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[Disney-Me]

Last night marked the begining of a new era for the three fairies at Disneyland Paris.

On October 31st 2011, we bid farewell to the three faries Flora, Fauna and Marryweather in their glorious animated version. It had been an era of true magic and an inspiartion to all our imaginations. It seemed for a very long time that we would enjoy the true magic behind these lovely faries. Unfortunatley, future generations will not be able to enjoy the same faces we grew up with and remember till this day.

Last night witnessed the first appearance at Disneyland Paris of the new faries in their face version in a brand new Christmas show "Princess Aurora's Christmas wish". I saw pictures online of the faries and I was extremely shocked at what I saw. Eventhough I am an admiror of Disney and its magic, for the first time in a very long time, the smile that was accustomed to appear on my face at their appearance slowly disappeared. I believe this is by far the worst mistake that Disneyland Paris has made. It almost seems that what they have in mind for improving the park is only postponing something even more worse to come. What next........Mickey as a face character??!!. If the management at Disneyland Paris are doing this for financial purposes to cut back costs, I beleive that the shareholders should consider twice about ruining Disney's nature, and consider the fact that it is Disney's guest that profit them. If changes like these contiue to happen, I'm affraid people might not come as they used to. These animated faces of characters help support our imagination. It's much more than just a face.
Do they expect us to see new young ladies and pretend them to be the three old good faries?!. They're old enough to be college students.....Come on..........

I hate to talk this way, outside the magical scope of Disney which I appreciate, believe in and won't let anyone ruin; but I truely feel offended by what I'm witnessing with my own eyes these days.

I might be talking in this manner because Dsineyland Paris has recently been making changes which in my opinion are not good. For instance:

- Fairy Godmother:
The Fairy Godmother used to be an animated character in Paris, and then suddenly lately, became a "YOUNG" face character; How is this possible?!!! A young fairy Godmother??!! Afterall, I was not upset so much because the US parks have the face versions while Tokyo and Hong Kong still have the animated version which is wierd in the sence that the Walt Disney Co. did not constatntly use the same versions throughout the parks. This would not happen in the past.

- Genie:
Genie was an animated character "for ever and ever". All of a sudden and without a real good reason, he appeared as a face character in the Mickey's Magical Celebration show. And at the same time he appears for meet and greets in the park in his animated version. Is this right? Was Disney like this in the past? the answer is simply "NO".

- Captain Hook and Mr. Smee:
Hook and Smee had the same happenings as Genie. It is unfair that Disney continues to copy and paste this technique on popular characters. As an adult I find this hard to take in, how are children supposed to react to these changes and still belive in the Disney Magic.

There's more to continue on this topic but I'm sure your all aware about it and the changes are happening all over the Disney Parks around the world, which is disapointing.

This Disney management style of decision making and altering the image of characters in my opinion needs to be carfeully thought out. The management needs to consider what it is that the guests at the parks and resorts need, want, and desire to see. It is only fair that after going the distance that we deserve the magic of the Disney experience.

I hope you all share your feedback on this topic.

Finally, I still believe in the Disney magic, and will always do! I will be the biggest fan in the world forever, and also have faith that these little things happening recently will be overcome with something great. Disneyland Paris will always be my favourite Disney Resort and at the same time I like all the other Disney Parks as well. I am patient and optimistic towards Disney. I'm sorry for any harshness used above but it's only because I'm passionate about "all things Disney, related".

Thank you.

[Poppy The Monkey]

So, as much as I agree with some of your observations you are sadly misinformed or misjudging the situation.

Firstly, we are not bidding farewell to the "animated" versions of Flora, Fauna and Merryweather, they will continue to be part of the Fantillusion parade. The reason they are in face on the new Aurora Christmas Wish show, is purely artistic. There were trials using both versions and the final decision from show directors, managers etc was that the face version were much more suited to this show. I don't know how you can assume this is a cost-cutting measure; it is infact the opposite. But they feel it's worth the extra expense to have a more authentic and real element to this show.

However, it's not at all a new concept to have the fairies in face, they existed in the park since 1994! Albeit rarely, I could only find pictures from 2003, but still that was 8 years ago http://disneyphotography.com/gallery/thumbnails-59.html it's not a new concept.

I can't comment on the casting of the characters, however you shouldn't forget, if you're worried about the shareholders and money  -  it's not a great economy to hire and pay 3 old woman a full day wage just to perform in a 7 minute show. These girls need to be multifunctional, and do lots of agile and physical things throughout the rest of their day, a 70 year old woman would certainly not be suitable casting to fill all the other daily duties. Don't forget Disney is trying to save money here.

