Originally Posted By TDLFAN One of the most interesting things about the way they do things at TDR is how quickly they make things disappear. You see, I was at the park on June 30th when it was totally decked out in Easter Wonderland splendor. Come July 1st.. the decor was gone, replaced by nicely designed gardens. Another busy day at TDL, with the premiere of Star Festival 2011, which runs only for a week. Twice a day, Mickey, Minnie and about another dozen of characters and the TDL marching band, all take to the streets for a Star Festival greeting parade, all wearing their traditional Star festival costumes. Over on World Bazaar, colorful decorations and bamboo tress greet guests at the wishing spot. The idea of Star Festival is traditional.. a time to make a wish and hope it comes true. Guests are encouraged to write down their wish (on a colorful mickey-shpaed piece of paper handed out by CMs). Tables are provided nearby with black marker pens, and strings so guests can write their wish and then hang the paper ornament on the wishing spots at the foot of the bamboo trees. In regards to merchandise..(which unlike most of WDW's junk is very unique and special) a wide selection of Star Festival items can be bought for *this week only*. Items like elavorate Mickey and Minnie plushes in their Star festival costumes, pins, postcards, towels, Star Festival candy/food tins and other items. I was surprised that magically.. all of the huge and plentiful Easter merchandise left on the shelves june 30th disappeared overnight never to be seen again. There was *nothing* easter-related in the shops on July 1st. Unlike WDW's leftover which end up at your average Character warehouse at your local outlet mall. The stuff at TDR does not have a 2nd life at discount stores. But sometimes, they do appear at collector shops in Japan with huge price tags, when disney collectors resell their personal items. Also shoppers be advised.. this year's "Cool the Heat-Be Pirate" merchandise has started to appear in restaurants all over the park with souvenir mugs and cup and lunch boxes themed to the summer event are now on sale. The rest of the Cool the Heat merchandise, including show CD, wil arrive at the gift shops this week. BTW.. the stage for the Cool the Heat show is already finished and ready to go next week. Can't wait!! And what's WDW's entertainment doing for the summer guests this year? (Crickets) I also had the chance to enjoy the unique "Night Time glow" rainy day parade, which has been playing nightly. The small parade has replaced Dreamlights, which will return next week with 3 brand new state of the art floats themed after Aladdin, Tinkerbell and Toy Story. The "Nightglow" parade is only a 4 float parade meant to be a reclacement of the real thing when it rains. But I was impressed but the quality of the show, and how beautiful the floats are as they change colors in vibrant neon accents and musical synchonization, with sparkling stroves and LED accents. It makes the current offering at the Magic Kingdom at WDW look horribly dated and minimal.. and even SpectroMagic would fare badly when compared to this little rainy night parade. But thats only my opinion and the defenders of lesser Disney quality and dated magic can disagree all they want. I loved the music for the NightGlow parade.. very soothing and soft.. and I would love for it to be released on CD. Over at TDSea.. the testing of Jasmine's Flying Carpets continue as they prepare for their grand opening this week. The peacock motif and fountain on the ride's centerpiece itself is quite elegant. It also appears that an elevated viewing platform will allow guests to take pictures of their loved ones during the ride, similar to WDSP's setting but much more elavorate and lavish, as is the case with anything at TDSea. I was also able to catch the "My friend Duffy" show at Cape Cod. I also checked out Duffy's new and much more elavorate and themed Meet and greet area located inside the Steamer landing dock at Cape Cod. Makes Duffy's greeting spot at EPCOT Center look like a cheap tent bought at walmart. The show is horribly cute and follows the Duffy storyline.. how Minnie created him for Mickey.. comes to life and unexpectedly throws Mickey and Minnie into unplanned parenthood of sorts.. The greeting spot is nicely decorated with display cases, banners and other things. A "parade of Duffy" costumes display was particularly enjoyable. Mercifully none of the cheap Duffy costumes sold in the USA/HongKong parks made it into that display..since they are so cheap when compared to the quality of the Duffy items at TDS. This is of course blatant marketing and merchandising bliss so shame on them for that.. but it's so well done for show purposes that some of us are willing to ignore the motives of the experience and enjoy it as a quality show. But again.. in true Disney fashion, July 1st saw the release of Duffy and Shelly Mae's "Be Magical" costumes and other items.. and as you can imagine.. the Duffy fans were out in full force spending the money on that and lines outside some of the stores were necesary to avoid overcrowding with overly eager Duffy shoppers inside. The "Be Magical" promotion is connected to the theming of TDSea's 10 anniversary celebration and the special Sorcerer costumes and magic key necklace chain for the bears are highly thought after.. Even I could not resist buying the small plushes that feature such costumes.. Duffy fans.. get those while they last as they will sell out soon. Notice the "Be Magical" companion Mickey and Minnie small plushes that went on sale a couple of weeks ago have already sold out. Only the bigger versions remain available this week. After yet another extraordinary performance of the eye popping, jaw dropping TDS version of Fantasmic!.. it was time to go. And Disney magic does not get any better than this.
Originally Posted By Bolna Thanks for the report, I found it very interesting, also the one about the Easter parade. I have been thinking about a trip to Japan for quite some time and would certainly include a visit to TDR if I am in the country. So it is really interesting to hear more about these seasonal events. It seems like there is always something special going on?
