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NEWS - Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps coming to the US Parks, Kristoff and Olaf coming to Blizzard Beach
DisneyDan  Wednesday, March 2, 2016 11:42:42 AM
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.
NEWS - Olaf FINALLY coming to DHS, Zootopia characters debut in Hollywood, character cuts and a new show at WDW, and much more!
DisneyDan  Thursday, February 18, 2016 10:20:38 AM
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... ]
NEWS - Goodbye Halloween at DLR, WDW to FINALLY welcome Olaf and a new Villains show, Christmas at DLP and MUCH more!
DisneyDan  Tuesday, September 1, 2015 10:57:59 AM
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... ]
Disneyland Paris February 2014 Photo Report and Updates, including Queue Lines, Hotel Characters and Cafe Mickey
DisneyDan  Friday, February 21, 2014 9:59:28 AM
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.

View across the Rio Grande to the Cheyenne

Disney's Hotel Cheyenne

Tee Pees

Disney's Hotel Cheyenne

Disney's Hotel Cheyenne

Disney's Hotel Cheyenne

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.

Meeting Mickey and Minnie in special outfits for Valentine's Day

Meeting Donald and Daisy in special outfits for Valentine's Day

Pluto

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.

Mickey wears a special outfit for Valentine's Day

Mickey wears a special outfit for Valentine's Day

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!

Fun with Ranger Goofy

Meeting Mickey

Goofy

Meeting Indian Chief Mickey!

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).

Valentine's Day Magical Moment

Valentine's Day Magical Moment

Valentine's Day Magical Moment

Valentine's Day Magical Moment

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.

Valentine's Day dinner at California Grill

Valentine's Day dinner at California Grill

Valentine's Day dinner at California Grill

Valentine's Day dinner at California Grill

Valentine's Day dinner at California Grill

Valentine's Day dinner at California Grill

I noticed that Goofy was also giving out special heart chocolates upstairs at the Castle Lounge, and had to get a picture...

Goofy has some heart chocolates for Valentine's Day

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.

Magical Moment

Magical Moment

Magical Moment

Magical Moment

Magical Moment

Magical Moment

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!

Darth Vader

Meeting Stitch

Ariel

Meeting Chip 'n' Dale

King Louie

Meeting Baloo

Meeting Jack Sparrow

Pluto

Daisy Duck

Wendy Darling

Characters arrive in Adventureland

Characters arrive in Adventureland

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!

Timon

Rafiki

Meeting Rafiki and Timon

Meeting Rafiki and Timon

Meeting Goofy and Pluto

Chip 'n' Dale

Meeting Eeyore and Tigger

Meeting Pinocchio and Geppetto

Meeting Pinocchio and Geppetto

Suzy and Perla

Belle and Aurora

Meeting Minnie and Duffy

Character fun in Fantasyland

Character fun in Fantasyland

Character fun in Fantasyland

Meeting Donald Duck

The Mad Hatter

Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum

Meeting Peter Pan, Captain Hook and Mr Smee

Anastasia and Drizella

Meeting Peter Pan, Captain Hook and Mr Smee

Goofy

Goofy

Meeting Mickey Mouse

Chip

Dale

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 Magic on Parade

Disney Magic on Parade

Disney Magic on Parade

Disney Magic on Parade

Disney Magic on Parade

Disney Magic on Parade

Disney Magic on Parade

Disney Magic on Parade

Disney Magic on Parade

Disney Magic on Parade

Disney Magic on Parade

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.

Disney Dreams!

Disney Dreams!

Disney Dreams!

Disney Dreams!

Disney Dreams!

Disney Dreams!

Disney Dreams!

Disney Dreams!

Disney Dreams!

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:

Meeting Mulan

Gaston

Mary Poppins and Bert

Daisy Duck

Donald Duck

Cruella and The Queen

Meeting Lilo and Stitch

Jasmine

Ariel

Jessie

Remy and Emile

Mushu

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.

Disney Junior

Disney Junior

Over at Toon Plaza, Mickey and Buzz were there as usual.

Mickey Mouse

Meeting Buzz Lightyear

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!

