Disney World’s “Fab 50 Statues” To Get Pixie-Dusted

 by Beth Keating

News

DisneyBizJournal.com

September 21, 2023

 

In walking around Magic Kingdom recently, my family joked that Florida was continuing to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Walt Disney World Resort, instead of Disney100 (honoring the company’s founding), since the golden 50th anniversary character statues were still making their homes throughout the four parks.  We thought by now, a full half-year after the 18-month long 50th celebration ended in March, the figures would have been re-homed somewhere.

The adorable statues had arrived in the parks just a few weeks ahead of the October 1, 2021, celebratory kick-off, and maybe the figures just didn’t want the party to be over. In any case, they were a fun addition to the atmosphere of the parks, and it turned into a bit of an unplanned scavenger hunt trying to locate favorite Disney characters. We especially enjoyed finding our pals in Hollywood Studios.

If you aren’t familiar with the statues, there were 50 (give or take, depending on how you counted the characters or character groupings) small sculptures scattered around the four parks, and when you waved your MagicBand+ at the medallion at the base of the statue, the character would respond with lines or sounds from their respective films. Mostly. (They were notorious for taking too much time to reset between guests, and sometimes not really responding at all.)

Now, Walt Disney World has announced that the medallions will be getting a refresh – Imagineers will be “pixie-dusting” the golden 50th anniversary versions to enable guests to continue interacting with their favorite Disney friends for future trips.

It seems that those beautiful statues will be making their permanent homes in the parks after all! Let’s keep the party going! 

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Beth Keating is a theme parks, restaurant and entertainment reporter for DisneyBizJournal.

Are You Missing Having Fun with Disney Park Characters?

by Beth Keating

Review

DisneyBizJournal.com

July 5, 2020

With the Florida, Paris, Hong Kong and Shanghai Parks reopening with limited character interactions under COVID-19 social distancing guidelines, you might be missing giving Mickey a hug or dancing with Goofy at Chef Mickey’s. (That’s a double whammy….No buffets and no character close-ups right now!) Enchanting interactions with the characters are what make waiting in meet-and-greet lines for an hour worth the wait (or make paying astronomical prices for mediocre buffet food worth the investment of time and money)!

If you need a quick shot of characters doing silly stuff with actual humans, check out this short (six minutes or so) compilation of character exchanges with Gijs Van Winkelhof. We’ve featured Gijs on this site before. He’s the extraordinary, self-taught piano player from the Netherlands who performs at the Disneyland Hotel in Disneyland Paris. (See our DisneyBizJournal review of his performances here.)

Gijs offers us a peek at his shows at Café Fantasia in Paris, with a half dozen Disney characters who randomly pop in to visit. The Fab Five unexpectedly show up at various times to try to steal the show, and a few even attempt to play the piano with Gijs. There’s a fair amount of dancing going on as well, with characters visiting with guests in the lobby of the Disneyland Hotel while Gijs keeps the music going. Among the songs featured are “Beauty and the Beast,” “The Mickey Mouse Club March,” “Part of Your World” (The Little Mermaid), and “A Whole New World” (Aladdin), while Tigger and Goofy, Mickey and Minnie, Donald and Pluto do what they do best. Goofy especially has a good time with “Jingle Bells.” 

Sadly, this is as close as we may get to a character interaction for the time being!  Disney has promised character appearances in the park, but from what we’ve seen in the already-opened parks, these character sightings are being done in creative ways to allow guests to see their favs, while still keeping the “stars” at a protective distance for both families’ and cast members’ safety.

Thanks to Gijs for sharing these guest videos of his piano performances with his Disney buddies. Hopefully, it will tide you over while you wait for your own chance to interact with the Disney crew.

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Beth Keating is a regular contributor to DisneyBizJournal.