On-brand for 2020, last week felt like an eternity as we all anxiously awaited votes across America to be counted. But over at Disneyland, work ramped up as Disney prepares to reopen Buena Vista Street as an expansion of Downtown Disney shopping and dining. Meanwhile, the holiday spirit continued to move into the rest of Downtown Disney with more decorations popping up. Speaking of the holidays, we need your help to select some images we’ll be using this season on our social media channels. Be sure to read all the way to the bottom for your opportunity to select the winning images in our poll.
Buena Vista Street reopens November 19!
Disney officially announced last week that Buena Vista Street will reopen as an extension of Downtown Disney starting November 19. On Thursday, we ran a full guide on what to expect when visiting Buena Vista Street when it reopens.
Along with the reopening date announcement, Disney released additional details about what will be open and available when Buena Vista Street begins welcoming guests.
- Carthay Circle Lounge — Alfresco Dining: a new outdoor Carthay Circle Restaurant experience featuring a new “Mediterranean-California” dishes and shareables including the Carthay shrimp roll, harissa-roasted lamb, soy-glazed salmon, lemon-crusted fish of the day and an artisan cheese board. Carthay’s popular cocktail, beer, and wine menu will also be available.
- Fiddler, Fifer & Practical Cafe: Disney confirmed hot chocolate and cranberry orange scones among the offerings here. Disney also previously said artisan sandwiches would return here. The full Starbucks menu is expected to be available as well.
- Award Wieners: Corn dogs and soft drinks.
- Smokejumpers Grill: bacon cheeseburgers, chicken tenders, onion rings, waffle fries, kids’ meals, and milkshakes.
- Shopping locations including Elias & Co., Julius Katz & Sons, Kingswell Camera Shop, and Trolley Treats.
Christmas decorations are up in the Los Feliz Five and Dime storefront windows!
Also starting November 19, Disney will begin charging a flat $10 parking fee for parking in Downtown Disney’s Simba lot. Due to social distancing guidelines, capacity will of course be limited in Downtown Disney and Disney’s mobile waitlist system will be used to control crowds on Buena Vista Street.
If parking fills up, or you’d just rather enter the Resort via the less crowded Harbor Blvd. pedestrian entrance, you can use MiceChat’s promotional $10 parking rate at the Anaheim Hotel using the voucher below.
Buena Vista Street saw a flurry of activity last week with workers getting the area ready for its reopening on November 19.
Work is currently underway in front of the Buena Vista Street Red Car Trolley station. The activity appears to be related to the Trolley’s new electric charging station.
Earlier in the week, one of the Red Car Trolleys made an appearance at the Buena Vista Street trolley stop. It quickly disappeared again and work got underway on the ground beneath it. We expect the Red Car Trolley will return as a stationary photo op when Buena Vista Street opens.
And what the street looked like without the trolley the next day:
Grand Californian Phased Reopening
With the reopening of Buena Vista Street, Disneyland will soon take another step forward.
The Disney Vacation Club rooms at the Grand Californian will reopen on December 6th. However, all other hotel facilities will remain closed. That means that most of the food and beverage, fitness center, spa, and other amenities will remain closed. We are unsure about the pool area and will update this info soon.
While Disney is not promising when rooms for regular guests might be added, it’s clear that they are being very careful in their approach to reopening. A range of health and safety measures, including physical distancing, face coverings and increased hand sanitizer stations have been implemented throughout the property. And cleaning and disinfecting procedures have also been updated, with an emphasis on common areas such as lobbies, elevators and restrooms. And, before your arrival, every room will receive increased cleaning.
Christmas comes to Downtown Disney
As Buena Vista Street gets ready to reopen, the holidays continue to move into Downtown Disney, with more stores rolling out their holiday displays.
Marceline’s Confectionary is now serving up a variety of seasonal treats, making the demand for this popular shop even higher.
Toys for Tots donation drop-off boxes are now out in front of World of Disney. In addition to your donated toys, Disney will donate $1 for every toy donated at World of Disney or online at shopDisney.com. You can drop off your donated toys now through December 13.
Resort Enhancement cast members were out on Wednesday getting an overview of Downtown Disney as they prepare to install holiday decorations soon.
