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Hello everyone,
Earlier this week the Disney Parks Blog announced the Disneyland Resort's plans for Halloween Time this year, including dates for the popular Mickey's Halloween Party event.
The daytime activities at Disneyland park are anticipated to be the same, with Mickey and friends greeting in their Halloween costumes, Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy, and the Haunted Mansion Holiday overlay. For the most part, the Mickey's Halloween Party event at Disneyland park sounds very much the same as last year, with the return of the Frightfully Fun Parade, which features the Headless Horseman, the Halloween Screams fireworks, character greetings, and more. I'll come back to the party a little later, however, Disney California Adventure will be joining the spooky festivities with its own Halloween celebration, with two key additions. Buena Vista Street will be taken over by Oogie Boogie, and Cars Land will feature "Haul-O-Ween".
The images below were shared by the DPB:
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Hello everyone,
Today the Disney Parks Blog revealed that a brand new parade (although it's more of a cavalcade) will feature at Mickey's Halloween Party at Disneyland park in California. The parade, titled the "Frightfully Fun Parade", will feature the Headless Horseman, and characters from The Nightmare Before Christmas, the Haunted Mansion, Princess and the Frog, the Disney Villains and "beyond". Characters specifically mentioned in the article are the Headless Horseman, Jack Skellington, the Hitchhiking Ghosts, Dr Facilier, Hades, the Queen, Jafar and Cruella. It is not yet known how this new parade will affect the character greetings around the park during the event evenings, or whether having the characters in the parade will mean those ones will not be greeting (up until last year nearly all of those, save for the Horseman, met during the parties).
On Friday the DPB also gave us a sneak peek at two of the costumes that the characters will be wearing at the next Minnie's Seasonal Dine at Hollywood and Vine.
Image taken from the Disney Parks Blog. (C) Disney.
It is interesting that they chose to go with a Halloween theme over a fall/harvest theme, given that the Halloween Dine will run from the 12th September until well past Halloween - 6th November in fact. We look forward to seeing what Goofy, Donald and Daisy are wearing, too!
Finally, last week Disneyland Paris announced that they would be filling their early 2017 low season with a brand new star Wars themed event, titled Season of the Force. The event will run from 14th January until 26th March, and will primarily run at the Walt Disney Studios Park. There will be Stormtroopers patrolling the streets, a March of the First Order, featuring Captain Phasma and Stormtroopers, and a brand new light projection show at the Tower of Terror at night, that will also include - as of yet unspecified - characters. The new official landing page for the event also mentions something in Production Courtyard, but it really gives no details at all; "Let the Force guide you to Production Courtyard in Walt Disney Studios Park for an extraordinary example of galactic might." Whatever it means, it'll be yet another cool and welcome addition to the park and this already awesome sounding line-up.
Ok, that's all for today. Have a great day everyone.
Dan. |
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Hello everyone,
Today the Disney Parks Blog announced the dates for this year's Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party at the Magic Kingdom.
There will be 29 nights of parties, and they are as follows:
September: 2, 8, 11, 13, 16, 18, 20, 23, 25, 29 and 30
October: 2, 4, 6, 7, 10, 11, 13, 14, 16, 18, 20, 21, 23, 25, 27, 28, 30 and 31
The Parks Blog has confirmed the return of character filled favourites, such as Mickey's Boo To You Halloween Parade and the Hocus Pocus Villain Spectacular.
They have not yet announced any further details on pricing and sale dates.
Once we find out more information, I'll be sure to post it here on the blog.
Have a great week everyone,
Dan. |
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Hello everyone,
In part one of my trip report I talked about our adventures at Epcot, Disney's Hollywood Studios and the Magic Kingdom. In this second and final part I want to share with you our experience at Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party (MNSSHP).
It had been a couple of years since we had been to MNSSHP because of all the other traveling we do, and the parties never change much anyway, however, this year there was enough that was new that [ Read More... ] |
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Hello everyone,
Last Friday night (25th September) Jon and I attended the first of this year's Mickey's Halloween Party at Disneyland.
We had previously attended Mickey's Halloween Party at Disneyland four years ago, and due to lots of other travelling commitments, have only just now managed to make it back again for the party!
I was anxious because it was the first one of the season, and obviously things can change from year to year. So although I had some idea from looking at details from last year, I didn't really know what to expect this night.
Around 4pm on Friday [ Read More... ] |
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Hello everyone,
Disney just announced the dates for this year's annual Halloween and Christmas parties at the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World. Tickets will go on sale in April.
