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Hello everyone,
This week the Disney Parks Blog announced that the insanely popular Star Wars Weekend at Walt Disney World's Hollywood Studios would be extended to a fifth weekend, up from its normal four. In addition, there would be brand new nightly fireworks (during the weekends), similar to those seen last year at the May the Fourth event. Other Disney news sites are also reporting that there will be a new "experience" to replace the long running and very popular Hyperspace Hoopla. There is no word yet as to why they are doing this and what exactly Hoopla will be replaced with, but we can only hope it's as energetic and fun as Hoopla has been in the past few years. We'll be sad to see Hoopla go, but look forward to having some new entertainment, hopefully!
Across the Twitterverse and beyond, many people have now been talking about the strong possibility that Oswald the Lucky Rabbit will finally be allowed to step out of Toontown and join the Disney Characters at the Disney Parks, for the first time ever this spring! It has been suggested by many that he will start appearing during Disneyland Paris' and Tokyo Disney Resort's spring events. Of course, it could be a rumour that has just spiralled and grown, or there could be something in it, but I have a feeling, and talking to some people I know, that it could very well be true! I guess we shall see at the end of next month! Let's hope it is true!
Speaking of the new spring season at Disneyland Paris, although I had talked about this before, and other sites have also all been talking about it, I wanted to just mention here what we know so far, to give a roundup of what we can expect.
There will be a brand new cavalcade at Disneyland Park, featuring around thirty characters, some of them I'm told are "uncommon". It's strongly hinted that Thumper and Miss Bunny will come to Disneyland Paris for the first time (as well as Oswald, who I mentioned above). The cavalcade will utilise the former Casey Jr train from years gone by, along with three of the cars from Stars 'n' Cars (Walt Disney Studios Park's parade). The cars being taken out of Stars 'n' Cars are Mary Poppins and Bert, Snow White and Dopey and Sulley. The loss of three cars and five characters means that the parade will no longer be able to operate in its current capacity, and therefore plans are in the works to use the remaining cars for a special meet 'n' greet cavalcade. Details are sketchy right now, so we will have to wait until next month to see how it all works out.
As well as the parade changes for both parks, Disneyland Park is also expected to get some awesome decorations, musicians, street artists and there has even been talk of a small show on Main Street, but, that's still as yet unconfirmed.
As you would expect, there will also be some special meet 'n' greets at Disneyland Park, with our favourite characters in special outfits.
Of course, as I said, much as all this is currently unconfirmed. Admittedly, a lot has come from usually very reliable sources, and the odd thing about DLP is that rumours more often than not tend to turn out true! So let's hope all of this works out that way, too!
Staying with DLP, I want to draw you attention my extensive report I posted the other day that covered the new changes at the Disney Hotels and character greetings around the park. It's a sort of hybrid trip report and news report, but if you're planning a trip to DLP soon, it's well worth reading.
Finally we skip over to Hong Kong Disneyland, where the popular blog Disney and More revealed that the long running Glow in the Park Halloween Parade will sadly not return this year. Jon and I saw it several times in 2012 and really liked it. However, the park will be gaining a brand new nighttime parade, titled 'Disney Paint the Night' which will be a permanent addition. This of course is awesome, but I'm sure the Hong Kong fan community will miss not having a dedicated Halloween parade during the season.
Ok, I think that's everything for today,
Dan. |
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Hello everyone,
The Disney Parks Blog announced this week that Disney California Adventure would play host to Disneyland Resort's Lunar New Year Celebrations this year, which will feature Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Chip and Dale, Mulan and Mushu over at Paradise Gardens. There will be crafting, Chinese dragon and lion dances, as well as Vietnamese and Korean dance groups. The event will run from 31st January until 2nd February inclusive, from 11am until 5pm.
The Disney Parks Blog also announced that the Disneyland Resort is playing host to another round of rare character weekends from now until May, yes May! Every Friday through Sunday you can head over to the Big Thunder Ranch Jamboree to see who is appearing. Our good friend Loren was there last weekend, and you can check out his report on who he met, here.
The Tokyo Disney Resort Blog made a post revealing some information (albeit all in Japanese) about this year's spring events at the resort. From the 2nd April through 23rd June inclusive, the resort will play host to various shows and parades at both parks.
At Tokyo Disneyland, after a hiatus last year, the park sees a spring parade back on its streets, titled Hippiti-Hoppiti Spring Time. The parade will feature seven new floats, starring Mickey and his friends in their spring finest, as well as Marie. The blog also mentions Easter Bunnies, but it's hard to make out whether it means that the Easter Bunny himself will feature, or if he's just a statue on a float.
