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Hello everyone,
As always, I have been pressed for time to write updates recently, but I am here today to share with you some things that I thought worth mentioning regarding the imminent arrival of the 25th anniversary celebrations at Disneyland Paris. Over the past week or two a lot more information about the celebrations has been coming to light, with various sites and pages leaking information, and of course Disneyland Paris revealing a little more themselves, too.
During the 25th anniversary celebrations, you will be able to experience two brand new stage shows, a brand new parade, meet and greets, and other offerings such as the new versions of Space Mountain (Hyperspace Mountain), and Star Tours (Star Tours - The Adventures Continue), and the new nighttime spectacular, Disney Illuminations. Of course, being Character Central, I am going to share with you the character based offerings in this article.
To begin, let's take a look at the parade. [ Read More... ] |
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Hello everyone,
Earlier this week the Disney Parks Blog announced that the entertainment added for the 60th anniversary of Disneyland last year would all end on 5th September. The Disneyland Forever fireworks, the Paint the Night electrical parade, and the current version of World of Color would all have their final performances on that date. In addition, Fantasy in the Sky fireworks will return to Disneyland park Fridays through Sundays only.
With Disneyland Forever leaving, it means that we will no longer see Nemo swimming high above Sleeping Beauty Castle, and potentially Tinker Bell. When we saw Fantasy in the Sky, when they ran it for a while in 2015, there were no flying characters in it at all.
The loss of Paint the Night is the most detrimental to the park. With the scaled back fireworks performances, and Fantasmic! being down because of the Star Wars Land construction, it leaves Disneyland park with very little in the way of nighttime entertainment - especially Monday through Wednesday.
Over at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida the Disney Parks Blog revealed that a brand new show starring the Muppets would be coming to Liberty Square in then Magic Kingdom, in "October" (DPB being as vague as ever). Sam Eagle, Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, The Great Gonzo and James Jefferson will all appear in a new show outside the Hall of Presidents. The description makes it sound as though throughout the day there will be numerous different performances, retelling popular stories from American history. It is interesting that WDW have chosen to introduce the Muppets to Liberty Square since they decided to re-theme and rededicate the area around Muppet*Vision 3D (at DHS) as Muppets Courtyard recently. It would seem the Muppets (who were cancelled from ABC recently also) are making a belated comeback to WDW!
The Magic Kingdom is set to welcome Princess Elena of Avalor from 11th August, starting with a special welcome ceremony that will be live streamed on the DPB. Then, from 12th August, multiple times per day, Cinderella and Prince Charming will join Princess Elena at the Castle Stage for a musical performance. The show is a "limited time" happening (again with the DPB being vague), so catch Elena while you can!
From 7th until 31st August, guests who purchase the WDW Memory Maker will be entitled to a special private greeting with a Disney Princess inside Heritage House (Liberty Square), at the Magic Kingdom. Terms and limitations apply. Check the DPB for all the details.
Finally, I have been continuing to add more and more new content to the site, and you will now find brand new pages loaded with photos for the following character-filled experiences at WDW: Mickey's Royal Friendship Faire, Minnie's Summertime Dine, and the Royal Sommerhus.
Ok, that's all for today! Have a great day everyone,
Dan. |
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Hello everyone,
I know it has been a while since I posted here. Life has a way of getting in the way, and I haven't had time to post as many updates as I would like. Having said that, for the eagle eyed among you, and those who regularly visit this site, you will have noticed that I have been updating many pages throughout the site, including changing character categories, moving things around, adding some brand new characters and locations, and other smaller items. So while the blog hasn't had much recently, I have been here, and Character Central still aims to be as on top of character happenings as possible!
Let's begin with some news that was released by the Disney Parks Blog yesterday. Next week, on Thursday 16th June, Shanghai Disneyland officially opens to the public, following its rather extensive soft opening period. To celebrate, Disney California Adventure Park at the Disneyland Resort will be featuring Mulan and Mushu from 10am until 5pm. Mushu rarely gets out at any of the Disney Parks these days, and so it will be great to see him visiting California.
Pocahontas and Mulan got new outfits last week, and we were lucky enough to be at Animal Kingdom and Epcot the day they debuted! Take a look at their new looks below!
Mickey and Minnie Mouse finally got a new permanent greeting location at Disney's Hollywood Studios, after several months of them moving from place to place, following the closure of the Animation Building. The new location is much nicer than anything previously, and Minnie even got a new outfit!
Along similar lines, after what seemed like an eternity, Olaf finally started greeting his fans at Disney's Hollywood Studios, at the new Celebrity Spotlight location.
