Tigger and Pooh get the boot.
Tigger and Pooh’s regular meet location in the United Kingdom is closed for all of September and October for an unannounced refurbishment. “All entertainment is subject to change without notice.” They are now meeting at the International Gateway – which is the turnstile area that you can find after the United Kingdom, but before France when touring counter clockwise, like all the cool people do! I updated their character schedule here on the blog and on the spiffy Character Locator app. (Buy it while it’s still stinkin’ cheap and lifetime membership!) BTW, most other sources are listing their meet times as “1:00 pm to 8:15 pm.” You might notice that the actual schedule is slightly different :) I’ll keep an eye on the schedule and see if it changes.
Pluto getting the boot.
“All entertainment is subject to change without notice.” Rumor has it that Goofy is going to move back into the Character Spot. Is it an attempt to get the turnstile numbers back up there? You can walk in almost any time of the day with little to no wait. (I’ll do the whole photo update thing another day.) When Goofy moves in, Pluto moves out. Pluto isn’t supposed to offer a regular meet once this occurs. You’ll still be able to find him in Animal Kingdom with Goofy (don’t worry, they are still best buds), Hollywood Studios (with Goofy, told ya!) and Magic Kingdom. According to some lame pirate guy’s Master Character List, he also appears at Chef Mickey’s, Garden Grill, Rotates at Disney Visa meet, and ‘Ohana for breakfast. I’m not sure I’d trust the guy, he only updates his site regularly and even provides weekly updates on Saturdays.
I’d guess that the move to eliminate a character is a budget adjustment to accommodate Anna and Elsa from Frozen next month. We still could see another character cut somewhere or the budget will increase to allow for these to wonderful new characters to begin. I DO NOT KNOW the actual date yet.
Unleash the Villains
I’m really looking forward to the Unleash the Villains Limited Time Magic. It’s difficult for me to say that about Limited Time Magic because many of them are more like a Limited Time Mess. I wasn’t able to attend the May the Forth event at Hollywood Studios, but I heard that Studios put on quite the party for their first LTM. I expect this second one to be even better. Disney has announced that there will be a character dance party and a special fireworks show, but they do have some other great surprises that no one has posted about. I won’t be the first one to do so. I think some surprises are good, especially this one! One surprise that I’ve heard will blow you away. When the Disney Parks Blog announced a special Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party AND Media Preview for the same night, I was excited to see a few more people heading to the Magic Kingdom to leave some of the fun at Studios for ME! Muhaha! Friday, September 13. Mark the date and see you there. I’ll announce a special meet up next week.
Special new Sorcerer’s of the Magic Kingdom Card
If you are a person who collects Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom cards, or sells them on Ebay for exorbitant amounts of cash, you’ll be happy to know that Disney is releasing another FREE SotMK card for this year’s Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party. Place ’em in your bike spokes, Use ’em as drink coasters, Collect ’em, Sell ’em or trade ’em for a Mickey Mantle Topps Rookie Card, it’s up to you.
Oh, speaking of the Halloween Party. I’m sending my teen reporter to the first party on the 10th to gather intel. It’s a black-ops mission, so no photos of the subject are allowed. The intrepid reporter will be asking “What time does character X appear?” about 6,000 times to help add those schedules to the Character Locator app. I will not be able to attend one for myself until September 20th with my buddy EuroRob. I’ll wear my same costume from last year, because it rocks! There will be several location changes coming for the party and a couple of minor character adjustments. I’ll release the data when I’m given the Okie Dokie.
Raglan Road was fun
I had dinner with my brother and sister-in-law tonight at Raglan Road and thoroughly enjoyed the place. They keep the fun music and Irish dancing going pretty regularly and even taught my youngest a few dance steps for her 10th birthday. She’s the one in the white jacket on the left.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QII_6Efd08w&w=420&h=315]
We found it’s not the best place to catch up on memories because it’s really loud, but we all liked the experience. Tomorrow we’ll spend the entire day at Magic Kingdom and check out Night of Joy for the first time. I’ll bring you back photos and videos of the experience!
Hi Kenny! I have three questions in regards to MNSSHP.
1. Since Minnie is meeting now in Fantasyland, will that mean she only has one Halloween outfit for the party?
2. Will Mickey still have two outfits during the parties?
3. With the Monsters Inc/University Dance Party, will it just be Mike and Sulley attending?
Thank you!
I heard one outfit each for both Mickey and Minnie. I heard Magician Mickey and Princess Minnie. No, you’ll see some other special monsters dancing (at least for the first party. They are testing how it will work with guests)
Thank you. That’s disappointing about only one outfit for Mickey and Minnie.
Hopefully they continue with various Monsters at the Dance Party, we have a huge Monsters Inc/University fan coming. If Art were there, they’d be so happy.
We’ll just have to wait and see
so the new free Sothm.????…. the new cards, how does someone get one or two of these??? ??
By attending Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party and visiting the Fire Station with your wristband and party ticket.
Very excited to live though your villain experience. Do you think they will put Elsa and Anna in United Kingdom area?? I am not sure where the movie takes place but I didn’t think there??
Frozen is supposed to be in Norway.
thought so but wasn’t sure.. very excited for meeting the this holiday season
Does anyone happen to know what you have to do to be the Family of the Day at Magic Kingdom? Our kids are dying to do it, do you just have to get there super early?
It’s random, but arrive at the turnstiles super early. They like families that look happy, interact with CMs at the gate and often wear themed clothing or matching tshirts.
What do you mean by ” a special Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party” on the same night? I haven’t heard of anything else.
Special dpb meet up and media preview are same night as villains party.
They meet up filled within minutes
My sisters Rachael and Becca are going to go to MK and HS (though they’ll may or may not make HS) on that Friday. They really want to know if there is going to be someone special there for them to meet. Do we know for certain if Pain and Panic are going to be there?
(Rachael is interested in meeting you as well since Becca and I already got to meet you last may during the first Star Wars weekends. We were the two sisters with the clipboard list of characters.)
There will be special characters. Disney blog mentioned pain and panic and hades, but we aren’t guaranteed to meet them.
Cant wait to SEE your report after attending the paty on the 20th. We will be there on 10/29. Mainly looking to see if Princess Sofia makes an appearance at MNSSHP as we are only “doing” Disney for the party this trip.
I’ll give a report after the tenth. Teen reporter will get me all the details.
Sofia won’t be at MNSSHP
We’ll be at The World next week and I was planning on skipping HS Friday thinking this Limited Time Magic would make the park overly crowded but you have me re-thinking things! What to do, what to do?!?!?
Easy choice for me :)
Kathie, Kenny made me change my mind about it, too! I was originally planning to avoid, avoid, avoid DHS on the 13th, but now we’ll be among the masses enjoying the Unleash the Villains party! You should come! Give in to peer pressure!
Surrender to the pirate pressure and get a free button too!
Is the Character Locator App not available for iPhone? I couldn’t find it in the App Store.
I had some friends tell me that Ragland Road was not a great place for kids. It sounds fun and I’d like to take my 9 year old. I’m assuming from your post that you don’t agree? It’s not like rowdy pub-style? The noise I can handle but not-so-much if its a lot of drunken rowdiness.
Thanks for all of your awesome updates!
This explains about iPhone usage> http://kennythepirate.com/2013/07/05/character-locator-is-available-for-iphone-and-other-mobile-devices/
Kids were having a great time. We had a 6:00 pm dinner and didn’t see anything objectionable. It was just families having dinner. It wasn’t a rowdy pub while we were there. I don’t drink alcohol at all and had a fun time. Welcome!