Neverland Brunch

Neverland Brunch

Neverland Brunch

Neverland Brunch

Neverland Brunch

Neverland Brunch

Neverland Brunch

Neverland Brunch

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!

Dinner at Cafe Mickey

Dinner at Cafe Mickey

Dinner at Cafe Mickey

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.

Disney's Hotel Santa Fe

Disney's Hotel Santa Fe

Wandering thru the Newport Bay Club

The parade as seen from the Castle Lounge

Cape Cod

Disney's Hotel Santa Fe

Disney's Hotel Santa Fe

Fantasyland

Cactus Band in Cowboy Cookout

Darth Vader chocolate tin!

Statue

Pizza Planet

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, here. 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.
News and Rumours from Around the World: Anna and Elsa appear at Hollywood Studios, Talking Mickey now at Magic Kingdom, and much more!
DisneyDan  Tuesday, October 22, 2013 1:26:00 PM
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.
News and Rumours from Around the World: Monstrous Summer, Independence Week, D23, Marvel Characters and more!
DisneyDan  Monday, June 17, 2013 10:58:54 AM
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.
We're back!
DisneyDan  Wednesday, May 29, 2013 5:15:23 AM
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.
News and Rumours from Around the World: WDW cuts DHS parade and show, New DLR Long Lost Friends Week vote and more!
DisneyDan  Monday, March 18, 2013 11:42:39 AM
Hello everyone,

A few small pieces of news today.

First up, Disneyland in California has abruptly ended the Plaza Inn's "My Disneyland Birthday" which used to take place at the restaurant. The special gathering which saw the debut of a brand new park-exclusive character "Pat E Cake", ran for over 10 years, before ending this past Sunday. It was a neat little happening that also featured Mickey and Minnie meeting the invited guests together for pictures.
You may recall last year WDW similarly cut its Tony's Town Square Gathering, which featured the Lady and the Tramp's chef Tony exclusively at the Tony's Town Square Restaurant in the Magic Kingdom.
It's sad to see that these unique events are gradually disappearing from the parks, as it is often these little details and happenings that really add that extra sparkle to a guest's day.

The Disney Parks Blog finally announced details of Disneyland's version of Long Lost Friends Week. Although no date is set yet, they have released on the blog a list of characters which can be voted on, and the top ones will be the ones that appear in the park that week (whenever that may be). The list has been met with some mixed reaction from the fan community overall, simply because it isn't as diverse as we were all hoping for. Sure, it does have the Three Good Fairies, Merlin and Ludwig Von Drake, amongst others, but it also has Alice, the Mad Hatter, Peter Pan, Chip 'n Dale, and many more who are all in the park regularly.
Some have pointed out that it's the opportunity to get these groups of characters together that is also the draw, but to be honest, when I think "long lost", meeting Alice with the Tweedles doesn't exactly inspire me. The fear is also of course that people will vote for those characters, and the event will end up being nothing more than a big gathering of current friends, rather than the return of anyone truly "lost".
I guess we shall see soon enough what happens!

Over at WDW, although Disney themselves haven't made a public announcement, Cast Members there are reporting that Hollywood Studios' Countdown to Fun parade and Disney Channel Rocks will both be ending permanently on April 6th this year.
There is no word on any replacement yet for either offering, sadly.

In Disneyland Paris, our friends at Dedicated to DLP reported that they have heard whispers of a runDisney event being held there late next year. For anyone who doesn't know, usually these events have lots of random and cool characters featured along the course! I guess we should all start training now!
This past weekend DLP also held its annual St. Patrick's Day event, which featured characters in their Irish finest, and Leprechauns! It's one of the very few things that we still haven't been to, here at Character Central. Every year we say we will, and we always fail! Maybe next year?...
Lots of the main DLP Facebook and Twitter pages had some good updates throughout the weekend of the characters, shows, special fireworks and the pre-parade, so be sure to check them out!

Remember that just a few days ago I made another News post, which contains details of lots more cool things coming to the parks this year, including a Greek event at DLR! So be sure to read that.

Although its birthday has passed now, two days ago it was Walt Disney Studios Park's 11th anniversary. I made a special tribute post with lots of really great photos in it, so if you're curious at all, then have a look.