Some people have asked us about some of the new characters appearing at the parks, and I can happily confirm that last week I was finally able to add Nick and Judy, Captain Phasma and Joy and Sadness to Character Central (click on the names to go to their pages!).
Before I leave you with some of my photos of those brand new characters (there are many more on their respective pages!), I want to just mention that in the next few days I will be making a blog post/guide to the character experiences at the brand new Shanghai Disneyland. While we are not visiting just yet and therefore Character Central won't feature the park until then (since we need photos - we have our trip booked though!), I wanted to gather together all the information we know about character experiences at the new park, in one handy reference guide, until such a time when I can add the park to the website.
In the next week I also will be writing my latest Walt Disney World trip report here on the blog.
So stay tuned for both of those!
Anyway, that's all for today. Be sure to scroll down for the photos of Joy, Sadness, Nick, Judy and Captain Phasma that I promised!
Have a great day everyone,
Dan.
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Hello everyone,
Today the Disney Parks Blog made two announcements regarding character offerings coming to Walt Disney World Resort and Disneyland Resort.
In the first, it was announced that Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps from the latest animated movie, 'Zootopia', would be coming to both Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World Resort. At Disneyland guests will be able to meet the pair on Hollywood Boulevard, at Disney California Adventure. At Walt Disney World, unfortunately, you will only be able to wave to them - and maybe dance, depending on how they use them - from the sidelines, as they appear in Move It! Shake It! Dance and Play It! Street Party at the Magic Kingdom.
While I generally try to remain neutral here on the blog in most cases, I have to say that it is immensely disappointing that, once again, Walt Disney World are getting the bad deal out of new characters. For example, Olaf has been greeting in Disneyland and Hong Kong Disneyland for what seems like forever now, yet he is nowhere to be seen at Walt Disney World. It is very frustrating that guests to Walt Disney World are going to have to suffer watching the street party in order just to see the characters, when guests in California can meet them. In addition, while the movie comes out this week, we will have to wait until "later this spring" to even see them, whenever that may be!
The second announcement is just about as frustrating as the first. It was revealed that during the "summer" (again, with no definitive time frame given), guests will be able to see Kristoff and Olaf at Disney's Blizzard Beach Water Park, hosting "Frozen Games".
To quote the Parks Blog:
"Guests visiting the waterpark can to join "Team Kristoff" or "Team Olaf" and participate in a variety of activities, including Ice Pail Relays, a Snowball Toss to Ski Pole Limbo and Slide Races.
Olaf and Kristoff will join the Winter Games Committee members in the games’ Opening and Closing Ceremonies, and will give updates throughout the games to report on their team’s achievements."
Clearly Disney understand that these characters are popular, so why aren't they out greeting? As I said above, meanwhile at the other parks, guests can meet Olaf.
I have created a poll for this blog post, which you can participate in by logging onto our forum and clicking on this thread, here.
Have a great week everyone,
Dan. |
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Hello everyone,
Let's start today's news in Walt Disney World, where this week has seen the start of some unfortunate character cutbacks. At Epcot you can no longer meet Chip, Dale, Tigger, Winnie the Pooh or Princess Aurora, while at the Magic Kingdom Lady Tremaine is on her way out, too. The schedules no longer list those characters, and their spots are empty. Hopefully we will see improvements in other areas in the coming months, and these cuts are just temporary in order to bring new experiences to the parks.
Having said that, while there have been definite cut backs, at least one new character [ Read More... ] |
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Hello everyone,
It has been a while since I have had chance to make a full news post here on the blog, but today I thought it would be nice to finally share some of the things we have learned recently.
Let's start with Disneyland Resort in California, [ Read More... ] |
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Hello everyone,
If you had been following our Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or Tumblr this past weekend, you'll know that Jon and I were at Disneyland Paris (yes, again!) for the Valentine's weekend. While I do not make "trip reports" per se any more, I thought that this trip to DLP warranted some kind of round-up, especially since there have been some real positive changes there recently - as well as some not so positive ones! So, I'll be incorporating some recent news into my report as we go along.
First things first, hotels!
Disney's Hotel Cheyenne
We spent 5 days at the resort, staying on site at Disney's Hotel Cheyenne. Here's some photos I took of the Cheyenne during our stay.
Hotel Characters
For those of you who are not aware, the Disney Hotels at Disneyland Paris have always featured morning meet 'n' greets with the Disney Characters. Each of the seven Disney properties feature a mixture of the Mickey and Friends VIPs and other characters that fit the hotel theme. For example, the Sequoia Lodge, which is forest themed and along similar lines to Wilderness Lodge at WDW, features Minnie and Goofy in cute ranger outfits, as well as the Pooh characters (since they are from the 100 Acre Wood).