They are as follows:
Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party:
Sept. 15, 18, 20, 22, 25, 27
Oct. 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 9, 12, 13, 15, 16, 18, 20, 22, 23, 25, 27, 29, 31
Nov. 1
Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party:
Nov. 8, 10, 12, 13, 15, 17, 19, 20, 29
Dec.1, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, 11, 13, 15, 17, 18
If you would like to quote a Walt Disney World Resort vacation for Halloween, Christmas, or any other time, you can contact our partner at Two Lost boys Travel by visiting their website, here.
Dan. |
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Hello everyone,
Let's start with Walt Disney World, where this week the Disney Parks Blog confirmed that the immensely popular Frozen Summer events are being extended by a whole month, until 28th September. This is great news for fans who want to experience the winter wonderland that has taken over Disney's Hollywood Studios! You can sing along with Anna, Elsa and Kristoff at a special show at the park, or watch them in the magically frozen parade that happens daily.
The Disney Parks Blog also announced that Baymax and Hiro from Disney's brand new movie, Big Hero 6, will debut as characters at the Disney parks in Anaheim and Orlando this autumn. No other details about where in the parks and for how long they'll greet for has been released yet. Once Disney say more, I'll be sure to update here on the blog.
Bob Iger told investors earlier this week at a meeting that, “We’re also developing ideas and designs for a far greater Star Wars presence in our parks,” and, “We expect to provide details about this sometime next year.” Nobody knows any more than that right now, but it's an exciting prospect nonetheless!
Mickey's Halloween Party tickets for Disneyland in California went on sale, and have dates from Friday 26th September through to Halloween night itself. Prices start from $56 for annual passholders online advance purchase.
The Tokyo Disney Resort Blog released some details about this year's Christmas events at their parks. The Japanese, as always, is quite difficult to translate, but I have managed to pull some details from it. At Tokyo DisneySea we can expect to see the Color of Christmas show on Mediterranean Harbor, featuring Mickey and friends. Over at Lost River Delta you can celebrate the Spanish festival of light, although I don't think any characters are involved - it sounded like just decorations and lights. At American Waterfront there seems to be another show, called Snow Crystal Illumination. I'm inclined to think this one may be a character show since it says it'll be at Waterfront Park, an area they usually use for character shows. However, again, it's hard to translate. There is also mention of character greetings, but no further details provided. Based on past years, it'll most likely be Duffy and ShellieMay in special costumes, but others could appear also. At Tokyo Disneyland, Disney's Santa Village Parade returns. As always with Japan, there will be lots of cool decorations, merchandise and treats available throughout the season, which runs from 7th November through 25th December inclusive.
If you haven't already read it, you should check out part 1 of my Grand Circle Tour of the Magic Kingdoms of the world. Part 2 will be coming soon!
Have a great weekend everyone,
Dan. |
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Hello everyone,
Last night was quite obviously Halloween night, and what a night it was!
It was the last Halloween party of the season at Disneyland, the penultimate one at WDW (the final one being tonight), the Halloween Soirée at DLP, and the final day of Halloween season at the Asian parks.
This Halloween has seen some great additions and improvements across all the parks and resorts.
Tokyo altered their Halloween parade slightly, and had the ghosts and goons greeting for the first time ever! Oh how we would have loved to have met one of Maleficent's goons!
At WDW, Jack and Sally greeted guests on a regular basis for the first time.
They also held the Unleash the Villains event which saw the never-seen before Oogie Boogie (excluding one private special event years ago), come out for guests! Amazing!
In Disneyland, Roger Rabbit was out at the start of every party in Toontown, greeting guests properly for the first time in years! (I don't count the bunny hop at Easter, as you couldn't officially meet him)
Disneyland Paris launched their brand new Halloween cavalcade, which starred Huey, Dewey and Louie, as well as a character never seen before in DLP, Clarabelle Cow!
Now let's come to yesterday.
WDW continued a fairly new tradition which we are glad to see them improving upon as each holiday comes around - having special characters out at the hotel resorts for greetings.
For example at the All Stars Sports, I know American football Goofy was out, and at the Coronado Springs the Three Caballeros!
When we were at WDW at Easter they did something similar at the deluxe resorts, so let's hope they keep it up!
Moving to Paris now, and last night was DLP's grand finale, the Halloween Soirée.
Lots of favourites from last year returned, such as the Stitch dance party hosted by Stitch, Angel, Goofy and Buzz, and Dr Facilier's show on the Molly Brown, which this year included Louis (as well as the returning Tiana and Naveen).
