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Hi all,
This week sees some sad news from Disney's Animal Kingdom. Apparently due to the new character lunch at Tusker House, WDW feel it apparently necessary to cut a whole bunch of characters from the Park's meet 'n' greet line up. To be honest nothing actually surprises me with WDW any more, and this is just another sad change that will go unchecked.
Quite why they have to cut regular meet 'n' greet characters - especially popular ones such as Lilo and Stitch, when they are receiving money for the meals anyway, is quite baffling. Doesn't it already cost enough to get into Disney, without having to pay for a meal to meet characters? Shouldn't the cost of the meal cover that service? Why should regular meet 'n' greets suffer? Let us know your thoughts on this by replying to this article, below.
Over at the Magic Kingdom, our friend Drew has posted some rumoured characters for Pete's Silly Sideshow. We hope that there are no cutbacks there, and some of those mentioned indeed come true! Oswald would be particularly amazing!
At Disney's Hollywood Studios Jake has finally made his official debut at both the Play 'n' Dine and outside Disney Junior Live at a meet 'n' greet. Sadly, once again, in favour of this one new character, ALL the Little Einsteins have faced the axe! The only one left that I am aware of is June, who still meets at the Play 'n' Dine (which is of course a paying service...) Jake has also started greeting at Hollywood Pictures Backlot in Disney California Adventure. I am sure Loren will have all the updates form that next weekend!
Here in Europe at Disneyland Paris, artwork has been released showing what is expected to be some of the changes to the Once Upon a Dream Parade for the 20th anniversary. I had already posted on the blog back in the early summer that the Fairies would appear at the front, and Mickey and Friends would move to the back onto Princess 2, but this seems to now be confirmed.
It also looks like there could be some new characters in the parade, such as Mowgli and Mike Wazowski. The Mickey and Friends characters are expected to have new outfits, which are the same ones which have been used for all the 20th anniversary advertising so far. Hopefully that will translate into meet 'n' greet outfits too, as they look pretty cool!
Regarding next year and Halloween, I had mentioned before that Halloween may be facing some cuts next year due to the massive expediture on the new "Dreams" night time spectacular. The new brochure (which can be found here, and also has a lot of the new artwork in it) does indeed confirm the sad demise of Mickey's Halloween Parties, but leaves the Soirée in place. It does confirm however that ther ewill be a Halloween Season, filled with characters and Disney Villains. Hopefully that means at least the Fab 5 friends, Pooh (Fab 5 and Pooh in Halloween outfits that is) and Jack and Sally will continue to meet, as they have always done, as well as all the cool Villains.
Ok, that's all for now,
Dan. |
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Hi all, Today we begin in Disneyland Paris. The summer season started three days ago, which meant the return of Disney's FantIllusion, their night time parade. Maleficent has been given a slight makeover, and now appears as face character. She had previously been a masked character in the parade. What was strange is that FantIllusion was the only place she appeared like that! Returning her to her regular self is definitely an improvement. Sadly I do not have any picutres to share, but if I come across any I will be sure to post them here. [ Read More... ] |
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Hi all, Just some updates regarding news I already brought you earlier in the week. The new Redwood Creek area in DCA has opened, with Russell and Dug are now meeting there. There is a mini-show for the kids as well as the meet 'n' greet. This post on MiceChat has all the details (and I'm sure Loren will post something to the forum after the weekend!) Over in Florida, I had mentioned that some new villains may appear in WDW this year. Our Facebook friends seem to think that Hades might return, but as a face character, which would be interesting. There has been suggestion that Shan Yu might appear too, but as always, these things are not confirmed as yet (though we DO know three new villains will appear - it's just the who!) Finally, I also saw from a friend that he heard Gaston may appear in the New Fanatasyland once it opens with the new Beauty and the Beast area. Gaston appears for meets fairly often in DLP, but has not been seen anywhere else in many, many years. I think that's all for now. I'm sure I'll remember something later and wish I had posted it! Dan. |
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Hi all, It has been a while since I updated properly here, but as you all know we have been away on a mega trip to DLP and DL CA! As I stated earlier in the week, we have been working hard to get as much new content from the trip up as possible, but it takes time. There hasn't been too much news since we went away, but here is a round-up of what I have heard. [ Read More... ] |
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Hi all,
It has been a fairly quiet week on the character front, but I have some small pieces of info for you.