Same goes for fairy godmother, while it would be nice to have a few older ones in Paris - it's not practical, due to the other tasks required in the Paris entertainment dept, the job isn't really suitable for older people.

I agree that it is bizarre having 2 versions of the same character in the park, but don't forget Captain Hook and Mr Smee were also in face version way back in 2003 on the old Peter Pan show, so it's been happening for years, and in the other parks also; Dream Along with Mickey in WDW for example.  

So, it's each to their own, some people love the face characters, they feel like they get much more magical experience being able to interact, chat and see a real person! Others prefer the more "animated" version, luckily there is more and more chance to see both, confusing as it may be.... but don't worry Mickey's not going for plastic surgery anytime soon!

[littlemermaid83]

My answer to your comment on how children would be confused about seeing certain characters as face characters and then as animated is that most children probably do not notice. My daughter who has just turned 6 didn't realise or care she was too busy having fun with the characters to even notice the difference. If she had noticed she would of voiced her opinion or asked questions as she is very vocal.

[Anthony]

A photo of the fairies in question:



Looks like a great upgrade over the regular plastic faces to me. And the show as a whole is a massive bonus for DLP, a welcome investment and improvement over the illumination shows in recent years where the Castle lighting has just been clumsily stuck on the end of that year's Central Plaza show. It's actually a shame it'll probably be all-change again next year when the stage isn't there.

Ideally they should have one rule for each character and remain consistent, yes, but if children are able to still connect a walking, human-size plush Stitch to the dog-like animated creature in the original film, I don't think they'll be bothered that a character sometimes has a real face and sometimes doesn't.

Anyway, welcome to the forum Disney-Me!

[aklyja]

When we were at Disney for Halloween my 4 year old son wasn't in the least bit confused by the changes between the differenct versions of Hook and Smee.  Infact they bothered me more, the face Smee's nose just looks wrong!  And getting skinny man to play a fat character is never going to look good in my opinion.  DS was more confused by the fact tha Mickey and Minnie don't speak - in the end we told him that it was because so many languages are spoken at Disney that it wouldn't be fair for the characters to speak only one.

[Disney-Me]

So, as much as I agree with some of your observations you are sadly misinformed or misjudging the situation.

Firstly, we are not bidding farewell to the "animated" versions of Flora, Fauna and Merryweather, they will continue to be part of the Fantillusion parade. The reason they are in face on the new Aurora Christmas Wish show, is purely artistic. There were trials using both versions and the final decision from show directors, managers etc was that the face version were much more suited to this show. I don't know how you can assume this is a cost-cutting measure; it is infact the opposite. But they feel it's worth the extra expense to have a more authentic and real element to this show.

However, it's not at all a new concept to have the fairies in face, they existed in the park since 1994! Albeit rarely, I could only find pictures from 2003, but still that was 8 years ago http://disneyphotography.com/gallery/thumbnails-59.html it's not a new concept.

I can't comment on the casting of the characters, however you shouldn't forget, if you're worried about the shareholders and money  -  it's not a great economy to hire and pay 3 old woman a full day wage just to perform in a 7 minute show. These girls need to be multifunctional, and do lots of agile and physical things throughout the rest of their day, a 70 year old woman would certainly not be suitable casting to fill all the other daily duties. Don't forget Disney is trying to save money here.

Same goes for fairy godmother, while it would be nice to have a few older ones in Paris - it's not practical, due to the other tasks required in the Paris entertainment dept, the job isn't really suitable for older people.

I agree that it is bizarre having 2 versions of the same character in the park, but don't forget Captain Hook and Mr Smee were also in face version way back in 2003 on the old Peter Pan show, so it's been happening for years, and in the other parks also; Dream Along with Mickey in WDW for example.  

So, it's each to their own, some people love the face characters, they feel like they get much more magical experience being able to interact, chat and see a real person! Others prefer the more "animated" version, luckily there is more and more chance to see both, confusing as it may be.... but don't worry Mickey's not going for plastic surgery anytime soon!

To begin with, thank you for the feedback that was very detailed. However I have some comments to what you wrote.

Firstly, relating to the three fairies in the Fantillusion Parade who will still be animated for some time and also appear in their face versions in the show with a difference of 30 minutes between the show and the parade, I can only say that this is a disaster because how can someone see a face character and then 30 minutes later see an animated character from the same character??!! "What we all know, is that Disney convinces us that the characters are real and magical. Has this message been changed over time?!!" The point I'm trying to make is that Disney should make a choice between either one and stick to it.