At Tokyo DisneySea, Lido Isle Welcome to Spring, Easter in New York and Springtime Surprise all return for another year, at the various ports around the park.
In addition to the shows and parade featuring the characters, there will be special menus, merchandise and decorations.
Jon and I will be there in May, and cannot wait to see the new parade!
I want to also point you to my previous news posts from the last week or so, in case you missed them, because there were some interesting things that are still relevant.
To find out about news for Captain America, Marie, and a brand new Disney On Ice show featuring the Frozen characters, click here.
To find out about Disneyland Paris Spring events, queue lines, Aurora and Camp Minnie-Mickey, click here.
To find out about Doc McStuffins and other news, click here.
For my tribute to the recently retired Celebrate a Dream Come True Parade, click here.
For my tribute to the recently closed Camp Minnie-Mickey, click here.
For my massive photo-filled year in review for 2013, click here.
For my most recent dining review for Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, click here.
Finally, I have been adding more and more content to the site, including locations and characters! As well as that, new photos show up across the site on many pages almost daily, as we continue to work through our massive backlog! Whenever you visit a page on the site, you never know what you might see that's new or different! So be sure to check back regularly.
Ok, I think that's everything for this evening,
Dan. |
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Hello everyone,
Today the Disney Parks Blog announced that the First Avenger, Captain America, would soon be making his Disney Parks debut at Disneyland in California. Captain America had made his world debut as a Disney Character at D23 last summer, and has since been greeting young guests in the kids' area aboard the newly refurbished Disney Magic, but this marks the first time he will be made available for all guests in a public space at the parks.
Members on WDWMagic Forum have reported that Aristocat Marie has now taken to sporting her more up to date look while visiting Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom. The Magic Kingdom was the last place that Marie was yet to sport her gentler new look, having made her debut last Valentine's Day at Disneyland Paris.
Also on WDW Magic Forum, there has been speculation that the Christmas garlands that hang across the street will no longer be put up going forward, as the new parade is too high for them, which is somewhat disappointing. But of course, this is only rumour at this stage.
Speaking of the new parade, the Disney Parks Blog have been teasing fans with images of an as-of-yet unreported float for the Festival of Fantasy. As of right now we know for sure that there will be a balloon for Mickey, a boat for Rapunzel, Monstro for Pinocchio, a flower garden for some other princesses, giant bagpipes for Merida, a clam shell for Ariel and a cool looking swinging ship for Peter Pan. However, the new images reveal to us a strange, almost steampunk inspired oven, that really could be anything! Current speculation is that it is either Tiana's Palace, one of Maurice's inventions, or something even cooler such as a machine from Treasure Planet or Atlantis, though, those last two are pretty slim chances, sadly!
Moving on now, and last night Jon received a survey from Disney On Ice, which proved to be quite interesting. The text below is from the survey:
"Act 1
Mickey and Minnie invite you to enter the magical world of Disney On Ice’s newest ice show! Dive into the vibrant aquatic world “under the sea” with Ariel, Flounder & Sebastian from The Little Mermaid. Join Rapunzel and her unlikely companions, Flynn, and Maximus from Tangled as they take adventure to new lengths! Be bedazzled by Snow White and her seven most trusted friends. And, celebrate the courage and inner beauty of Cinderella. Journey to the jungle heat of Africa as Disney’s The Lion King comes to life on ice with majestic sets and thrilling special effects. Plus, the toys are back in town with memorable moments from all of your favorite Toy Story movies.
Act 2
Bundle up and enjoy the dazzling winter wonderland and enchanting world of Arendelle as Frozen, Disney’s newest comedy-adventure takes to the ice. Be amazed as Anna teams up with mountain man Kristoff, his reindeer Sven and the hysterically funny snowman Olaf on an epic journey to find Anna's sister Elsa, The Snow Queen, and, through the power of sisterly love, puts an end to her icy spell and frees Arendelle from eternal winter.
From loveable toys to your favorite Disney Princesses to glorious ice palaces, your family's favorite Disney/Pixar moments come to life at Disney On Ice with dazzling skating, special effects and beloved characters certain to create a lifetime of memories."
(Copyright Disney and Feld Entertainment)
The survey then went on to ask questions specifically about the characters Anna, Elsa, Sven, Olaf and Kristoff (who were all mentioned in the above text), which leads us to believe that they will all soon be seen as characters in Disney On Ice shows! We are really excited about the prospects of them leaving Arendelle to make their public debut, and look forward to seeing them!
Ok that's everything for this evening, but if you want to catch up on all the news from earlier this week and last week, I have posted the links below.
Have a great weekends everyone,
Dan.
For news on the new Spring events at Disneyland Paris, rare character appearances at Animal Kingdom and Princess Aurora's dress, click here.
