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Hello everyone,
It's supposed to be the first day of spring, but of course as these things go, it's snowing here in the mid-Atlantic region, so I thought I would share with you some photos from this past winter's festivities at the Magic Kingdom (December 2017). I won't share everything we did at the Magic Kingdom, because it's fairly standard otherwise, but I thought the holidays would be a fun theme for this frigid first day of spring!
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Hello everyone,
I realise this is about 11 weeks late, but better late than never, right?
Back in December we attended the DVC Moonlight Magic event at Epcot. It was a fun evening with some great characters, but other than that, I don't have a lot to say about it at this point, since it was over two months ago, but I thought it would be fun to share some photos from the evening anyway.
Enjoy!
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Hello everyone,
If you're considering attending the Halloween and Christmas parties at the Magic Kingdom this year, you can find the dates below.
While it is still early in the year, the Halloween parties actually start next month, and we haven't heard about any new offerings, changes of any kind at this point. With just over a month to go, I suspect that the parties will be almost identical to last year. You can check out our dedicated Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party page, here, on Character Central.
Prices for this year's Halloween parties range from $74 plus tax up to $115 plus tax, for adults (anyone over 9 years old), and from $69 plus tax up to $110 plus tax for children aged 3-9.
2017 Halloween Party Dates:
August: 25, 29
September: 1, 7, 10, 12, 15, 17, 19, 22, 24, 26, 29
October: 1, 3, 5, 6, 9, 10, 12, 13, 15, 17, 19, 20, 22, 24, 26, 27, 29, 31
November: 1
The Christmas parties start in November, shortly after the Halloween parties end, and run through December, ending just before Christmas itself. As with the Halloween parties, we haven't yet heard about any changes, but for Christmas it's a little early right now. You can check out our dedicated Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party page, here, on Character Central.
Prices for this year's Christmas parties range from $89 plus tax up to $109 plus tax, for adults (anyone over 9 years old), and from $84 plus tax up to $104 plus tax for children aged 3-9.
2017 Christmas Party Dates:
November: 9, 10, 12, 14, 16, 17, 26, 28
December: 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 10, 12, 14, 15, 17, 19, 21, 22
All event tickets can - and should - be purchased on the official Walt Disney World ticketing page, here.
Have a great day everyone,
Dan. |
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Hello everyone,
In this fourth and final part of my trip report for our visit to Walt Disney World during Christmas 2016 I am going to share with you some more of our adventures at the Magic Kingdom.
Let's start on Main Street USA where we met Santa Claus before he set off on his magical deliveries on Christmas Eve. [ Read More... ] |
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Hello everyone,
In this second part of my Walt Disney World December trip report I am going to share you with your our adventures at Disney's Hollywood Studios and Epcot. In case you missed it, the first part of my report, which covers Disney's Animal Kingdom and the Disney resort hotels, can be found here.
Let's start with Hollywood Studios. [ Read More... ] |
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Hello everyone,
During the last week of December we visited Walt Disney World for Christmas and New Year. In this first part of my trip report I am going to share with you our adventures at Disney's Animal Kingdom and some of the resort hotels, including character dining and more.
Let's start with Animal Kingdom.
At the front of the park, the giant Christmas Tree was on display, looking exactly the same as it has for the past ten years! Despite its age, it is a nice tree.
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Hello everyone,
This is a fairly large update today since there is a lot of news, which of course is a great thing for character fans!
Let's start with the US parks, where at the Magic Kingdom, the Disney Parks Blog today gave an official opening date for the new Muppets show coming to Liberty Square (which I discussed here on the blog last month). The 2nd October is the official start date, with Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, The Great Gonzo, Sam the Eagle and a new park character named J.J. Jefferson making appearances in several shows daily. I still find it interesting that they have decided to debut this in the Magic Kingdom, when they have made an effort to convert a part of Hollywood Studios to the "new" Muppets Courtyard, including turning Pizza Planet into a new Muppets dining location. Nonetheless, it will be neat to see the Muppets out in the parks again, and it is always great to have new character entertainment.
