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Disney Announces New “Celebration” for 2013

Rikki Niblett
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Each year, Disney has a new theme that is usually celebrated all year. Recently, we’ve had “Let the Magic Begin”, “One More Disney Day”, and “Year of a Million Dreams.” 2013 will be no exception with next year’s celebration being called “Limited Time Magic.”

This new celebration will focus on unexpected experiences that will appear for a limited window and then disappear when the next experience debuts. It appears that each week will focus on a different “topic” that will be touted. Each experience is slated to be unique, magical, memory-filled – and each for a limited time only.

Disney says that the new Celebration was inspired by the reality that many of life’s most cherished memories are made during those special, but fleeting moments when families spend time together with shared experiences.

Right now, the different experience that Disney has mentioned include:

  • True Love: Celebrate romance and enchantment throughout Valentine’s Week with special moments and entertainment geared to lovebirds. Guests can celebrate their Valentine as Magic Kingdom and Disneyland turn up the romance, complete with their iconic castles bathed in hues of red and pink. Disney Princes join their Princesses to meet park guests in special settings, prix fixe menus turn up at select restaurants and Valentine collectibles will be offered for the week.
  • Independence Week: It’s red, white and blue as Disney Parks salutes America with a Fourth of July Fireworks Party — for an entire week, with patriotic lighting bathing the Disney castles on both coasts. Mickey Mouse appears in his patriotic finest and guests will find special USA shirts, Ear Hats, and other limited-edition souvenirs.
  • During Long Lost Friends Week, lesser-known Disney characters will move from the shadows to the spotlight with meet-and-greets on both coasts. Photo opportunities with characters (which could include Flik, Clarabelle Cow, Remy, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum) will surprise and delight guests. And Disney guests will even have the chance to vote online for which characters they want to see.
  • Pirate Week: Why talk like a pirate one day when you could celebrate these scalawags all week long? The adventures of Jack Sparrow come to life like never before during a bicoastal buccaneer bash in which Disneyland and Walt Disney World become pirate-palooza: pirate bands, pirate meet-and-greets and more.
  • Dapper Dans Sing Boy Bands: Dapper Dans, the iconic quartet from Main Street, U.S.A., will add a special finale to their show, claiming the title of the “Original Boy Band” and delivering a medley of hits from One Direction, *NSYNC and the Backstreet Boys.
  • Unleash the Villains: A Friday the 13th in 2013 is a special day, so Disneyland and Disney Hollywood Studios are staying open until the 13th Hour (1 a.m.). Maleficent, Capt. Hook, Jafar and other Disney villains host a dance party, complete with limited-edition collectibles and nighttime mischief on Sept. 13.
  • Golden Horseshoe Revue: The fabled Frontierland show returns to Disneyland for one month only, bringing back the corny jokes and enduring songs that were often enjoyed by Walt Disney himself.

It looks to be an interesting Celebration…all for a limited time. Stay tuned to the blog as more information gets released.

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Rikki Niblett

I am a co-host of the Be Our Guest Podcast and do lots of other fun Disney stuff all around the interwebs! You can follow me on Twitter or Instagram at @RikkiNibs or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/rikkinibs

16 thoughts on “Disney Announces New “Celebration” for 2013”

  • I agree, the name is not the best, the idea is great though…hopefully they will announce the weekly themes way in advance to allow for planning your trip. We go annually, hopefully we get season passes this year and try to take advantage of a lot of the weekly themes. I vote for Random Acts of Magic for a rename (good idea Brandon) who’s with me?

  • When will the pirate week occur; anything happening the 2nd week of March in 2013 that’s when we will be there! First Disneyland trip!

  • @Patrick W: Good thing I wasn’t drinking anything, it would have come out my nose. Kudos, that was a brilliant post.

    I don’t know, I’ve never been hip to the “for a limited time only” type of marketing. Disney has always done “special occasions” really well, but as a meta-level marketing ploy? Not so sure about that.

    Dapper Dans singing No Direction, NStink & Backwards Boys? Yikes. Perish the thought… though if anyone could get that music to sound good, the Dans are probably up to it. A daunting task. 😉

    As for my family, we’re saving up for when the 7 Dwarfs Mine Train is ready (hopefully not for a limited time), which apparently isn’t until 2014. Would love to go every year though. 🙂

  • I like the idea of long lost characters, they should do that more than one week

  • I also think the name is a little crazy because random to me means that it’s not planned. The people who will be able to take advantage of this is the locals. I think they are trying to get more locals to go to the Parks and if they have special events, they will come. It’s also more like a celebration of Holidays to me which I think they should include all the time. I love it when they do really special magical unexpected things for people. That’s what we love about Disney.

  • They should call it Random Acts of Magic. This would insinuate limited time appearance with out being so blunt about it. They could still have themed weeks but it would be random within the theme time frame.

  • Not sad that I won’t be there in 2013. This is dumb. I notice right off that one of the special things is the second week of September–a typically really slow week. So goody, goody, now one of the slowest weeks of the year just might be packed. Ick.

    We are planning to be there in 2014 and 2015. I hope they have better promotions for those years!

  • Yeah the name by itself is “bad” in the sense that it reminds people that they have to go home.

    But it’s a time tested, tried and true, bonafide marketing trick to get people to ACT NOW!!!

    Basically, it’s a smart move. They’ll be doing certain stuff for a limited time. They hope to entice people to pull the trigger and make their vacation reservations (and then keep them) all because if the potential visitor was sort of on the fence, now that visitor is likely to say, oh yeah, I want that and it’s only available for a limited time.

    For example, if they promised an appearance from Sharky and Bones from Jake and the Neverland Pirates or a concert from the neverland pirate band, for a limite time, then I would TOTALLY try to make it to that.

    But instead, they’re saying: look the castle is pink (for a limited time)!!! And look: we’ve taken some of the costumes out of mothballs storage (for a limited time) ((unless people really like it, then we’ll just keep it like we did the main st electrical parade))

    I’m excited about the Golden Horseshoe Revue. As a frequent visitor, that would be a show to see. I saw it in the 80s. It’s not enough to make a whole special trip like I did when they brought back the main st electrical parade (supposedly for a limited time, which prompted me to make a summer visit that I otherwise would not have made).

    Anyway…..
    Limited Time Magic is not in the same vain as year of a million dreams or One more disney day; I really didn’t like the promotion where they renovated the castle suite and gave it away. I would have rather seen a promotion that was nice for everyone like the new castle show with all the pictures on it.
    Or the main st electrical parade.

  • Love this idea! I wonder how far in advance the experiences will be announced or if some of them will be spur of the moment?

    FUN!!!

  • Like the idea. Hate the name.

  • The concept sounds really great, but I agree that the name is awful!

  • “To most who come to this relatively happy place; welcome. Disneyland is your land (for a limited time.) Here age relives some of the fond memories of the past…and here somewhat young may savor a portion of the challenge and part of the promises of the future. Disneyland is dedicated to a limited set of the ideals, the vetted and evaluated dreams and a few of the hard facts that have created America…with the hope that it will be a source of joy and inspiration to all the world (some restrictions apply.)”

  • Will there be something every week? I’m headed there for a week in January (6-13). Can’t wait!

  • Terrible name! Who wants limited magic?

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