Disneyland Update! What’s New and What’s Next at the Happiest Place on Earth

Disneyland has reopened its gates after a closure that spanned more than 400 days.  While the gates were shut, Disney continued with various changes and projects in its Anaheim theme parks.  Today, in a special edition of Dateline Disneyland, we take a look at what’s new and what’s next at the Disneyland Resort.  From Avengers to frogs, Cast staffing to an all-new happily-ever-after in Fantasyland, there’s a lot to see.  Let’s get started!

 

Disney College Program returns as Disney struggles with staffing

The big news on Monday was Disney’s announcement that the Walt Disney World College Program would be returning this summer.  The program, which is not yet returning at Disneyland, was suspended during the health crisis.   The program, which offers internship credit and experience to college students around the country, is now being fast tracked to return in June at the Florida resort.  The move is a pretty clear indication that Disney is in need of a rapid influx of low-wage workers to fill roles throughout the Walt Disney World theme parks, stores, and hotels.

The #DisneyCollegeProgram is returning, and our 2020 participants will be the first to be invited to reapply. ✨ We also have a brand-new look! Check out more here: https://t.co/UYVtkvFAz8 pic.twitter.com/yfFQ5vb2VI

— Disney Programs (@DisneyInterns) May 3, 2021

This comes as Disney has been struggling to finding a balance with staffing.  In some cases, Disney has cut corners with staffing, leaving departments working with a skeleton crew as they find ways to have the parks operate with limited capacity and not hemorrhage money in the process.  For example, in California, Disneyland Railroad Cast Members are only being scheduled for one 8-hour shift per day, resulting in the Disneyland Railroad closing hours before the park does.  

Meanwhile, other departments that are trying to ramp up staffing are struggling to find folks to come back.  With so many Cast Members laid off during the closure, the company’s reserve of furloughed Cast Members is stretched thin.  In some cases, furloughed Disneyland Cast Members have been asked to return but with new assignments in a different park — this would be fine but some Cast Members have resisted returning to work because agreeing to switching parks would strip them of their seniority (this is happening to many custodial cast right now); negatively affecting their rank and pay.  In other cases, Disney managers have promised returning Cast that they could eventually return to their original assignments in the future, but with no hard guarantee in place and no clear confirmation that they’d retain their seniority, a risky bet.

Meanwhile, in Florida, furloughed Cast Members that have been called back to work have reportedly been quitting in high numbers.  Walt Disney World Cast Members not only face various changes in workplace conditions that make staying difficult but are also reaching breaking points with guests who are reportedly more resistant and combative toward health and safety issues. In addition to Cast Members quitting, many left central Florida during the initial closure of the Walt Disney World Resort, seeking work elsewhere.  The result is a mass hemorrhaging of career Walt Disney World Cast Members over the last year and decades of culture, tradition, and knowledge leaving Walt Disney World in the process.

Laid off Disney cast members have been telling me in recent weeks they’ve been “recalled”. Union leaders have said in recent weeks they anticipate Disney needing to hire new external individuals to help fill some of the roles.

— Greg Angel (@NewsGuyGreg) May 3, 2021

How Disney will recover from all of this has yet to be seen and the circumstances left in the wake of the global health crisis will present significant challenges on both coasts over the coming years.   Increased pay, better benefits, and stronger incentives for Disney employees would help in recruiting new, high quality Cast Members to replace those who have left or are leaving. Unfortunately, a great first step like that toward rebuilding the workforce is probably unlikely as the company reels from the devastating and far-reaching  economic repercussions of the closures and phased reopenings.  It’ll be interesting to see how the Disney theme park experience changes in the coming weeks, months, and years as the world recovers from 2020 and we move closer toward a return to normalcy.  But for now, your Disney experience may be impacted by a lot of factors you are unaware of while you’re enjoying the park — so, as always, please be kind to your Cast Members.  

