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Hi all,
After our hectic trip to California and other things that get in the way, I have some news to report this evening! Hooray I hear you all cry!
Starting in California, and the Disney Parks Blog announced this week that the Princess Fantasy Faire will close on August 12th to make way for a brand new show that will debut in summer 2013!
The Princesses will be moving to a temporary location along the Small World Mall until their new Fantasy Faire next to the Castle is completed - which the article claims will be next spring.
We look forward to seeing the developments on the new show and the new Princess meet 'n' greet area.
At Disneyland Paris, Angel has been seen out with increasing frequency. She was with Stitch at the Disneyland Hotel again this week, further laying the path for her to start meeting regularly in the Park. We understand that she will be in Discoveryland on a regular basis. My guess is that it is going to be sooner rather than later, seeing as she is being seen more often in random spots. Maybe in time for Halloween?
I have also heard that for Christmas this year, despite the rumours, that FantIllusion will return, but the long running Mickey's Winter Wonderland will not.
I have also heard on a more exciting note, that there will be a cavalcade for Christmas Season this year too. I had heard previously that DLP are reluctant to change the Parade this year due to it being the 20th Anniversary. So, a separate daily cavalcade would be a great addition instead!
Of course, these things are not confirmed officially by Disney yet. When we know more, we'll let you know!
Also, we and a few of our fans on our Forums here at Character Central have noticed that DLP have seemingly increased their character offerings again, and have returned to how they were before the 20th Anniversary began. For the first half of this year, DLP seemed to suddenly lose a lot of characters, which was mostly due to the massive resources required for launching the 20th. But, DLP has always had a good reputation for random characters, and true to form, the last few weeks have seen a dramatic increase once again. Friends in the Parks have reported to us that they have seen everyone from the Sheriff of Nottingham to Friar Tuck! (Not to mention Angel, like I reported above!)
At Walt Disney World, the Disney Parks Blog, just today in fact, revealed - finally - some information about the new Pete's Silly Sideshow in the New Fantasyland. Minnie and Daisy will appear together, as will Goofy and Donald. All of them are now confirmed to be getting brand new circus themed outfits. I especially love Daisy's! No date has been set yet, but reading the comments, the Blog replied to one person saying the dates would be coming very soon. We'll keep you posted!
Finally, we have been working really hard to get more and more content on the site, and to update pages that had been left behind. We are really excited for some brand new features and new content that I promise will be coming soon! Just a little more patience! In the meantime be sure to have a look around, discover some of the new stuff - including a bunch of new characters! - and let us know what you think by going to our Forums and joining the conversations and fun there!
Ok, I think that's all for now,
Dan. |
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Hi all,
Just a few small updates this evening for you.
Starting in Disneyland Paris, and the Summer Season has officially begun. In the past this would mean longer hours, the start of Fantillusion, the Tarzan show and nightly fireworks. this year is a bit different. Disney Dreams! runs every night of the year - it has since April and will until at least next April - cancelling out the need for fireworks, the Tarzan show started back in June, and due to the 20th, the Parks are open quite late now anyway - 11pm being fairly normal these days. So "Summer Season" has been somewhat reduced in its value to being just being the start of Fantillusion's run.
On saying that, it does mean though of course that the park has now got a full schedule for the summer season, with a nighttime spectacular and the night parade. It is an awesome time to be at DLP! The 20th Anniversary certainly has done it wonders!
We have also been getting reports from friends who are at the parks daily, that more and more random characters are starting to show up again - something that until recently DLP really did well, and prided itself on. Sadly in recent months character numbers had dwindled, but I am happy to report that it appears to be back to normal! We have seen friends post pictures of Snow White, The Prince and all the Dwarfs, the Villains and some other randoms out and about. Rapunzel also seems to be back appearing outside again, making an additional princess meet 'n' greet on top of the Pavillion. As well as all that characters have been showing up in more unusual outfits at the Hotel morning meets too. As DLP fans, we LOVE the fact that they always have characters at the hotels throughout the day, but it appears since the start of July, they have really been having some fun with them, with different characters and costumes showing up randomly (Summer outfits and beachwear at the New York for example, and Mickey in sports shirts at the Sequoia for the Euro football games).