Last week, much to the absolute horror of the Disneyland Paris fan community, Disneyland Paris decided that from November (3rd I believe, but it is subject to change) that the hotel characters would be cut! There has since been a massive outcry, but Disney have responded by saying that they want to alleviate the (apparent) impact that the crowding in the hotel lobbies creates, and instead want to offer something new to guests at the theme parks in the morning. Instead, from November, hotel guests will be able to have some brand new interactions with the Disney Characters in Town Square at Disneyland Park during Extra Magic Hours (EMH). We have heard all sorts of rumours, including one that the characters will be wearing PJ's, and another that it'll be a unique experience where guests will be able to join the characters as they "prepare the park for opening". Of course, all these things are subject to change and/or cancellation. I guess we shall see come November. The other thing that came out of this is the uncertainty surrounding the availability of EMH to Annual Pass Dream holders. Up until now, Dream passholders have always been able to access EMH without having to stay at a Disney Hotel, but come November, this could potentially change. We have heard that this will not be the case and that AP holders will not lose this benefit, and I sincerely hope not, but I guess you never know.
I am incredibly sad that we will be losing hotel characters, regardless of what we get in exchange. The character meet 'n' greets at the hotels have been a big staple of an on site stay since, well, forever, and along with the cute, unique outfits they wear, it'll be a heavy loss indeed. Having said that, as of the moment, we have heard that guests staying in the Castle Club, Manhattan Club or Golden Forest Club at the Disneyland Hotel, Disney's Hotel New York and Disney's Sequoia Lodge will still have characters at their breakfasts, but again, this is subject to change, and is course limited to the guests who pay the premium of staying in those rooms.
Anyway, back on track and to this past trip, we made a point of ensuring that each morning we did the "hotel rounds" (as us and our character hunting friends like to call it) to ensure we got all the hotel characters before they disappear forever. We'll be doing the same in April and August when we are back in DLP, too.
This trip started on Valentine's Day itself, and true to DLP's form, they had some special character opportunities for the most romantic day of the year. At Disney's Hotel New York, Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Daisy were greeting guests in special outfits, and Pluto made an appearance in his normal collar, too.
At Disney's Hotel Cheyenne, Mickey and Minnie were greeting guests in special costumes also, but sadly we only got to see Mickey. There was also heart balloons and heart shaped chocolates being given out for free.
Throughout the rest of the trip we visited the hotels in the mornings, and tried to grab whatever pictures we could. Here are just some of the characters we saw, including one that I am incredibly happy to have finally got - Mickey wearing his Indian headdress! I am especially happy that he was wearing this during our trip, as we had tried so many times before, and now the hotel characters are leaving, was worried I would never get to see it!
Valentine's Day at the Disneyland Hotel
Valentine's festivities continued later in the day at the Disneyland Hotel, when Mickey and Minnie appeared in special Valentine's costumes alongside a very smart looking Goofy and Pluto at the hotel's afternoon Magical Moment, which was specially themed for the occasion (balloons and decorations accompanied a special soundtrack).
I want to point out that the Magical Moment has been another staple of the hotel character opportunities for a long time, and has often been a way of getting some really cool characters and characters wearing some very unique outfits. This will also be lost when the characters leave the hotels in November.
Later that evening there was a special meal at the hotel's California Grill restaurant, which featured the same characters as the Magical Moment.
I noticed that Goofy was also giving out special heart chocolates upstairs at the Castle Lounge, and had to get a picture...
Magical Moments
The Magical Moments for the rest of the trip weren't quite so exciting as the Valentine's Day one, but it's always nice to see who appears anyway. I was happy to see the White Rabbit and Mr. Penguin appear on two separate days, as I love them! On Sunday, Peter and Wendy also appeared, since they were at the Brunch (which we'll talk about shortly), and the Magical Moment is just downstairs in the lobby an hour later.
Queue Lines and Character Greetings at Disneyland Park
One thing that we have always loved about Disneyland Paris is the variety of different characters that can pop up in random locations across the parks. Sometimes, admittedly, they don't always fit the theme of the area, but generally speaking, in the past there has been an excellent number of characters. Sadly, more recently, that trend has been in decline. For as long as anyone can remember, DLP have also been notoriously bad at organisation when it comes to character greetings. There has never really been a queueing system, or any real enforcement of control or order when characters come out. It often makes what should be an enjoyable experience quite infuriating, and is something that all character fans have frequently complained about. That is all until recently, when randomly at the start of this new year, DLP started enforcing queue lines at most character locations across the parks! At once a huge sigh of relief swept through the fan community as our wishes were finally granted! No pushing or shoving, no more random people in your photos, and nice orderly lines where you be guaranteed to meet the characters!