Main Street’s new tunes

UPDATE May 4, 8:00 p.m. — We are now hearing that this change is temporary.  Main Street’s music loop is reportedly only changing later in the day and only in Town Square closer to park closing.  The change is apparently part of the “goodnight kiss” from Disney characters that wave from Main Street Station as guests exit the park for the day.  While we still aren’t big fans of this change, we’re happy to share this clarification with you and glad that the change is limited in scope and temporary in nature.  Our original reporting on this is retained below.   — Andy Castro, Dateline Disneyland 

Disneyland reopened Friday with a notable change on Main Street, U.S.A. that was easy one to miss in the bliss-fueled, heatwave-addled haze of returning to Disneyland after more than a year away.   Main Street’s music loop has been updated to change from the standard background loop during the morning to a playlist of upbeat instrumental Disney songs as the park transitions toward closing hours.  

The park’s last overhaul of its Main Street, U.S.A. music loop took place in early 2012 when the the loop was rearranged and re-recorded, retaining long-time favorites such as “Meet Me in St. Louis, Louis,” “In the Good Old Summer Time,” and “Alexander’s Ragtime Band.”  At the time, Disney was met with controversy for including a recording of “Married Life” from Pixar’s “Up.”  That controversy quickly passed when fans discovered the period-appropriate arrangement of the song fit in seamlessly with the rest of the turn-of-the-century tunes.  

This new change, however, is a far cry from simply adding in one contemporary piece to the mix.  Indeed, transitioning the background audio midday to a playlist exclusively comprised of instrumental Disney songs is a significant change that simply isn’t necessary or thematically appropriate.  Disney has used playlists of Disney songs and other music on Main Street in the past but typically only for special events, New Year’s Eve parties, and Grad Nite events.  This change to everyday park operation is definitely not the same as changing the music for special events.  If Disneyland is about escapism into worlds real and imagined then Main Street, U.S.A., inspired by Walt Disney’s boyhood home of Marceline, Missouri, should reflect that — including with period-appropriate music.  Hopefully Disney changes this so the Main Street music loop returns to all-day use.  Save “Under the Sea” and “When You Wish Upon a Star” for the parade floats.

Below, a partial list of the new Disney song playlist:

• Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo
• Mickey Mouse Club March
• It’s a Small World
• When You Wish Upon A Star
• Casey Jr.
• Under the Sea
• Saludos Amigos
• Mary Poppins Medley
• Heigh-Ho

Snow White’s dazzling new Happily Ever After

In Fantasyland, Snow White’s newly reimagined attraction is open and delighting guests.  The overhauled ride condenses and re-thinks some of the longer scarier segments of the ride, allowing for space to give the story of Snow White a proper ending.  The attraction has also been slowed down, adding a little less than half a minute of extra ride time that allows guests to soak in more of the rich new details.  The end result is largely a triumph, retaining a significant amount of scares and bookending them with cheerful beginnings and happily-ever-afters.  We took a deeper look at the attraction in our Snow White’s Enchanted Wish preview article and our Disneyland Reopening preview articles last week but the ride is so great, we want to take another look here again today.

The mine scene is particularly magical with saturated colors and some new characters and effects. 

On Monday, the SF Gate online newspaper fabricated a bit of controversy surrounding the attraction’s new ending.  Previously, the ride never showed the Prince kissing Snow White but one of Imagineering’s main goals of the attraction’s overhaul was to give Snow White a proper ending to her story.  The end result is a stunning scene filled with Snow White’s animal friends looking on as the Prince kisses her and breaks the spell.  The scene comes alive with dazzling new lighting effects and stunning projections, making it one of the most breathtaking scenes in any of Disneyland’s classic Fantasyland dark rides.  The controversy surrounding the scene feels largely forced and ill-informed.  