For news about Doc McStuffins, Star Wars Weekends and more, click here.
For my photo tribute to the now closed Camp Minnie-Mickey, click here.
For my tribute to the now retired Celebrate a Dream Come True Parade, click here.
To see my massive, photo filled review of all our adventures in 2013, click here.
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Hello everyone,
As you all probably know by now, and as I mentioned in my news article yesterday, Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom's Celebrate a Dream Come True Parade permanently ended two days ago, after more than 12 years as the park's main day parade.
Twelve years for any Disney production is a very long time, especially a day parade, and although over the years it underwent some cosmetic changes, and even two different name changes, the essence of the parade remained the same.
Starting life on 1st October 2001 as the Share a Dream Come True Parade, it was a celebration of Walt Disney's 100 birthday, for the 100 Years of Magic event.
From late 2006 the parade was altered, and became the Disney Dreams Come True Parade, which was essentially the same parade, except for the snow globes on the floats were removed.
In 2009 the music and name were changed again, and many of the original characters in the parade were replaced by performers and other characters. This incarnation saw the biggest change, and actually at the time was quite an unpopular move. Eventually more characters were added back in, and for the past 4 years the parade continued to bring a unique energy to the streets of the Magic Kingdom.
The cast, characters and performers of the parade - some of which I know were there from the start of Share a Dream Come True Parade, deserve a huge congratulations on their dedication to one of the longest running parades in Disney history, for their constant enthusiasm and smiles, and bringing life to a parade that had been out of date for several years now.
Although many people I know will miss this parade, as with everything, change is constant, and something like a parade that showcases the wonderful, magical worlds of our beloved Disney characters, needs to remain fresh and to bring something brand new. In the spring of this year the Magic Kingdom will welcome the Festival of Fantasy Parade, and I for one, cannot wait!
Let's celebrate the life and times of Celebrate a Dream Come True Parade with a photo tribute from Jon and I's favourite moments watching it over the years.
Dan. |
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 | New Year, New Updates! | |
| DisneyDan
Sunday, January 5, 2014 12:34:32 PM |
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Hello everyone,
First off, I'd like to wish you all a Happy 2014! Last year was a turbulent, but exciting year for Jon and I, and we hope to have many more amazing adventures in the coming months, which we look forward to sharing with you all. In case you missed it, you can check out my blog post, '2013 - A Year in Review'. Be warned, there are literally hundreds of photos (nearly all character ones!), so it might take a while to load, and a while to look through!
Anyway, it's a new year, which means there is always news from the parks to report. We'll start at Walt Disney World in Florida, and work our way around the world.
Tomorrow, January 6th is the final day for Disney's Animal Kingdom's Camp Minnie-Mickey. The small, forested trails of this cute corner of the park will close permanently to make way for the controversial Avatar Land, currently being developed by Walt Disney Imagineering. This means that Timon and his pals at the long-running Festival of the Lion King will be relocated to a new theatre later in the year, elsewhere in the park. It also means of course that the Greetings Trails will close forever. The characters will be moved to new locations around the park. At the moment, what I've heard is that Baloo and King Louie will greet up on the trail between Africa and Asia (a place they have frequented in the past anyway), Chip and Dale (as well as Gi-Tar Dan) will move to Rafiki's Planet Watch, Pocahontas can be found in the Discovery Island Trails, and Donald Duck will move to Dinoland. Mickey and Minnie already moved early last year from the Greeting Trails to their new home on Discovery Island (at the Adventurer's Outpost).
At Disney's Hollywood Studios' character dining location, Disney Junior Play 'N Dine at Hollywood & Vine, June and Agent Oso are being replaced with Princess Sofia and Doc McStuffins. I have tried to find what date this will happen, but nobody knows for sure, although one friend did tell me perhaps the 26th January. This will mean that June and Agent Oso will no longer appear regularly at any Disney Park around the world. It does also mean that for the first time ever, Doc McStuffins will be available daily, for greetings, for all guests (albeit at a meal). Also for Hollywood Studios, dates for the mega popular Star Wars Weekends were released for 2014. This year they will run every Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 16th May until 8th June inclusive.
At the Magic Kingdom, yesterday the epically long running Celebrate a Dream Come True Parade had its final curtain call. Running twice, the parade was given a neat final send-off, with a few old props returning, and fans lining the parade route with signs of support for the cast and characters. Many people have very fond memories of this parade, since its debut back in 2001 as Share a Dream Come True Parade, for Walt's 100th birthday. Although it was loved by many, I for one, and I know many others feel the same too, very much welcome a brand new day parade after 12 long years! The new parade, Festival of Fantasy is currently slated for a spring debut, and will feature a mixture of brand new floats and some that have been imported from Tokyo Disneyland's beautiful, and much missed, Jubilation parade. The new parade is confirmed to have floats representing Peter Pan, The Little Mermaid, Tangled, Brave, and of course Mickey and Friends. Two of the floats brought from Tokyo used to be the Pinocchio float (it's Monstro) and the Princess one, and therefore fuels speculation they'll be used for the same purpose again, but official images of them/concept art are yet to be released.
