Disneyland Park awakes each morning to a colourful
character cavalcade created especially for the celebration, bringing a
train full of classic Disney stars onto the streets of Disneyland to
join the 15th Anniversary party.  With a gleaming new redesign and some very special passengers,
Disney Characters’ Express brings a real care-free atmosphere to Main
Street USA throughout the morning and early afternoon.

This is your chance to rub noses with the VIPs of the
Disney world, get cheek-to-cheek with a host of wild party animals or
let your fantasies fly with fairytale friends.  Each day and every
Character Express brings new faces and unexpected live surprises direct
to you.

“All Aboard!”

Disney Characters’ Express

“Attention! Attention! Le petit train des personnages
arrive!”
“The Disney Characters’ Express is coming!”

With a *choo choo*, a puff of smoke and a frenzied
pace, the familiar Casey Jr train rolls into view from next to
Discovery Arcade.  Huffing and puffing with smoke pouring and
pistons pumping, the Character Express makes its way slowly but surely
across Town Square to Main Street, and goes “full steam ahead!” for the
heart of the magic, its unstoppable soundtrack filling the air.

“Tous en train, tous en train! All aboard!”

Riding aboard its three anniversary-styled blue, white
and gold wagons are a whole host of famous Disney Characters,
“en route au coeur du magie” – heading
to Central Plaza for a magical meet ‘n’ greet with all their fans! 
As the hefty trainload of characters and dancers in blue and white
rounds the corner, guests grab their first glimpse at the famous faces
on board – different with every journey, and all wearing special
15th medals.

Up Main Street the cavalcade continues, gathering steam
and speeding past guests through the blue surround of Lumi�re’s 15th
Anniversary banners lining the street on this special party occasion. 
As it joins Central Plaza and rounds the final corner, the Characters’
Express puffs a final breath of steam and comes to a halt right outside
Sleeping Beauty Castle.

Disney Characters’ Meet
‘n’ Greet

With Casey Jr taking a well-earned rest, the characters
are helped down from its wagons by their partners in dazzling blue and
white, before they run off to dedicated locations around the hub,
creating a circle of famous faces all around Central Plaza!  Four
special photo locations featuring Lumi�re and a giant ’15’ emblem have
been positioned to allow characters meet and greet their guests in
style, with the stars heading to the location that suits them best –
for example: Chip ‘n’ Dale near Frontierland, Captain Hook at
Adventureland, Pinocchio outside Fantasyland or Buzz Lightyear near
Discoveryland.

With different characters arriving for the party with
every journey of the Disney Characters’ Express, this provides a
perfect opportunity to grab those final few autographs for your
collection – and “say cheese” with the characters for a memento of your
15th Anniversary meet ‘n’ greet experience.

Their time at the party complete for now, the
characters head back to the express train and the whole cavalcade
steams back along Main Street USA with the catchy music of “All Aboard”
filling the air.

“Choo Choo!!”

Music

In the months before the official premiere of Disney
Characters’ Express, great speculation about the music choice spread,
with the three favourites of the recently retired

‘Dancin
(A Catchy Rhythm)’, the popular
‘All
Around The World’ and the new
‘Just
Like We Dreamed It’ ultimately proved wrong.  The music
was finally confirmed with a nighttime preview performance for travel
trade groups one week before the premiere, and would be brand new to
Disneyland Resort Paris.

The irrepressible song ‘Tous
En Train – All Aboard’ actually originates from a 2001 Tokyo
Disneyland parade, ‘Disney’s Party Express’,
and was brought to life again in 2006 thanks to the
‘Rainy Day Parade’ locomotive parade at
Hong Kong Disneyland.  The version heard with Disney Characters’
Express, however, is almost totally re-recorded and features brand new
lyrics in both French and English.  With engine sounds, words
inviting guests to “join the party” and head “to the heart of the
magic” plus an unstoppable beat, the song has fast become a firm
favourite at the park and a key theme of the 15th Anniversary
celebrations.

History

First announced to press as ‘Le Petit Train des
Personnages Disney’ on 24th October 2006, Disney Characters’ Express
actually uses a very familiar base for its locomotive cavalcade – the
old Dumbo Casey Jr float of ‘The
Wonderful World Of Disney Parade‘, which was retired just
one week before the 15th Anniversary.  Created as one of several
new floats for the parade’s debut in 1998, the train become a key icon
of this “timeline of Disney Classics” parade and of the park’s parades
in general.  The float first appeared in chronological order,
before later serving as the finale to the parade for much of its run
until 14th July 2006, when the parade was once again renamed
‘Disney
Princess Parade‘ and lost the float.  It was not until
early 2007 that Casey Jr’s eventual return was fully confirmed…

Concept art for
the event, showing the redecorated Dumbo float and its route to Central
Plaza, was first released at the 21st February 2007 shareholders’
Annual General Meeting.  The concept revealed the striking new
colours of Casey Jr along with some of the characters that would be
featured on-board.

Disney Characters’ Express began public rehearsals on
30th March 2007, with its official press premiere the following day,
31st March 2007, during the
15th Anniversary
launch events.  For the occasion, 15-year old Miley Cyrus,
star of Disney Channel’s hit show ‘Hannah
Montana’ rode aboard the train, which for one performance
stopped exclusively for press photographers and film crews in front of
the Castle.