In the SF Gate article, the authors contend that the scene depicts a non-consensual kiss while Snow White is asleep.  But for Disney fans it’s obvious that the authors of the criticism seemingly forgot a very important detail: the Prince thought Snow White was dead.  In the story, the Dwarfs discover Snow White in her deathlike slumber and believe she’s dead.  They don’t want to bury her so they place her in a glass coffin.  Later, the Prince who also believes Snow White to be dead gives his lost love a farewell kiss.  Luckily, she isn’t dead, just under a spell that can only be broken by true love’s kiss.  And since it apparently was true love’s kiss, the spell is broken and Snow White awakens from her slumber.   While non-consensual kisses aren’t okay, it’s fairly clear the authors of the SF Gate piece forgot some key elements of the Snow White story that strip their critique of any real validity.  If they want to find an issue, then maybe it isn’t about consent at all but rather about necrophilia… but this is a kids story folks. 

All in all, the new Snow White’s Enchanted Wish is a stunning update to a Fantasyland classic.  The attraction joins Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan in the ranks of Fantasyland classics that have received seamless and beautifully-executed modern-day upgrades that propel the rides well into the 21st century. 

Take a look and let us know what you think about the ride and that kiss: 

Spirited new magic at the Haunted Mansion

In New Orleans Square, Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion reopened with new enhancements to the attraction’s outdoor queue and indoor load area.  We gave you in-depth look at these changes in our preview article last week and it seems like fan response has been overwhelmingly positive on the additions and enhancements.

Outside, the pet cemetery in the queue received gorgeous new landscaping, enhancing the garden-like pet cemetery quite a bit.  Many of the plants correlate with the pets in some way, such as foliage that evoke lilly pads around the “Old Flybait” pet frog grave.

Hidden behind the hearse, a birdbath featuring a cat has been added.  The new birdbath replaces another birdbath that previously sat in this location.  It’s a cute change, expanding the pet cemetery further out so guests using the disabled access at the front of the Mansion can also experience a bit of the “Tails of woe.” A delightful bit of inclusion that’s good for everyone.  

Inside, the load area has been reimagined a bit.  The space received a significant expansion of the ADA loading area several years ago and when those changes came a lot of additional lighting fixtures were added, making the space significantly brighter.  While a lot of the lighting fixtures were duplicates of the flame-torch sconces, many others that had been installed for ADA safety were unthemed.  The end result was a brightening of an area that was largely unthemed and originally meant to represent the boundless darkness of the spirit world.  That’s all been fixed now, fairly elegantly, with the addition of a themed room divider, new themed lighting fixtures, and the addition of hallway theming, effectively making much of the load area now an extension of the Hallway to Limbo guests just emerged from.  

The enhancements here are a good creative solution to an area that had otherwise become an eyesore. In addition, the changing portrait of April/December has returned after being retired some years ago when the paintings in the hallway were changed from slowly-transitioning paintings to changing in sync with the lighting flashes that illuminate the Hallway to Limbo. It’s good to have her back and having April/December strategically placed here helps divert your attention away from the loading area altogether.  Smart.

At the end of this new hallway extension is an all-new one-eyed cat statue.  The statue which features one glowing red eye, is an homage to a concept originally pitched in the 1960s for a menacing one-eyed cat character for the Haunted Mansion.  The cat never made it into the ride, until now. 

 

Avengers Campus prepares for launch

Last week in our article previewing the reopening of Disneyland, we gave you a look at new views into the upcoming Avengers Campus, which is set to open June 4 in Disney California Adventure.  The new land is the first full land based on the Marvel franchises in any of Disney’s theme parks and will join a similar under-construction Avengers Campus at Walt Disney Studios Paris and the Stark Expo in Hong Kong Disneyland in an interconnected universe of theme park lands across Disney’s properties. 

At Disney California Adventure, the new land will be comprised of the existing Guardians of the Galaxy — Mission: BREAKOUT! thrill attraction, an E-Ticket that replaced the former Twilight Zone Tower of Terror in 2017.  The Guardians of the Galaxy attraction is a top-to-bottom retheming of the former Tower of Terror ride and will serve as the major anchor for the new land, with the family-friendly, interactive WEB-SLINGERS: A Spider-Man Adventure serving as the land’s second ride-through attraction.  Themed character meet-and-greet areas, dining, and retail locations will also be featured.  The Disney Parks Blog released new images from the land last week in a “Campus Tour” feature:

