Avengers Campus may have stolen all of the attention last week, but Disneyland has been preparing for some big days ahead of its own. We are just a week away from out-of-state guests returning to the Disneyland Resort, and that means lots more cast will soon be returning to work, more restaurants and outdoor vending will come back, and Disneyland is ramping up holiday plans to satisfy the soon to arrive guests.
We have photos for you today from both parks, as well as news, rumors, and a few thoughts on a disappointing weekend at the resort.
Holiday Planning Underway
You’ll be glad to hear that Disneyland is already hard at work on plans for the holidays this year. At the very least, both parks will be decorated for Halloween AND Christmas this year. We still don’t know if a Halloween Party will happen, but we should be hearing one way or the other very soon.
I don’t know about you, but this warms my heart. I’m in need of a good old fashioned Disney Christmas. How about you?
We’ll share more as soon as we have additional information.
Hangry in Wonderland
We have a few Disneyland dining items for you this week, some of this is good news, some not so much…
Snackpocalypse
Disneyland fans love their theme park food favorites. If you cut us, we bleed Dole Whip. We’ve been receiving messages and calls from upset Disneyland fans all week that many park favorite items seemed to be missing. It was hard or impossible to find Churros, Mickey Pretzels, and Chimichangas at carts in the parks. Our staff dubbed the situation the “Snackpocalypse.”
It appears that supplier problems were behind the shortages. A similar issue we heard about some of the new items for Avengers Campus last week.
You’ll be glad to know that our great national nightmare seems to be over. We were able to find Churros on our last visit and were told that the other items have also returned.
Bread Bowls Still Missing
Another favorite item at several restaurants (particularly in New Orleans Square) are dishes which use bread bowls. Due to the prolonged closure of the Boudin Bakery in the Pacific Wharf, bread bowls remain unavailable throughout the parks. Soups, chili, chowders, and Jambalaya are now served in regular cups or bowls with a dinner roll.
We hope bread bowls can return soon, we miss them!
Blue Bayou is the Toughest Ticket in Town
Have you been trying to book a Blue Bayou reservation now that it has reopened? You’ve probably found it hard to impossible to reserve. Some friends were able to dine in this magical space last week and report that just 11 tables are in use in the establishment. That’s down from about 50 tables before the park shutdowns.
We are waiting to hear how Disneyland plans to increase capacity indoor after June 15th (when many state restrictions expire).
Reopening Soon
One of the biggest issues at the resort right now is a lack of places to eat and the associated lack of tables. Thankfully, it appears that Hungry Bear, Lucky Fortune Cookery, and Docking Bay 7 (possibly others) are all prepping for reopening with cast already called back or about to be.
Updated after this article was first published
The following restaurants have just announced re-opening dates:
Oga’s Cantina will open on June 17 with bookings available June 14
Lamplight Lounge Brunch opens July 9 with bookings available June 14. (Friday, Saturday, Sunday Brunch only.)
Tiki Juice Bar (mobile order available) – Opening June 17
Docking Bay Food & Cargo (mobile order available) – Opening June 17
Alien Pizza Planet (mobile order available) – Opening June 17
Rancho del Zocalo Restaurante – Opening June 17
Candy Palace – Currently making Nuttles (chopped pecan pieces layered with freshly made caramel with a dollop of milk chocolate on top) on Monday and Friday
Candy Palace – Currently making Rocky Road (mix of milk chocolate, chopped almonds, and house-made marshmallows in a small pie tin) on Saturdays
The return of extra tables and capacity can’t come soon enough, lots of additional guests will be visiting the resort beginning June 15th, and hangry guests are unhappy guests!
Dining Drama
Disneyland has been open for nearly 6 weeks now. That’s given us plenty of time to see what’s working well and what isn’t. Dining remains a sore spot for many guests. And while some folks just love Mobile Order, it has caused big issues for many cast and customer alike.
Because Mobile Order is practically required in most dining locations since April 30th, guests are starting to get the hang of how to work the system. Getting a reservation at peak dining times is getting harder and harder as guests learn they can order early in the morning to secure a peak lunch reservation.
But it’s not so much the difficulty getting a prime dining time, it’s the lack of places to sit and eat. Disneyland is in serious need of more available tables. That can really only be solved at this point by decreasing physical distancing of tables to allow for more spaces at restaurants AND by opening more of the closed establishments.