On the West Coast, at Disneyland Resort, they have been holding AP Days at DCA, which have featured character appearances exclusively for annual passholders. Running from 6th September until 2nd October, you could meet Wizard Donald and Skeleton Goofy (from 6-18 September), and Pocahontas and Meeko, and Patriotic Minnie Mouse (from 19th September - 2nd October). There has also been a lot of cool merchandise and giveaway items, such as buttons, artwork, recipe cards and more. Disneyland continues to really give back to its AP holders, while WDW sadly leaves them feeling quite left out.
Jumping westbound across the Pacific Ocean, we come to Tokyo Disney Resort, where we have the bulk of today's news.
To start with, popular Tokyo Disney Resort fan site, TDR Explorer updated their older news post regarding the new Westernland Woodchuck meet 'n' greet (opening 22nd November) to include a first-look image of Donald and Daisy Duck. I can't use the image here because I don't know where they got their one from to start with, but nonetheless, check out their page - the outfits are amazing! We can't wait to see them there on our next visit!
OLC, the operating company of Tokyo Disney Resort this week released all their parks entertainment information for 2017 and even the start of 2018! There were actually a few surprises, too. There was a lot of information, so I'm just going to cover the core character stuff here, but you should know that there was a lot about attractions, merchandise and food, too (which you can read about on sites that cover more general news).
From 4th April through 14th June Disney's Easter will return to Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea. Tokyo Disneyland will get a brand new Easter parade that will feature Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps at the Japanese resort for the first time. Besides what sounds like giant Easter Eggs wearing bunny ears (really!), no other details about the parade have been released yet.
At Tokyo DisneySea the main harbour show doesn't specifically say it will be new, but instead that the characters will have new Easter bonnets; so you should expect that the show will be the same as this year.
From 15th June until 7th July Disney's Tanabata Days will once again be celebrated, with the entertainment again being similar to previous years. Tokyo Disneyland will feature a cavalcade, and Tokyo DisneySea will have a show on the harbour. Both will feature Mickey and Minnie wearing traditional Japanese Hikoboshi and Orihime attire.
For the summer season, from 11th July until 31st August, Disney Natsu Matsuri will return to Tokyo Disneyland. Again, the release doesn't specify that the event will be new, so while you should anticipate some costume and music changes for the main show at the castle, expect it (for now at least) to be the same as this year's event.
At Tokyo DisneySea however, this year's event will not be returning, much to our sadness! Instead of the Disney characters in bright, colourful, fruit themed outfits (and Panchito and Jose riding a gigantic inflatable banana - yes, really!), we are getting a Pirates of the Caribbean event, to tie in with the new movie being released in July. At the moment, the only details in the release are that Jack Sparrow and pirates will be in the show, but I imagine (knowing Tokyo) that the popular Disney characters will also appear - perhaps in pirate costumes?
Last month I told you all about the new floats coming to Dreamlights at Tokyo Disneyland. Now, in this release, OLC have given the official debut date as 11th July - the start of the summer season. The brand new floats feature Frozen, Beauty and the Beast and Cinderella.
The 11th July seems to be the date that a lot of things are changing at the resort, with yet another major announcement in this same release. The popular A Table is Waiting show, which replaced Over the Waves as a "sequel" several years ago will end on 17th March, and a brand new, as yet unspecified show, will begin on that same summer events start date.
Halloween will return to Tokyo from 8th September until 31st October, and apart from some likely costume and music alterations, it sounds as though it will be the same as this year, with the Halloween Pop'n Live parade returning to Tokyo Disneyland, and Villains World returning to Tokyo DisneySea. This year was only the second year of Villains World and the debut year of this particular parade, so it is of no surprise that next year will be the same, since Tokyo tends to run on three year life cycles.
As with Halloween, Tokyo's Christmas Fantasy (TDL) and Christmas Wishes (TDS) events sound the same as this year/last year, with the same parade (Disney Christmas Stories) at Tokyo Disneyland (which I anticipate will be its last year, since it will be the third year for it), and the same harbour shows at Tokyo DisneySea (A Perfect Christmas and Colors of Christmas).
From 1st January through 5th January 2018 (yes, they are going that far ahead!) Tokyo Disney Resort will once again celebrate New Year with special events at both parks, featuring Mickey and his friends in traditional kimono. While they don't go into any further detail, the tiny images used are from this year, which show a parade at Tokyo Disneyland and a harbour show at Tokyo DisneySea.
