Wedding trips to Disneyland, Candlelight Processionals, and gingerbread cookies are just some of the highlights in this weeks MiceChat Round up of Disney and theme park news and discussions. That is just the beginning though as we find that all is not perfect in the magic kingdom, even with a Club 33 membership.  We also kick around the idea of turning Space Mountain into a Star Wars attraction.  Over in Tokyo we get a lovely trip report from MiceChat member sarlm and a look at a Disney Studios Paris attraction that never was.  We get all of this along with a recap of the week in articles, podcasts and videos from MiceChat too!  Let’s get started.

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MiceChat Top Stories

Fantasmic! Fastpass arrives at Disneyland as Frozen continues to move in
More than twenty years later and Disneyland’s popular Fantasmic! nighttime water-and-light show has finally added a new Fastpass-based reservation system. The new Fantasmic! Fastpass eliminates the need to camp out hours before the show and streamlines the viewing experience similarly to Disney California Adventure‘s World of Color show. In addition to Fastpass, Fantasmic! fans can now enjoy a dining experience to go along with their show in a variety of price points. Meanwhile, both parks get ready for the debut of new Frozen Fun this weekend as Anna and Elsa get ready to freeze both parks with new entertainment and additions.

MiceChat Top StoriesIn The Parks – Disneyland Resort Launches Fantasmic FastPass, Announces Frozen Fun
The Disneyland Resort is about to experience an ice age unlike anything ever seen before.  That’s right, Anna and Elsa are taking over the resort.  With activities and highlights mainly centered in Disney California Adventure, Frozen Fun will be highlighted by a “Family Dance Party”, a new stage show, a new meet and greet, and a snow play land.  Want more?  Okay.  There are also new additions being made to Storybookland Canal Boats and The Royal Theatre in the Princess Fantasy Faire.  But that’s not the only news that might leave you cold.  Fantasmic FastPasses start today. If you want to see the show, it would be highly advisable to get to the park early and obtain a ticket, because walking up at the last minute is going to get harder than ever.  We’ll show you how it will work and what to expect.  And we’ve got lots of fun photos of the most magical place on earth.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY WALT DISNEY
With your kind support, The Walt Disney Birthplace was able to exceed its fundraising goals on Walt Disney’s birthday, December 5th. While their Start Some Good campaign has ended, you can follow them on their website, join the newsletter and find out more about their ambitious plans to protect and save Walt’s house and use it as inspiration for the next generation of dreamers and doers.  Visit The Walt Disney Birthplace HERE

Micechat Tickets

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UPDATED – MiceChat 7 night Alaska Cruise on the Disney Wonder – June 1st, 2015: Join us as we sail toward the top of the world on the delightful Disney Wonder with Disney legend Bob Gurr. We’ll hold all sorts of special MiceChat meet-ups on board and hear many wonderful stories from our special guest. Suggest group excursions you might want to join us on. Dine as a group to discuss our adventures and more. Vancouver, Tracy Arm, Skagway, Juneau, Ketchikan, glorious glaciers, whales, and spectacular nature everywhere. Don’t miss this MiceChat adventure at sea!

Ask us for more details on any of our upcoming MiceTrips or for Disney adventures of your own by emailing us at [email protected]. It doesn’t cost you more to use our travel agent, it’s just more magical. Let us do the work, you enjoy the Disney fun!!!

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Profits from the sale of every bottle of refreshing O-Zell soda supports the restoration of the Walt Disney Birthplace in Chicago. Pick up some delicious Victorian style natural soda AND help a great cause at the same time: O-Zell Soda  For a special treat, listen to the O-Zell jingle here: O-Zell Soda Song

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Disney Parks News and Reports

Disneyland’s annual Christmas Processional has already started, we have reports from that unique event. Discussions on changes to Winter Dreams and surving the Hoilday Season.  ~ Aladdin

MiceChat Newsletter

Club 33 Article, LA Times December 12th, 2014
Even with Club 33’s recent expansion and taking over the Court of Angels, LA Times tells us that some members are not happy with their benefits for 2015. Find out what the issues are here!

