Tinker Bell moves into new Disneyland home, giving Ariel the boot

How do you sit down for a photo with Tinker Bell without actually sitting on the palm-size pixie? We’ll soon find out when Peter Pan’s fairy friend gets her own meet-and-greet area at Disneyland.

Pixie Hollow, which takes the place of Ariel’s Grotto near the Matterhorn Bobsleds, is expected to soft open on Friday, Oct. 24, 2008 in advance of an official opening next week.

Visitors walking past an “enchanted” pond will feel as though they are shrinking to the size of a fairy through a series of visual and audio cues. Bronze statues of the five Disney fairies — Iradessa, Rosetta, Fawn, Silvermist and, of course, Tinker Bell — line the pathway. Along the way, whispers and echoes emanate from the fantasy fairy world. Tinker Bell, played by a 5-foot-tall face character, poses for photos in front of her home, an upside-down tea pot.

Most folks won’t think twice about posing for a picture next to a pixie that can fit through a keyhole. After all, Disneyland is a place where dogs walk on their hind legs, pants-less ducks swear like sailors and squeaky-voiced mice run the place.

Life-size Tinks already appear in Disneyland’s Parade of Dreams and high above Sleeping Beauty Castle in the nighttime fireworks show.

The evicted Little Mermaid will be shedding her tailfin and donning a dress over in the Princess Fantasy Faire at the Fantasyland Theater.

— Brady MacDonald, Los Angeles Times staff writer

Photo courtesy of Jim Hill Media

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 22, 2008 at 5:40 pm by Brady MacDonald and is filed under California, Disneyland, Family & Kids, Orange County, Theme Parks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.