Hi all,

Today has seen a few more things come up on the character news front, after a somewhat quiet week.

The Disney Parks Blog posted that from this weekend there is a special Pirates of the Caribbean – On Stranger Tides area set up in the Festival Arena area at the back of Frontierland in California. As well as merchandise, special drinks and exclusive 3D previews of the movie, Jack Sparrow himself is said to be making appearances from time to time too. Jack Sparrow does not get out much these days in the US parks, preferring to spend most of his time in Tokyo and Paris!

We look forward to seeing pictures from this event as the weekend progresses.

Moving onto Paris now and this evening is the special preview event of the new Magical Moments Festival due to start in April. The event has exclusive previews of some of the things you will be able to find at the park over the coming year. Our friends at the Facebook group Character Photos Blog are there as I type this and hopefully will be posting some pictures over the coming days. When they do I shall of course share them here.

Staying with Paris, I very rarely criticise Paris’s character offerings, but the new schedule was released this evening, and I have to say it is quite disappointing. Hopefully the lack of, well anything, is a temporary thing and will be reinvigorated once again when the new Festival starts.

Also at Disneyland Paris today the Molly Brown received a special rededication ceremony at the dock in Frontierland. The Molly Brown, a unique vessel in the Disney fleet for its side wheel as opposed to paddle wheel, has been practically rebuilt from top to bottom and once again returns to the Rivers of the Far West. On hand to help with the ceremony were of course Mickey and Minnie in Frontier outfits I have never seen before, and Buffalo Bill! Buffalo Bill features in his own show over at Disney Village on a twice nightly basis, but never in the park – a unique opportunity indeed! Welcome back Molly Brown!

Finally for Paris, it came to my attention last week that Maleficent was once again gone from the Once Upon a Dream Parade. Today I heard that this was due to the restraint snapping again! It is reported that she is unlikely to make a return by the end of the year, which is a real shame. Although we want the performers to be safe, it is puzzling as to why, with all their technology and expertise, that this should prove such an issue for Disney!

Finally for this post, and on a non-character related matter, I heard from friends on Facebook that Tokyo Disney Resort hopes to open earlier than anticipated, and Cast have been recalled back to the resort to begin re-opening procedures and set-up. It has been suggested that it will reopen again at the start of April. I shall keep you posted as always.

Ok, that’s all for now,

Dan.