Joe’s quick visit to Disneyland so Ian can meet Santa
mre200200 took his son to the Disneyland Resort for a visit, or two, with Santa Claus!

MiceChat Newsletter

Mark and Steven’s Disneyland Wedding Trip Report – December 2014
zeitzeuge has been keeping us informed about their wedding plan, over the past year, and the big day finally arrived. Here is the complete report from their wedding week at the Disneyland resort!

Joe’s 2014 December 7th Candlelight Trip Report with Beau Bridges
mre200200 and family attended the Disneyland Candlelight Processional and bring us their trip report along with a bonus, see how they make gingerbread cookies!

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MiceChat Newsletter

WDW October Fun
Mutiny shares some great photos from a trip to WDW in October.

Is Magic Kingdom able to expand more?
Looking at a photo of the park, DLR92 is wondering where there is room to expand.

Meg Crofton Retiring from Disney June 2015
The Orlando Sentinel has reported that Meg Croft will retire next year as President of the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts.

Do you want to build a snowman?
Disney has a site to build a snowman card and PlutoHasFleas has shared one. You can also build your own and share.

MiceChat Newsletter

Contemporary Resort – 1970s Shag and Flair – Restored Home Movie HD
Once again we are treated to another restored home video of the resort this time of the Contemporary Resort of the 1970s.

Observations from a Disneylander’s trip to WDW
JungleBumCT shares observations of WDW from the Disneylander’s perspective

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Who doesn’t love some good ideas, this week our armchair imagineers have Star Wars in their sights. ~ Trekkie Dad

MiceChat Newsletter

Retheme Space Mountain Into A Star Wars Attraction
Wedcot has an idea that has gotten a lot of response from other MiceChatters. See what it’s all about.

Location Star Wars land !
New member fafa45 has an alternate location for a Star Wars land that’s well outside Disneyland’s berm.

Subway to Disneyland
LADodgersBum has an idea that may be expensive, but it’s opened a lively discussion.

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MiceChat Newsletter

TDS and TDL photos from my trip!
Only a few people go to Tokyo Disneyland from the states, and sarlm brings us a great photo trip report from Tokyo.

The Walt Disney Studios attraction that never was
The Walt Disney Studios Park in Paris has a ‘lost attraction’ and soundtracker brings us the details.

Castle refurb from 5 Jan to 30 May
The castle in Honk Kong will receive a 5 month refurbishment and Asa wonders if they will add a walk-through?

Other Theme Parks & Resorts

MiceChat Newsletter

Couple of Hillbillies Videos and Holiday Photos
Ralfrick brings us some great video and photos from Knott’s Merry Farm, with the fantastic Hillbilly show they have there!

AV Room

FROZEN Freeze Over at Disneyland!
Frozen is TAKING OVER Disney California Adventure’s “Hollywoodland” and also coming in to new parts of Disneyland! What do you think about these new additions and transformations?

Welcome to this week’s Communicore Weekly, we talk about D23 Trip Report Part 2, Two Guys Named Joe, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Mr. Peavidy! TRIP REPORT! – Jeff and George invite Cadet Michelle back onto the show to finish up Part 2 of her Trip Report to D23’s Attraction Rewind Weekend! BOOK OF THE WEEK! – George talks about Two Guys Named Joe for the Book of the Week! 60 SECOND REVIEW! – Jeff and George travel into outer space with the Guardians of the Galaxy in the 60 Second Review! FIVE LEGGED GOAT! – And finally, Mr. Peavidy is this week’s Five Legged Goat!

Direct Link | iTunes

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Window to the Magic: Enjoy the sounds of the park on our weekly journeys into the wonderful world of the Disney sound experience!

Disafterdark: Welcome back to the Mouses Head and thank you for the download. For the first half of the show, we are joined by Tom Ameen www.tomameenmusic.com as we talk about his newest album Magical Moments 2. Nick promises to show us his musical talents on a Kazoo, which we very much look forward to. Then we go back to some news items as usual.

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Dead Man’s DIEgest: On this episode we step away from Halloween Horror Nights and sit down with the guys from the U.K scare company Primrose Unknown Projects, to talk about their history in the scare business and their mazes for 2103.

