 | Welcome Back Roger Rabbit! |
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| DisneyDan
Tuesday, March 26, 2013 11:52:04 AM |
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Hello everyone,
For a while now there have been whispering amongst Disney Cast Members and some guests in-the-know that a certain rabbit, who has been absent for many years, would make his grand return this year... For the most part it's been a closely guarded secret, but here and there, information has been leaked...
Yesterday, in keeping with those rumours, finally after a long time away, the much loved Roger Rabbit made his first of several appearances this week at Disneyland, for their Limited Time Magic Easter "Bunny Hop" down Main Street USA!
I can honestly say I don't think that my friends and I could have been any more shocked that Disneyland actually have him out this week!
To see Roger Rabbit actually back in the park is amazing.
After years of legal wrangling about licensing for his appearances, Roger has finally been let out of Toontown and back to the Disney Parks! Up until now, fans have only been able to see Roger whilst taking a spin through Toontown in his attractions at both Disneyland and Tokyo Disneyland.
For those of you, who for some reason don't know, Roger Rabbit is the adorable but über excitable bunny from Disney's 1988 movie "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?"
Roger was framed for a terrible crime, and faced erasure! Or course, there was a happy outcome, and Roger was reunited with the love of his life, another toon named Jessica Rabbit.
Along with the rumours that he was coming to Disneyland, I have also heard from several sources that he will make further appearances at some of the other Disney Parks in the very near future! Although just rumour at this stage, he might appear in Tokyo Disneyland, in their new parade (not yet confirmed), and also later on this year at Disneyland Paris!
Of course, these are just rumours, but then again, so was the Disneyland one, and that came true this week!
Now that Disney have apparently overcome whatever issue they had with him visiting the parks, let's hope that even if the rumours aren't exactly true, that at some point we start seeing more and more of him - and soon!
Our good friend Loren Javier was in Disneyland yesterday, and has let us use these two pictures he took of Roger, for all your enjoyment!
Hopefully someday soon, here at Character Central, we will have our own pictures of him too!
Welcome back, Roger! We have missed you!
Dan.
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Hello everyone,
A few small pieces of news today.
First up, Disneyland in California has abruptly ended the Plaza Inn's "My Disneyland Birthday" which used to take place at the restaurant. The special gathering which saw the debut of a brand new park-exclusive character "Pat E Cake", ran for over 10 years, before ending this past Sunday. It was a neat little happening that also featured Mickey and Minnie meeting the invited guests together for pictures.
You may recall last year WDW similarly cut its Tony's Town Square Gathering, which featured the Lady and the Tramp's chef Tony exclusively at the Tony's Town Square Restaurant in the Magic Kingdom.
It's sad to see that these unique events are gradually disappearing from the parks, as it is often these little details and happenings that really add that extra sparkle to a guest's day.
The Disney Parks Blog finally announced details of Disneyland's version of Long Lost Friends Week. Although no date is set yet, they have released on the blog a list of characters which can be voted on, and the top ones will be the ones that appear in the park that week (whenever that may be).
The list has been met with some mixed reaction from the fan community overall, simply because it isn't as diverse as we were all hoping for. Sure, it does have the Three Good Fairies, Merlin and Ludwig Von Drake, amongst others, but it also has Alice, the Mad Hatter, Peter Pan, Chip 'n Dale, and many more who are all in the park regularly.
Some have pointed out that it's the opportunity to get these groups of characters together that is also the draw, but to be honest, when I think "long lost", meeting Alice with the Tweedles doesn't exactly inspire me. The fear is also of course that people will vote for those characters, and the event will end up being nothing more than a big gathering of current friends, rather than the return of anyone truly "lost".
I guess we shall see soon enough what happens!
Over at WDW, although Disney themselves haven't made a public announcement, Cast Members there are reporting that Hollywood Studios' Countdown to Fun parade and Disney Channel Rocks will both be ending permanently on April 6th this year.
There is no word on any replacement yet for either offering, sadly.
In Disneyland Paris, our friends at Dedicated to DLP reported that they have heard whispers of a runDisney event being held there late next year. For anyone who doesn't know, usually these events have lots of random and cool characters featured along the course! I guess we should all start training now!