Unfortunately, Mobile Order has also been causing problems for Disneyland’s kitchen staff. Almost all kitchens are currently operating understaffed due to both 6′ physical distancing and a staffing shortage. As a result, schedules and locations are changing rapidly. Some cast are on their 2nd or 3rd location already since the parks reopened (and in most cases untrained at those new locations). But that doesn’t stop management from pushing for more and more Mobile Orders to be fulfilled due to guest complaints about slow service.
While we really enjoyed Mobile Order when it was first launched and was just an option, it’s now a requirement that’s become a guest headache (and for some a real impediment to their park experience). We think it’s past time for Disney to reevaluate this program and really look at how it negatively impacts many guests and park operations.
We know that management likes to say that there’s nothing wrong with Mobile Order that more staff can’t fix. The problem is that there will never be enough staff in the kitchens to support it, and Disney is still charging $154 for park tickets. At that price, guests deserve better, especially when the local competitors deliver better food at a lower price and have far more tables available.
How has your experience with Mobile Order been? And what would you like to see happen with the program?
The Calm Before the Storm
The opening of Avengers Campus on Friday, and the 6 to 8 hour line to get into the land, helped regulate crowds elsewhere in both parks. But while waits dropped to less than 40 minutes for most major attractions, and even less for the smaller rides, there are still some rough spots.
All that craziness over at DCA was good news for Disneyland visitors. Around noon on Friday the 4th of June, waits were dreamy:
It was hot on Friday, that generally means long lines for Splash Mountain…
But 45 minutes on a day like this is really nothing at all.
And most Fantasyland rides were under 20 minutes.
But, to show you what a HUGE impact 6′ distancing continues to have on the parks, the Mansion and Pirates queues continue to make New Orleans Square a mess.
The Haunted Mansion had a line which started along the River. But to get those folks up to the Mansion, they have to block the main guest walkway from time to time.
40 minutes doesn’t sound like a bad wait… until you see what that does to the area…
Regular park guests back up quickly in the walkways as the path is blocked so the extended Haunted Mansion line can cross over.
And the Haunted Mansion isn’t alone here…
Pirates of the Caribbean continues to plunder all the available space in New Orleans Square…
Long lines snake through all of the Fantasmic viewing area. You’ll also see that guests aren’t really trying to keep 6′ social distance any more unless constantly reminded by cast members.
Hulk Crush… DCA
Avengers Campus made quite the splash over the weekend. While the new land was a hot mess all weekend, the rest of the park was actually quite nice… which is what you’d expect when nearly the whole park was in line for the new land…
Even Soarin’ had just a 30 minute wait.
And just 45 minutes for Radiator Springs Racers.
Some of the characters in Hollywood Land were getting into the mood. Here the Chipmunks are dressed as Thor and Loki.
But Mickey looks more like a baseball coach than Captain America.
There was still some painting going on in the Hollywood Land area as guests lined up for Avengers Campus on Friday morning.
One interesting thing I wanted to point out before I forget (which I will). In 2019, the Red Car Trolley went down for a long refurbishment. During that time the Newsboy show switched to street performances before being canceled entirely. Construction walls went up around the Buena Vista Street station, and a new inductor pad was installed in the pavement. We now know why. When the Red Car returns (we still don’t know when), it will only run from Buena Vista Street to Hollywood Land. It will not make the turn toward Guardians of the Galaxy until it is tucked away for the night. So, instead of charging its batteries at the old station between Bug’s Land and Guardians, it will now charge on Buena Vista Street.
In Avengers Campus, there’s a double door in the Avengers HQ facade that the Trolley will drive through at night when it needs to be put away.
Speaking of the new land… the in-park maps still haven’t been updated to show Avengers Campus, not even at Guest Relations.
The green field between Cars Land and Hollywood Land is supposed to be Avenger’s Campus.
Disneyland has released a new Avengers Campus ad, take a look. It seemed really odd to me and I couldn’t figure out why at first, then in dawned on me that the guests aren’t wearing masks (although one cast member is):
Aside from huge crowds in the land and an associated lack of social distancing, it was the line outside the land that caused the most headaches. We have a time-lapse you’ll want to see:
The entire World of Color viewing area has become an extended line for Avengers Campus. But this is just a small piece of the line as it also snakes down the parade parade route to the land.
We had some challenges on the opening day of Avengers Campus. While I hope Disney will make some serious changes to the operation of the land and the handling of the queue, it’s really messy right now and not as much fun as it should be.