Relating to the artistic points you mentioned above, I can only say that it is not a real reason with all due respect. Because in any situation, their voices are recorded, and they originally have them in their parade in the animated version. Therefore the animated version has a priority to be in the show. Artisticly speaking, the animated versions are pretty and they can still create amazing outfits for them like they normaly do to make them look even better. However, the reason behind this is obvious, it's for financial reasons and the evidernce is that the three fairies are only available in Disneyland Paris as their animated and wired version created for the Fantillusion parade. In order for them to be presented in the show they need to be in their regular animated version which Disneyland Paris doeasn't have. If they were to do this, they would have to import the characteres and create them which is costly, so it is clear as to why they became face characters. It is expected that we will see them in the future as face characters in anything other than the Fantillusion parade. With regards to this topic I wish they were all face characters on the Fantillusion parade for once and for all, even though I enjoy the animated versions more.
 
Regarding their appearances in the past, I have known about it for some time and I have followed up on Disneyland Paris since 1992. I know a great deal about what goes on in Disneyland Paris but I didn't want to reffer to the past in order to limit the scope of what I posted. However, the animated versions were the main characters used in recent years.

Again, relating to the old women working at Dsineyland Paris, I would rather have some young energetic women wearing the animated version and performing with the required results than having seen the young women pretending to be the old fairies. Which, I think is wrong.

Regarding the other Disney's, what they do doesn't necessarily mean it is right, and this doesn't mean that all the other Disney's should use this approach, but should instead use one version and stick with it. As in the tradition of the Disney magic.

[Disney-Me]

A photo of the fairies in question:



Looks like a great upgrade over the regular plastic faces to me. And the show as a whole is a massive bonus for DLP, a welcome investment and improvement over the illumination shows in recent years where the Castle lighting has just been clumsily stuck on the end of that year's Central Plaza show. It's actually a shame it'll probably be all-change again next year when the stage isn't there.

Ideally they should have one rule for each character and remain consistent, yes, but if children are able to still connect a walking, human-size plush Stitch to the dog-like animated creature in the original film, I don't think they'll be bothered that a character sometimes has a real face and sometimes doesn't.

Anyway, welcome to the forum Disney-Me!

Thank you for the welcome. I'm glad to join this forum and hope to participate regularly.

Relating to the show, I admire the improvements and respect the efforts that have been made. The show is beautiful but I wished Prince Philip would have worn his regular outfit instead of the white one used in the show.

I respect your point of view, but it is my opinion that the animated fairies look more like the real deal and give the show more flavour. But the women dressed as the fairies make the fairies look like a couple of young girls dressed up as fairies ready to attend a halloween party. "sorry for this observation".

However, to be honest, the three fairies in the Paris face version used in this show are well dressed and presented well unlike the face characters used in California where the outfits were unproportional to the girls wearing them. For instance, their hats mad their heads look real small and their dresses were really baggy.

In the end, I don't have a problem with using either one, I would just like them to make their minds up and use one.

[Disney-Me]

When we were at Disney for Halloween my 4 year old son wasn't in the least bit confused by the changes between the differenct versions of Hook and Smee.  Infact they bothered me more, the face Smee's nose just looks wrong!  And getting skinny man to play a fat character is never going to look good in my opinion.  DS was more confused by the fact tha Mickey and Minnie don't speak - in the end we told him that it was because so many languages are spoken at Disney that it wouldn't be fair for the characters to speak only one.

I appreciate the comments you have made and honestly, you speak the truth. Mr. Smee is one of my favourite characters and I always enjoy meeting him in the parks. However, having a skinny man play the role of Mr. Smee is really scary. Did Mr. Smee go on a diet??!! But I have to admit Hook looked very good.

However the animated versions were loads of fun. When I saw them in the parade after the show, a smile came back to my face because they were in their original and glorious version. In my opinion, if they used the original Hook and Smee, the show would look more and more like the real Peter Pan that we all know. But I always try to make belief that these are people playing the role of the real Hook and Smee that we all know and enjoy.

I hope Disney gets back on track and wakes up to notice that this is wrong. We need to hold on to the magic and not ruin it. This is the message I'm trying to get across to everyone that we should hold on to the Disney Magic.

[DutchBrit]

This is the message I'm trying to get across to everyone that we should hold on to the Disney Magic.

Hmmmm. Is it really such a big deal? The applicable phrase is "willing suspension of disbelief". As adults we all know that the character whether "faces" or masked are just real people dressed up, don't we? We know that the Sleeping Beauty in the parade is a totally different girl to the one in the meet and greet? That Pluto is a guy OR girl in a furry suit? So if we are prepared to go along with all that, surely we should be able to cope with the concept that sometimes characters wear masks, but sometimes, when they are in a show that requires acting, that they show normal faces?

Children deal with the concept automatically, so I don't think it bothers or confuses them in the slightest.

[Disney-Me]

This is the message I'm trying to get across to everyone that we should hold on to the Disney Magic.

