Hi all,

It has been reported by magicforum that Disneyland Paris is to get another new celebration year in 2011, titled Magical Moments Festival. This will involve another brand new Castle show that, much to my excitement, will feature Sorcerer Mickey. Up until now Sorcerer Mickey has only ever made very rare appearances at special ticketed events.

Other new things for the new Festival include the new princess meet 'n' greet location at the "it's a small world" post show building, that I reported on previously, and probably the biggest news of all, the addition of Mickey's house! It won't strictly speaking be his house, and will not consist of a whole Toontown area like the US Parks, but instead will reuse the sets that Hong Kong designed for their temporary Mickey house they had on Main Street. The sets are being sent over and will be installed inside the currently unused Fantasy Festival Stage at the back of Fantasyland. I have to say I completely endorse this decision and welcome the idea of having a fresh new indoor area to meet the Big Cheese. Let's hope they make a good job of converting the old theatre and installing the backdrops when they arrive from Hong Kong.

In other news now we fly over to Florida. Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Parties have begun, and as I expected not much has changed. My earlier report suggesting that Mowgli might make an appearance has not come true, and the character that was replaced by Dr Facilier in the Mix and Mingle ended up being Frollo.

Staying in WDW, it has been rumoured that the new parade for DHS will in fact be a rehash of Block Party, but will not have a show stop, but instead move through the streets like a normal parade. The Green Army Men will be removed, and other characters added. Also it has been suggested by good inside sources that the Ratatouille and UP floats from PIXAR Play Parade at California Adventure will be sent over to join the "new" parade. The UP float was only used very briefly last year during the movie's release run, much to fan's disappointment (why add something and only use it a couple of times?!). As for the Rats float, apparently once the overhead lines for the new cable car go in along the streets, the float will be too tall, and so will be removed anyway.

Over at EPCOT in WDW, Duffy continues to make his presence felt, and has now had his Annual Passholder event. He will be meeting near the old Odyssey restaurant, in between Future World and Mexico in World Showcase. The Disney Traders store (the left hand store of the twin stores on the waterfront) is being converted into Duffy central for all your Duffy merchandising needs. He will also be appearing in the televised Christmas Day Parade, and will have his own float.

Ok, that's everything for now,

Dan :)