Another week of intermittent wet weather swept through Disneyland this past week. Honestly, if you can stand the inconvenience and discomfort, rainy days are really the new “off season.” When it was dry, Disneyland was packed, when it was wet, Disneyland was enjoyable. Have you tried the Grey Stuff at the new Red Rose Taverne in Fantasyland? Lines were up to two hours long to get in there on opening day. But during the rainy days, you could waltz right in (though the signature dessert was still in short supply). Scott Attula posted a full review of the limited time restaurant yesterday HERE.
Welcome to Disneyland
At times it was sunny, then cloudy, then rainy – a rollercoaster weather week. Our thanks to Scott Attula for assisting Dusty with photos this week!
Around the Rivers of America, the sailing ships are both being worked on. The Mark Twain and Columbia traded spots on Monday, with the Twain moving to Fowler’s Harbor for refurbishment.
The Columbia and Mark Twain have switched places at #Disneyland. pic.twitter.com/lHQuGfYUsV
— MiceChat (@MiceChat) February 28, 2017
Space Mountain looks beautiful at night. Too bad it’s filthy during the day.
Star Wars Land Construction
Darth Daver brought us a great Star Wars Land update this week. Here are a few of the photos along with a link to the remaining Star Wars goodness.
Disney California Adventure
As you walk from Disneyland to DCA on a rainy day, you’ll notice the old terrazzo compass in the center of the Esplanade is behind safety gates. Apparently it gets very slippery when wet.
Oh no . . . “Spirit” teams!
Disney Jr. is still pulling in crowds even though Disney is about to cancel it.
Tower of Terror covered itself for the sake of modesty this week. After showing a bit too much color and unsightly pipes, beige tarps thankfully went back up. When this butterfly finally appears from its cocoon, I’m sure it will be beautiful . . . oh, who am I kidding . . . it’s going to be covered in pipes. 
The mural covering the Tough to be a Bug show building has seen better days.
Refurbishment work is being conducted on World of Color.
After a long refurbishment following the Christmas season, the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail has returned. It was quite an extensive refurb too. Everything has been re-roped, re-painted, and re-invigorated. It all looks like brand new.
I’d never been in the Ranger Headquarters before. It’s a nice little themed spot.
Across from the Challenge Trail, Grizzly River Rapids is also closed for its seasonal refurb.
Let’s talk this through . . . the wait time photos below were taken at 11am on a rainy Sunday. The park was not busy, as you’ve seen in the photos above. However, wait times for Sorin’, Radiator Springs Racers and Midway Mania were all over an hour. Screamin’ was 30 minutes. Why? With Tower of Terror, Grizzly River Rapids and the Hyperion Theater all closed, there’s just not enough big ticket attractions in the park to meet the demand . . . even on an uncrowded rainy day!
Disney Grand Californian
Major refurbishment continues on the entire pool area at the Grand Cal. The pool deck and pools are essentially being completely resurfaced. It’s quite the ambitious project. But we aren’t sure why they are doing this. The Grand Cal pool area looked just fine. We stayed there not long ago and enjoyed the pool and hot tub. Nothing looked out of the ordinary. The Disneyland Hotel did something similar last year.
Disneyland Resort Refurbishments:
- Autotopia will undergo a short refurbishment from March 20-22.
- The Matterhorn Bobsleds are closed for refurb. No return date has been announced but it should return this spring.
- Pirates of the Caribbean is closed for refurbishment through March 15.
- The Main Street Electrical Parade is scheduled to end on June 18.
- Rivers of America and the Disneyland Railroad attractions remain closed for Star Wars land construction.
- Grizzly River Run is under refurbishment through March 22.
- Mickey’s Fun Wheel is closed for refurbishment through March 3.
- World of Color will be closed for refurbishment through March 5.
All of us on the Disneyland Photo Update crew would like to thank you for joining us today. Today’s MiceChat Disneyland Update was shot and assembled by Dusty Sage and Scott Attula.
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That’s it for this week’s Update.Are you a photographer? Do you love the parks? Would you like to contribute to the Disneyland Update or other MiceChat columns? Contact Dusty Sage: [email protected]
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