As an additional note, Minnie Mouse appears to have a brand new permanent outfit at the Sequoia Lodge. It is now yellow, replacing the old green one.
Jumping across the pond to WDW, and July 4th saw Patriot Mickey, Goofy, Donald, Chip and Dale appear at EPCOT. At Mickey's Backyard BBQ dinner Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and Donald wore special outfits, and were joined by Phineas and Ferb - they NEVER appear there! - as well as Chip and Dale in their regular BBQ attire.
Finally for the park news, I saw pictures earlier in the week of Angel meeting outside Space Mountain in Tokyo Disneyland. I have no idea if this is a permanent arrangement, but it did make me wonder something. We had heard that Angel is going to start appearing in DLP soon, and so maybe this is the start of Angel appearing in a number of the parks regularly? Will she appear in DLP in the near future? It seems more likely if she is now also in Tokyo. But I guess we'll see what happens.
A few updates from us here at Character Central now.
Due to unforeseen circumstances, we have had to scale back our summer adventures some, but will still be visiting both Disneyland CA and WDW during the summer. We also will be visiting Tokyo Disney Resort and Hong Kong Disneyland - just later in the year now. At WDW we are attending the first Mickey's Not So Scary of the season on the 11th September.
Finally tonight, just a reminder that we are trying to get to 2000 Likes on our Facebook page so that we can run another big giveaway like we did in April! So go to the page and share it with your friends so we can run another awesome competition!
Ok, that's all for now,
Dan. |
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Hi all, Today we begin with Florida. The Disney Parks Blog has reported that the Fairies will return to the Magic Kingdom from July 28th at the Adventureland Veranda. We look forward to seeing how the new location looks and works out. The big news in WDW this week of course was that Naveen and Flynn Rider left their permanent meet 'n' greets with their princesses. There has been much fan uproar about this, and user Shiva on the Forum has since reported (later down the thread) that WDW Guest Services replied to an email saying that Flynn will appear at the Halloween and Christmas Parties, and Naveen occasionally in the Parks with Tiana, but not full time. This is better than dropping them altogether I suppose! Jon reported on the forum that there are no longer going to be any EMH meet 'n' greets any more either, which is really sad. It seems like WDW - especially the Magic Kingdom - are really scaling back o nthe characters. But then, the WDW management never cease to disappoint us character fans any more. Jumping aboard the Cruise Line now, and the Disney Cruise Line Facebook page posted some really cute images of some of the Characters in Alaskan gear. You can see them here and here. Over in Tokyo, Angel got a facelift (picture later down in the thread) and I have to say I'm not sure about her new look! Her head is smaller, which is a good thing since she was HUGE before when compared to Stitch, but she just doesn't look right now. I think she needs to go back to Jumba and have it tweaked slightly! Across the pond in Paris, although they feature no real Disney Characters, the monster and ghoul filled Terrorific Nights at the Walt Disney Studios are set to return for a third year; and it has been announced that there will two parties this year, since it was so popular last year. Finally, last week I said that the Star Wars characters were set to return to Discoveryland, and my source was correct - the new schedule was released today, and they are back on it! Ok, that's all for now,
Dan. |
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Hi all,
The last few days have been quite eventful in the Character
world!
Let me begin by going back the start of the weekend at Disneyland
Paris, which saw the press launch of the new Magical Moments Festival. All the
main features of the new celebration were previewed during the day, treating
regular park Guests to a snippet of what is to come. Later in the evening, they
had the main press event, and that consisted of a spectacular show on the hub –
though sadly not one we’ll see during the main celebration. Photos and one
video of the press event and show can be found on DLRP Express’s website
here. [ Read More... ] |
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Hi all,
This week has a been a bit quiet on the Character news front, with two small exceptions.
Drew on WDWMagic reports that Angel may start appearing with Stitch over at the Animal Kingdom, in place of Lilo. Lilo and Stitch currently meet on Discovery Island near Pizzafari and the entrance to Camp Minnie-Mickey. [ Read More... ] |
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