Southern California just had a lovely weekend without needing either a raincoat or a heavy-duty jacket, and it’s about time. Now that the sun is out, and this weekend had temperatures well above 70 degrees . . . Spring is just about here. Although, we’ve had to adjust to losing an hour of sleep, it means that there’s an extra hour of sun to enjoy the parks! Today we have a lot to cover, with info on construction updates around Disneyland, some new views of the Castle, and much more.
Happy 52 Years of Swashbuckling
Parking Garage Construction
The new parking garage is really shaping up quickly. The roof has been welded into place with additional supports and cross beams being added. The metal is also getting a white coat of paint.
Some of the escalators have been installed and covered, and scrims for potential elevators have been installed
Planters are being attached to the outer walls to mirror the existing structure.
Castle Construction
High winds over the weekend forced Disneyland to remove some of the castle construction scrims, giving us a temporary glimpse into the state of the refurbishment progress.
The beginnings of the newly re-colored and refurbished castle are becoming apparent. This week brought new turrets atop the castle as well, displaying the stark contrast between the old and new.
The new roof color scheme utilizes a more saturated blue palette, marking the difference between the old teal colors. While it’s very hard to tell from photos, in person the revitalized portions of the castle really stand out from the previous incarnation.
While some of the rooftops arrived at the resort preassembled, others await their shingles on site.
Shingles stacked to the left below.
The view from the back of the castle was also unwrapped over the weekend, temporarily removing Prince Philip and Maleficent.
Get your gander while you can, those printed scrims will be back in place soon.
Additional segments of the castle and the bordering wall have also been painted.
The drawbridge appears to have some additional detailing left to complete. The colors on the bench are perfect for imagining what the rest of the castle is going to look like. There is still marking tape along the benches and some of the railings, but this area should be finishing up relatively soon.
The castle is a massive project. It’s fun to get this additional look at the progress.
Star Wars Land Construction
As we approach the opening date of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, the park is putting some final details into place. If you’ve been trying to figure out how massive this land is going to be, our staff have created an overlay of the park that might help you out.
The majority of the rocks have finished their paint and finishing, The remainders are larger pieces that still have construction platforms and gear around their circumference.
There is still a bit of heavy equipment in place.
As the construction approaches its final phase for a May 31st opening, there is still a good chunk left to complete. But the land is mostly complete at this point.
Project Stardust
As the park braces for an influx of crowds in the upcoming months for the opening of Galaxy’s Edge, traffic flow projects continue throughout Disneyland.
Main Street still has a construction project around the garden in front of City Hall. That wall has been up for some time now with slower progress than most of the other Stardust projects. Hopefully, this project will be completed soon because it is creating a bottleneck right at the entry to the park.
The walls are still up in front of the Haunted Mansion. Currently, they are quite difficult to navigate through, but once they’re down, walking to and fro should be a bit easier. It will also be nice to have the full viewing space available for Fantasmic again.
The garden surrounding the exit of Autopia is behind scrims for planter reduction to provide an enlarged walkway.
Mark Twain Riverboat
The queue for the Riverboat recently had a new coat of paint applied, but it also appears that much of the paving has been ripped up.
ToonTown
This land is definitely looking a little worse for wear. Between the shingles coming off of buildings, the fountain out of operation, and the hills looking dingier than ever. As the primary focus of maintenance around the resort is currently on Project Stardust, it is sad to see this once vibrant land fall by the wayside.
This and That
Astro Orbiter
The Astro Orbiter is nearly fully reassembled. There are still some elements that are missing, like the rockets and one of the orbs. Behind the construction wall is another tarp-covered orb that will should be put into place very soon.
Pooh Corner
Much of the Pooh Corner shop is covered in brown scrims.
The shop remains open during exterior refurbishment.
Space Mountain
After what felt like a long time (although it was only 2.5 weeks) Space Mountain reopened on the 14th.
St. Patrick’s Day
Across the park, different areas were enjoying the holiday. Some exclusive merchandise, entertainment, and even food items could be found for the celebration this year. Yesterday, we took a look at the secret story of The Little Man of Disneyland, the park’s leprechaun resident.
The popular item this year was a mint shake at the Red Rose Taverne.
Downtown Disney
Black Tap is supposedly to open sometime next month. If that’s the case, they’ve still got a lot of work to do.
All of our Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge content can be found at the following link:
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Well, that about does it for this week’s update. What are your thoughts on the Castle’s progress? Do you like the new blues? Let us know below!
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