Can you feel it? Even though Disneyland has been decorated for Halloween for some time now, it’s really starting to feel like fall with the days ending sooner and the crispness in the air. But that doesn’t mean things are slowing down at the Disneyland Resort. You’ll find there are lots of projects happening currently, with more yet to come. Plus, more entertainment changes, Halloween, park merchandise, and much more.
Disneyland
Crowds
The parks have been great to visit lately. With everything looking so spirited, I’m surprised that the crowd level has been so low. Halloween has been huge business for Disney these past few years; however, recent entertainment changes and price increases seem to have tempered the number of guests in the park this fall.
This summer, everyone was saying “Just wait until the pass holders are unblocked.” But that didn’t really budge the needle. Then it was “Just wait until Halloween time, the crowds will be back in force.” Aside from a brief stint of the Electrical Parade bumping attendance at night, the parks remained in mostly enjoyable conditions during the days. Now it’s Christmas which is hoped to turn things around. But it just may be the 2nd attraction in Galaxy’s Edge that everyone is waiting for. We’ll have to take a wait and see because the continued weakness in attendance continues against all odds.
Although the average wait time has risen from the last couple of weeks, the waits aren’t bad for any attraction. Other than Matterhorn (which is still at half capacity) and Haunted Mansion Holiday, the majority of the rides have little to no wait.
Of course, to you savvy Disney fans, low crowds make the perfect opportunity to visit and see the Halloween decor at the same time.
Discount Disneyland Tickets and Travel
MiceChat and Get Away Today bring you the best theme park travel deals. Don’t miss our current Halloween Time specials from Get Away Today:
Construction
Everywhere you turn, there’s some sort of project happening. While the majority of them are on a smaller scale, the big ones (particularly in Tomorrowland) will have a lasting impact on Disneyland once they’re finished.
Opera House
Once you’ve passed the Disneyland Railroad, you’ll notice that the Opera House is behind construction walls and scrims. This is most likely a touchup and cleaning of the building’s facade. Although, something similar was done not too long ago.
They’ve sure got this building under wraps. In the meantime, you can still visit Mr. Lincoln as normal.
As of yesterday, the plain brown construction screens have been replaced with printed scrims.
Tomorrowland
French Fry Rock Removal
Construction continues on one of the last remaining Project Stardust items. The curbs around the Tomorrowland side of the Hub are being lowered and the rocks which obstruct the entry to Tomorrowland are being removed.
The french fry rocks at the entrance of Tomorrowland have nearly all been removed at this point, but now a long corridor of construction walls lines the entrance to the land.
It looks like they are doing some reshaping of the gardens along the Hub once again. The gardens were redone at the start of the year, so I’m curious as to why they’re behind walls now. These are the ones in front of Plaza Inn.
The black box is the show control building used for the nighttime spectaculars. It was covered by the french fry rocks before, so if you’ve never noticed it, that’s why. Now that it’s been un-fry-ed, Disney will either have to relocate it or cover it up with something else. This project is expected to be completed by early November, so they’ve got a lot of work to do!
Looking at it from above, you can see how extensive the construction is.
At the back of Tomorrowland is another project, It comprises the upper deck of Space Mountain, a portion of the old planter between the Tomorrowland Theater and the Starcade.
Looking at it from above, the retaining wall has been demolished, and it looks like a foundation is being built for what appears to be an elevator. This is probably to accommodate handicapped guests that can’t make it to the top of the walkway via the ramp.
Although, it sure would be interesting if they were to add an escalator here to provide simplified and easier access to the attraction.
The indoor portion of the queue remains largely unused. However, there are some new screens that have been added to the back near where the queues reconverge.
The screens are for the Disney Play app. We hope this queue goes back into use soon.
There is also now a register for snacks in the queue. While I can understand the mentality about providing an opportunity for food and drink while in line, this register is just before guests leave the side queue and move inside the main show building. That means more guests would be bringing food, beverage, and trash into the main queue.
The printed scrims on the front of Buzz Lightyear and Star Tours remain up on both sides of the Tomorrowland entry.
Adventureland
The sign at the Adventureland entrance has gained some new decor. It looks like the beginnings of a grass skirt is in the works.
