to the new VP of entertainment. All these things were in addition to the regular character line up, parades and entertainment, which is incredible. We really look forward to seeing what else he has up his sleeves, because if this weekend is anything to go by, then we are in for an awesome ride!!
Dan. |
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 | Happy 18th Birthday PUSH the Talking Trash Can! | |
| DisneyDan
Monday, February 18, 2013 11:43:57 AM |
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Today is the 18th birthday of everybody's favourite talking trashcan, PUSH!
He first landed in the Magic Kingdom's Tomorrowland 18 years ago, to then go on and make appearances in Disneyland, Disneyland Paris and Hong Kong Disneyland.
PUSH is always chirpy, never stops talking and loves to joke around!
So, let's celebrate now with a mini photo cavalcade, and wish PUSH a very Happy 18th Birthday!
Dan. |
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Hello everyone!
I am posting live from DLP after an INCREDIBLE day at Disneyland Paris's "Be My Valentine" event today!
In the park today were some VERY, VERY special happenings and characters... Let's take a photographic tour of everything that happened today, and I KNOW you will be REALLY surprised!! Be prepared to see some BRAND NEW and exclusive characters!!!
Throughout the day there were character meet and greets and a special cavalcade that ran three times.
Let's start with the highlight of the day, two BRAND new characters, and their sister who received a make over... all of which debuted this morning here at the park!
It's Berlioz, Toulouse and Marie from the Aristocats! They were at the gazebo in Town Square that had been specially decorated for today.
Then we went through the parks and met all the special Valentine's characters... The Mickey & Friends characters were in Town Square, either at the specially decorated gazebo, or the Boarding House.
We watched the Be My Valentine Cavalcade twice, which featured performers in Valentine's costumes, the Aristocats atop the Omnibus which was decorated, and cast that handed out candy, real red roses and special Valentine's cards featuring the Aristocats, to guests all along the parade route! It was so cute!!
After the day's excitement, finally, the Disneyland Hotel featured Mickey and Minnie in special outfits, and Stitch and Angel at the Main Street Lounge for evening meet 'n' greets for guests returning from the parks. We stayed for Mickey and Minnie, but were sadly exhausted, and had met Stitch and Angel earlier, so we didn't stay for those.
The whole day was awesome, despite the rain. DLP really stepped up their game with Valentine's and blows the Limited Time Magic attempt at the US Parks out of the water! Especially with their world premiere exclusive of the kittens!!
Happy Valentine's Day everyone!
Dan. |
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