Hi all,

So Character Central has been given some exclusive updates from inside Disneyland Paris, which we can now share with you here! All the news is regarding the new celebration year, replacing the current one, starting in April. The name for the new celebration, as previously announced by Disney, is Magical Moments.

The All Star Express will not be stopping for meets anymore - it will be like Move it, Shake it in the Magic Kingdom, and will have a live host, dancers and just the Fab 5 and friends – not the random fare seen in the past when it used to be the Character Express. I have been told it will stop halfway up Main Street to party. The music is expected to be a remix or very similar to Move It, Shake It.

In Adventureland there will be a new photo location for Aladdin and friends, and a location with static figurines from Jungle Book and The Lion King, much like the Wall-e location that appeared in Discoveryland late last year.

Also in Adventureland there is going to be a small “happening” with the African tam tam drummers, King Louie and Baloo. No word on the Peter Pan one that was previously announced.

The management are also considering a new fireworks spectacular for the summer to replace the Enchanted version. No more information on this as yet.

The new Castle/Hub show will feature the Genie as a face character, a first for Disneyland Paris. In fact the only place Genie has ever been seen as a face character is the current Aladdin show over at California Adventure. Mickey will have two new outfits for the show. We have also heard from a separate source that there is a chance that the Three Good Fairies may feature in it, but that is really uncertain at this stage.

The parade will feature six new costumes for the performers and the interactive show stop will have small costumes for children, so that they can be slipped over their normal clothing to look like the performers. They will then be invited to dance along with the performers in the newly choreographed show stop. For example the Alice float will have playing cards outfits for the children, and the Toy Story float will have “stick horses” with Bullseye’s head, so that kids can ride on them.

After the current New Generation Festival has finished, most of the Characters that they added for it will disappear. The Incredibles will be gone as well as Boo, Angel, Mike, Chewbacca and Darth Vader; Remy and Emile will only be in the Stars 'n' Cars. Tiana though, is expected to stay. Angel is probably going to be sent back to Tokyo, where she was borrowed from, meaning that she will not appear again even for meets, much to our sadness.

Rapunzel and Flynn will be back again in April for the new celebration, but are not on any set times at the moment, but may appear randomly.

There are also some minor changes whilst the parade route up by Bella Notte/Small World is being resurfaced.

The characters for the show are entering and exiting through the Castle currently; the Castle Stage is still open for meets with the Princesses while construction goes on all around it, but is expected to close at some point so that the area in front of it can be resurfaced too.

For some reason, the characters from the show are also doing extra meets around the stage, in addition to the set they usually do after the last show of the day. You will need to check on the day to see what times these may happen.

Also because of the Fantasyland construction work, the random characters that normally appear by Bella Notte have been spotted making random meets inside the Hyperion complex. As always, this is never guaranteed, and you need to check on the day of your visit.

Ok that’s all the Disneyland Paris news for now! One last thing from Florida –the marathons took place this past week, and as soon as my contacts let me know which characters they saw there, I’ll let you know!

Please remember that all the information we have given above is subject to change and cancellation by Disney at any time. We have no control over this. The news we hear is just what we get told from our sources.

Dan.