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Hi all,
Welcome to this first in a special series of articles looking at the top 10 best places for meeting the Disney Characters at the Disney Parks and Resorts.
In this first edition we look at Walt Disney World Resort's top ten. Throughout the article you can click the links to the specific places mentioned to find more detailed information about meeting characters there. At the end of the top ten, be sure to check our links to other hints and tips pages on this site!
So, let us begin in the Magic Kingdom...
1. Town Square - Town Square has a number of different character meet 'n' greet oppportunities, namely the Town Square Theater. At Town Square Theater you can meet Mickey and Minnie Mouse at Mickey's backstage dressing room. In a separate room of the theatre you can also meet the Disney Princesses. There are usually three, and are usually from the main 5 (Belle, Aurora, Cinderella, Ariel or Snow White), although Tiana and Rapunzel are there from time to time also.
Outside in the street, by the flagpole you can normally meet Daisy Duck or Pluto. Sometimes Pinocchio makes appearances too. You may bump into the Citizens of Main Street from time to time, including Mayor Weaver, Victoria Trumpetto and Fire Chief Smokey Miller.
2. Adventureland - Adventureland is the new home of the Fairies of Pixie Hollow, who were evicted from their previous location last year to make way for the new Fantasyland expansion. Tinker Bell is almost a dead cert, and these days either Terence or Vidia with her, although you may find any one of the other 4 Fairies instead (Silvermist, Fawn, Rosetta or Iridessa).
Adventureland is also the home to Pirate Goofy, Aladdin and Jasmine. For a small area of the park you can meet a good number of characters in a short space of time!
3. Halloween or Christmas Parties - These are EXCELLENT opportunities for meeting some neat characters, and meeting characters in special outfits. They can vary from year to year, but most recently the two different seasonal events have seen the likes of the Seven Dwarfs, Gaston and the Princes, to name but a few. Mickey and Minnie are on hand to meet fans at the Town Square Theater, and will be in special themed costumes, and look out for other favourite characteres around the park wearing seasonal attire approriate for that party.
Now let's take the Monorail over to EPCOT...
4. Future World - Future World is home to the EPCOT Character Spot (opposite Innoventions West), where you can meet Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy and Pluto all in one go. Opposite the Character Spot, Chip and Dale usually meet their fans. Inside Innoventions West, for those who hold a Disney VISA card you can have a special meet 'n' greet with two random characters (you'll need to show your card and ID, and will not know which characters are inside until you enter).
At the main entrance in Future World you will often find Stitch or Daisy Duck meeting near Spaceship Earth.
Sometimes, if you're lucky you can find random/rare characters inside the hallway behind the Character Spot.
5. World Showcase - World Showcase offers some fantastic character meeting opportunities. Here are some of our favourites:
Mexican Donald at Mexico
Mary Poppins, Alice and three random Pooh friends at the United Kingom
Marie, Aurora, Belle and Beast at France
There are more, but those are the more noteworthy ones!
At Christmas World Showcase offers the fantastic Holidays Around the World Celebration, which means you can meet a whole load more special seasonal characters, from the Monkey King in China, the Three Kings in Mexico, the Nutcracker in Germany and many more!
On occasion you may also find random characters appearing at International Gateway, World Showplace (near Canada and UK pavilions) or to the side of the American Adventure. Recently fans have met the likes of John Smith, Meg and Foulfellow to name but a few rare ones!
We exit through the International Gateway and make our way down the river to Hollywood Studios now...
6. Animation Building - The Animation Building is home to Sorcerer Mickey, the Incredibles (any combination of Mr, Mrs or Frozone), plus lots of random ones down on the floor later the day. These can vary widely from day to day but can include Goofy, Mulan, Aladdin, Pocahontas and more! We think this is a great place to cool off, and meet some random characters!
7. Star Wars Weekends - During the early summer (May/June), Hollywood Studios hosts the ridiculously popular Star Wars Weekends. A fantastic experience, but immensly busy, you can meet Stormtroopers, Anakin, Darth Vader, Ewoks, Leia, Luke and many, many more (there are far too many to list). On top of that, the Fab 5 friends get in on the act too, and you can find Jedi Mickey, Vader Goofy, Stormtrooper Donald and Leia Minnie! We highly recommend these weekends to anyone, especially Star Wars and Character fans, but be prepared for long waits!
Let us cool off now under the shade and trees of Animal Kingdom...
8. Discovery Island - At Discovery Island you can find Flik and any given three Pooh friends (nearly always Pooh, Tigger and Eeyore - but Piglet has been known to appear also).
9. Camp Minnie-Mickey - probably the best place in the park for characters, here you can meet Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald or Daisy all dressed in their Camp Councillor outfits at the Greetings Trails. Wandering around Camp Minnie-Mickey you can almost always find some other loveable pals to hang out with.
Thumper, Miss Bunny and Chip 'n' Dale are nearly always there. We have also seen Meeko, Pocahontas, Brer Bear and Brer Rabbit there recently. In the past Koda and Kenai would meet fairly often too, but not so much any more.
Finally for our top 10 WDW character hot spots is something special at the Grand Floridian...
10. 1900 Park Fare - Although 1900 Park Fare is a character meal which you have to pay extra for, there variety of characters is good, and can vary depending on the time of day/type of meal. You can meet the Tremaines, Cinderella, Prince Charming, Mary Poppins, Alice, Pooh, the Mad Hatter or others depending on the time of your visit, making it probably the most varied character meal on property (the others are very specific such as Princesses, Playhouse Disney or Fab 5, where as this one can vary).
I hope you all found that useful!
You might also want to check out our special Hints and Tips Blog Post here, and join our members discussion about hints and tips for meeting characters here on our Forum. Other users have posted some great tips, so be sure to check those out and maybe make your own contributions!
