Oswald the Lucky Rabbit to appear at Disney California Adventure

Disney officially announced the coming arrival of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit to the rotation of Disney California Adventure character meet and greets.

Copyright Disney

Oswald made his film debut September 5, 1927, in the cartoon short “Trolley Troubles.” Walt Disney went on to produce 26 Oswald the Lucky Rabbit shorts, before losing the rights to the character in 1928. It was that experience that inspired the creation of Mickey Mouse, and the rest as they say, is history. Oswald finally returned to the Disney family in 2006 and made his first Disney Parksappearance earlier this year at Tokyo DisneySea.

Later this month, you’ll finally be able to meet Oswald on Buena Vista Street at Disney California Adventure park. Just look for the lucky little rabbit strolling along the sunny side of the street, starting September 14!

Would you be excited to see him come to Walt Disney World as well?

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Worldwide Wednesday: A Disneyland Viva Navidad courtesy of Rich Muller

Anna and Elsa are meeting guests in Disneyland

A Haunted Mansion Holiday is always a crowd favorite.  It would be awesome to see something like this in Walt Disney World, but not very likely.

Disneyland Mickey’s Halloween Party character, entertainment, attractions and dining information

CHARACTERS:

Mickey’s Toontown Pre-party

For guests with Party wristbands only.

Roger Rabbit, Chip n Dale, Clarabelle, Donald, Goofy, Mickey, Minnie

6:00 – 8:00 PM

Aladdin’s Oasis

Aladdin, Jasmine & Genie

Big Thunder Ranch

Mickey and Minnie, Woody and Jessie

Critter Country

Winnie the Pooh, Eeyore, Tigger, Piglet

Fantasy Faire

Princesses (rotate)

French Market

Jack Skellington & Sally

Innoventions

Agent P, Phineas & Ferb

It’s a Small World Promenade

Merida

Mark Twain Boat Dock – “Pirate Wharf”

Captain Jack Sparrow, Captain Hook and Mr. Smee, Peter Pan

Pixie Hollow

Fairies (rotate)

Rancho Del Zocalo – “Piratepalooza”

Donald, Goofy, and Pluto

Tomorrowland, Little Green Men Store Command

Star Wars Storm Troopers

Town Square – Disney Villains

Cruella de Vil, Dr. Facilier, Hades, Jafar, Lady Tremaine and Step Sisters, Maleficent, Queen of Hearts, Snow Queen

Weekdays: 6:45, 7:30, 8:15, 9:00, 9:45, 10:30

Fridays: 7:45, 8:30, 9:15, 10:00, 10:45, 11:30

ENTERTAINMENT:

Mickeys Costume Party Cavalcade

Parade Route

8:30 PM (Begins at its a small world to Town Square)

10:30 PM (Begins in Town Square)

Halloween Screams

A Villainous Surprise in the Skies Fireworks

Nightly: 9:30 PM

Monsters U Dance Party at Tomorrowland Terrace

Featuring Mike & Sulley in a spirited Monster Scare-Off.”

7:45, 8:45, 9:45, and 10:45 PM:

Cadaver Dans

This ghoul quartet floats on a river of fog

Rivers of America

7:45, 8:45, 9:45, and 10:45 PM:

ATTRACTIONS:

Alice in Wonderland

Astro Orbitor

Autopia

Big Thunder Ranch

Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters

Casey Jr. Circus Train

Captain EO

Disneyland Railroad

Dumbo the Flying Elephant

Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage

Haunted Mansion Holiday

Indiana Jones Adventure

its a small world

Jungle Cruise

King Arthur Carrousel

Mad Tea Party Closed

Matterhorn Bobsleds

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride

Peter Pan’s Flight

Pinocchio’s Daring Journey

Pirates of the Caribbean

Snow Whites Scary Adventures

Space Mountain: Ghost Galaxy

Splash Mountain

Star Tours – The Adventures Continue

Storybook Land Canal Boats

DINING:

Bengal BBQ

Cafe Orleans

Carnation Cafe

Gibson Girl Ice Cream Parlour

Hungry Bear

Jolly Holiday

Little Red Wagon

Market House

Plaza Inn

Redd Rockett’s Pizza Port

Refreshment Corner

Royal Street Verandah

Ship to Shore Market

Stage Door Cafe

Tomorrowland Terrace

Tropical Imports

Long-lost Friends at Disneyland for Limited Time Magic and where’s the pirate been?

To start off, I haven’t been posting much lately because I was a very sick little puppy.  I had Influenza B that progressed into my lungs and sinuses.  I’ve taken a pharmacy load of medication and I’m finally beginning to feel better, so I hope to keep the site better updated now.

A couple months back Walt Disney World hosted its first every Long-lost Friends Week at the Magic Kingdom to great fanfare.  Disneyland never likes to lose to Walt Disney World, so they have brought out all the stops.  Disney World had some simple signage, so Disneyland stepped it up with actual backdrops and even offer lighting for the sets.  Disneyland has offered 30 different characters, including some very rare ones like Esmeralda, Clopin and Ping.  Rich Muller and his son were there and present these photos for those of us who couldn’t make it.

Clopin, Esmeralda and Frollo

Disneyland Limited Time Magic – Bayou Bash characters

Mickey & Minnie Disneyland Limited Time Magic Bayou Bash Feb 2013 Copyright Rich Muller

The best part of having started this blog just over a year ago is all the new amazing friends I’ve met as a result of the information that I’ve been fortunate enough to share. Some friends say hello and strike up a conversation in one of the parks, some spend a couple of days touring around with me, some are cast members who are the unsung heroes of the parks and some are coming forward to provide great photos and information from around the world. EuroRob is providing us great photos from Disneyland Paris and now I’d like to introduce you to Rich Muller. Well, you can’t see Rich because he hasn’t sent me a photo of himself, just lots of great character photos from Disneyland (California). Some of the photos include his terrific son and others are shots of the characters alone.