This past weekend DLP also held its annual St. Patrick's Day event, which featured characters in their Irish finest, and Leprechauns! It's one of the very few things that we still haven't been to, here at Character Central. Every year we say we will, and we always fail! Maybe next year?...
Lots of the main DLP Facebook and Twitter pages had some good updates throughout the weekend of the characters, shows, special fireworks and the pre-parade, so be sure to check them out!
Remember that just a few days ago I made another News post, which contains details of lots more cool things coming to the parks this year, including a Greek event at DLR! So be sure to read that.
Although its birthday has passed now, two days ago it was Walt Disney Studios Park's 11th anniversary. I made a special tribute post with lots of really great photos in it, so if you're curious at all, then have a look.
Finally, I want to mention our brand new Tokyo Disney Resort Trip Planner that was launched last week. If you are planning to visit Tokyo, and haven't yet seen our special Trip Planner, I would suggest you do not miss it!
For those who have asked, or are curious, more Trip Planners are on their way, for the other Disney Parks and Resorts - they just take a lot of time to create! We'll let you know here on the blog when we do launch them.
Ok, I think that's all for today.
Dan. |
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Hello everyone,
Today is the 11th birthday of Walt Disney Studios Park at Disneyland Paris.
Over the years the park has undergone a massive transformation from the grey open concourse that is once was, and now has some really interesting and unique features. Although it often gets criticised for its size and lack of real depth and detail, it is an interesting park that will only get more and more exciting with time. Already under construction is the much anticipated Ratatouille attraction, which will be accompanied by a store, restaurant and new restrooms, as well as a dedicated FastPass area, all along its own special "Parisian style" street.
Here at Character Central, we love Walt Disney Studios, and look forward to many more years of fun and excitement at the park, and welcoming more and more additions that will give the park the edge that it needs.
Happy 11th Birthday Walt Disney Studios Park! Here's to the next 11 years!
Below are some my favourite pictures from Character Central's adventures at the park over the years. In a slightly different take on how I normally do these things, I've avoided posting too many character shots in here for once, because I really want to highlight the details and offerings that Walt Disney Studios already has, despite the criticisms it receives. [ 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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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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Hello everyone,
Not really anything too exciting sadly this week, but just a few updates regarding Limited Time Magic,the new Fantasy Faire and Valentine's Day.
As Long Lost Friends Week at the Magic Kingdom draws to a close, we heard that it has been quite a success, and that WDW are now seriously considering more events for later this year, which would be really great! Once we hear more, we'll report it of course, but so far we heard it suggested that there could be a voting system like there was for Character Fan Days at DL last year.
This week's Lost Friends line-up consisted of the Big Bad Wolf, the Three Little Pigs, Scrooge McDuck, Ludwig von Drake, Robin Hood, Friar Tuck, Prince John, the Sheriff of Nottingham, Clarabelle Cow, Horace Horsecollar, Pinocchio, Geppetto and Jiminy Cricket (don't think I missed any!).
My only problem with an otherwise really neat week, is that some of those aren't so much "long lost" as they are just harder to find - especially the Pinocchio family. Long Lost to me would be characters that have not literally been seen in years. I guess we can't have everything! I hope that their next round - when ever they decide to do it - is just as well set up, and has even better characters!
Over at Disneyland, their Limited stuff continues with the Horseshoe running until the start of February, and the Bayou Bash with the Princess and the Frog gang.
Sadly, the next offering for this coming week is nowhere near as exciting, and is instead a vote on next years merchandise logo. I try to stay positive overall normally, with balanced arguments and seeing both side, but I have to admit, I'm at a loss with this one. In the past they wouldn't have thought twice about just asking that sort of thing on Facebook or the Parks Blog anyway, so why now make it a "limited time opportunity?" Did I miss something?
Anyway, later this year we know that they plan to hold a Villains dance party event in WDW, and at Valentine's both US Resorts will feature a week long celebration with all the Princesses and their Princes.
Also, in WDW we know that the 4th July will be celebrated all week long with patriotic characters and the like, instead of just on the day, as in the past. So there are definitely some good things to come, but this week is certainly the lamest attempt so far!