Stay tuned over the next few days for my next in this series which will be Disneyland Paris's Top 10!
Dan. |
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Hi all,
There hasn't been much in the way of news recently, but I do have just a couple of things to share.
We have been hearing for a while that Princess Merida will appear at WDW later this year, once the new PIXAR movie 'Brave' is released.
We now hear from several different sources that Merida will be appearing with her brothers, but with a twist! We hear that they are going to be moving into Caspian's old location in Hollywood Studios, and Merida will be a face character (PIXAR's first!) and her three brothers will be puppets! We're not sure how this will work as yet, but will keep you posted as always when we hear more.
Over at Disneyland, Loren took part in another marathon, this time the brand new Never Land 5K. He got to meet some awesome characters, so why not check out his character picture filled post about here on our Forum!
We have been working hard as always to add more and more content to the site. Many, many pages have a lot of new photos showing in their "Most Recent" sections, so next time you visit a location or character page be sure to scroll down to see if there is anything new.
We have also added a new section to our Forum - Collector's Corner, where you can discuss all things collectible! From Vinylmations to Pin Trading, we have it covered!
Ok, that's about it for now. I have some special new articles coming later this week so be sure to check back for those!
Dan. |
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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, We begin today's news with some details about Christmas Season across the parks, which has gotten under-way this week. First off, to Disneyland Paris, where they welcomed Duffy to the Resort officially. Duffy was inaugurated at special ceremony which incorporated the unveiling of the Gingerbread House at the Disneyland Hotel. He was joined by the band, as well as Mickey and friends in their Holiday finest. [ Read More... ] |
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Hi all, With Halloween all wrapped up for another year, Christmas Season is literally on top of us now and we have some details to share from around the parks. Over at Walt Disney World Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party starts it's run on the 8th of November, just 7 days after the last Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. Would be neat to have been there for that crossover period and experience both in one trip! I have heard that Phineas and Ferb are due to appear in the park for the parties, but nothing is confirmed as yet. Aside from the parties, WDW never tends to offer much in the way of regular daytime Christmas entertainment until the week of Christmas itself. The one exception to this is Cinderella's Holiday Wish at Cinderella Castle. This show is presented once nightly, and features Mickey and friends alongside Cinderella, Prince Charming and the Fairy Godmother. This mini-show is due to begin tomorrow, Friday 4th November. Over in California the Christmas Season kicks off on the 14th of November, and will see the return of all the traditional favourites such as A Christmas Fantasy Parade. At Disney California Adventure, the immensely popular Phineas and Ferb's Rockin' Rollin' Dance Party will receive a seasonal overlay. Disneyland Paris's Christmas Season starts on the 7th, and as we all know already, Duffy is making is grand début at the park for the general public. It has now been revealed that he will indeed have a Christmas outfit for the Holidays. Other seasonal favourites such as Disney's FantIllusion, the Tree Lighting Ceremony (now featuring Duffy also) and Mickey's Winter Wonderland are returning, alongside a brand new Castle show, Princess Aurora's Christmas Wish, which will act as the Castle lighting for the season (much the same way as previous shows have, and how the similarly named Cinderella show in WDW does). Little is still known about the actual show, but I guess we'll find out in 4 days time! Finally we fly around the world to Tokyo. As always Tokyo have gone all out and there is too much to mention here. This post from someone on MiceChat sums it al up nicely. Highlights include a Christmas Parade, characters in Holiday outfits, and Christmas versions of Dreamlights, Super Duper Jumpin' Time and Big Band Beat. Ok, that's all for now, Dan. |
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 | Happy 40th Anniversary Walt Disney World! | |
| DisneyDan
Friday, September 30, 2011 10:34:50 PM |
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Today is the Magic Kingdom's 40th Birthday, and so as a tribute, I have compiled a series of character pictures throughout the years, from the Magic Kingdom, in celebration of the big day.
Let us begin our magical tour on Main Street, USA... [ Read More... ] |
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Hi all, Yesterday I reported on the information supplied by Magic Forum member Poppy about the new Dreams show at DLP for the 20th anniversary. With my head all over the place for my upcoming trip, I totally forgot to mention that he also revealed some interesting new changes to the Parade for the 20th also. Jon and I had heard about some of these before, but never had any proper confirmation, so I guess now we can say with some more conviction that the parade will be reworked next year. Changes rumoured so far (that Jon and I have also heard from sources) include Mickey and friends moving to the current Princess 2 unit, and Disney Fairies (not specified which brand yet - classic, or the new Tink and Friends) to go to the Dreams of Imagination float. Check out his post for the rest of the details. Over on the our forum, Loren posted some information that a contact of ours sent us regarding the Mickey's Halloween Parties that start tonight in Disneyland. Check out the complete list of who is appearing here (you will have to scroll down). Note also that the Cavalcade will be having two showings per night! In Florida, Inside the Magic reported (no link sadly as it was on their Facebook), that the Trick or Treat special event that was held in the Magic Kingdom last night (you may recall they announced it on the Parks Blog a few weeks back), was a big hit, and included Dr Facilier among the character meet 'n' greets. No other details of who was there yet, but when I get them, I'll post here or to the forum. Finally, as you may have gathered, I am off to the opening weekend of Halloween Season Disneyland Paris tomorrow morning, and will be there all day tomorrow and Sunday. I intend to see both of the new shows at least twice each, and check out all the special characters (Villains, Jack and Sally, Fab 5 in costumes etc). I will be back at my desk Monday afternoon, so expect an update then! Until then, have a fantastic weekend everyone! For those in London, remember Rapunzel's coronation tomorrow, those in Paris be sure to be at the Halloween open, and for those in Florida make sure you see the character cavalcade at 10am tomorrow for the 40th! Dan. |
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