The Disneyland Resort is always quite charming, but during this season is also alarming. I know you’re curious to see what’s inside. It’s what happens when two holidays collide! Today we’ll take you on a journey of construction, crowds and the first signs of Christmas. There are interesting construction projects in Tomorrowland, Small World mall, as well as new FastPass distribution kiosks that have popped up in Tomorrowland.
Now, it’s time for our holiday tale to begin…
It’s Christmas-O-Ween
Castle Snow
Holiday installation is a huge undertaking throughout the entire Disneyland Resort. As a result, many of the decorations must be installed during Halloween Time to meet the deadline. The holidays officially kick off on November 8th, just a few short days after the pumpkins are put away. This past weekend, snow began to appear on Sleeping Beauty Castle! Let’s just pretend that Jack Skeleton is doing the decorating.
As we visited the resort this past week to prepare for this update, we watched as the castle rooftops were decked out for the upcoming season of gingerbread and candy canes.
By the end of the week, the entire castle should be covered in snow and lights.
It’s A Small World Gets Jolly
Today marks the first day of Small World’s Holiday installation. But before the attraction closed, signs of the overlay were already going up outside the building.
Strands of lights are being strung on the building without bulbs yet. This helps them blend into the facade. But soon enough, Disney’s decorators will plug hundreds of bulbs into place.
Grizzly Peak Lanterns
Across the way at Disney California Adventure, the trees of Grizzly Peak are being adorned with twinkling light jars. Once illuminated, they have the look of captured lightning bugs.
And over at the Sonoma Terrace, lanterns have been strung throughout the tree in the center of the terrace. These lanterns are used during Mostly Kosher’s set during Festival of Holidays. We are excited about the return of Mostly Kosher and the many other bands and entertainment during the festival. November 8th will be here before you know it!
New Merchandise
Holiday merchandise has started to materialize as Holidays continue to collide and Natalie has the scoop. Check out her article here:
Holidays Collide as Disneyland’s First Winter Merchandise Begins to Appear
Trevor is back and he visits Disneyland park to see how these two holidays collide. Check-out his video below:
Travel Deals!
You’ll have to act fast on some of these Get-Away Today special deals. Extra day free at Disneyland. Halloween offers. Kids free in San Diego. And the AMAZING Cruise sale ends tomorrow! When calling, always mention MiceChat to get the best rates. MORE INFO HERE
Galaxy’s Edge Updates
Star Wars (might be) Off The Menu
Docking Bay 7 quick-serve location at Galaxy’s Edge in Orlando dropped the Star Wars names from the top billing of the items on the menu. The California menus remain, for the most part, Star Wars-themed.
While the Docking Bay 7 item names here at Disneyland have yet to change, in Orlando the items now feature plain English. Gone are the fun but potentially confusing Star Wars names, they are replaced with simple titles like “Beef Pot Roast,” making the menu easier to read and understand.
California did make one small menu concession, the new flavor at Kat Saka’s Kettle now says “popcorn” instead of “popgrain.”
New Offerings
Speaking of new offerings, we tried two new menu items in Galaxy’s Edge. First, the Ronto-less Garden Wrap. This vegan Wrap is a lighter option and the plant protein almost tasted like real meat with a tangy sauce. Many folks might enjoy this more than the original Ronto Wrap.
Brian also tried the Chocolate Covered Popcorn. The best way he could describe it was kettle corn with melted Tootsie Rolls drizzled on top.
Both of these items are definitely welcome additions. You can find out about all the new California Galaxy’s Edge menu additions in the article below:
Otherworldly New Foods & Reservation Options for Disneyland’s Galaxy’s Edge
Tomorrowland Fastpass Distribution
Over in Tomorrowland, new touchscreen Fastpass Distribution Machines have opened in front of the Tomorrowland Theater. These aim to simplify the FastPass booking experience and, for the most part, we were pretty happy with them.
As you approach the kiosks, a monitor displays the current FastPass return times for each Tomorrowland attraction. This monitor actually is one of Galaxy’s Edge Boarding Pass Status boards, which hasn’t been used since June. We are glad to see this being repurposed.
From there, you approach the individual kiosk screen where you scan your park admission and select from the list of available attractions.
Once you have selected your desired attraction, a reminder appears on the screen for about 30 seconds before returning to the Scan Ticket Screen. It does not print you a reminder ticket like the legacy machines did.
Here are some observations our team made about the kiosks:
- No paper Fastpass reminders are printed
- The touch screens allow enough time before clearing/resetting the Reminder Screen to take your phone out and snap a screenshot of your return window.
- The only way to find out your return time after the reminder screen clears is to ask a Castmember with a Fastpass scanner at a Fastpass Attraction/Information Kiosk or use the Disneyland App. .
- There may not be enough kiosks to meet demand. With only 5 kiosks in Tomorrowland, there may be a need for more kiosks to allow for more guests throughput.
- If this test succeeds and these machines rollout resort-wide, we may lose the themed Fastpass machines around the parks, like the ones at Matterhorn or the Gonk Droids at Star Tours. Hopefully, Disney can repurpose those and find ways to dress up the kiosks to fit the surrounding theme.
The original home for the FastPass kiosk has seen some changes as well.
Currently the Fastpass Return times continue to display on the attraction marquees. But other signs in the area around Buzz Lightyear and Star Tours machines have been covered or removed.
The old machines continue to sit covered.
In front of the former distribution area, it looks like its now stroller parking.
Over at Space Mountain, there’s significantly less signage around the entrance of the attraction.
Crowd Flip Flop
Last week we reported a huge upswing in Resort attendance due to Fall Break for many students. This week crowds have fallen back to reasonable levels, but not quite as empty as what we experienced this past summer.
