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Hello everyone,
Last week I talked about the (then) upcoming surprise character appearances at the Magic Kingdom as part of Mickey and Minnie's Surprise Celebration (for their 90th birthdays).
Well, last Friday saw the first day of the daily fun at the Flagpole in Town Square, and I was there everyday to see who came out! From what I understand from talking to cast members who were there everyday, these characters will remain the same for the foreseeable future, and even possibly until the end of the celebration in September. The days may change later on, just to make it fair to people who can't come on specific days of the week (because of work or school, etc), but the characters are likely to remain the same. Indeed, today, Nick and Judy are back in Town Square, as they were last Friday. Of course, as always with Disney, anything is subject to change at any moment, so we shall see what happens in a couple of weeks from now.
The characters that are a part of this new offering, so far at least, are: Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps (Zootopia), Phineas and Ferb (from their namesake TV show), Robin Hood, Little John, Friar Tuck and Prince John (Robin Hood), Chicken Little and Abby Mallard (Chicken Little), Remy and Emile (Ratatouille), and Gideon and J. Worthington Foulfellow (Pinocchio).
Important! - At time of writing, the characters begin at around 11.30am (usually with a slight delay), and end around 2.30pm, daily. It should be noted that the park schedule and/or the WDW app has been listing characters off and on as being in Town Sq until around 4.45pm. We found this to not be entirely true, and when they did appear after 3pm, they would just walk around and NOT stop for photos.
Let's take a look at some of the [ Read More... ] |
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Hello everyone,
From tomorrow the Walt Disney World Resort begins their Mickey 90th Birthday celebrations, which means that there are some character changes around the resort, particularly at the Magic Kingdom. Since the official WDW website states there'll be "surprise character visits", a lot of sites have already reported that there will be a sort of "random-rotating" schedule of characters that will replace Chip, Dale and Pluto at the flagpole in Town Square, since Pluto is moving to the Silly Sideshow, and Chip and Dale will be in the new street party.
I have my own speculation as to what we can expect to see at these new character appearances, and thought it would be fun to share with you all here.
I'll start by stating quite clearly that this is purely my speculation. Some of you may already know otherwise, some of you may agree, some may not. It's just for fun, but [ Read More... ] |
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Hello everyone,
Today I wanted to share with you all my personal thoughts on the upcoming 90s Nite at Disneyland park at the Disneyland Resort in California.
Since Disney announced the night, and subsequently put tickets on sale - which have since sold out - there has been much speculation online about what to expect from the event. I see a lot of people posting on social media about all sorts of crazy characters that they some how expect to appear, but honestly, I think we need to just be a little realistic. I, and I am sure many of you, would rather be surprised than disappointed.
First of all, I want to make it clear that while this is an opinion piece, I am not deliberately trying to be negative - I want to be objective and point out some key factors involved here.
First of all, this event is a four hour event that cost $99 per person. That's about what the Halloween parties cost. It should be repeated again that this is a four hour event, from 9pm until 1am.
For $99 it isn't going to be all out extravagance. You have to figure that some of that money will not go towards characters. Disney has said there will be merchandise and food offerings, as well as special fireworks and themed backdrops. There will also be a collectable Indiana Jones card, a free guidemap, a free fanny pack, and a free Disney Afternoon map. These things cost money to produce, and whilst merch and food items will be at an extra cost to guests, there is no guarantee to Disney anyone will buy them - the initial outlay for these items has to come from somewhere. They won't purely rely on sheer hope that someone will buy them. So, already we have money out of our ticket price for specially produced fireworks, the free items, food offerings and merch items.
Next, we come to [ Read More... ] |
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Hello everyone,
Last weekend John Smith and Meeko joined Pocahontas in Disneyland's Critter Country for a special surprise greeting. It was really cool to all three of them together - a sight that rarely ever happens.
I wanted to share with you all some photos from our encounter with them. Enjoy!
[ Read More... ] |
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Hello everyone,
Last night was quite obviously Halloween night, and what a night it was!
