Disneyland is preparing to show its “not-so-scary” face as summer comes to an end and Halloween creeps in. Major attractions have closed to prepare holiday overlays and new merchandise is now on store shelves. Unfortunately, some maintenance problems are also lingering. Let’s take a look at the new boos . . . good and bad.
| Holloween Continues to Creeps In |
The major Halloween decorations aren’t out yet, there’s one last summer holiday weekend. But once Labor Day is over, you’ll starting seeing a lot more orange and yellow bunting throughout Main Street. Over at the Magic Kingdom in Florida, they are ALREADY doing their Halloween parties. Now that is scary! 😉
… But Halloween future is already starting to take shape.
Space Mountain is already down for a lengthy 4-week refurbishment. In previous years, Space required 4 days or less for the Halloween install. Hopefully, the attraction is receiving a little love, as the lighting and projections were due for some upgrades. But would it be too much to hope for an upgraded version of Ghost Galaxy this year?
Haunted Mansion closed last night to begin its holiday install. Let’s see how Jack will wreck the halls this year.
Both Space Mountain and Haunted Mansion Holiday will return on Friday, September 15th. But will this be the last year for these two Halloween overlays as Disneyland tries to get guests to shift their attention to DCA? Once Star Wars land opens, Disneyland is going to be packed daily for quite some time. They won’t need gimmicks like Halloween and Christmas to fill the park. But DCA has plenty of room for extra guests. So that begs the question, what’s going to happen with holiday overlays such as Nightmare Before Christmas, Ghost Galaxy, Small World Holiday and Jingle Cruise? Just the tip of the iceberg in operational changes which may be coming to Disneyland in the wake of their largest and most highly anticipated expansion ever. I doubt it, the seasonal offerings are just too popular for Disney to let them sit in mothballs, but time will only tell.
As every day passes more Halloween pops into shop windows and displays across the resort.
Over at the Emporium, all the bi-coastal merchandise has been placed on display.
I like the reimagined look of the characters this year in the merchandise. Hopefully, the characters in the park will take on the same look this Halloween.
There are new pins this year as well . . .
| Dark Splash Continues |
A few weeks ago we showed you that Splash Moutain has been having some major lighting problems. Both exterior and interior lighting is out all over the attraction and some of the Animatronic figures are also nonfunctional. So let’s take a ride through this week to see just how dark this “dark ride” is getting.
Entering the show building the Geese are almost all in the dark.
After the second drop into the laughing place…
To their credit, after the third drop Disney has restored the lighting over the boat but the rest of the show scene is still in the dark. Also, the Pig playing the organ is missing.
Can barely see what’s got Brier Fox’s tail
Splash Mountain is one of the signature attractions of the park and one of Disney’s all time great rides. It’s really unacceptable that it continues to operate in such a substandard condition week after week.
| Parade Route Pot Holes |
Disneyland feels a little more empty in the evenings now that the Electrical Parade has ended its run. After the Halloween parade traverses the park this year, Disneyland will be without a nightly parade for a long time. Paint the night is moving to DCA and Halloween parties (and parade) will move to DCA next year as well. But it’s not all bad, as you can navigate the park a little easier in the evening now.
With emptier streets, the Main Street vehicles can now travel the street in the evening.
Now let’s talk about those pot holes… If you walk down Main street you can see a lot of cracked and patched pavement. It just feels messy. Hopefully, after the holiday season, Main Street can get a full repaving with both the daytime and nighttime parades being down.
Over in Fantasyland, the ground at small world mall is also a crack and patch mess.
| Fantasmic Crowds Roars! |
As Fantasmic 2.0 moves to weekend only showings, crowds still crush around the New Orleans Square to view the new version of Fantasmic. At about 5:30 pm ropes began to be set up. Guests are allowed to sit and wait for the show in advance in the non-ticketed areas:
- 2 Hours allowed along the upper walkways of the New Orleans stadium – to the right of the Pirates Entrance to the churro cart (just keep on the red bricks of the upper section or close to the railing on the level walkway section)
- 1 Hour allowed on the lower area on Stage Right (left as you face the stage) behind the Raft Dock to the Harbour Galley ( the old smoking section is used as disabled viewing zone and is off limits to the standby waiting section. Disabled guests can enter their viewing zone a 2-Hours prior to the show)
If you are traversing the West Side of the park between the hours of 6 to 8pm (before the first show of the night) be prepared to be stuck in gridlocked traffic as the area is roped off and most of the walkways are reduced significantly.
