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A World of Characters A World of Characters
A World of Characters A World of Characters
A World of Characters A World of Characters
We are still here! Updates and more updates!
DisneyDan  Tuesday, July 3, 2012 9:46:55 AM
Hi all!
First off, yes I know we have been quiet on here for a while, but to be honest there hasn't been TOO much going on in the Character world as late (except a few small things which I'll mention below), and we have also been very busy ourselves.
I myself am in the process of moving house, and on top of that we are went to DLP again, are preparing for our AMAZING summer of round the world craziness (!), AND we have been desperately trying to catch up on all our pictures from previous trips. That is on top of maintaining this site and making sure everything runs smoothly. LOL!
So yes, you could say we have been busy!
As I mentioned, we have been working on pictures, and across the site there are many new photos showing up on location and character pages. When you're on a page be sure to scroll down to the "Recent" tab to see the latest images.
I have also updated the calendar to reflect some changes to our plans this year, for those of you who like to keep track of us around the globe!
If we're nearby, be sure to drop us a line!

We have now run two competitions with great success, one was exclusively on Facebook just last week, which one of our regular fans won just for "Liking" and "Sharing" a post on there! We do plan to run more competitions, and have some fun ideas planned for how you can interact with us to win prizes! At the moment we are looking to reach the magic number of 2000 Likes/Fans on our Facebook page, and if we achieve that, we will run another amazing prize giveaway at the end of this month! So head over to our Facebook page and get sharing with your friends so we can get to 2000 and run the competition!

Ok, so to the Character news...

Disneyland last week announced the dates for it's popular Mickey's Halloween Party, which can be found here.
We were able to attend last year twice, and we had a LOT of fun! This year we'll be in BOTH Asian Resorts for Halloween, AND the Halloween Soiree in Paris!

Disney On Ice also launched a new show, titled Rockin' Ever After, which will be a musical revue of some of the newest and classic Disney Fairytales - including Princess Merida from Disney-PIXAR's Brave! We have already booked our tickets for January, and look forward to seeing it! Speaking of Disney On Ice, sadly we had to cancel our trip to see Passport to Adventure, as it conflicted with dates for something else. This is an old show now - which we still haven't seen - I just hope we get chance to FINALLY see it sometime before it gets retied.

Finally, we have heard strong rumours that SpectroMagic will return next spring (most likely March) to the Magic Kingdom after its long hiatus! Of course they are still ONLY rumours, but everything we have heard so far seems to confirm this will happen. As always, when we know more, we'll post it here.

Ok, I think that's it for now. Remember to look out for great new content across the site, and check out our Facebook page for exclusive updates, as well as all the latest information regarding our competition - remember to share our page with your friends so that we can run the BIG giveaway at the end of July!

Dan.
Lots of Character News and Updates from around the World!
DisneyDan  Wednesday, May 2, 2012 12:11:35 PM
Hi all!

Wow it has been a crazy few weeks for us, but things are finally settling down, and I can catch up on all the character news in the world! Ok, so we might be a little late on some of this, but it's good to have it all in one place, and who knows - you may have missed something!

So, first up California.
The Disney Parks Blog revealed a few things about the new Cars Land, and some coming entertainment offerings.
Big Red and DJ, both characters from the popular movie series will debut on June 15th - Cars Land official opening date - in two new unique shows.
All the details can be found here on the Parks Blog. We can't wait to see these this summer!

Across the Esplanade, Disneyland surprised us all by announcing that they will be adding a new weekend entertainment to the Ranch area of Frontierland. It sounds like there could be some really awesome things going on there, with some rarer characters too, such as the Country Bears, Clara Cluck, Clarabelle and Horace - as well as Mickey and the gang in special themed outfits!
We're not sure that this will still be there when we go in the late summer, but we hope it is, as it sounds really neat!

MiceAge king, Al Lutz reported that the new Fantasy Faire, which replaces the Carnation Gardens (which closed this past week), will feature a daytime show which will rotate between the different princesses, and a special new meet 'n' greet area. Apparently the new meet 'n' greet rooms will be better than the new WDW versions which are going in to the Snow White attraction's space, which doesn't surprise me to be honest!