The Disney Parks Blog describes the WEB SLINGERS: A Spider-Man Adventure attraction building as follows:  “Back in the 1940s, Tony Stark’s father built a Stark Motors factory here in California, and decades later, Tony transformed the site into the Worldwide Engineering Brigade – also known as WEB. This is the place where bright innovators like Peter Parker have been assembled by Tony Stark to invent new technologies and equip everyday people to become heroes. While the Avengers themselves are sleek, organized, and structured, WEB is expressive, youthful and chaotic. You’ll notice this throughout WEB. For example, outside the former factory building, you can’t miss the colorful graffiti murals created by young recruits with a knack for the arts.”

A previously-released photo shows more of the land’s entrance area, including a wider view of the WEB building.

Disney explains the Avengers Headquarters, located at the back of the campus, shown below as “the heart of the land” and “where you will find the emblematic Avengers “A” on the building and surrounding areas. At Avengers HQ, you may catch a glimpse of the Avengers springing into action, ready to save the day. A shining Quinjet sits atop its roof as a beacon for the campus.”

Avengers HQ seen at night:

Nearby, the new PYM Test Kitchen features giant elements that will also show up in the food, thanks to Antman’s PYM Particles. As the Parks Blog explains: “just as Ant-Man and The Wasp use “Pym Particles” to grow and shrink just about anything, Pym Technologies applies this innovative science to the creation of inventive-sized foods, like the pretzels that grow and shrink as they pass through the quantum tunnel. This logic also applies to the beverages and condiments, seen here overhead in the beverage and condiment station. No appetite is too big or too small here!”   You may spot a “BVF” emblem on the giant ketchup and mustard bottles, a reference to the Bountiful Valley Farms area that A Bug’s Land, and now, Avengers Campus were built on.

The blog also gave a closeup look at the Orb of Cagliostro, a feature of the “the overgrown ruins of an Ancient Sanctum.” Where “you’ll learn mysterious secrets from Doctor Strange and discover ancient, magical artifacts.”  The Disney Parks Blog notes that the Orb “is known to be especially active at night when it flows with magical energy!”

Previously-released photos show more of Dr. Strange’s ancient sanctum-themed meet-and-greet area.

The Sanctum and Orb at night:

 

WEB details:

Last week we showed you a new thematic addition surrounding the Guardians of the Galaxy — Mission: BREAKOUT! attraction that had been installed during the parks’ closure.  The colorful addition to the pavement is meant to thematically designate the Guardians of the Galaxy attraction as an intergalactic part of the Avengers Campus.  

The addition largely baffled us here on MiceChat as well as fans across the Disney web.  Former Disney Imagineer Joe Rohde who oversaw the project had previously said that thematic additions to the pavement surrounding the building were coming but had described them to the LA Times and other outlets as “torch marks where this thing burnt itself into our reality.”  Of course, the end result differs significantly from what Rohde and his team had envisioned and the end result is a colorful, but confusing visual divider between the fortress and the rest of the Avengers Campus.

This week we learned that the colorful splotches are intended to be “Kirby Krackle.” 

Marvel comic artist Jack Kirby often used a visual device to show when cosmic forces created a disruption in the comics.  Known as the Kirby Krackle, the visual device has worked successfully in comics to illustrate a cosmic event and Imagineers wanted to translate this into the real world at Disney California Adventure. 

It’s an interesting attempt to translate something from the stylized, illustrated world of the comics into a three-dimensional themed environment.  Is it successful?  The general public will likely pass over these Kirby Krackle splatters without understanding them much at all and for the feature to become a “Did you know?” sort of trivia question in fan circles.   Would Rohde’s scorched-earth approach have been easier visual language for the public to understand?   We’ll never know for sure. 

Nearby, you can spot new details of Avengers Campus from over construction walls

Views into the land from the road between Avengers Campus and Luigi’s Rollickin’ Roadsters show new details…

What’s cookin’ in New Orleans Square?