Limited Time Magic – Winter Wonderland Jan 14-20

2005 – Koda and Kenai used to have regular meets in the Canada Pavillion at Epcot and we have only seen them randomly in Camp Minnie Mickey since then.

(WDW hasn’t announced and probably won’t announce what characters will actually appear in Canada)

GUESS:  Donald in his tree cutter outfit just appeared at today’s 5k, what’s the chances that he shows up this week???

Walt Disney World has just announced its second Limited Time Magic event.  The event is called Winter Wonderland and will take place in the Canada pavilion at Epcot from January 14-20.  It is said to offer “snow” and special meet and greets with characters.  I would guess that it would be the same snow you would find on Main Street or Osborne Lights.

Set times are 10:30 a.m. – 2:10 p.m. and 3:05 p.m. – 5:45 p.m.

At Disneyland, the Bayou Bash is returning featuring Princess Tiana and Louis the Alligator from “The Princess and the Frog” for four weekends: January 18-21, January 25-27, February 1-3 and February 8-12, 2013.

Disney Parks announces “Disney Time” Sweepstakes

At approximately midnight last night, Disney announced a new promotion to begin the new year.  They are giving away a trip for 4 each day for the entire month of January.  The entry requires that you choose one of 5 different styles of trip that is redeemable at either Walt Disney World or the Disneyland resort.    I’ve found the site to be very busy thus far today, so you might want to keep trying to get that entry in!  My family and I have won a number of Disney sweepstakes over the last few years, so they do have real winners.

This is a shortcut to the entry page to save you some clicking:  http://disneytimesweeps.com/form.php

Choose the trip you like best on the drop down.  We’re choosing the “Wild Fun and Amazement” at Disneyland!

Here’s the details:

Vidia

Vidia rarely appears at Walt Disney World these days.

Vidia 2012 at Disneyland

Vidia 2011

Vidia 2010

California Adventure new character costume photos

So, we are packing to leave to head to Walt Disney World for a week’s vacation.  We’re not planning any Ultimate Tours this time because we are spending time with my wife’s parents.  We’ll be staying at Wyndham Bonnet Creek and I’ll take lots of photos for you.  It’s a beautiful resort and very close to Downtown Disney.  We’ll be visiting all 4 parks, Typhoon Lagoon, Blizzard Beach and Disney Quest while we are there.  Let me know if there’s any photos you’d like to see and I’ll pass them along!

I thought I might share some photos of all the new character costumes at California Adventure with you before I leave tomorrow morning.  Enjoy!

A look inside Carthay Circle Theater restaurant in Disney’s California Adventure #justgothappier

My friend Ricky (@rickybrigante) from Inside the Magic invited me on short notice to join him and our Dream Job friend Gordon to enjoy some appetizers at the all new Cathay Circle Theater dining.  I was holding a blue zone World of Color Fastpass that I was exited about seeing, so I thought about it for a while.   Okay, .076  seconds is about all it took to dump the Fastpass!  This new high-end dining facilty is booked solid for months on end, so this would be my only opportunity to try it out. 
Our struggles with the restaurant, designed to compete on the level of the Napa Rose, were two fold:
1.  We had just eaten a huge lunch a few his earlier at the members-only Club 33.
2.  We had also devoured the dessert bar.
We decided upon ordering the duck wings, which reminded us of Darkwing Duck for some odd reason, the watermelon salad and the pork Skewers appetizer to share.  The duck was perfectly prepared; fried golden and had a nice spice that stuck with my lips an hour after dinner.  It wasn’t harsh or hot like a Mexican dish, but had a twang that I really enjoyed.  I think it might have had an oaky, nutty flavor.  Okay it didn’t but I wanted to make a Remy reference.
The watermelon was nice and light and I’m not a food critic, so as Forrest Gump would say, “that’s all I got to say about that.”  It’s kind of difficult to mess up anything with watermelon, right?
The pork skewer dish was cooked to perfection and it could be cut with a fork.  Seasoned well and just the right amount of bites to share.  I could insert a Porky Pig joke, but you get the point.
The decor of the restaurant certainly made me feel under dressed in my khaki shorts and obligatory theme park t-shirt, but the staff is super friendly so, even though it’s higher end dining, it didn’t feel stuffy.  We were told that Disney invested a great deal of money in this new construction and some managers were concerned that deluxe dining may not work inside Disney California Adventure.  They had experimented with it before and failed.  With the elimination of “postcardland,” as I used to refer to the main entrance, and the beautiful new addition of Buena Vista Street; the Carthay Circle Theater dining fits right into the new feel.
We made our way to the balcony area to  watch Magical being propelled into the sky majestically over the Main St Train Station.  I used my little point and shoot camera to take pictures while Ricky demonstrated his prowess at video taping and Photographing simultaneously.  There was no music, but the fireworks were still terrific!
It was also great to see our friend Lindsay who served as the VIP guide for the Haunted Mansion Butlers during Dream Jobs in 2007.  She is now the sommolier at the restaurant and is a great fit with her quality customer service background, work ethic and always present smile (we get hugs too.)
I highly recommend booking this restaurant and my only regret is not stuffing myself by trying the house biscuits.  Enjoy the cell phone photos!