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Hello everyone,
Today we celebrate the coming of a brand new year, 2018, and all the positive things that the start of a new year brings. Free from the baggage of 2017, we can start afresh, with a new outlook and a positive mind.
Today - New Year's Day - is also the 8th anniversary of the day that we officially, publicly launched Character Central on to the big ol' world wide web! Eight years have flown past, and we have had a ball. We are immeasurably grateful for the friends we have made along the way, the laughs and fun, the character encounters that we have been lucky enough to have, and most of all humbled and appreciative of the immense support and love that we get from like-minded fans and followers who simply love to meet the Disney characters.
Character Central might not be at the forefront of the breaking news scene, but that was never the intention, and while we may appear to be running on silent mode for extended periods, please be assured that we are always here. I'm always at my desk, editing photos, updating, tweaking or simply making sure that everything here is running as it should be. Character Central contains a vast database of characters and locations that take a lot of time, patience, and love to refine and maintain, and so while we don't always post the latest stuff to the blog, be assured that in the depths of the most obscure pages, I'm tinkering away!
Being here, being a part of the Disney character fan community, and being able to share with you all our own personal experiences in such a colourful and interactive environment as this site, brings us much joy. We do it because we love it; because we want to. It's never to brag, and it's certainly never a competition. We are grateful every single opportunity we have, and are just pleased to be able to have the medium to share that with the world.
Character hunting should be fun, enjoyable and memorable. If you all remember that in 2018, I know that it'll be everyones best character year yet!
Happy New Year, best wishes for 2018 and beyond, and peace and love to you all.
Dan.
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 | Merry Christmas Everyone! | |
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Sunday, December 24, 2017 6:56:11 PM |
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To all our followers, fans, friends and family,
Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Season's Greetings. Jon and I both wish you all a very peaceful and prosperous 2018.
Your grateful friends,
Dan and Jon.
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Hello everyone,
In part one of this report I shared with you my thoughts and experiences around the main lobby, character dining, shopping, our room, the spa, fitness centre, conference centre and much more. In this second, concluding part I am going to share with you everything from character greetings, the pool area, lazy river, other dining and shopping options, the beach, and more!
Let's start where we left off in the last part, heading down to the Waikolohe Valley.
The Waikolohe Valley is where the majority of the fun and relaxation at Aulani happens. It's where the pool, the lazy river, more dining and bar options, snorkelling reef and several other features are located, not to mention being the access point to the beach, and where nearly all the character greetings occur.
Wandering around the valley you get to experience the beautiful natural flora and fauna of Oahu, and some of those all important Disney details.
[ Read More... ] |
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Hello everyone,
At the start of this month (September), Jon and I visited Hawai'i for the very first time, staying for a few days at Disney's Aulani resort in Ko Olina, Oahu.
As you can imagine, with anywhere we visit for the first time, there is going to be a lot for me to talk about. I'm going to try to break things down into themes and categories, as to not be jumping around too much. This report will also be in two parts because of the sheer length of it, and the number of photos I want to share.
I'm going to start with first impressions and our approach to the resort.
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Hello everyone,
Today I want to share with you a (rather large) selection of my photos from our recent adventures through Pandora - The World of Avatar, at Disney's Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World.
I'll give a few thoughts along the way, but I thought that on this occasion I would let my photos do most of the talking, and let you form your own opinions about the new land.
Let's start with some of the initial sights you'll see when entering Pandora from its main entry point, over the bridge from Discovery Island.
[ Read More... ] |
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Hello everyone,
Continuing our tour of the character greeting locations at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, today we are going to step inside the Adventurers Outpost on Discovery Island, at Disney's Animal Kingdom.
Let's start by taking a look around the outside of the building.
Once inside you, before you reach Mickey and Minnie, you get to see some pictures and details of their adventures around the world.
Finally, you get to meet Mickey and Minnie themselves! They are dressed in their finest adventuring-wear, too!
At Christmas time you can even catch them sporting their cute Christmas sweaters, ready to ring in the holiday season.
Look out for more in-depth looks at Walt Disney World character greetings coming to the blog soon!
Have a great day everyone,
Dan. |
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Hello everyone,
In this new blog series I am going to take a look at some of the meet 'n' greets that you can experience at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida.
Today I thought it would be fun to start with Mickey and Minnie Mouse at Disney's Hollywood Studios.
Their current location is called "Mickey and Minnie Starring in Red Carpet Dreams", which is located on Commissary Lane.
As you proceed down the hallway inside, you can see some fun posters from animated features starring Mickey, Minnie and their friends.
Finally, you get to meet Mickey and Minnie themselves, starting with Minnie Mouse in her dressing room.
And then Mickey, donning his sorcerer robes, on set at The Sorcerer's Apprentice!
Have a great day everyone,
Dan. |
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Hello everyone,
You can currently meet Cruz Ramirez, one of the stars of the new Cars 3 movie, at both Disney's Hollywood Studios and Disney California Adventure. We visited her at both of her new locations recently, and so I thought I'd share some photos with you here.
Enjoy!
Meeting Cruz Ramirez in Cars Land at Disney California Adventure:
Meeting Cruz Ramirez in PIXAR Place at Disney's Hollywood Studios:
Dan. |
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Hello everyone,
If you're visiting the Magic Kingdom in the next few weeks you may be fortunate enough to run into iCan, the very literal, and quite comical, robot that roams the concourses of Tomorrowland.
He's a lot of fun to interact with, and I asked him to record this special message for all our friends and followers, in the video below
Enjoy!
Video:
Photos:
Dan. |
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Hello everyone,
Star-Lord and Groot (in his reborn form) recently landed in Disney's Hollywood Studios for an out of this world encounter, so I thought it would be fun to share these photos and video with you all.
Enjoy!
Video:
Photos of the meet 'n' greet entrance and queue:
Meeting Star-Lord and Baby Groot:
Dan. |
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