Speaking of Valentine's, you may recall that earlier this week I revealed some details exclusively here on the blog about Disneyland Paris's happenings this year. Now, in addition I have discovered that the character meet 'n' greets (click the link to see details) will extend through the weekend, making Valentine's a four day event this year! The cavalcade will remain exclusively for the 14th though, sadly.
We will be there for the entire 4 days, so be rest assured we'll be updating live from the parks on Twitter and Facebook!
Jumping back to Disneyland, and someone on the DIS posted some new details about how the new Fantasy Faire will be set up. I can't guarantee the accuracy of the information of course, but it does sound like it will be quite good once finished! Nearly every Princess will be represented and new character based entertainment will be in the line up. We look forward to seeing it in May!
Finally for the parks, and actually not a Disney park for once! As you probably know, we aren't just Disney Character fans, and we do visit other parks, including the Universal ones (which we LOVE incidentally!). Technically this site is actually Character Central, meaning we cover all characters where possible, and we do have dedicated sections for non-Disney Parks. Anyway, my point was going to be that we have been adding a bunch of characters from other parks to the site increasingly often, and two we added recently were Bumblebee and Optimus Prime (Transformers) at Universal Studios Hollywood. We now know that just in the last few weeks Universal added Megatron to their line up! I thought this was really cool, and worth mentioning, as I know a lot of our fans out there also love similar things to us! We look forward to meeting him some time!
Some brief website updates now. I have been adding some new Disney Characters also, and the latest ones can be easily seen on the Recently Added list in the panel to the left of this article.
We are also working really hard to get all the character meeting information up to date across the site, though this is a massive task! I have also been updating location information, descriptions and guidebook information, as well as giving many pages brand new images. It's hard work, but we hope that you all appreciate our efforts.
We are really hoping that VERY Soon the new version of the website will be launched, and we can assure you, you will all LOVE it!
Finally, although we are now three weeks into the New Year, I thought if any of you had missed it, you might still want to check out my EPIC Year in Review for 2012. Be warned though, it is HUGE and you need some time to be able to read the whole thing! There are HUNDREDS of pictures, so you might want to make sure you're at a good computer before hitting the link!
Ok, I think that is all for now. You can discuss anything mentioned here by clicking the blue title bar above, and then scrolling down to Discuss, to leave comments on our forum.
Dan. |
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Hello everyone,
I hope you are all doing well on this very wintry day!
I have heard from a couple of different inside sources some information about Disneyland Paris's Valentine's Day offerings this year, which I thought I would share with you all!
In the past, Disneyland Paris has had some characters, and a couple of years ago they even had a cute pre-parade. Well, after not really doing anything last year, this year they seem to have stepped up their game again! Probably to compete with the Valentine's Limited Time Magic in the US!
Anyway, this is everything that I have heard so far, that I am willing to tell you! (I can't ruin all the surprises after all!)
"Be My Valentine" will run just for the day of the 14th February, which is a Thursday this year.
I have heard that there will be some sort of cavalcade/pre-parade. It might run a couple of times that day.
Marie and Duffy will be in Town Square. Duffy might have a cute new outfit exclusively for Valentine's! The first time he will ever have one at any Disney Park!
Various rare and interesting Disney "couples" will appear all over the park. These romantic couples will greet fans throughout the day, and will be ones that cannot normally be found.
Duffy and Marie will have set times throughout the day, but the other characters are more of a "pop up surprise", with no set (or at least released) schedule.
We are so excited for these events, and can't wait to be there to experience it all! Just three and a half weeks to go! We'll be there Tweeting live from the park that day, so be sure to look out for those updates! I'll remind you all nearer the time, of course.
Ok, I think that's all for now. I might post later today about some of the new Limited Time Magic events in the US that have been revealed, so stay tuned for that.
Stay warm everyone!
Dan. |
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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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Hello!
It has sadly been a long time since I really had chance to update the blog properly with any real updates. Actually, there hasn't really been any good character news for a long time, either, so that coupled with Jon and I always being mega busy makes for more sporadic posting than I would like!