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The Season Pass: The Essential Theme Park Podcast: Sits down with the guys behind Oceaneering Entertainment Systems — Bill Bunting, Dave Mauck & Matt Kent.  Hear how they went from developing deep sea exploration mechanics and space suits for NASA to The ride vehicles for Universal Studios’ Spider-Man, Transformers, and their newest vehicle, the Revolution Tru-Trackless ride system at SeaWorld’s Empire of the Penguin.


Direct Link | iTunes Link

Disney Avenue Podcast: Returns with a wonderful Christmas Special that is sure to get you in the Holiday spirit. Disney historian and author Jim Korkis joins host Keith Michael Mahne for a wonderful interview on Walt Disney featuring some amazing and rarely heard Christmas stories from his life.

Mousetalgia! – An Unofficial Disneyland Podcast: Disney and the World’s Fair – Disney Legend Alice Davis talks to Jeff about attending the 1964 World’s Fair, and she shares some personal recollections of her time visiting the Fair with Walt Disney and her husband Marc Davis, one of Walt Disney’s “Nine Old Men.” We also discuss the Walt Disney Family Museum’s second recent presentation of “Walt Disney: A Giant at the World’s Fair,” and recap some of the memorable moments from that event.


Direct Link | iTunes Link

DoomBuggies Spook Show: In this spook-er-sized Halloween episode, we discuss the recent “Ghostly Materials” exhibition at Disneyland and speak with one of the artists, Bridget McCarty, about the opening day of this release of Haunted Mansion-related artwork. We also talk about the recent flood of Haunted Mansion merchandise in the parks, and the new Haunted Mansion-specific store called “Memento Mori” at the Magic Kingdom.


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The Sweet Spot: In this Episode we welcome former Disneyland cast member Vern Hoiland. Vern was hired into Disneyland in 1969 and retired in 2006. Vern saw a lot fo changes over the years from managment, park changes, his own changes in roles, and much more. This is a great interview if you want to learn about how it was working in Disneyland as far back as 1969. Plus, we’ll look at the latest in the Disneyland Resort news with Tommy. Enjoy and please visit our new website www.thesweepspot.com

Unofficial Universal Orlando Podcast: On this weeks show we have a butterbeer preference from Jason Gallant, then we talk about the Holidays at the Universal Orlando Resort hotels, Grinchmas at Universal Studios Hollywood, Eve at Universal Orlando Resort and Darren brings us a review of the Grinch character breakfast at Islands of Adventure. We then open the mail bag and read some listener feedback.

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Featured Columns
MiceChat Newsletter

Haunted Mansion History Mystery
In Savannah, Georgia, the dead are just as important as the living. Graveyards and majestic homes named after their prominent former owners are found all over Savannah’s downtown area. If you’re downtown, it’s likely that you’re walking on a dead body. Many a graveyard was paved over to make way for wider roads and the grand homes that were built in the 19th century. With its Spanish moss-covered trees, Savannah is said to be one of the most haunted cities in America.  It was no wonder, then, when I heard that the Hamilton-Turner House, now an inn that was built in 1873, was one of the models for Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion.

MiceChat NewsletterYesterland: Dinosaur Jack’s Sunglass Shack
Who says that California Adventure only has imitations of things that California is known for? There’s something at California Adventure that’s the “real deal.” It’s 100% genuine, and it’s up in the sky, shining brightly onto the park—the California sun.

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The MiceEars Crew puts a lot of time and effort into making these Round-Ups happen.Our thanks to:Editor CakvalaSC and the MiceEars Crew: Aladdin, Yoyoflamingo, Trekkie Dad, DLandFansAZ, RegionsBeyond, Fishbulb & Dustysage.

We hope to see you online again soon, Dusty and the amazing MiceChat crew!

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If you have questions for Anthony our Editor or our MiceEars Grew they can be e-mailed at: [email protected] or Follow him on Twitter @CakvalaSC | Flickr: flickr.com/photos/cakvalasc/ | Instagram: instagram.com/cakvala

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CakvalaSC
MiceChat.com's webmaster and occasional writer. Cakvala is senior graphic designer and photographer. Admirer of all things Disney and theme-parks !