As a reminder, today and tomorrow are the final days for the full Christmas season offerings at both the Disneyland Resort and Disneyland Paris. If you're in the area, be sure to stop by and catch their parades and shows again before they bid farewell for another 10 months! Brand new offerings this year included the Viva Navidad event and World of Color Winter Dreams at Disney California Adventure and Disney Dreams! of Christmas and the revamped Christmas Cavalcade at Disneyland Paris.
Speaking of Disneyland Paris, we were there for Christmas and New Year, which was amazing as usual! They always put a huge effort into their special entertainment offerings, and this year did not disappoint! The highlight was the "plussed" version of the Disney's Stars 'n' Cars parade at the Walt Disney Studios, which featured awesome characters just for New Year such as Darkwing Duck, Yzma and Kronk, the Cheshire Cat and many more!
It has been strongly rumoured across the internet that Disneyland Paris will also be bringing back a very old festival of theirs from some years back, called the Festival of Flowers. The Festival of Flowers was like a DLP version of EPCOT's Flower and Garden Festival. It is rumoured that the festival will return for a three month long spring event that will also incorporate a special happening (involving characters) as well as meet 'n' greets. There is nothing confirmed yet, but we all hope that this is true!
Finally, we have been aware that many of you have been searching the website for Princess Anna and Queen Elsa from Disney's Frozen. It took a while to get them up, but I have finally done it! (Click their names to go to their pages)
Ok, that's everything for today. Have a good week everyone,
Dan. |
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 | Merry Christmas Everyone!! | |
| DisneyDan
Wednesday, December 25, 2013 12:58:50 PM |
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Merry Christmas Everyone!!
(Notice that Santa is wearing his robe now that Christmas Eve is done, and he can now relax for another year!)
Dan and Jon
Character Central |
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 | Advent Calendar - 21st December | |
| DisneyDan
Sunday, December 22, 2013 2:12:24 AM |
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It's the 21st December which means it is time to open the next door of our very special Character Central advent calendar!
Click to find out who it is today!
[ Read More... ] |
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| Advent Calendar - 20th December | |
| DisneyDan
Friday, December 20, 2013 1:25:34 PM |
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Today is the 20th December, which means it is time to open the next door of our very special Character Central advent calendar!
Click to find out who it is today!
[ Read More... ] |
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Hello everyone,
Today's news is all about some great events coming to Tokyo Disney Resort in 2014!
A couple of weeks ago, Oriental Land Company released a press statement announcing the Easter and Spring events for 2014.
The complete press release can be read in English on the official TDR website, here.
A summary of everything regardning Easter/Spring is as follows:
- The event will run from April 2nd through to June 23rd inclusive.
- At Tokyo Disneyland there will be a brand new theme for Easter, titled "Easter Garden", complete with a new parade, and interactive activities such as Easter Egg hunts.
- Mickey and Duffy's Spring Voyage will return at Tokyo DisneySea, apparently the same as - or at least very similar to - this year (2013).
The actual press release has more information about further events throughout 2014, right up until Christmas, but for the most part they seem the same as this year, and of course, anything can change between now and next Christmas!
It's really great to see the return of the Easter parade to Tokyo Disneyland, as, as the press release points out, it was missing this year, and was always a staple of the Spring events in the park.
The next thing is Sweet Duffy, but that was announced in Japanese only, on the official Tokyo Disney Resort Blog, which can be found here.
Using Chrome's in-built translator, here's everything I could figure out!
- The event will run from January 6th until March 20th inclusive.
- The incredibly popular 'My Friend Duffy' at American Waterfront will present a brand new version. As far as I could work out, the current My Friend Duffy will end on January 5th to make way for the new version. The new version, although being launched as part of Sweet Duffy, will remain permanently.
- Everything else on the list looked like it was either smaller activities or photo-op based things, merchandise or sweet treats to me. As far as I could tell, there were no special greetings, parades or other shows, besides the new version of My Friend Duffy. There was, for example, mention of a new limited time show-stop for the day parade at TDL, but it sounded like it would just be a lot of clapping! (really, that's what it says!)
So, that's everything up until the start of summer, at least. Like I said above, there were some details about later in the year, but we can discuss those at a later date, once more information becomes available.
Ok, I think that's all for this evening!
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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