Over in Tokyo, they are gearing up for a summer of fun, and the Disney Parks Blog (in an unusual move) released some details about some of their character filled events.
There are a few different festivals and celebrations going on, which includes all your favourite pals in some neat outfits. Sadly I think we'll probably miss these when we go, but if you are able to get there we'd love to see your pics on the Forums!
The Parks Blog ALSO announced information regarding Tokyo's 30th Anniversary, which is coming up next April. The new parade will be titled Happiness is Here, and will replace the current day time parade, Jubilation (which incidentally is just four years old right now!). Tokyo sure do like to get through new parades! You can find a link to the official OLC Press Release on the Forum here.

Over in Walt Disney World, Princess Merida has been making surprise appearances ahead of her grand debut. She has been spotted by fans in EPCOT this week. Our fans here at Character Central have posted some awesome pictures to this thread here on our Forum, so be sure to check those out!

Finally, WDW have announced their dates for this years Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween and Very Merry Christmas Parties.
Check out all the dates and prices here for Halloween, and here for Christmas!
We attended Halloween last year and were really happy to see some great additions such as Gaston to the line-up. We can't attend this year due to other plans (how about Tokyo and Hong Kong for Halloween instead?! ;) ), but we look forward to hearing which villains might show up this year!

If you posted to our forums in the last month, be sure to check out the results of our competition that was held for our forum users!

Ok, that's all for now!

Dan.
Character News and Updates - Princess Merida to come to US Parks, DCA to get new Streetmosphere characters and something special!...
DisneyDan  Tuesday, April 3, 2012 12:13:24 PM
Hi all,

This week has seen a few small bits of new character information emerge.

The Disney Parks Blog has been surprisingly forthcoming with information about some new character experiences at the US Parks.

First off, Princess Merida, from the new Disney-PIXAR movie 'Brave' will come to both the Magic Kingdom and Disneyland by the summer. She will be the first PIXAR character to be represented in the parks as a face character!
At the Magic Kingdom, she will host her own Highland Games (ok, maybe not quite!) at the Fairytale Garden. It will be an interactive experience, complete with archery, according to the Parks Blog! It will be interesting to see how that one works out!
Rapunzel, who currently occupies the spot will be moving to Adventureland, and will be rejoined by Flynn Rider! It is rumoured that they will take Ariel's place at the Veranda, and Ariel could move to near the Swiss Family Treehouse. Nothing is certain at this stage, but that's what I've heard.

At Disneyland Merida will appear at a new location near "it's a small world".
At both locations she is going to be joined by her three bear cub friends in puppet form (so we hear, also subject to change). It will be interesting to see how that works out!

We really look forward to meeting Princess Merida in the summer.

At Disney California Adventure it has been confirmed that there will be a new cast of characters to bring the new Buena Vista Street to life.
Much like how Disney's Hollywood Studios features the Citizens of Hollywood, the Citizens of Buena Vista Street should prove to be a lot of fun. If the Hollywood folk are anything to go by, then expect a lot of random fun and a lot of laughs at every turn!

Just a few other smaller updates. Megara was seen at EPCOT yesterday, and rumour has it that Miss Bunny and Thumper will be leaving Animal Kingdom in the near future (sadly).
Also after a brief absence from the new parade, Tinker Bell has reappeared on the last float in Disneyland Paris, much to the fans delight!

Now, for something special!

As you all are quite aware by now, it is Disneyland Paris's 20th birthday. We will of course be there from Friday this week, and covering all the 20th anniversary happenings as they unfold on the day (next Thursday).
For the FIRST TIME EVER, we will be holding a special competition here at Character Central to win a special DLP 20th anniversary prize pack!
I won't give too much away right now, as we are still working on it, but to be in with a better chance, I might suggest you create an account on our Forums here at Character Central and start getting involved in some of our discussions! Membership is of course free, and quick and easy to do.
That's the only clue I'll give right now!

Ok, that's all for now,

Dan.
Character News and Updates From Around the Web - Princess Merida to appear at Hollywood Studios, Disneyland holds character filled marathons and more!
DisneyDan  Monday, January 30, 2012 12:25:43 PM
Hi all,

There hasn't been much in the way of news recently, but I do have just a couple of things to share.
We have been hearing for a while that Princess Merida will appear at WDW later this year, once the new PIXAR movie 'Brave' is released.
We now hear from several different sources that Merida will be appearing with her brothers, but with a twist! We hear that they are going to be moving into Caspian's old location in Hollywood Studios, and Merida will be a face character (PIXAR's first!) and her three brothers will be puppets! We're not sure how this will work as yet, but will keep you posted as always when we hear more.

Over at Disneyland, Loren took part in another marathon, this time the brand new Never Land 5K. He got to meet some awesome characters, so why not check out his character picture filled post about here on our Forum!

