As many Park fans know (both on the East AND West coasts) Disney has for some time been running their annual programs; this year's has been aptly dubbed (to the chagrin of many, though) "Limited Time Magic". Over the course of the last few months, they've had (for limited amounts of times) different special occasions occurring all over The Parks, including bringing the Golden Horseshoe Revue back to the Golden Horseshoe in Frontierland, Mardi Gras in New Orleans Square, and the world famous Dapper Dans singing tunes from boy bands (no comment on that one).
A couple of years ago, Disneyland ran a similar program called "Family Fun Days" on consecutive weekends, and the star of that particular promotion was by far one weekend dubbed "Character Fan Days". In this particular instance, readers of the Disney Parks Blog were invited to vote on several sets of Disney characters who hadn't been seen in The Parks in quite some time, and the winners were brought out over the course of the weekend for a very special meet and greet in the Festival Arena behind Big Thunder Ranch BBQ. This was back in January of 2011, and since then I've been telling anyone who would listen that Disneyland needed to bring this ultra-popular weekend back, and soon! Imagine my surprise when I suddenly found out last weekend that they were doing it again this year, only allowing it to last for an entire week, and calling it "Long Lost Friends". I could not have been happier! There were ten different groups of characters in rotation this year, and I managed to meet all but one group; unfortunately, I missed the group from "Pocahontas" which was the one I really wanted to see by a lousy three people, but in the end my three hour trek through line after line was more than worth it, and I had a really wonderful time meeting characters I had never seen out and about before, and I thought I would share that with the readers today.
Hopefully my happiness is evident in all of the pictures here. All good things have to come to an end, and we've already moved on to another "Limited Time Magic", this one with Tinkerbell and her fairy friends (although Vidia and I certainly need to meet and have a chat!). I hope that Disneyland will continue to do weekends like this and allow the hardcore among us to continue to meet these special characters we so rarely get a chance to see. Judging by the number of people who were there on Sunday afternoon, I can only assume the week was a huge success, and I certainly hope that Disneyland was watching. As Park hounds, we were truly grateful for this awesome opportunity set before us.
Thank you for joining Magical Blogorail Blue this month. We will be back Friday, May 10th with an all new theme. Keep checking in with our blogs in between loops to keep up to date with our Disney info, photos and stories. If you are looking for more Disney magic, you can make your way over to The Magical Blogorail website to see all our members and their blogs, as well as all our previous loops.
Here is the map of our Magical Blogorail should you happen to have to make a stop along the way and want to reboard:
1st Stop ~ Pursuing the Magic
2nd Stop ~ The CanaDisney Blog
3rd Stop ~ Disney Babies Blog
Final Stop ~ Days in the Park
10 comments:
What a great opportunity to meet some rare characters. I loved seeing all your pictures!
It's always fun when you stumble across a character that hasn't been seen in a while. Doesn't happen too often, but you're right, it really should...
I love these pics - some of the characters I've never EVER seen in parks before, so unusual! xx
So jealous! I wanted to go to the Long Lost Friends week sooooo badly that I considered flying down for the day. Glad you had a good time and got those precious photos! The 3 Little Pigs and Big Bad Wolf are my favorite! Talk about long lost!!
I want to see Darkwing Duck! Love the pics :) Glad to have you back in the loop!
Me and my family have been there, all sorts of fun was offered to us. My kids definitely had the time of their lives. I just wish we could go there again.
I just can't wait to visit Disneyland this year for the first time (well, the first time I just drove by and didn't stop). Hopefully we'll be there this fall.
Bruce
A World View - Enjoying Walt Disney World
Just can't wait to visit Disneyland this fall for our fist visit (well, my first visit was driving by and not stopping - and I was staying in Garden Grove).
Bruce
A World View - Enjoying Walt Disney World
It looks like you had a blast. It's so funny to me that Mushu has his arms different than everyone else. He must be left handed. The only ones I've met have been Turk and Jane, and Lilo and Stitch. The others I've never seen and it's so cool that they had them out. I just wish that I could have been there.
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