And that's not all! From 11th January until 19th March 2018, their popular Anna and Elsa's Frozen Fantasy event will return to Tokyo Disneyland, with the parade and castle projection show.
Under the same date heading as the Frozen event, but dropped down a line for some separation - perhaps deliberately a little vague for now - OLC finish up the release with a really surprising announcement. A brand new PIXAR event will be coming to Tokyo DisneySea, that will feature character greetings and shows! Not only that, it sounds like Gelatoni may gain a larger presence in the park around the same dates, too, with hints of a new greeting ("photo locations where delightful keepsake photos can be taken") - but like I said, they are really vague about it for now.
Wow, so that's everything for Tokyo! It is really exciting to have so much information about the next 18 months already, and we cannot wait to hear more details about everything.
Finally for today, we come to Hong Kong Disneyland. While their Halloween season has already started, some of you may not be aware of how awesome it is this year! As well as having two entertainment offerings (one cavalcade, the other a mini-parade/show of sorts) which feature popular characters in cool costumes and the Disney Villains, they also have some really awesome villains out greeting, including Oogie Boogie! Others include the Big Bad Wolf, Captain Hook, the Queen of Hearts, Cruella de Vil, and Jack and Sally from The Nightmare Before Christmas. It is truly awesome to see Oogie Boogie making daily appearances, and the Big Bad Wolf in his regular outfit is pretty cool, too (he appears in Toontown in Tokyo often, but only in his "bling" outfit).
That's everything for today! I have heard rumblings of character dining changes at Disneyland Paris, and of course their first ever runDisney event is this weekend, but I'll save those updates for next week, once I have more concrete information!
We recently travelled to Shanghai Disney Resort for the first time, and I have been writing some massive updates here on the blog, which you can find the links for below.
Shanghai, September 2016 Trip Report on Two Lost Boys
I shared my experience travelling to Shanghai, arriving at the airport, getting to the resort, and then visiting the Disney Store in the city.
Shanghai Disney Resort, September 2016 Trip Report - Part One on Character Central
In part one of my main Disney report I shared with you all of our experiences at the two Shanghai Disney Resort hotels, Disneytown, and character dining at Lumiere's Kitchen.
Shanghai Disney Resort, September 2016 Trip Report - Part Two on Character Central
In this report I took an in-depth look at Mickey Avenue, with over 230 photos of all the details on the little entrance street to the park.
Shanghai Disney Resort, September 2016 Trip Report - Part Three on Character Central
In this report I took an in-depth look at the Gardens of Imagination, Mickey's Storybook Express parade, the Golden Fairytale Fanfare castle show and the Ignite the Dream nighttime spectacular, with over 210 photos of all the details.
Have a great day everyone,
Dan. |
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Hello everyone,
Yesterday the Disney Parks Blog made the surprising announcement that Disney's Electrical Parade (fondly known as the Main Street Electrical Parade to fans) would be coming to an end after a final performance on 9th October. In an odd twist, they also announced that it would be moving to Disneyland in California for a "limited engagement", "early next year". As always, Disney are completely vague as to what they mean exactly - "early" could mean anywhere from January to April, and of course "limited engagement" could mean a month or six months! Even stranger still, just last week as I reported here on the blog, Disneyland are ending their popular Paint the Night parade, but instead of that moving somewhere else, the most recent update from the DPB suggests that Paint the Night will actually remain at the DLR and return for holiday events! Having two electrical parades at one park, that could potentially switch out depending on the day/season/event is quite odd, especially since it leaves WDW without a nighttime parade.