All this of course comes at a price. The recent decline in more random characters seems to have been exemplified by the now orderly way of doing things. "Set locations" with set greeting times are now the normal thing, with the same characters appearing at those locations daily. Sound familiar? Sounds like how the US have done things for a long time, right? There are still some random characters, but no where near as many as there used to be.
I think it's very sad indeed that the cool characters that used to appear randomly have had to be sacrificed because guests at the parks cannot behave themselves! Perhaps if people had been more polite to start with, we'd still get a lot more random pop up characters?
Nonetheless, it was wonderful (and I mean, really wonderful) to finally be able to meet some of our favourite characters at the parks knowing that we can stand in a line, have a nice clear shot with no other heads, elbows or small children in the shot, and have a proper interaction without being shoved out of the way by other guests. As you know, Jon and I adore DLP - it's our favourite place in the world - and to finally be able to have decent interactions and get good pictures of the characters was a huge relief. It made the trip go from being another good Disney trip, to being an amazing Disney trip.
So, here's a cavalcade of photos of all the fun we had at Disneyland Park with the characters this trip!
We were really happy to see Timon. He had been back in Africa for quite some time, and so it was great to see him back at DLP!
Besides all of those characters, we also saw Alice and Pooh out, but didn't get to meet them, and of course Meet Mickey and the Princess Pavilion were open as usual, but we didn't stop by.
Disney Magic on Parade
Of course we watched the parade while we were there. Some floats are currently being refurbished, including the Mickey and Friends finale float, which meant those characters were walking along the ground, and Tinker Bell was missing. Please bear this in mind if you're planning a trip to the park soon.
Disney Dreams!
No trip to DLP would be complete without several viewings of their spectacular nighttime show, Disney Dreams! The first couple of days we were there Second Star was under refurbishment, and I was surprised how little its absence actually impacted on the overall show. Having said that, it did return on our last night, and it really does add something to the show. I was happy we got to see it on our last night.
Queue Lines and Character Greetings at Walt Disney Studios Park
We did of course visit the Walt Disney Studios while we were at DLP, and although it can easily be ranked as the poorest of the Disney Parks around the world, we still enjoy visiting, and meeting all the cool characters they have over there.
We were really happy to see that the new queue line system was also being enforced there, too, and managed to meet some of our favourite stars this trip, who previously we may have not bothered trying to meet simply because it would have been sheer chaos! Long live queue lines!
Here's some of the characters we met or saw walking around from the lunchtime "Stars 'n' Cars" sets:
Woody and Aladdin were also out, but we kept missing them!
At Disney Junior Live we stopped by to see Princess Sofia and Jake in their pre-show dance party.
Over at Toon Plaza, Mickey and Buzz were there as usual.
The Neverland Brunch
During our trip, we attended one of our favourite meals - the Brunch at Inventions inside the Disneyland Hotel. For those who don't know, Inventions is the fabulous character dining location that constantly has different themes for its meals. This trip we were lucky to catch the Neverland Brunch, which is one of the more regular rotating themes.
As always, the food was excellent, and the characters were amazing!
You can check out more photos of the Neverland Brunch on its dedicated page, here.
For my recent in depth review of Inventions from breakfast to dinner and other brunch themes, you should check out my dedicated report, here.
For the dedicated Inventions page here at Character Central, click here.
For our popular, "official" forum topic about Inventions, click here.
Cafe Mickey
Cafe Mickey is a character dining location in Disney Village, and while we used to go quite frequently, it had been a long time since we had dined here. Our main reasons for the drop in visits to Cafe Mickey are that, one, we discovered the wonder of the Sunday Brunches at Inventions, and two, the characters at Cafe Mickey had gone from being very random to very static. In the past we had seen everyone from Scrooge McDuck, Robin Hood, Frollo and the Genie at Cafe Mickey, but for at least a year now it has nearly always been Mickey and Friends and one or two Pooh friends. While I don't have a problem with this, and it's great for young families, for Jon and I we always want more (especially when compared to the Brunch)!
Anyway, we thought it was about time that we dined here again, to see what had changed, what had improved, etc. I have to say that we were not disappointed. Despite the standard nature of the characters and their outfits, they were all very interactive and did not in the least seem tired having already greeted guests all day in the park! Tigger was especially awesome, and made us feel really special! The food was really good too, which I was pleased about, having recently heard some negative things. We enjoyed everything we ordered (and we ate a lot!), and have no complaints about our experience what so ever.
