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Hello everyone,
Things look a little different this year for Halloween season at Walt Disney World. We have seen the cancellation of Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party, along with drastically reduced operations across Walt Disney World. Gone are the days of visiting the hotel resorts to see the pumpkins and decor, and meeting characters on Halloween night at all the hotels; shelved is the Headless Horseman 5K at Fort Wilderness, and the Headless Horseman movie night event (also at Fort Wilderness); we've even lost those awful pumpkin-scarecrows that used to haunt us every year on Main Street! We've lost a lot of really cool things due to this ongoing pandemic, but there was one small bright spark of light to come out of it all. Now, during regular daily operations at the Magic Kingdom, we can see some of our favourite Disney characters in various spooky Halloween offerings. These offerings include a Mickey and friends cavalcade, a Pooh and friends trolley, a Nightmare Before Christmas cavalcade, a Villains cavalcade, the Cadaver Dans, and various greetings (Main Street Station, Rivers of America, and the Crystal Palace).
I thought I would make a few blog posts to share with you the Halloween spirit that has overtaken the Magic Kingdom, starting here with Mickey and friends. You can see Mickey and his pals intermittently throughout the day either up on Main Street Station, waving to guests below and posing for selfies, or riding through the park in a festive cavalcade.
Mickey and his pals are joined by the Sugar Rush Racers from Wreck-It-Ralph, some pirates, Haunted Mansion ballroom dancers, and some Haunted Mansion gravediggers.
So, without any further commentary, here's a selection of [ Read More... ] |
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Hello everyone,
Last weekend was the debut of the brand new Donald's Dino-Bash! festivities in Dinoland USA, at Disney's Animal Kingdom at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. We were there for the opening of the event, so I wanted to share it all with you here.
Let's start with taking at look at some of the decor, before we move on to PhotoPass, magic shots, food, the dance party, and of course the character greetings.
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Hello everyone,
We continue to be super busy here at Character Central, but I know that social media and the internet does a pretty good job of keeping everyone informed of the latest Disney developments, anyway. However, today I want to share with you an experience that we had just last week that we don't often hear about in the magical world of Disney - Disney's Vero Beach Resort in Florida.
We only visited for the day, so you won't find in-depth room reviews here, or dining at the main restaurant, but we did do the Goofy's Beachfront Breakfast character dining, and walk around the whole property, including the store, spa, and outdoor areas.
Disney's Vero Beach Resort is located in the town of Vero Beach itself, on the Atlantic east coast of Florida, about two hours south east of the Walt Disney World Resort. It's a fairly easy drive through vast stretches of central Florida farmland.
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Hello everyone,
In part one of this report on the Character Central blog, I shared with you our adventures around Shanghai Disney Resort, outside of the main theme park. I told you about the Disney hotels, Disneytown and other relevant areas. Over on the Two Lost Boys blog, I gave my account of arriving in Shanghai and visiting the Disney Store in the city. Now, in this part, we are going to step through the main gates of the park and discover the magic and wonder of Mickey Avenue!
There are a LOT of photos in this post, and I will be covering every last detail, including all the stores and restaurants, inside and out, character greetings and any other relevant information regarding Mickey Avenue.
So, let's kick off with the view you will see when arriving at the front entrance - a vast gray concourse, with security entrance lines, and the Steamboat Willie fountain.
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Hello everyone,
We were travelling yesterday and so I couldn't post an advent calendar blog, so today I'll share two photos instead of the usual one.
Let's see who is behind the doors today!
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 | Character Couture - Donald Duck | |
| DisneyDan
Monday, July 27, 2015 8:48:36 AM |
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Hello everyone,
In this sixth edition of Character Couture, we are going to take a look inside the wardrobe of everybody's favourite duck, Donald!
Let's start in Disneyland Resort, where at Disney California Adventure, Donald has been known to show up on Paradise Pier wearing a different sailor outfit to the one he usually wears.
Across the country, in Florida, Donald likes to visit the Mexico pavilion at Epcot, which reminds him of his South American travels with his pals, Panchito and Jose.
At Disneyland Paris, Donald likes to take charge of matters, and becomes a film producer, wearing typical Hollywood clothes at the Walt Disney Studios. (Some people may notice this picture is from the former Stars 'n' Cars greeting, however, Donald does still wear this outfit, usually in the Front Lot.)
In Mediterranean Harbor at Tokyo DisneySea, Donald gets back to his classic blue colour, but with a different style, complete with giant whistle!
At Hong Kong Disneyland you can see Donald in the Flights of Fantasy Parade wearing his cute orange bowtie, and shirt with stars on it.
Finally, on select Disney Cruise Line sailings, during Formal Night, Donald likes to go all out, and wear his black tux and white shirt. Doesn't he look dapper?!
Missed one of my previous Character Couture articles? You can read Mickey Mouse's entry here, Goofy's Character Couture entry here, Minnie Mouse's entry here, Daisy Duck's entry here, and Chip 'n' Dale's here.