In Disneyland’s New Orleans Square, the Le Bat En Rouge shop is now closed.  During last week’s Cast Member previews the windows were simply blacked out but by Friday’s public opening, signs were up hinting at something new.

The shop has been many things over the years, including a Haunted Mansion store, then later a villains and Nightmare Before Christmas-themed locations, and most recently a women’s clothing shop.  Now closed, the signs in the window mention cooking and gumbo, making it seem like this retail space could be converting into a food service location.  With the Blue Bayou Restaurant, Club 33, and larger New Orleans Square kitchens closeby, it’s possible that this location is going to be turned into a take-out gumbo location.  Disney hasn’t announced anything yet, but it is worth noting that the style of the signage closely matches the colors and graphic design style of Princess and the Frog.  Princess Tiana was well-known in the film for both her gumbo and beignets.

If the space doesn’t become quick serve dining, then perhaps it’ll become a cooking-themed Princess and the Frog shop, which would be a welcome addition, considering Splash Mountain will soon be closing to make way for a new Princess and the Frog-themed attraction.

We’ll certainly keep you posted on any developments here in the coming weeks.  Stay tuned.

 

DOLE Expands into Paradise 

DOLE Pineapple has long sponsored Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room and its Tiki Juice Bar in Disneyland. When the adjacent Tropical Hideaway opened in 2019, DOLE Whip featured as a major offering for the new snack bar but DOLE didn’t sponsor the new place. That’s changed during the closure and the Tropical Hideaway has new signage to reflect its new sponsor. 

The outdoor Polynesian-inspired snack bar is now hosted by DOLE, with messaging on both sides of the marquee now reflecting the sponsorship.

Inside, the signage for the DOLE Whip portion of the snack bar — DOLE Whip, I Presume — has been updated with the DOLE brand logo.  The Tropical Hideaway is currently one of Disneyland’s operating dining locations but menu items are limited during the phased reopening of the Resort.

 

Making a new Splash

In Critter Country, time is ticking on Splash Mountain.  Last June, at the height of the Black Lives Matter movement, Disney officially announced the attraction would close at a future date to be transformed into a new attraction based on The Princess and the Frog animated film.  The change came as Disney faced increased scrutiny for having an attraction based on the 1946 live action and animated film “Song of the South.”  Disney has banned the re-release of the film for decades, even as it has promoted the ride as a classic attraction in its theme parks.  

While the attraction itself largely strips away racially-charged elements of the film, such as replacing the tar pits with bees and honey, the source material has remained a thorn in Disney’s side, and as America’s reckoning with race continues to come to the forefront of the country’s culture, so Disney must change too. And they seem much more willing to do so these days than in the past, with a whole inclusion team examining everything the company does. 

Disney has yet to release a timeframe for the attraction’s re-theme into a ride based on Disney’s 2009 animated film, The Princess and the Frog, which was widely celebrated for featuring Disney’s first African-American princess. 

Splash Mountain continues to operate at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World. The new theme will take place after the events of the Princess and the Frog film.   If you wish to see Splash Mountain before it closes, you might want to get to the park soon, as Disney could close the attraction at any time. 

 

Jungle Cruise’s inclusive new story

In Adventureland, the Jungle Cruise joins Splash Mountain and Pirates of the Caribbean with new updates that bring the ride up to present-day sensibilities.  The attraction is getting a revised backstory, featuring a woman of color as the proprietor of the Jungle Navigation Co. enterprise.  Alberta Falls is the daughter of the ride’s famed Dr. Albert Falls. Elsewhere, outdated depictions of other cultures and peoples have been removed and replaced with new animal gags and show scenes.  

Disneyland Resort President Ken Potrock recently announced the overhauled attraction will reopen this summer.   As of now, fans have seen several concept renderings of revised scenes and some information on the new backstory that Disney has released to hold them over.