The rest of the hut is barren for now, but it will likely get more decoration.
Meanwhile, the remainder of the building lies behind construction walls.
Behind the construction walls, the building still has construction planks, as well as moving water.
Matterhorn Repair
Over at the Matterhorn, the ride is still working only at half capacity. The chunk of rockwork that fell off the mountain still has yet to be repaired.
Because the attraction only has one side working, FastPass is not currently being distributed for it. Can you imagine the mayhem it would cause to have a half capacity standby that already pulls 45+ minute waits on a good day, and add a separate line of FastPass? The waits would easily double.
On the plus side, it’s good to see little things get repaired in a timely fashion, like painting a metal fence across from the attraction.
Toontown
Initial construction for Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway is underway with the clearing of buildings backstage. While we can’t see any on-stage work just yet, we can finally start tracking this project for you.
The new attraction is set to open in 2022. While the attraction is going to be built largely offstage behind Toontown, some redevelopments within the land are expected to happen, primarily in the Gag Factory space.
It would be great to see this space reinvigorated. I love the charm it has, but it needs a bit of sprucing up. The Gag-O-Matic at the cash-wrap only has one side working. It’s a little humorous to see the finished product coming out, with nothing coming in.
Entertainment Changes
Cavalcade
Now that the Main Street Electrical Parade has gone back into storage, Disneyland has brought back Mickey’s Band-Tastic Cavalcade in the interim between now and Christmas entertainment.
When we went on Thursday, the 3:30 show was pretty full along Main Street. But there was some visible confusion as to what people were lining up for. When the Cavalcade ended after just a few minutes, guests were left wondering what happened to the rest of the show. Go with the correct expectations, this is just a marching band with some characters dancing along.
All things considered, it is neat being able to see some of the more obscure Disney characters, like Kenai and Koda from Brother Bear.
To lengthen the Cavalcade, the Main Street cars will stop and the princesses will get out and dance while the band plays.
The Cavalcade is cute, but it isn’t really an equivalent exchange for a daytime parade. Thankfully, A Christmas Fantasy parade has a start date of November 8.
Frontierland Magicians
If you’re wandering through Frontierland you may encounter one of the magicians that perform there. You can find them from 12pm-4pm near the Mercantile Shops or The Golden Horseshoe, and are set to stay through November 22
Fantasmic
Showings of Fantasmic have been cut to once per night during weekdays. Friday through Sunday there are two showings at 9pm and 10:30pm.
DCA
Marvel Construction
Construction continues for Avengers Campus. With all the steel and construction scrims in the area going up, it looks like they’ve got the framework nearly completed.
The area is very much an active hard hat zone, with all sorts of construction equipment in use.
Maleficent Previews
To celebrate the upcoming Maleficent sequel, the Sunset Showcase Theater has nightly previews starting at 6pm. During the day, the theater shows PhilharMagic until 5pm. On Oogie Boogie Bash nights, the regular admission guests will not be able to see the previews.
It is good to know they can still convert PhilharMagic to previews if needed. Although, an hour of downtime seems a bit on the excessive side.
Frozen Cutbacks
Yet another aspect of entertainment at the Disneyland Resort has been reduced. Frozen has been cut down to five days a week instead of the previous seven.
Additionally, the showtimes have been moved an hour earlier than previous shows.
This and That
Dancing With Towers
This past week we saw some strange towers erected throughout the parade route on Main Street and the Hub. Our team had quite a time trying to figure out what they were for, but we think that the towers seem very similar to what was used for a previous taping of ABC’s Dancing with the Stars at DCA. We think that’s what they were for here as well.
There are columns spanning from the Mickey Pumpkin all the way to the edge of the Hub nearest the Castle.
Gay Days 2019
This weekend was the annual Gay Days event at the Disneyland Resort. There have been all sorts of rainbow treats and merchandise available throughout the parks and hotels. Although it isn’t a Disneyland Resort official event, Disney does take this opportunity to roll out new rainbow merchandise and treats and Disney’s D23 participates as well.
For the most part, the merchandise is available year-round, but they have gathered everything together in the larger shops, and a selection of rainbow merch in all the stores and stalls.