The new daily cavalcade also ran during the party.
The biggest news of all all though, was the appearance of some ultra rare characters throughout the evening - some making their first public appearance ever, not just in Paris, but worldwide!
So far I can confirm that all of the following were out (rare or otherwise):
- Duffy and ShellieMay
- Aladdin, Jasmine, Abu and the Sultan
- Yzma, Kronk and Kuzco (in human form)
- Mike Wazowski
- Mad Hatter, Cheshire Cat and March Hare
- Russell, Dug and Carl
- Goofy and Max
- Scrooge McDuck
- Darkwing Duck
- Launchpad McQuack
- Panchito, Jose and Gauchito
- The Hyenas
- The Witch/Hag
- Cruella de Vil
- Maleficent
- Bowler Hat Guy
- Queen of Hearts
- Governor Ratcliffe
- Darth Vader, Stormtroopers and R2-D2
There were probably more, but I just haven't had any confirmed sightings reported as of yet.
Unfortunately we weren't at the Soirée, as much as we really wanted to be. Money and other circumstances of course got in the way, as they always do.
On the flip side, fortunately we had met all of those rare characters before at the Disney Dreamers Everywhere event in May this year (hence why I said first 'public' appearance, as some had appeared at an event).
So, that concludes another Halloween season across the world, which can only mean one thing.
Christmas!
Dan. |
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Hello everyone,
Apologies for the long gap between blog posts again, but if you follow us on Facebook, Tumblr, Instagram or Twitter, you'll know that we were in Disneyland Paris last week for their Halloween Season.
You can check out my album of pictures I uploaded yesterday to Facebook, here. You can also go through our wall photos to see what we uploaded live while we were away!
The big news yesterday was that Mickey Mouse has now taken the bold step of talking live to guests who visit him at Town Square Theater in the Magic Kingdom! Up until now, Mickey has only ever spoken live during shows and parades, and has made rare appearances at his meet 'n' greet location, which have always been unannounced. But, now, you can meet him daily at the the Magic Kingdom in his dapper new magicians outfit, and talk directly to the Big cheese himself!
Our friends at the Unofficial Disney Character Hunting Guide have already met him, and uploaded this video (click link to view on their Facebook page).
Staying with Walt Disney World, and today Anna and Elsa, characters from Disney's brand new movie 'Frozen' began greeting guests at Hollywood Studios!
This is the very first time they have met guests publicly. You can check out a photo of them on the Where Magic Lives Facebook page.
Jumping across the county to California, and rather suddenly, the popular show Minnie's Fly Girls, at Disney California Adventure ended last week. As far as fans are aware, there was no real reason given, it just happened! It was a fun show, and certainly brought some energy to the Condor Flats area of the park.
I have been really busy lately, and haven't updated the website as much as I would have liked to, but I have ten days off from this Friday, so next week I hope to make a lot of updates, refresh a bunch of pages, and if all goes to plan, officially launch the third in our excellent Trip Planner series - this time for California! When it's launched I'll make an announcement on Facebook and Twitter, so watch out for that!
Ok, I think that's everything for this evening. Have a good week everyone.
Dan.
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| Hello everyone,
Once again I have to apologise for the long gap between updates here on the blog. Unfortunately we have just been incredibly busy with real life.
Anyway, there are some important new news pieces from around the world that I want to discuss this evening. We'll start with Disneyland Paris.
Disneyland Paris has been announcing a lot of new things recently for the upcoming Halloween and Christmas Seasons, which has been well received by the fans.