Planters still have their fall colors, but expect holiday foliage soon!
Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway construction update
Work continues on the massive Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway show building. The new attraction, which opened earlier this year at Walt Disney World, is scheduled to open in Mickey’s Toon Town in 2023.
Disneyland is (still) closed
As we discussed last week, California Governor Gavin Newsom’s strict guidelines for reopening theme parks have been a point of contention throughout the state’s theme park industry. Still, the governor has yet to walk back or revise his guidelines, even after mayors from some of California’s largest cities issued a letter urging the governor to do so. The letter, sent out on Monday, was signed by eight mayors including Mayor Eric Garcetti of Los Angeles, and Anaheim Mayor Harry Sidhu.
The guidelines put forth by your Administration were released within the framework of prioritizing public health and safety for guests and employees. This is the right focus. However, economic and public health are not mutually exclusive goals. We are concerned that the state’s guidelines would push re-opening of large theme parks up to a year out, which would have significant negative impacts on hundreds of thousands of jobs, thousands of small businesses, and billions in operating revenue for our cities.
On Monday, a Sutter County judge ordered Governor Newsom to stop issuing directives related to the coronavirus that might interfere with state law. Judge Sarah Heckman tentatively ruled that dozens of Newsom’s COVID-19-related executive orders were “an unconstitutional exercise of legislative power.”
The judge’s ruling is counter to other state and federal court decisions backing Governor Newsom’s emergency powers. It’s likely this ruling will be appealed quickly and will not go into effect. Still, if it does stick, it’s unclear just what kind of implications it will have for the theme park industry and Disney’s ability to reopen its Anaheim property. We’ll continue to keep you updated on this story as it progresses.
Reader Photos – YOU Pick Our Ho Ho Holiday Images
With the holidays upon us, we need to find new images for the cover of our social media pages. We reached out to the MiceChat community on Facebook and asked for their help. Nearly 250 readers shared their favorite shots from Disneyland! We tried to narrow the images down to our top 10 but just had to add one more. This is going to be a really hard list to pick a favorite, so we are going to leave that up to you in the poll below!
The images below are in no particular order. Take a look and then pick your top 3 favorites:
Amazing gallery of images isn’t it?! But we’ll make things a little easier for you, you can pick up to 3 of your favorite images below:
(If the poll won’t display for you, click THIS LINK instead)
Thank you for your help everyone! Head on over to MiceChat’s Facebook Group For even more photos and online fun.
Dusty in Paradise
I’ve been doing the Monday Disneyland Updates while Dusty has been at Disney’s Aulani resort in Hawaii this past week. Check out his dreamy live video from Aulani, a Disney Hotel and Spa:
NOTE: If you are interested in your own trip to paradise, you can request a free Aulani quote request by calling our travel partners at 855-GET-AWAY (and always let them know you are a MiceChat reader for the biggest discounts). Or, submit an online personalized quote request HERE.
Save On Future Theme Park Travel
(New Discount Theme Park Tickets and Travel Packages)
Our travel partners at Get Away Today are here to help you with your theme park booking and rescheduling plans. Whether you are ready to travel again or not, there is no better time to LOCK IN LOW RATES on future theme park travel to places like Walt Disney World, Disney’s Aulani in Hawaii, or family destinations like San Diego. Right now is a great time for you to speak with Get Away Today. Give your family something to look forward to and put a vacation on the calendar. Snap up those deals while you can, with your MiceChat partners at Get Away Today- HERE
New this week, discounts up to 35% off for WDW Hotels and a ticket package that combines Disney and Universal parks for extra savings!
Let’s hear from you!
Alright, that wraps things up for this week. Are you ready to return to Buena Vista Street next week, or are you going to wait a while before heading back to the park? Do you think Judge Heckman’s ruling will influence state policy regarding theme park reopenings? And don’t forget to vote in our holiday poll above. Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
It’s been my pleasure being back for these last couple weeks but I’ll be handing the reigns back over to Dusty next week. Thank you all for the warm welcome home last week and thanks to the outstanding MiceChat News Crew for their help in putting these updates together. Extra thanks to Mike Kindrich for his help with photos. I hope to see you all again soon!
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