It was the last Halloween party of the season at Disneyland, the penultimate one at WDW (the final one being tonight), the Halloween Soirée at DLP, and the final day of Halloween season at the Asian parks.
This Halloween has seen some great additions and improvements across all the parks and resorts.
Tokyo altered their Halloween parade slightly, and had the ghosts and goons greeting for the first time ever! Oh how we would have loved to have met one of Maleficent's goons!
At WDW, Jack and Sally greeted guests on a regular basis for the first time.
They also held the Unleash the Villains event which saw the never-seen before Oogie Boogie (excluding one private special event years ago), come out for guests! Amazing!
In Disneyland, Roger Rabbit was out at the start of every party in Toontown, greeting guests properly for the first time in years! (I don't count the bunny hop at Easter, as you couldn't officially meet him)
Disneyland Paris launched their brand new Halloween cavalcade, which starred Huey, Dewey and Louie, as well as a character never seen before in DLP, Clarabelle Cow!
Now let's come to yesterday.
WDW continued a fairly new tradition which we are glad to see them improving upon as each holiday comes around - having special characters out at the hotel resorts for greetings.
For example at the All Stars Sports, I know American football Goofy was out, and at the Coronado Springs the Three Caballeros!
When we were at WDW at Easter they did something similar at the deluxe resorts, so let's hope they keep it up!
Moving to Paris now, and last night was DLP's grand finale, the Halloween Soirée.
Lots of favourites from last year returned, such as the Stitch dance party hosted by Stitch, Angel, Goofy and Buzz, and Dr Facilier's show on the Molly Brown, which this year included Louis (as well as the returning Tiana and Naveen).
The new daily cavalcade also ran during the party.
The biggest news of all all though, was the appearance of some ultra rare characters throughout the evening - some making their first public appearance ever, not just in Paris, but worldwide!
So far I can confirm that all of the following were out (rare or otherwise):
- Duffy and ShellieMay
- Aladdin, Jasmine, Abu and the Sultan
- Yzma, Kronk and Kuzco (in human form)
- Mike Wazowski
- Mad Hatter, Cheshire Cat and March Hare
- Russell, Dug and Carl
- Goofy and Max
- Scrooge McDuck
- Darkwing Duck
- Launchpad McQuack
- Panchito, Jose and Gauchito
- The Hyenas
- The Witch/Hag
- Cruella de Vil
- Maleficent
- Bowler Hat Guy
- Queen of Hearts
- Governor Ratcliffe
- Darth Vader, Stormtroopers and R2-D2
There were probably more, but I just haven't had any confirmed sightings reported as of yet.
Unfortunately we weren't at the Soirée, as much as we really wanted to be. Money and other circumstances of course got in the way, as they always do.
On the flip side, fortunately we had met all of those rare characters before at the Disney Dreamers Everywhere event in May this year (hence why I said first 'public' appearance, as some had appeared at an event).
So, that concludes another Halloween season across the world, which can only mean one thing.
Christmas!
Dan. |
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Hello everyone,
Sadly as much as we would have LOVED to have been at Long Lost Friends Week this week at Disneyland, we can't be everywhere at once, especially since they didn't announce the dates until just last week.
Although we are very sad we aren't there, fortunately the only character who has appeared so far that we haven't met is Ludwig (yes, he was in WDW, but for the same reason, we didn't see him! So annoying!)
Anyway, for those of you like us who can't get out to DL this week, I've put together my own collection of pictures from my adventures meeting all the same characters at the Disney Parks around the world! (Except Ludwig, of course...)
Not to criticise their efforts this week (it really looks amazing), but this post also proves that actually, with some effort - and luck - you could actually meet nearly all these characters at all the other parks, which brings me to this: who truly is "long lost?"
Who would you put out this week? Who is the "rarest of them all?"
I'll post my suggestions later in this post!
Meanwhile, back to this weeks offerings...
So, here it is! Character Central's very own "Stay at Home Long Lost Friends Week!"
[ Read More... ] |
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Hello everyone,
If you had been following our Twitter and Facebook updates since last Wednesday, you would have noticed some extraordinary happenings at Disneyland Paris!