Finally, I want to mention our brand new Tokyo Disney Resort Trip Planner that was launched last week. If you are planning to visit Tokyo, and haven't yet seen our special Trip Planner, I would suggest you do not miss it!
For those who have asked, or are curious, more Trip Planners are on their way, for the other Disney Parks and Resorts - they just take a lot of time to create! We'll let you know here on the blog when we do launch them.

Ok, I think that's all for today.

Dan.
News and Rumours from around the World: Tokyo's 30th Anniversary, Fantasy Faire, Animal Kingdom, Limited Time Magic and more!
DisneyDan  Thursday, February 28, 2013 10:51:21 AM
Hello everyone,

I have some character related updates for you this afternoon.

In Tokyo, our friend attended a Disneyana convention, and made a report on our forums about what he saw, which includes Mickey and Friends in their brand new 30th Anniversary outfits! I believe this is the first time they have been out for any public event, so he was very lucky to see them! I have to say, they do look better in person than what the previous artwork releases had made them appear. We'll be in Tokyo Disney Resort in May, shortly after the 30th launch, so we can't wait to see all the cool new stuff, including their brand new parade!
For those interested, also in that thread are pictures of the brand new 30th merchandise, including pins.

The Disney Parks Blog has officially confirmed that the new Fantasy Faire in Disneyland will open on March 12th (less than 2 weeks away!). The Disneyland website has been updated accordingly, and now includes lots of info of what we can expect to find there!
It details the new stage which will bring to life two beloved Disney stories. One will be Beauty and the Beast, and will star Belle; the other will be about Tangled, and star Flynn Rider. The website specifically says "Disney heroes and heroines". I think they are deliberately going for a Flynn oriented story for Tangled, to appeal to the boys, which will be cool.
It also mentions the new Princess met 'n' greet, which sounds like it will be really detailed, and much better than the Princess meet 'n' greet in either Magic Kingdom or Paris.
We'll be there in May, and can't wait to see it all!

Over in Animal Kingdom, the new Mickey and Minnie meet 'n' greet will open in "the spring", which could mean anytime soon basically!
Taking over the former Beastly Bazaar store (because DAK really needs less retail...), it will literally just feature Mickey and Minnie. Donald and Daisy are apparently moving to Discovery Island where the Pooh friends currently are, and Goofy is already seen in Dinoland practically all day.
Camp Minnie-Mickey is remaining as-is, less the Greeting Trails, for the time being, and you can continue to meet some critter friends and other random Disney pals, as well as watch the Lion King show. The Pooh friends are suspected to move into C M-M, maybe to Greeting Trails, but no official confirmation of that, as yet.

Limited Time Magic continues to be a bit of a flop, with the Golden Horseshoe Revue (DL) and Long Lost Friends Week (WDW) still being the best ones so far.
Disneyland is yet to hold its own Long Lost Friends Week, and I have heard rumours that they want to out-do Florida, and so we might be treated to some really cool characters!
Other upcoming events include Pirate Week (Jack Sparrow rumoured to appear. No date yet), Independence Week (Patriotic characters) and Friday 13th Villains Dance Party (Villains of course! September 13th).

If you're planning a trip to Tokyo Disney Resort this year for the 30th Anniversary, you might want to read my brand new two part trip planning article series, which begins here.

Remember also that this new version of the site has some wonderful new features, including the ability to create your own profile and check off all the characters you have met! They'll appear on your profile in a big list! Find out how, here!

If you really love our site, and want to support our work, you can find out how you can help us out, here.

Ok, that's all for today,

Dan.
Welcome to the BRAND NEW Character Central! (version 2.0)
DisneyDan  Sunday, February 3, 2013 2:44:41 AM
Hello everyone!
WELCOME TO THE BRAND NEW VERSION OF THIS SITE!

We are so pleased and excited to FINALLY be able to share it with you, after a long update process.

It has taken us a very long time to bring this to you, and we really hope it was worth it!
There are some fantastic new features built into this new site, which we really hope you will love!

If you encounter any problems with the new site, please let us know.

I will make a fuller update later, as I want to showcase some of the new site features, but for now I'll let you go and explore! Have fun everyone!

Dan.
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