Construction Kingdom
Tomorrowland Entrance
Work continues on the east side of the Central Plaza with the walkway and Tomorrowland entrance reshaping. More planters and curbs have been taken over by construction walls.
The Plaza Inn is still oddly boxed in and signs have been put out to help guests who may be confused as to where it went.
The entire south-eastern part of the Hub was enveloped by construction walls as work now begins on lowering the curbs to match the rest of the Hub. There’s very little of this area not under construction beside the two narrow walkways going into Tomorrowland.
During fireworks, part of the street viewing area has to give way to create a walkway around the Eastern part of the Central Plaza, at least until the curbs are finished.
Basic outlines for the new, smaller planters are starting to take shape.
Just beyond Astro Orbitor, construction continues on the entrance murals near Buzz and Star Tours.
Space Mountain Staircase
The construction project that we have been following in front of Space Mountain for the past few weeks has finally shown enough progress to reveal what it is. It looks like this is a new emergency exit for the upper level of the Space Mountain deck.
Matterhorn Repairs
Half of the Matterhorn has been shut down since early August when a chunk of rockwork near one of the waterfalls collapsed. The attraction begins a short refurbishment this week, so hopefully, they can wrap up the repairs at that time.
Small World Mall
Along the parade route closest to Small World, some refurbishment is being done to the old Light Magic projector towers.
They also seem to be working on the roof of the small stand (which oddly is named Fantasy Faire Gifts, but is not located in Fantasy Faire).
Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway
Demolition has been completed backstage to clear land for the future site of Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway show building. That included the rolling hills that hid the Team Disney Anaheim building, which is now in full view.
There won’t be much to see for a while as all the debris from the demolition is cleared out and construction begins on the new show building. This is a big building, here’s a map of approximately where it’s going to go:
Adventureland Sign
While the Adventureland sign construction seems to be finished, they’re still adding small details. We noticed some lights for the sign and a new lantern hanging from the thatched roof.
The lights are meant to illuminate the sign more evenly; before it was only lit by the fire above the Tiki Juice Bar.
Unfortunately, the way things are lit creates some shadows that make the sign hard to read at night. We do appreciate that the lights flicker similarly to the fire on the other side in an effort to replicate that effect, that small detail really helps.
The new lantern an interesting focal point for the entryway.
Main Street Opera House
At the front of the park, work continues on Opera House as much need exterior refurbishment work is completed.
Avengers Campus
Progress continues on next summer’s new land, Avengers Campus. More steel has been installed towards the back of the land on the PYM quick-service restaurant.
If you look through the tree line you can see the Avengers Headquarters close to Guardian’s Tower and to the Red Car Trolley line.
Mickey & Friends Parking Structure
Over at the Mickey and Friends Parking Structure, work continues on the new elevator as construction crews begin to test the lifts inside the shafts.
Outside the shafts, more tile work continues on the courtyard floor.
Near the restrooms, new tiles are being added and construction seems to be moving fairly quickly. The restrooms have remained open during this remodel.
New security fencing is being installed on one of the courtyard staircases.
Closer to the tram drop off, work continues on where the new Mickey and Friends Structure orb will be installed.
Toy Story Parking Lot
In the Toy Story Lot, several projects have been occurring. Let’s start off with the sign at the entrance of the parking lot.
Moving inside the Woody lot, Disney is constructing a security checkpoint and new bus loading stations. This is an effort to help expedite traffic around the Harbor checkpoint at park side by having Toy Story lot guests screened before they board the busses.
Simba Parking Lot
Over at the Simba parking lot, work has progress this week with the old toll booths are now being destroyed. Two new booths are now in operation as well as 4 new entrance lanes.
Refurbishment Calendar
Here is a list of Refurbishments as well as projects that begin today:
Currently Under Refurbishment:
- Red Car Trolley: April 1st, 2019-2020
- Matterhorn Bobsleds: October 21st-25th
- it’s a small world Holiday Install: October 21st-November 7th
- Fantasy Faire Gifts Shop: October 21st-November 14th
Upcoming Refurbishment:
- Matterhorn Bobsleds: October 28th-November 1st
- Mark Twain River Boat: October 28th-November 1st
- Indiana Jones Adventure: November 4th-7th
- Autopia: November 4th-14th
This and That
We’ve noticed a few printed menus in some food locations, the first being Tropical Hideaway. The menu is very confusing at this location, particularly at the Dole Whip stand, as there are many extra options to choose from. While the menu design isn’t our favorite, it does a better job of explaining to guests what is available. Nowhere on the normal menu does it mention that you can get plain mango or pineapple/mango swirl without the loaded option.
Carnation Cafe has a few specials, they’ve opted to print them and put them in displays on the table.
And yes, the Electric Chicken Sandwich is delicious. The slaw helps with tempering the strong flavor of the sriracha-glazed fried chicken and pepper jack cheese.
Make sure you pick up your favorite Halloween Time foods soon. While on Main Street, we tried the Spiced Bundt Cake (amazing as always) and the Pumpkin Cheesecake (delicious, like eating pumpkin pie on a cheesecake) at Jolly Holiday Bakery.
It’s going on several months that Pirates of the Caribbean has been missing its harpsichord. This ghostly instrument is missed.
Over on Main Street, the Peter Pan diorama window has curtains blocking the view. Hopefully the refurbishment on the window wraps up soon.
In Tomorrowland, the formal Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge window has been updated for Rise of the Skywalker. (Insert Galaxy Edge Joke here…)
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:
October is also Kids Free Month in San Diego!
That’s it for this week. What do you guys think about Christmas coming early? How about the new FastPass system in Tomorrowland? Let us know in the comments below.
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