Disneyland Update – High Above an Empty Disneyland

It’s time to kick 2020 to the curb! We are just days away from a whole new year, and hopefully some better news. And speaking of news, we have some exciting things for you today. I woke on Christmas morning to a note from Santa, one of his reindeer took photos of Disneyland on their flight over Anaheim! Let’s see how projects all over the resort— including Avenger’s Campus and Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway— are coming along. And with Christmas now in the rearview mirror, Disney has unleashed an epic sale in Downtown Disney while supplies last. Strap on your parachute, because we are headed off on a wild ride…

A Disneyland Update From The Air! 

When Blitzen sends you photos of Disneyland, you know they are going to be good, and these don’t disappoint. Let’s start with Disneyland. 

Disneyland had hoped to open in time for the holidays this year, and while there were big plans for castle lights and decorations, that was not to be. Below you see an empty Main Street USA with all exterior refurbishments now complete. 

The white strips on the sidewalks are social distancing markers. The park has been ready to welcome you for months! So, when the time comes, Disneyland will be as ready as they can be. 

Sad to see Town Square without its Christmas tree. 

Just off the Central Hub of Disneyland, in front of the Castle, we can see that the Tomorrowland entry project has stalled again. While the rest of the french fry rocks were removed during the closure, and the area repaved, the control box for the Astro Orbitor remains hidden by a small greenish construction box. Eventually, the plan is to install mid-century inspired gardens here: 

Here’s what the entry gardens should one day look like: 

In Fantasyland, exterior construction has wrapped up on Snow White (now called Snow White’s Enchanted Wish). More on that below. We can also see that work on the King Arthur Carrousel continues to linger on. Though the canopy is a beautiful saturated blue, construction walls still surround the structure.  

Pulling back, you get a view of the park from the Hub in the upper left to Small World in the lower right.  

The empty Small World flume appears bright and may have been painted. 

We’ll adjust our gaze just a bit East to Tomorrowland and the gorgeous turquoise waters of the Submarine Voyage. 

While there are no major projects in Tomorrowland right now, you can see how filthy Space Mountain has gotten this year with soot from all the local fires. 

And hopping over to the West side of the park . . . 

The spires of Big Thunder really make us miss the wild frontier. 

The Mark Twain is docked in Frontierland, Galaxy’s Edge lurks in the lower-left corner, and we can only just make out Splash Mountain and the Haunted Mansion.  

But we can almost get a clear view if we zoom in as far as we can.  While we can’t make out the front of the structure, construction scrims have come down from the northern side of the Haunted Mansion and we can see that the pet cemetery tombstones have been removed from the green lawn in front of the Mansion (likely placed back where they belong).  So, we are hopeful that the ride will be ready for guests whenever the park reopens.  

And as we make our way to the back of the park, we see the rooftops of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. 

And we end up at the construction site for Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway.  

HVAC equipment is now on the roof of the building and the side closest to the freeway is already being boxed in.  That’s going to be one HUGE ride! 

To give you a sense of scale, the building runs the entire length of ToonTown. 

But there’s more folks. Let’s head over to Disney California Adventure to see some photos from the sky and from the ground. 

Disney California Adventure Updates

Blitzen just skirted DCA, but we did get a few great shots that show the two big projects in the park, Avengers Campus and the new office building behind Luigi’s in Car’s Land.  

Here we see Hollywood Blvd in the foreground, with the nearly complete Avenger’s Campus behind it.  This shot really shows you how the new Marvel Land connects up with the Guardians of the Galaxy plaza and the East side of Hollywood Land. The area between the Hyperion Theater and the Tower is huge and could one day host new Marvel attractions. The parking lot is the space where the Avenger’s flying coaster will hopefully one day be built. Although Bob Chapek promised it at the last D23 Expo, events of the past year have delayed the start of most new projects, including this one. We’ll have to wait and see if it was scaled back or canceled entirely.  

Speaking of the Avengers, you can see the Quinjet parked atop the facade for that future attraction. A small shop is located under it. But everything beyond this facade would be future expansion for the ride. 

And between the Avenger’s shop and the building across from it (the Ant-Man themed PYM Test Kitchen) is Avengers Plaza with the logo emblazoned on the ground.  

The tall building in the back of the concept image is where the show building will one day go.  

Nearby, at the back of Cars Land, we see that construction has wrapped up on the new administrative building which skirts the Luigi attraction. It’s themed on the park side to look like Porto Corsa from Cars 2.  The vehicles for the attraction sleeping under their protective covers.  

Meanwhile, Buena Vista Street and part of Hollywood Land remain open to guests for shopping only. Most of the time, Disney no longer needs to control entry into DCA since it is already part of the Downtown Disney zone and attendance for the entire shopping area is limited. Lines for Five and Dime continue to be the longest, but don’t let them fool you, they generally don’t take longer than 15 to 20 minutes of waiting. Though, you can generally avoid the crowds altogether by visiting early in the day during the week (though this holiday week may remain busy).  

The line last evening stretched the entire length of Buena Vista Street, but it moved very fast.  

Even at max capacity for Downtown Disney (which includes DCA) this is about as crowded as it gets right now, which feels easily navigatable. 

The short line for Off the Page felt slower than the much longer line at Five and Dime. But there are a lot of unique items here. If Disney wanted to make things easier for guests and make a bit more money, they could convert the Animation Building projection room into more shopping space.  

And I actually love the idea of outdoor shopping, like they are doing at Stage 17 in the Hollywood Studios area of the park. It just feels like a safer alternative to shopping indoors.  

Outdoor vending has also created quite a large space for themselves near Carthay Fountain and the Guest Relations booth as well. Many holiday items are currently marked to sell out quickly. This is last call on the holiday sippers and popcorn buckets.  