Imagineer Kevin Lively recently shared some more information on the Jungle Cruise project:

Lively recently posted on his Twitter account about the inspiration behind the new Trader Sam scene:

When I worked Jungle at @Disneyland we had Tarzan’s Treehouse as part of our rotation. While getting my cardio, I would come up with ideas for stories, then type them out when I got some. One story was about Skippers that turned Lost & Found into a gift shop. Good ideas never die https://t.co/d2MmCOcab2

— Kevin Lively (@Livelyland) April 26, 2021

Hopefully the attraction returns with new laughs and well-executed scenes that work for general audiences and doesn’t come off feeling like inside jokes and personal head canon/fanfiction from the Imagineering team.

 

Tomorrowland’s in-spired new entrance

Over in Tomorrowland, the land’s new retro-style entrance spires and gardens have yet to be completed. In late 2019, Disney announced the land would debut its remodeled entrance in 2020.  Of course, 2020 didn’t go as planned and the project was seemingly abandoned during the closure.   

As of now, construction walls remain up, with concept art announcing the new entrance but no new timeframe has been released on when too expect the debut of the new entrance.  

Assuming the project is still moving forward, we’d hope to see the final project completed sometime later this year.  Of course, many things are in a state of flux or on hold for the time being, so anything could happen.  Stay tuned for future developments. 

Elsewhere in Tomorrowland, the Magic Eye Theater’s marquee has been covered with a new Mary Blair-esque decorative mural.  It’s a nice touch, seeing as the theater likely won’t reopen for some time.

Groovy!

Pixar Pier Prizes

In Disney California Adventure, Pixar Pier’s slow rollout saw another straggling feature debut: new prizes for the Games of the Boardwalk! 

The new smaller prizes are plush recreations of the digital “prizes” awarded to riders of Toy Story Midway Mania — those critters that act as prizes for that ride recently became the carousel animals for Jessie’s Critter Carousel and now you can take them home with you!

While the games are operating with social distancing protocols, it’s much easier to snag a prize — just about everybody will walk away with something!  So if you’re looking for one of these location-specific new plushes, head over to Pixar Pier!

Mobile Ordering’s bumpy takeover 

Across both parks, Disney’s new push for Mobile Ordering continues to hit roadbumps.  The system is a solid idea on paper but it’s struggled to find its footing in the early days of reopening as well as during the A Touch of Disney events.  

Many guests, including my colleagues on the MiceChat team, have reported lengthy waits to pick up food from dining locations, even after the Disneyland app notifies them their order is ready.  Of course, the kinks in broadly adopting a mobile order system at an operating theme park will naturally have to iron themselves over time as the guests acclimate to the technology and restaurants adjust to the operational changes.  This normally wouldn’t be a major issue but with Disneyland newly reopened and most cash registers and person-to-person ordering kiosks removed, this is now a matter of urgency for Disney to sort out as it is leading to significant impacts on the guest experience.

Disneyland’s efforts to force guests to utilize mobile ordering has come with the Resort removing the vast majority of in-person ordering stations at dining locations.  If you want to order from a Cast Member, you may end up having to wait in a lengthy line, since most locations have only one or two remaining cash registers to order at.  The popular Bengal Barbecue in Adventureland, for example only has one left (down from four), while the Plaza Inn on Main Street only has two in use (down from eight available).  

We understand that the issue is likely the understaffing of kitchens, in part due to the need to keep cast socially distanced from each other, but that doesn’t provide much confidence that the park will be able to meet the needs of increased guest capacity in the weeks to come. Hopefully there’s a solution that works for all. 

Have you experienced Disneyland’s mobile ordering system during the A Touch of Disney festival or in the parks since reopening?  Share your experience in the comments section (good or bad) — we’d love to hear from you. 

Hotel Reopenings

As the theme parks reopen, Disneyland Resorts hotels are as well.  First up, the Grand Californian Hotel reopened over the weekend on May 2.  

The Grand Californian Hotel, just like the theme parks is in a midst of a phased reopening.  Currently, only some of its amenities have returned.  Pools are open but only two dining locations have returned.  Napa Rose and Storytellers Cafe remain closed for now but Hearthstone Lounge (operating as a lounge), Craftsman Grill (operating as a quick service location), and the Craftsman Bar (operating as a table service restaurant) are open for business. 