For Valentine's Day itself there were some exceptional new and rare characters greeting that day, plus a small cavalcade featuring some new characters, too!
After Valentine's Day, for Friday, Saturday and Sunday, DLP decided to extend the rare character offerings and have a full weekend programme of cool meet 'n' greets. This idea, and the new Valentine's concept itself, stems from DLP gaining a new vice president of entertainment. He has previously worked in Tokyo, and of course, we all know that TDR get some awesome characters, shows and parades! When you see the following report (below), you will immediately notice that the characters that were out greeting definitely remind you of those often seen in TDR!
Needless to say, it was an awesome weekend, that started out with the fantastic addition of two new characters on Valentine's, and extended into being a further 3 days that definitely blows any of the Limited Time Magic stuff from the US Parks out of the water!
So, let us begin our trip through the awesome weekend, with a recap of all the characters out greeting on Valentine's Day itself, and the cavalcade, then we'll move on to the rest of the weekend!
During Extra Magic Hours, two BRAND NEW characters made their debut. Berlioz and Toulouse (Marie's brothers) from the 1970 Disney classic The Aristocats made their grand debut! Lucky guests saw them in Town Square where they appeared briefly. The brothers did not stay to meet guests, sadly, but they were awesome to see all the same! (The opportunity to meet them would come later, as we'll discover...)
Also debuting was Marie's brand new look! Marie met guests throughout the day.
Then, throughout the day, there were other random meet 'n' greet opportunities.
The Mickey and Friends, were in search of their sweethearts, and had roses to give them.
Duffy, for the first time ever, had a special Valentine's outfit. Someone had suggested that he had worn a Valentine's outfit in Tokyo, but that actually was for the Sweet Duffy event, and is not actually linked to Valentine's. So, once again, DLP have the exclusive debut on something neat!
Esmeralda and Phoebus were in Central Plaza.
Stitch and Angel were in Discoveryland.
Chicken Little and Abby Mallard were in the Studios.
Peter and Wendy were in Adventureland.
Woody and Jessie were meant to meet in Frontierland, but due to the rain I think we were the only ones who saw them, as they had to leave again, sadly.
Bernard and Bianca were supposed to be out, but sadly were also cancelled due to the rain, but, we managed to grab a few pictures before they went back to the Rescue Aid Society!
Then there was the new cavalcade, which featured the Aristocats. There were performers in special costumes, and CMs handing out Valentine's roses, candy and Aristocats postcards that had the cats' signatures on (just like the Limited Time Magic cards in the US).
At the seven Disney Hotels, characters were meeting in special outfits. We were so busy and so tired, that we only saw Mickey and Minnie at the Disneyland Hotel sadly, but there were lots more around the resort!
So that was Valentine's Day. Then we come to Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Each day was different, and had a variety of characters to offer. Let's start with Friday.
Marie was back in Town Square.
The Robin Hood characters were in Central Plaza.
The Three Little Pigs were in Fantasyland.
On Saturday the day started again with Marie in Town Square.
Mary Poppins and Mr Pengin were also out in Town Square.
In Central Plaza, Esmeralda was back, but not with Phoebus this time... but Quasimodo instead!
Mulan and Mushu were in Fantasyland.
We also saw Terk, and she was meant to be out for guests all weekend, but I have heard that for some reason she didn't appear all four days, but nonetheless, she was spotted by several people, at various times - including us!
Then finally we come to Sunday.
The Aristocats were back! All three were meeting guests in Town Square, and they were incredibly popular!
In Fantasyland, Snow White, The Prince, and all 7 Dwarfs appeared!
Megara also made one rare appearance in Fantasyland, albeit very briefly, but guests were able to get pictures before she returned to ancient Greece!
So, there we have it! An AMAZING weekend, mainly thanks to the new VP of entertainment. All these things were in addition to the regular character line up, parades and entertainment, which is incredible. We really look forward to seeing what else he has up his sleeves, because if this weekend is anything to go by, then we are in for an awesome ride!!
Dan. |
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