My recommendation is to stay out of the area during Fantasmic unless you want to feel like cattle…Moo!
Fantasmic and fireworks are switching to an off-season schedule of weekend performances only. While that’s sad news for weekday visitors, it does mean that the park will be less crowded and you’ll likely be able to make weeknight riverboat cruises (which are all too rare these days).
| Disneyland |
Main Street
The Little Red Wagon Corn Dog Cart is under refurbishment. The construction fence runs along the walkway to the side of Plaza Inn all the way back to the cast member gate and into the back entrance of Plaza Inn.
This week is forecast to be very hot in the parks (hovering near 100º for much of the week ahead). When the temp rises outside, we start looking at the things you can do inside. Let’s take a dive into some air condition in the Disney Galley on Main Street.
Inside the viewing area, The Train display is still up but it should be getting replaced soon.
Have you seen the pocket watch on the new train route? (It appears to be a functioning watch as the hands move). We won’t tell you exactly where it is. It’s a fun little easter egg for you to keep an eye out for.
Over inside Disneyana some of the theme park merchandise that was on sale at the D23 Expo is still available.
Fantasyland
Over at it’s a small world, you can see how smoke from the train has damaged the gold paint on the decorative bridge the train passes under.
Also, maybe Disney can hide this projector better… or even give it a matching paint job.
Toontown
Looks like ToonTown is in need of a toon-up in a few places.
This attraction requires Guests to navigate narrow, winding stairs. Very few guests make the trip.
The real shame is the abandoned Ball Pit behind the tree house. We understand that the ball pits aren’t hygienic by today’s standards. But they’ve had years to figure out what to do with this space and it still sits derelict.
Over at Minnie’s House, she now meets guests outside the front door with the queue waiting on the Handicap ramp.
Her house is still open though, you just have to enter through the back door.
Over at Donald’s Boat, some work has been down to clean up the grime, but it still looks TERRIBLE.
Star Wars will be very visible from inside ToonTown, hopefully, some tree cover can fix that.
Star Wars Land
HVAC is being installed on the roof of the Battle Escape attraction.
The top of the Mountain Range was installed last week. We are now under 2 year until opening.
At night it looks like work lights have been installed in part of the attraction.
The mountain peak has a light on it as well, though it is likely temporary.
New Orleans Square
The Train has been having issues a lot lately. The night I shot this update we waited for the trains went down for a good 35 minutes due to the train signaling system being down. Most of the time was used to restart the computer and that took about 25 minutes.
Over at French Market Disney has added a new planter to divide the extended seating area from the walkway.
Tomorrowland
On the monorail, seats, and walls are clearly in need of refurbishment.
| MICECHAT KNOTT’S SCARY FARM SPOOKTACULAR |
SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 30TH, 2017
Tickets at: http://
(WE ARE SOLD OUT – don’t delay in getting your name at the top of the waiting list!)
This is the 12th anniversary of our ultra-popular Halloween event and we are working with the great folks at Knott’s Berry Farm to make this our best haunt ever! Leave the real world behind and enter a dreamland of spooky fun with fellow Micechat readers.
This is a VIP experience. You’ll get exclusive access to the haunt designers, special tours, front of line access, and an amazing Mrs. Knott’s buffet dinner before the scares begin. This is the ultimate way to experience Knott’s Scary Farm and the best package for the event.
Event includes:
- Admission into Knott’s Scary Farm
- Meet and greet with maze designers
- Backstage tour of a new maze before the event
- All you can eat Private… Pre-scare Boo-fet dinner
- Early entry into Haunt
- Unlimited front of the line access to all mazes!
- Fastlane front of the line for rides!
- Priority Seating for the final performance of ELVIRA at Knott’s Scary Farm!!!
- For one simple price, you’ll get an entire night of food, entertainment, friends, frights, fun and EXCLUSIVE OPPORTUNITIES!!!
We only have a couple tickets left, get yours today! For questions, please contact [email protected]
Tickets at: http://
| Thank you! | |
| All of us on the Disneyland Photo Update crew would like to thank you for joining us today. Each week we’ll feature different photographers and commentators (often more than one). Today’s MiceChat Disneyland Update was shot and assembled by Brian Pinsky with additional photo contributions from Dusty Sage, Dsny Debbie, and Suzanne Lee. |
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That’s it for today’s update. Join us later this week as we look at California Adventure, Downtown Disney, and the Parking Around the Resort. 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]