This Halloween Season there will be a brand new cavalcade (which we already knew), and it has now been officially confirmed that Clarabelle Cow will be part of that. This is the first time Clarabelle has ever been to Disneyland Paris in its 21 years! Huey, Dewey and Louie along with Scrooge McDuck were previously confirmed, and are still expected to appear in the cavalcade. Also making a welcome return to the park, albeit just for the cavalcade, are the Pumpkin Men! DLP fans will know that the Pumpkin Men (and women too) were a long-time staple of Halloween Season at DLP, often running around Main Street and Frontierland scaring guests half to death! They were a lot of fun! Minnie Mouse will be greeting at her new dedicated Halloween location at Casey's Corner on Main Street. Various fan sites have already posted pictures of that. Her outfit is yet to be seen, although artwork suggests it will be brand new. Bon Bon Goofy will return to Town Square, following his debut last year (it was a new outfit and new backdrop for him), as will the Villains in Fantasyland. It was suggested that one of the many Halloween themed bands that usually play throughout the park during the season will accompany the Villains this year, which would be a neat touch, to have Villainous music playing while meeting them! Duffy the Disney Bear is also to appear on Main Street in a Halloween outfit, for the first time in Paris. It is not yet confirmed what outfit he will greet guests in, but is expected to be similar to the US pumpkin version. Jack and Sally return to Thunder Mesa (outside Phantom Manor). Their location setup will be much the same, but with some new decorations that detail The Nightmare before Christmas more. The Halloween Soiree (Halloween Party on the 31st October) is also set to see some more new entertainment offerings. I did hear that Maleficent and Hook would be given their own shows. Maleficent is said to be at the Castle Stage, and Hook on his ship in Adventureland. All other details, including set up etc is not yet confirmed. If and when I can find out more, I will definitely post it here. Last years Soiree saw some awesome new entertainment, which injected some much needed life into the event, after a couple years of wavering. Whether any of last years shows will return is yet to be confirmed. It was also confirmed - in a round-about way - by a DLP official that ShellieMay would appear at the Soiree! I think his exact words were to the effect of "a good friend of Duffy is also going to make an appearance". Unless he was talking about Mickey Mouse, I think we can safely assume he meant ShellieMay! This will be the first time ever that ShellieMay has greeted regular park guests outside of Tokyo Disney Resort! Outside of the parks, at Disney Village, Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show will see the return of the Halloween version. Dates and times are yet to be confirmed, I believe.
For Christmas Disneyland Paris have confirmed that the popular Christmas Cavalcade from last year will return, and will be expanded upon, including the addition of the Gingerbread Men, from the US parks! Certainly a much welcomed addition! Other new offerings include an updated Tree Lighting Ceremony in Town Square, narrated by Jiminy Cricket, and a special winter enchantment at Sleeping Beauty Castle using Disney's new movie, Frozen, and the Disney Dreams technology. Jack and Sally will return to Frontierland, and for the first time in Paris, and an all but one rare appearance some years ago at Disneyland in California, Jack will be in his Sandy Claws outfit! How awesome! I am really excited to see how he looks in that. I was also pleased to hear that the Jingle Bell Boys will return to the Videopolis in Discoveryland, where they will rock out some Christmas tunes accompanied by Mickey Mouse, who last year dazzled guests with his Big Band Beat style dance moves! (Tokyo fans will know what I mean by Big Band Beat.) The other big news for the season is that the Parade will debut characters from Disney's Frozen on the former Romance 1 float! Featuring in the daily parade, they will glide through Parc Disneyland on a magical Frozen themed float! I don't think it has yet been confirmed whether they will remain after Christmas Season, but seeing as this is an addition to the main parade, I would imagine they will, which would be great!
Finally for DLP, today Joe Schott (DLP Chief Operating Officer) said that the Tarzan Encounter would return to the park at some point, although they do not know when yet. Although I know many fans will think this is "cheap" move, since the show is rather old now, it is undeniably popular, and will be a welcome re-addition to a park that has seen a bit of a lack in entertainment of late. It's definitely better than nothing!
There have been many websites and fan pages posting about the new Christmas and Halloween offerings, so I haven't linked to any one in particular as I normally would do. If you want to find out more, just do a search online or check out some dedicated DLP Facebook pages.
Over in the US, and Halloween Season is well under way. Neither Resort seems to have changed much again this year, with the one exception that both have replaced one of their Halloween Party dance parties with a Monsters Inc themed one. Magic Kingdom's MNSSHP now also have Jack and Sally greeting in Town Square. Other than that, I don't think much else has altered. If you know any different, the please let me know!
At Disneyland you can meet Jack Sparrow on Tom Sawyer Island, and at the Magic Kingdom Hook, Jake and Pirate Goofy have been out and about.
Over at Disney's Hollywood Studios, rather suddenly, Minnie Mouse was given a brand new greeting location inside the Animation building. While we usually like these things (and indeed the location looks neat), she now wears her regular polkadot outfit (with some "sparkle", I was told). This is actually a step back, since she had been greeting around the Big Hat in her special pink DHS outfit.
Finally, yesterday the Disney Parks Blog revealed two more concept art images for the brand new Festival of Fantasy Parade coming to the Magic Kingdom in spring 2014. Ariel and Merida's float look pretty cool, and are a world apart from the now ancient Celebrate a Dream Come True Parade, which I know fans will be glad to see the back of!
Ok, I think that is everything for today. Have a great weekend everyone,
Dan. |
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