Here's some photos from the great time we had!
For more photos of Cafe Mickey, you can check out our dedicated Cafe Mickey page here at Character Central. It should be noted that the Cafe Mickey page needs updating to reflect our recent experience there, but I thought it was good to at least link to, so you can see it.
Everything Else
Of course, we spent a lot of time wandering around, taking photos like we usually do, and so I thought I'd finish up this report with some photos with other things we did, and some general shots I took around the resort this trip.
If you have any questions or comments about anything in this report, be sure to post it on our forum topic, here.
If you're considering a trip to Disneyland Paris, you can check prices and availability on the official Disneyland Paris website, hereg(214505)a(1961589)) . They have some great offers right now, including up to 30% off hotel and and park tickets, and kids under 12 go free!
Have a great weekend everyone,
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,
There's a few things of interest this week that I thought I'd share. Sadly I haven't really had time to catch up properly recently after the big around the world trip, so you'll have to just go with it!
Anyway, Disney's Monstrous Summer at both US resorts has now started, and brings with it some new characters and greeting opportunities.
At Walt Disney's World's Disney's Hollywood Studios, Mike and Sulley can be met in their new MU dorm setting (same place as their old location), in their new MU outfits.
At the Big Hat they perform in the homecoming show, which is basically a large pop/rock dance party.
At Disney California Adventure, Mike and Sulley can be met, again at a new MU dorm setting, down in Hollywood Land.
The PIXAR Play Parade has been refreshed too, and stars Mike, Sulley and some brand new Monsters friends! Art, Scott "Squishy" Squibbles, Terry and Terri, and Archie the Scare Pig all join them! We'll be there in August and really look forward to seeing them!
Art was out for meets during the most recent 24 hour event back in May. Sadly we were not there to meet him (we were in DLP at the time!).
From the 1st to the 7th of July at both US resorts, Independence Day will be celebrated for a whole week, and will feature special character opportunities.
At Disneyland you will be able to meet Mickey Mouse in patriotic clothes, in Town Square every evening.
At Walt Disney World Goofy, Donald and Pluto will feature in patriotic clothes in a special pre-parade at the Magic Kingdom, which will also feature EPCOT's Fife and Drum Corps, as well as the much loved Citizens of Main Street (just how WDW use them in other pre-parades).
Interestingly, WDW have not yet said whether there will be character greetings at the American Adventure in EPCOT this year. Every year, for the last few years at least, WDW have featured Mickey and friends in patriotic clothes, as well as appearances by historical figures such Betty Ross and Benjamin Franklin.
I hope that the pre-parade is not a replacement for those greetings. That would be quite sad indeed to cut those.
You can read more about what is happening during Independence Week at the US Parks on the Disney Parks Blog which I linked to above (includes details of 4th July fireworks and more)
Probably the biggest news this week is that for the first time ever Disney will feature Marvel characters! Of course, they will be for limited sets at this years D23 Expo event in August, but it is a huge step nonetheless.
It is expected that Spider-Man and Iron Man will appear for limited sets on one of the days.
D23 will also feature Sofia the First (who debuted in the Christmas Day Parade at WDW last year, but not seen since), and for the first time Doc McStuffins!
The programme of events also listed characters from Jake and the Neverland Pirates, but of course we already have Jake at the parks, sparking speculation that maybe Izzy or Cubby might be coming!
Our friends at Inside the Magic have a complete breakdown of the entire event, with the greeting times, so be sure to check out their post here.
Here at Character Central we have been working hard to update the website and add more new content, including characters, autographs and movies. Be sure to check them all out! (You'll have to look for them - I don't want to make it too easy for you!)
Ok, I think that's everything for today.
Dan. |
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Wednesday, May 29, 2013 5:15:23 AM |
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| Hello everyone!
Jon and I have finally returned from our epic around the world adventures, as part of the Disney Dreamers Everywhere experience! Hopefully most of you have been following our adventures on Character Central's Twitter, Facebook and Instagram pages the past month. If not, then you have been missing out! Honestly, we have no idea where to begin with tens of thousands of pictures we have from the trip, and it will take us some time to get back into the swing of things here, since we were away for so long, and we have "real life" to get back to as well! Fear not though, gradually you'll see some brand new content being added across the site, most notably brand new characters that we met will be added to the character collections, and of course all the brand new parades, shows and events that we experienced will be added to the guide book pages. For now though it will be a slow process.
While we were away I don't really recall anything big or noteworthy happening in the world of Disney itself. Hopefully I didn't miss any big news or announcements. If I did, then feel free to let me know!
Ok, that's all for the moment. Have a great day everyone.
Dan. |
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