Meanwhile, the Disneyland Hotel and Paradise Pier Hotels remain closed with no timeline on reopening.  We suspect Disneyland will expand hotel availability once park capacity begins to be increased and out-of-state guests are allowed to book theme park reservations, likely later this summer.  

In the mean time, we’ve heard that crews have begun clearing trees at the Disneyland Hotel, marking the resumption of the new Disneyland Hotel tower project.

Park Clarifications 

Our own Dusty Sage was able to meet with Disneyland President, Ken Potrock, in the park on opening day. There were a few things we learned that we thought you’d want to know more about. 

Ken led with a joke about April 30th being the first day he’s ever had guests in his park since becoming resort president. Ken took the job after the start of the pandemic, so he’s spent all of his time on preparing for reopening and dealing with the many issues that came from the parks being closed for well over a year. 

Passholder Program Replacement – While Ken and team hope to roll out a replacement for the Passholder program by the end of the year, it will not just be a true passholder program as you had in the past. The new “Membership” program will likely be more like a loyalty program which will offer fans opportunities and discounts. However, the park doesn’t have a firm plan in place yet and is still sending surveys and gathering information.  

When Can Out-of-State Guests Return – California currently allows vaccinated out-of-state guests to visit theme parks. So, we wanted to know why Disneyland isn’t following in the steps of SeaWorld and other parks which now allow visitors from outside of California. Ken stated that the current rules and theme park guidance is “As clear as mud.” He went on to explain that they have reached out to the state for clarification on how to verify vaccination status, what to do about guests too young to be vaccinated, and reporting requirements. But there is hope that Disney will know more soon. 

Staffing Issues – Reopening a resort as complex as Disneyland isn’t easy. Not only did a massive amount of maintenance need to be performed, and health and safety procedures rethought and implemented, but cast had to be called back, retrained, and in many cases re-certified to perform certain functions. Additionally, there is the complication that some cast were called back to different positions and had to learn all new procedures. As a result, there will be some growing pains, but the cast and management are taking it in stride and Ken is very proud of their efforts. We couldn’t agree more.   

Mobile Order Issues – Ken is very proud of how new technology, such as Mobile Order, is enhancing guest safety and convenience. We asked why Mobile Order doesn’t function well at peak times and were told that there aren’t any issues with Mobile Order that couldn’t be fixed with additional staffing in the kitchens. Unfortunately, social distancing rules mean that a limited number of staff are staffing most restaurants. We expect this situation to improve as social distancing is relaxed. 

It was a real pleasure to meet Ken in person and hear his honest and candid comments. Disneyland has a great team in place and they seem to be in good hands with their new president. 

---

Disney Ticket & Travel Deals

Our travel partners at Get Away Today are here to help you plan a future theme park vacation. There are all sorts of new theme park tickets and travel deals, including a 2 free days offer at Walt Disney World, hotel discounts, ticket deals to various theme parks, and now TICKETS TO DISNEYLAND: More details and to get a quote (HERE)

Looking ahead

Well, that wraps up our special What’s New and What’s Next edition of Dateline Disneyland.  Before we wrap up, I’d like to thank the amazing MiceChat editorial team for their excellent work on covering the reopening of Disneyland over the weekend.  Our staff writers, social media team, and photographers and videographers did some remarkable work and have helped tremendously in making this article possible.   Thanks, team!  

Alright, so what’s your favorite new offering at the parks and what are you most excited for in the coming months?  There’s a lot new and a lot on its way — let us know your thoughts on all of the news and offerings in the comments below!  Until next time, see ya at Disneyland! 

Are you still here? Well…. let’s give you more to read: 

Dateline Disneyland: A Mostly Magical Homecoming!

Your Essential Guide to Disneyland Tickets, Tips, and Planning!

Disney Wish Revealed – Disney Cruise Lines Newest ‘Castle at Sea’

AND a two hour MiceTube Live we recorded last night. Here’s all the latest in one place: 

 

Sharing is caring!