We took home a balloon the other day just to have something lighthearted in the house to annoy the cat. But he seems to enjoy looking at it.  

Downtown Disney Happenings

It’s been an interesting week in Downtown Disney. For the first time in six decades the Disneyland Resort was closed for Christmas, and that includes all of Downtown Disney. But that didn’t slow down visits the following days. Let’s see what’s new this week…

Although Downtown Disney was closed over Christmas, they’re not taking the same approach for New Year’s Eve. That said, hours will be reduced slightly; the shopping district be open 9am-8pm (closing an hour earlier than the rest of the holiday period).

If this upcoming week was anything like this past one, it looks like you’ll be in for a pretty easy visit. Our staffers visited Downtown Disney a couple times last week, plus once on Sunday. Although people were lined up outside the entrance every time we visited, our wait in the queue really wasn’t too bad. On Sunday, we waited about 30 minutes to enter Downtown Disney. Though, the line snakes through the parking lot behind the old AMC theater . . . 

Once inside Downtown Disney, waits were minimal. Even World of Disney was only a 15-minute queue. 

One unusual thing we noticed was that Pandora is still closed. We reported last week that they closed unexpectedly but had hours posted for operation on the day after Christmas. In the world of retail, most retailers couldn’t fathom being closed leading up to Christmas or the day after, among the biggest shopping days of the year. It sure seems suspicious. No official word yet from Disney or Pandora on what the real reason is for this closure. 

As we headed out of Downtown Disney for the night, we did notice that people were still flooding into the Simba parking lot.

World of Disney Holiday Sale

If we had to guess, why people were coming and going all weekend long, it’s probably because of Disney’s blow-out pricing for their remaining holiday goods. Right now, World of Disney has discounted most holiday items 50% off, and there’s plenty of signage around the store just in case you happened to miss reading it somewhere else.

If there was a holiday outfit or accessory you had your eye on that didn’t end up under the tree this year, now’s your time to snag it before it sells out! Disney almost never marks down their merchandise, so 50% off is a big deal!

 

Although much of the holiday items are extremely discounted, one of the exclusions are ornaments. Instead of an overall discount, select ornaments are $20 each with the purchase of three ornaments. Definitely one of the pricier ways to decorate next year’s Christmas tree.

Many would-be stocking stuffers are on discount. You can find sales for things like plushes, socks, and the like.

Plus there’s an opportunity to snag a free lithograph of The Mandalorian with the purchase of a specific toy of The Child.

As we head into the new decade (*technically* the 2020s begin with 2021), there’s new merchandise to commemorate the new year. We’re keeping our fingers crossed that it isn’t a garbage fire like 2020 was. You can see the 2021 collection of merchandise in the article below:

Disneyland Merchandise Update: Kicking 2020 to the Curb

Snow White Revised

As we’ve been reporting for the better half of the year, Snow White’s Scary Adventures is becoming less scary. Along with the expected facelife to remove the scarier elements of the attraction, Disney has finally revealed an updated name for the attraction as well. So, say goodbye to “Snow White’s Scary Adventures,” and hello to “Snow White’s Enchanted Wish!”

Here’s a sneak peek from Disney:

Snow White’s Enchanted Wish will open with Disneyland at a future date. Enjoy a few pictures below.

We’d like to hear your thoughts. Do the changes make the ride more friendly for the little ones? Or are you sad to see another classic altered? Is a little scary still OK, or can’t today’s kids take a little freight? 

Photo Contest Winner

If you’ve been following the MiceChat Facebook group regularly, you may have noticed something different this week: no reader photo request! Well, that’s for good reason. Today, we’re announcing the winner of last week’s MiceChat reader photo contest. The winner of the contest will win a $100 Disney gift card! And now, ladies and gentlemen, let’s take a look at the top 5 submissions of the contest. Over 1,600 of you voted!

In 5th Place: 

4th Place:

And we should note that the top three photos were all submitted by the same photographer!

3rd Place: 

2.

And the winner is… This gorgeous photo of a Disneyland Christmas! George Landis, congratulations on your win!

To see more of our readers’ incredible photos of Disneyland, and to see more from a fun community of Disney lovers, be sure to join our MiceChat Facebook group! Keep an eye out this week for an announcement of the first reader photo submissions for 2021… it’ll be something fun!

To see the other entries in the contest, take a look at the article below.

Disneyland Update – Christmas on Ice for the Naughty and Nice

This & That

And to close out today’s Update, here are a couple more stories you may enjoy.

Disney Wish 

Although the travel industry is in the midst of a massive slowdown, there are still some things to be looking forward to. On Christmas Day, Disney showcased a never-before-seen video of one of their upcoming cruise ships, the Disney Wish. This new ship, set to launch in 2022, is inspired by Cinderella. In the sneak peek, Disney unveiled a Cinderella statue and a look at the ship’s “Great Hall.” Take a look:

‘Soul’ Now Streaming on Disney+

If you’re looking for something to keep you entertained in the last few days of 2020, Disney-Pixar’s latest film, Soul, has just been released exclusively on Disney+. Its theatrical release was delayed and eventually held off entirely in lieu of direct-to-streaming, but it’s a charming film. You can watch Soul now on Disney+, and you can read more about its journey to the streaming platform in the article below.

Pixar’s Soul Skipping Theaters for Disney Plus on Christmas Day!

Continue the Festivities!

Although Knott’s Berry Farm’s fabulous holiday festival Taste of Merry Farm was cut short, you’re still able to enjoy some of the tasty food and goodies! Knotts announced yesterday that the Cable Car Kitchen will offer items to-go from Taste of Merry Farm. They were previously doing this with their Knott’s Christmas Crafts Village that ended over the weekend, and we’re glad to see they’re still selling those delicious Turkey Dinner Bites in the Marketplace: 

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