Anyway, here we are with the first proper update of 2013, and it's shaping up to be quite the year so far - which of course is good news for us character fans!
We'll start with the US Parks, and first up is California.
As you may recall, the old Fantasyland Theater in Disneyland has for the longest time been used for a Princess meet 'n' greet, which just about everybody agreed was a massive waste of time and space. Last year Disneyland closed it and finally started making preparations for a brand new show to debut there.
Since then we have all waited anxiously to find out what new show would appear at the theatre.
Well, our questions were answered this week, finally, when the Disney Parks Blog announced that 'Mickey and the Magical Map' would start in "summer 2013". I am hopeful that this will become a well loved show, as it looks quite neat, and that we get to see it when we visit in August (providing it has started by then!).
Since the show is taking over Fantasy Faire, you may also recall that Disneyland are relocating their Princess meet 'n' greet to what was the beloved Carnation Plaza Gardens area, next to Sleeping Beauty Castle. They are of course making some massive upgrades, and this week, again, the Parks Blog announced that we would see the opening of the new location in "spring 2013" - which could mean as early as say, the end of March (that's what I've heard, but who knows!).
Disney never like to give much away, but we are still anticipating - though it hasn't been re-confirmed properly for quite some time. They keep missing that detail out... - that the former stage area from Carnation Plaza Gardens will remain, and there will be some sort of mini show or live entertainment there, also.
Staying with Disneyland, and last weekend saw the return of their popular Day of the Three Kings event, which featured entertainment, and of course characters! Mickey and Minnie were out in special Mexican clothing, and Donald appeared with none other than Panchito and Jose! I believe though, that this was being billed as "special" for the new Limited Time Magic promotion, despite not really being new at all!
Which then brings me to Limited Time Magic itself. Loren informs me that he has been told by Cast Members in Disneyland that their Chinese New Year entertainment will also return this year, but will be advertised as one of the Limited Time Magic events, and also something similar to last years Character Fan Weekends will reappear as a Limited event, too.
I am of course very happy that these things are returning, but it makes me a little sad that they cannot think of something new and special, instead of re-branding something existing.
Of course, Disneyland are also getting their Horseshoe Revue Back for a very limited run, which I know has proven to be a very popular move.
That brings me to Florida, and their Limited Time Magic.
So far, as far as I am aware, they have had a Tomorrowland dance party, and limited edition ear hats as their first two "special" events. The problem with both of these is that they are, well, not new! Anyone who has been to Florida in the last two years will have seen Stitch and the gang rock it out in Tomorrowland almost constantly! The only real difference is that Stitch is wearing his Elvis outfit.
Incidentally, before we move on, it was Elvis's birthday yesterday, and the little blue guy we all love wanted to just pay a small tribute...
Going back to Limited Time Magic, and although we don't know much else right now, we do know that for Valentine's the parks are planning some special things (though I don't think we can expect too much), and in September in Florida a Villains dance party for Friday the 13th.
You can check out the official Limited Time Magic website here, but be warned, you might die of boredom before anything exciting is put on there! (It's a pretty dire page!)
Over at Disneyland Paris, although I am not yet allowed to reveal any details, I would say that if you were thinking about planning a trip over any time soon, especially around Valentine's Day, then you most certainly should... I have heard there will be something really extra special and magical this year! (That will be additional to their regular Valentine's offerings, which usually consist of a character brunch, special character meets and a special Magical Moment at the Disneyland Hotel).
When I am allowed to say more, trust me, I will let you all know!
Speaking of brunches, a friend informs us that there is a Chinese New Year brunch at Inventions (with characters of course) on Sunday 10th February. I thought I would point that out, as that is pretty unique. As well as Mulan and Mushu, I wonder if Li Shang will appear?...
Also, I have heard that DLP's long running Tarzan show will once again return this summer to Frontierland.
I just want to take the opportunity to direct you to my recent New Year post, which has a special message from us here at Character Central.
You might also want to check out my now (finally!) completed Hong Kong Trip Report here, my Tokyo Trip Report here, and my latest report which is from our day trip to Universal Studios Hollywood at Christmas, here.
Ok, I think that is everything for now.
Happy New Year everyone!
Dan. |
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