Dan. |
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| Happy 81st Birthday Donald Duck! | |
| DisneyDan
Tuesday, June 9, 2015 9:17:25 AM |
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Starring in more roles than his best pal Mickey, Donald Duck is hot tempered but ever lovable. His very human, and often hilarious, frustration with the more irritating side of life has provided entertainment to his fans since his debut in the Silly Symphonies on 9th June 1934. Donald Duck’s ever suffering love interest is Daisy Duck, who along with her short temper, make the perfect match.
A very keen traveller, Donald is also friends with Jose and Panchito whom he met on his exploits to South America.
While something very small can make him flip, Donald's down to earth approach to life means he is adored by generations of fans world over.
Happy 81st Birthday, Donald Duck!
Dan. |
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 | Advent Calendar - 19th December 2014 | |
| DisneyDan
Friday, December 19, 2014 4:40:31 PM |
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Hello everyone,
It's the 19th December, which means it's time to open the nineteenth door of our very special Character Central Advent Calendar!
Here we go!...
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 | Advent Calendar - 6th December 2014 | |
| DisneyDan
Saturday, December 6, 2014 12:27:05 AM |
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Hello everyone,
It's the 6th December, which means it's time to open the sixth door of our very special Character Central Advent Calendar!
Here we go!...
[ Read More... ] |
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Hello everyone,
On our most recent trip to Tokyo Disney Resort we had the pleasure of dining at the Diamond Horseshoe for the Mickey and Company dinner show. The Diamond Horseshoe is a table service dinner show venue that offers two different shows daily (the other being the Horseshoe Roundup at lunchtime).
Reservations are always required, but sadly can only be made on the Japanese Tokyo Disney Resort website or by calling their reservation line, both of which are in Japanese language only. Fortunately we have some very good Japanese friends who are able to make the reservations for us. If you are able to get someone to make reservations for you, or you can read Japanese (which if you're reading this report is unlikely), then you should ensure that you do it well in advance of the date and time you want. In our experience, reservations for table service and buffet dining at Tokyo Disney Resort sell out virtually instantly, unfortunately.
On the plus side, the respectful and thoughtful nature of the Japanese means that if they cannot make their reservation they usually call to cancel it, which means times can show up at any moment. We have actually gotten several reservations this way in the past, so it's definitely worth checking back everyday before your trip to see if the venue you want has any availability.
On the day of your reservation you will need to go to collect a ticket for the meal at the will call window at the side of the restaurant. This must be done at least half hour before show time, I believe, but it might be more than that. You will not be allowed to enter later on without the ticket. Once you have the reservation ticket you simply come back later at the time specified (printed on the ticket). The Japanese are very particular about details, and so once you have your reservation there is no need to show up any more than about 5 or 10 minutes before the specified time. There will be a line outside the restaurant, but once the doors open everyone is let in very quickly, and your table is preassigned which means that you do not stand any better chance of a better table than if you were in line half hour before opening.
There are three categories of seating available for the shows, "A", "B" and "S", which all increase in price the closer you are to the stage (with "S" being the closest to the stage). The most expensive category was just short of US$50 per person. Prepayment is required and is non-refundable.
The restaurant is located on the left hand side of the entrance area to Westernland (Tokyo's equivalent of Frontierland), and looks very similar to its sister restaurants in Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom (both inside and out).
Once you have entered the restaurant and taken your seat, the show will begin very promptly. There is a warm up part which introduces some of the characters (not Mickey and friends, they come later!) and dinner service begins soon after.
The food is a set menu and is very difficult to change, however, being the awkward westerners that we are, we are vegetarian, which is non-existent in Japan. We had a Japanese friend with us who was able to call over the manager, and after some discussion they said that they could prepare something just for us! We have to say that we were exceptionally impressed with their willingness to accommodate us and the fact that we actually got something fairly decent to eat, despite their restaurant not being equipped for vegetarian diners.
The regular set items are potato wedges, sausage, grilled vegetables, pumpkin, chicken, corn on the cob and I think shrimp, but since I didn't eat it I can't remember exactly (the picture below shows the food, but I can't make out what is on the back of the plate).
For dessert the regular menu consisted of a fun cake that looks like Donald Duck's bottom! Drinks are included, and are refillable. Bread is in a basket on the table and can be refilled upon request. There is a bowl of salad on the table also, which is prepared and has salmon and eggs in it.
For our vegetarian selection we had basically the same, except we were given rice, and potatoes shaped like stars! For dessert sadly we only got strawberries, but it's nice that they made the effort to find out that the dessert had gelatine in it. Strawberries aren't even on the menu, so they must have put some effort in to obtain them, which we appreciate.
The show involves Mickey and his friends helping a hapless young romantic gain the affections of Slue Foot Sue. There are some really great scenes, including Mickey playing the drums! It's a great show and has a nice happy feel to it. It's something which I really wish that the other parks would bring back to their Horseshoe venues. It adds a life and vibrance to Westernland that sadly the other Frontierland's lack.
Overall we really enjoyed the show and the food. The cast members were amazing and went out of their way to help us with our needs and our food was very nice.
If you can make a reservation then I'd definitely recommend it, just remember that to do so will require someone who reads or speaks Japanese.
Dan.
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