There is a special event tumbler of Rainbow Mickey, with a Rainbow Glow Cube available for a surcharge.
Host A Ghost
For the Haunted Mansion 50th anniversary, special Host-a-Ghost jars have been sold containing a ghost from the attraction. You can find these jars at the exit of the Haunted Mansion and in Disneyana.
Although, at Disneyana, there is a special AP exclusive jar that contains the ghost of the organist in the Grand Hall.
Expensive Headwear
Last week, supermodel and television host Heidi Klum released her set of Designer Ears. These Swarovski-covered ears can be yours for the low, low price of $600!!
We’ve heard varying reports about their status as available/unavailable, as well as how many are in the edition size. But we can speculate there’s some hesitation to buy them because of the steep asking price. Would you pay $600 for Mouse Ears?
Mickey and Friends Updates
The Disneyland app showed a surprise addition to the Mickey and Friends structure that has yet to be added, but which we showed you potential construction for last week. A new statue of Mickey Mouse will be the counterpart to the Pixar Ball at Pixar Pals. Currently, that area remains behind construction walls. Hopefully, the statue will be added and the area will be paved soon.
Work on the new elevator at Mickey and Friends continues.
Over at the Simba lot, there is some construction/repaving with a large chunk of lot currently closed. Similarly, there is construction happening at Toy Story, with the Bullseye lot partially open. It looks like new security and bathrooms could be added in.
Triple Force Friday
This past Friday was a special day for all things Star Wars, including at the Disney Parks. For this year’s event (this is the 3rd time since 2015 this event has occurred), there are three new properties to celebrate: Episode IX The Rise of Skywalker, The Mandalorian on Disney+, and Jedi: Fallen Order coming soon to video game systems. The World of Disney did its part with an exclusive midnight merchandise release. We have a closer look at the collection here:
Joining in the celebrations, Ashley Eckstein, Star Wars actor and founder of HER Universe, has a new set of Designer Minnie Ears inspired by Princess Leia’s iconic cinnamon bun hairstyle.
Avengers Damage Control starts Nov 18 at The Void
The Void at Downtown Disney sure has gotten busy with new overlays. First was the Star Wars adventure, then came Wreck-It Ralph, and starting November 18 comes the Avengers. This virtual reality escapade will equip guests with Iron Man suits to defeat a “familiar enemy from the Avengers’ past”. Have you tried any of the experiences at the VOID in Downtown Disney?
Every Land But . . .
Part of the Disneyland Halloween tradition is to place jack-o-lanterns representing each land surrounding the Walt and Mickey Partners statue. You can find Woody symbolizing Frontierland, Winnie the Pooh for Critter Country, and even Jack Skellington for New Orleans Square.
However, you’ll notice that there’s no pumpkin or character for the largest expansion ever for Disneyland, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.
Monorail Daily Operation
Halloween Ticket and Travel offer to Disneyland
MiceChat and Get Away Today bring you the best theme park travel deals. Here are some links that you can use to enjoy our current Halloween Time specials from Get Away Today:
MiceChat WDW Invasion . . . Come Join Us:
Join me and Dusty and a whole lot of other MiceChatters for a trip to Disney World this October. We’ll eat our way through the Food & Wine Festival and do all the Halloween things!
Mickey’s Halloween Party – October 17, 2019
Join us for the Magic Kingdom’s Halloween Party. The MiceChat group will meet up early and then head off together for parades, fireworks, and some trick-or-treating. Click the link to our Facebook event page (HERE) and let us know if you’ll be joining us.
MiceChat Sip and Nibble – October 18, 2019
If you haven’t done a Sip and Nibble with us, it’s time you do. We’ve found the best way to visit Epcot’s Food and Wine Festival. We take turns buying bites and drinks from each of the festival kiosks and share with the group. It’s a great way to try everything without breaking the bank. It’s also a fantastic day of friendship and fun. Let us know if you’ll be joining us on our Food and Wine Festival Event Page (HERE)
Halloween Horror Nights Meetup – October 19, 2019
Are you up for more of a Halloween challenge? We absolutely love Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights. There’s safety in numbers, so help muffle Dusty’s screams and join us for a meetup at one of the country’s top haunts. More information (HERE)
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