Disneyland Paris yesterday released its Halloween press release, and everything sounds just about the same as it has for the past couple of years. That isn't altogether a bad thing since the Halloween season there has been quite strong and reasonably successful in recent years, so there isn't much need to change the formula I suppose. Returning to Parc Disneyland this Halloween season will be Mickey's Halloween Celebration, which is their daily Halloween cavalcade (not quite a full parade, for those wondering). It’s Good to Be Bad with the Disney Villains!, which stars Jafar, Cruella, the Queen of Hearts, Captain Hook, The Witch, Frollo and Dr Facilier, will also be returning to the Castle Stage. Daisy and Stitch will appear at Costume Corner (Daisy replacing Minnie this year), and Maleficent will return to the Castle Courtyard. Rumours have gone around the internet of other character appearances, such as Marie and even Cheshire Cat - but I'll say what I always say: nothing is certain until Disney says otherwise, and even then, things can change on a daily basis! All we know right now is what I have mentioned above. Disney's Halloween will run from 1st October until 2nd November, with Disney's Halloween Soiree ticketed event featuring on 31st October, as per usual.
Tokyo Disney Resort revealed its Christmas offerings yesterday, and since much of it was new last year (TDR tend to have a three-to-five year life cycle of its seasonal entertainment), it wasn't much of a surprise that it will all be pretty much the same. At Tokyo Disneyland we can expect the return of the Disney Christmas Stories parade, the Christmas version of Dreamlights, and the seasonal overlays to the bands, Haunted Mansion and the Country Bears, and other minor entertainment. At Tokyo DisneySea we can expect to see the return of A Perfect Christmas, Colors of Christmas, and again, the overlays to regular entertainment such as A Table is Waiting and the bands. We were lucky enough to be in Tokyo Disney Resort for Christmas season last year, and you can read my report about it here on the blog!
That's everything for today. Have a great day everyone.
Dan. |
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Hello everyone,
Today Disneyland Paris sent out a press release announcing that Moana - or Vaiana as she will be known in France - will feature at the resort during their Enchanted Christmas season, which begins on the 11th November. The press release was actually a little vague, giving no more details other than she will be at the resort during the season, so whether that means she will be greeting, feature in a new Christmas show, or in the parade, is yet to be seen. Disneyland Paris are notoriously bad at providing clear information, and are even worse at holding fast to what they have said - so we shall see what happens. At least, for now, we can say that Moana will feature this Christmas in some capacity at the French resort! The movie is released on 30th November in many places in Europe, including France, and the week before in the US, so it will also be interesting to see whether she debuts at the start of the season (starting 11th November), or if she will only appear once her movie premiers at the end of the month.
Disney On Ice this week announced another brand new show, "Follow Your Heart", and while much of it is once again a rehash of previous shows, there are two really cool new scenes of note. A Finding Dory scene will be added, which, if the image and text on their main website is to be believed, should feature Dory, Hank and Nemo. Of course Dory and Nemo have featured before, but the Finding Dory characters, such as Hank, and story will be new to Disney On Ice. Additionally - and the most exciting part of all - characters from the blockbuster PIXAR movie Inside Out will be added! After waiting for an eternity for them to come to the US parks, we are now also going to see them in this new show. Again, things are a little vague, but from what the images depict, and what the text on the website says, at very least we should expect Joy, Sadness and Anger, and most likely Fear and Disgust, too! The new show starts in the Washington DC/Baltimore region at the end of October. You can buy pre-sale tickets on Ticketmaster now, using the code "BUBBLES".
As always, Character Central has been receiving continual updates. This week I added Constance Purchase (Main Street Citizen), Captain Phasma, the March of the First Order, The Jungle Book: Alive with Magic, and Star Wars: A Galaxy Far, Far Away.
Also, you can find out about our latest trip to Walt Disney World in part one of my most recent trip report, here on the blog. In this part I share with you our adventures at the Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Disney Springs, the Boardwalk and the three separate Disney resort hotels that we stayed in during our trip.
This weekend we will be in Disneyland Paris, so be sure to follow us on Instagram and Facebook to see our live updates from the resort.
Have a great day everyone,
Dan. |
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Hello everyone,
The Walt Disney World website has been updated now to include dates for this year's Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party at the Magic Kingdom in Florida.
There are going to be 21 nights of parties, in the following dates:
November: 7, 8, 10, 11, 13, 15, 18, 27 and 29
December: 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 9, 11, 13, 15, 16, 18 and 22
Tickets have not yet gone on sale, and there is currently no other information about this year's event officially available. Once we do find out more, I'll be sure to post it here on the blog.
Yesterday the Disney Parks Blog announced the Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party dates, which can be found in my news post, here.
Have a great day everyone,
Dan. |
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