At the Walt Disney World Resort, Phineas and Ferb finally made their much anticipated debut at their new photolocation in Hollywood Studios. Jon found this video online, and you can see photos from Inside the Magic here. Don’t forget that Phineas and Ferb are due to start meeting very soon in California Adventure too – and Jon and I are going to be there in just two weeks, so we’ll have the latest up to date pictures right after they debut! [ Read More... ] |
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Hi all, Disneyland Paris yesterday had it's premier showing of the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie (not the French premier though). Disney Central Plaza posted to their Facebook page a photo of Jack Sparrow and Davy Jones meeting Guests at the cinema in Disney Village! There is some conflict of information as to whether these were real or not, but whether these characters were provided by Disney, or by the cinema, they were certainly very convincing, and were on Disney property for a Disney movie premier! In our eyes that makes them characters, but take a look and make your own judgement. Let me know what you think by hitting the Discuss button at the end of this post. I have also just literally heard from an inside source that Café Mickey in Disney Village, sadly, is no longer offering random characters at the meals! From now on it is only the Fab 5 and friends! This is quite a shame, as this was one of Disney best Character meal experiences around, and you never knew who you would get! Loren posted his latest Character Updates to the Character Central Forum. Jon also posted to the forum that a user on MiceChat heard that Phineas and Ferb would be coming to Disney California Adventure at the start of June! Of course the biggest news was from Florida where the D23 event came to a spectacular finish. None other than Dreamfinder and Figment made a surprise, and much welcomed appearance on stage. Check out the video Jon posted in the Forum here. Staying with Florida, I heard that Rapunzel and Flynn made a random appearance at International Gateway in EPCOT, and Tinker Bell is now greeting alone in the temporary Fairy Garden near Mouse Gear. She has six set times with no friends joining her. This is a massive come down from the glory days of her appearing from open to close with two other friends in Pixie Hollow in the Magic Kingdom. The lines get far too long, and she is way too popular to only have six half hour slots per day. Hopefully when she moves back to Adventureland, things will be restored to order. Don't forget to check out the latest Character of the Week, and vote for next week's star. Ok, that's all for now, Dan. |
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Hi all,
Sorry it has taken a while to get back into things this week from our trip to NYC and WDW, hence why I haven't posted anything new until now.
There isn't really any big news this week, just a few smaller items. [ Read More... ] |
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Hi all,
Friday night saw a special preview event at Disneyland Paris
for the new Magical Moments Festival, due to start in less than weeks at the
Resort. The event consisted of special previews of the brand new hub show, and
the Disney Dance Express (the latest incarnation of the Character Express/Casey
Jr). [ Read More... ] |
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Hi all, Last week saw the opening of a new Cars meet ‘n’ greet location in California Adventure. McQueen and Mater have relocated near the ever-progressing Cars Land, and have brand new backdrops. Some pictures were posted on Twitter here and here. The eagle eyed among you might notice some slight bodywork changes too, something that I mentioned earlier last week was due to happen in Florida, too. [ Read More... ] |
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Hi all,
This weekend saw the St David’s Welsh Festival hit
Disneyland Paris. This annual event usually comprises of Mickey and Minnie in
their traditional finest, a small pre-parade, fireworks and other entertainment
throughout the park. Our friends at Characters Photos Blog were there, and
their photos will soon be on their Facebook page. They have already uploaded
this video to their YouTube, so check it out! [ Read More... ] |
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