Hmmmm. Is it really such a big deal? The applicable phrase is "willing suspension of disbelief". As adults we all know that the character whether "faces" or masked are just real people dressed up, don't we? We know that the Sleeping Beauty in the parade is a totally different girl to the one in the meet and greet? That Pluto is a guy OR girl in a furry suit? So if we are prepared to go along with all that, surely we should be able to cope with the concept that sometimes characters wear masks, but sometimes, when they are in a show that requires acting, that they show normal faces?

Children deal with the concept automatically, so I don't think it bothers or confuses them in the slightest.

Firstly, it is a big deal.

With all due respect to you and your opinion which explains alot about you, please allow me to say that I think your point of view is wrong. Walt Disney once said that Disneyland is dedicated to the young, and "young in heart". I suppose that when he said "Young in heart", he meant adults. It is our right to live out our dreams and be inspired from our childhood. And it is of deep importance that we live our dreams in a correct and moral manner. The one place we could do this is at a Disneyland.

As adults, we know that the characters are not real, but at Disney its all about our imagination, magic and make belief. It is nice for an individual to live this life and set himself free from reality from time to time. Trust me, children are aware of this even more than us adults.

Finally, I apologise if what I'm saying is harsh, but it is my own opinion and I wish you a magical day.

[DutchBrit]

[quote="Disney-Me] As adults, we know that the characters are not real, but at Disney its all about our imagination, magic and make belief. It is nice for an individual to live this life and set himself free from reality from time to time. Trust me, children are aware of this even more than us adults.[/quote]

Uh-huh. So your imagination can manage to forget that all the characters are teenagers dressed up, and accept clearly different people wearing the same costume as the same characters, but can't manage to accept characters being represented sometimes by masks and sometimes not? Surely not much more of an effort? It's all make-believe.

Yes, children are aware that imagination is important. Presumably that is why this sort of thing isn't a problem to them....

[pfspock]

What I don't get is: You can buy rubbermasks that neither blink, move, change their expression or talk, you accept chipmunks the same size as Mickey or a Pluto walking on two legs or even a Stitch which doesn't look the slightest bit like the movie character and who is probably the worst costume ever created by WDI as the real deal, but no, having two versions of a character just completely ruins the magic for you? Really?

[DutchBrit]

Finally, I apologise if what I'm saying is harsh

Harsh, no. Daft? Umm, yes. In my opinion, of course.

Just seems like you are choosing a strange point to be drawing the "reality' line.

Also having looked at the photos, I think having the fairy godmothers masked would have spoiled the whole look. I'm guessing 99.9% of the watchers will not find the lack of masks to be any sort of a problem.

[Disney-Me]

Uh-huh. So your imagination can manage to forget that all the characters are teenagers dressed up, and accept clearly different people wearing the same costume as the same characters, but can't manage to accept characters being represented sometimes by masks and sometimes not? Surely not much more of an effort? It's all make-believe.

Yes, children are aware that imagination is important. Presumably that is why this sort of thing isn't a problem to them....

I'm curious about how you interpret the facts and it differs completly.

I really don't care about who is in the character as long as the character's role is played properly and looks exactly the same. But I can not accept a character being a face character and then seeing him as an animated version minutes later. It is disappointing and disturbing since you can't completely deal with them willingly, and have to re-imagine the whole thing again. Its like one dream being divided in the same scenerio twice. Because they look totaly different.

On my behalf, I can imagine and deal with the difference in the characters being face or animated versions and convince myself these characters are the same character. However, all I am saying is that it is wrong to have both appear with different features.

There is something I would like to point out, Disneyland Paris didn't just make a mistake with the multiple appearances of the two versions, but also made a huge mistake with the timing between the show and the parade. It would have been more reasonable if they had a longer break between the appearances of the characters. For instance, if after the show a longer break is implemented so that guests could entertain themselves with other characters and then see the same characters again in their different version. This would have made things much easier and better, eventhough it is unacceptable to have the two versions in the same park.

[Disney-Me]

What I don't get is: You can buy rubbermasks that neither blink, move, change their expression or talk, you accept chipmunks the same size as Mickey or a Pluto walking on two legs or even a Stitch which doesn't look the slightest bit like the movie character and who is probably the worst costume ever created by WDI as the real deal, but no, having two versions of a character just completely ruins the magic for you? Really?

At least the Chipmunks, Pluto, Sticth and others all act and look the same all over the Dsiney parks. But using different versions (face and animated) in the same time is unacceptable. Disney have to be more consistent with the choices they take.

Dear friend, it seems like your imagination needs a little bit of Pixie dust. I appreciate your input, and must say its magical. I wish you a pleasant day where ever you are