We have been working hard as always to add more and more content to the site. Many, many pages have a lot of new photos showing in their "Most Recent" sections, so next time you visit a location or character page be sure to scroll down to see if there is anything new.

We have also added a new section to our Forum - Collector's Corner, where you can discuss all things collectible! From Vinylmations to Pin Trading, we have it covered!

Ok, that's about it for now. I have some special new articles coming later this week so be sure to check back for those!

Dan.
A New Year, and some brand new things on the way! All the latest news and information from Character Central
DisneyDan  Tuesday, January 3, 2012 7:16:49 AM

Hello everyone!

May I take this opportunity to formally wish everyone a Happy New Year. We were in Disneyland Paris (I mean, where else WOULD we be?!), and so we could only Tweet and Facebook our New Year's greeting to everyone, so this is the first chance I have had on the Blog.

We had an amazing time as always in DLP, and those of you who follow our Facebook page may have seen our various updates about all the cool things they were doing for New Year.

Our pictures will be coming in due course; in fact later tonight I might just upload a select few to begin with and make an additional blog post here so that you can all see a selection of some of the neat things we did this trip.

We are now back of course though, and counting down, as always, to our next crazy adventure, which will be to WDW and our first Disney Cruise next month! Following the WDW trip we are also seeing the Phineas and Ferb Disney Live show. February will be quite the amazing month!

Following a pretty quiet December, there are a few small bits of news for this new year, so let's take a quick look.

In WDW, we have heard whispers that Princess Merida and Sophia the First will make appearances once the new Disney/PIXAR film 'Brave' has been released.

To make way for the removal of the gargantuan Central Plaza Stage at Disneyland Paris, the final performance of this years main Hub show, Mickey's Magical Celebration, will be on January 9th.

Also ending earlier than the official Magical Moments end date, are the Green Army Men Meet 'n' Play and the Disney Dance Express. Both of these will also end on January 9th.

Also ending early, but not until March 4th will be the parade's show stops, the Following the Leader with Peter Pan show and Rapunzel's meet 'n' greet location in Fantasyland. It is expected that Rapunzel will simply move into the new Princess Pavilion on a rotational basis, just like the rest of the princesses.

Character locations that will be staying that were added in 2011 will be the Alice and Mad Hatter area in Fantasyland, the Jungle Rhythms gazebo in Adventureland, and Aladdin's Magic Lamp (also in Adventureland). As far as we know the characters will still appear at these locations.

Now as for the parade itself, the Dreams of Imagination float (Mickey and Friends) will be removed for it's magical transformation also on January 9th, while the Dreams of Romance 2 float will be taken out for it's refurb from January 16th. Both will return in their new forms in time for the 20th Anniversary launch, on 1st April 2012. As we already know from a while back, Mickey and Friends will be put on the finale float and fairies and Merlin will now appear at the beginning. The princes and princesses displaced by Mickey and Friends taking over their float will either move to the Dreams of Romance 1 or be in new horse drawn carriages. We have a thread going on our Forum here, and if you scroll down, user Dragy recently posted a piece of artwork showing the new changes.

Over in California, Loren tells us that this weekend Disneyland will be celebrating Three Kings Day by featuring some cool characters in the park! Check out his Forum post about it here.

Loren also tells me that Disneyland continued it's tradition this year of having a mass ensemble of characters appear at park closing at Main Street Station on Christmas Eve. Ones that he tells me appeared include Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Max, Donald Duck, Pluto, and Chip n' Dale in their pyjamas and then there was Pooh, Tigger, Rabbit, Eeyore, Mulan, Mushu, Pocahontas, Meeko, Cinderella, Prince Charming, Suzy, Perla, Fairy Godmother, Rapunzel, Flynn Rider, Belle, Beast, Snow White, Dopey, Woody, Jessie, Buzz Lightyear, Jane, Terk, Lilo and Stitch (in a Santa costume!), Alice, the Tweedles and the Queen of Hearts.

Finally, Character Central celebrated it's second birthday on January 1st, but of course we were away in DLP, so we missed being able to make a post about it. We just want to thank every single one of the 120,769 unique people that visited last year on at least 222,000 occasions! We really appreciate all your support and feedback. In the next few months up until April we are going to be working to make some awesome new additions and changes to the site. So stay tuned for those!

So, Happy New Year everyone, and Happy 2nd Birthday Character Central!

Dan.

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