I posted the following comment on Facebook that I think explains my frustration pretty well:
This land just wasn’t made to handle Disney-sized crowds. I really enjoyed my previews of the land before it opened to the public (no crowds). However, opening day was the WORST day I think I’ve ever spent in a Disney park, and I’ve been on packed New Year’s Eve days, rainy days, 110º days, opening days for dozens of attractions, I was even at the disastrous premiere of Light Magic. Why on earth would they gate off the entry to the land and then gate the attraction and resturant behind their own walls (virtual queue and mobile order), leaving guests NOTHING to do after 6+ hours in line??? Folks were so packed into the land that there was no social distancing and guests practically forced into unsafe conditions. We saw so many zombies camped out all day in the land because they knew they wouldn’t be able to get back in if they left. Every time a little show or character would arrive, everyone would swarm into a tight space to see them. We couldn’t even find a spot to eat! I was so upset by the time I left that I did contact both guest relations and our Disney press contacts to let them know about the horrible experience we had.
For a detailed look at the opening weekend operation of Avengers Campus, and some BEAUTIFUL photos, I highly encourage you to read yesterday’s Dateline Disneyland article here on MiceChat:
Aerial Fun
Our friends at Nearmap Images shared these photos of Disneyland and Avengers Campus with us. We thought you’d enjoy looking at the then and now of Avengers Campus and Disneyland (2019 and April 2021).
Let’s Start with the transformation of Avengers Campus:
Now let’s compare some shots of Disneyland between February of 2019 and April of this year (just two days before officially opening on April 30th). .
The Disneyland Hub: Note the change in floral color in the Central Hub, expansion of the curb in the outer ring, disappearance of the Tomorrowland french fry rocks, and the expansion of the Frontierland bridge.
Disneyland’s Rivers of America: Note the temporary seating set up along the riverbank, and how the guests are spaced 6′ apart in line for Pirates in the walkways of New Orleans Square in the 2021 photo.
Disneyland Fantasyland: This is a fun one. This is the best shot we’ve seen of how the King Arthur Carrousel canopy was changed. The new color scheme is a robin egg blue whereas the older one was pastels and purple.
New Spider-Man Mural in Downtown Disney
At the old ESPN Zone, Spider-Man has taken the corner spot. You can see him taking a selfie over Avengers Campus.
Up, Up and Away!
By this time next week Disneyland will have entered a new phase of operation. Most restrictions on Disneyland operation will end on June 15th. However, masks will be staying.
We don’t want you to think that everything is changing overnight, because it won’t, but Disneyland will be able to start increasing ride and restaurant capacity, minimize social distancing, and make just about any other changes they want.
Official word from Disney on what guests will and won’t be able to do after the 15th should be coming this week.
The big news for Disney’s pocketbook is that out-of-state guests will return on June 15th as well. Out of state guests are more likely to book a hotel room and spend more on souvenirs than local guests. So, Disney will be happy see the average spend per guest increase once again. (The resort already saw a massive guest spending increase by discontinuing the Annual Passholder program in favor of full priced day tickets).
Along with the return of out-of-state guests, theme park reservations can now be booked up to 120 days in advance. But don’t worry too much, beyond June, it doesn’t look like many dates have been fully booked beyond mid-July, and August has full availability (which could indicate a big increase in park capacity). June on the other hand is booked solid!
Disneyland Refurbishment Roundup
Some big rides will be returning in time for Disneyland’s 66th birthday. Matterhorn, Buzz Lightyear, and the reimagined Jungle Cruise will all be returning to Disneyland soon.
Currently Under Refurbishment:
- Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters: (April 30th-June 25th)
- Matterhorn Bobsleds: (April 30th-July 1st)
- Jungle Cruise: (April 30th-July 15th)
- Redwood Creek Challenge Trail (April 30th-July 9th)
Newly Announced Refurbishments:
Mickey’s PhilharMagic has a strange refurb coming up. Instead of staying closed for a period of time, it will open and close repeatedly.
- Mickey’s PhilharMagic (June 7th-10th, 14th-18th, 21st-25th, 28th-29th, July 6th-16th)
- The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (July 5th-TBD)
Chugging along
Not really a refurbishment, but more of a return to normal operation. The Disneyland Railroad has expanded its operation, It had been closing by 3pm every day, was running just one train most of the time, and wasn’t loading guests from all stations. When we visited over the weekend, the train was operating all day from all stations and with two trains on the track for most of that time!
Return of Package Pickup
Another return to operation is the service that allows you to send your large purchases to be picked up at the front of the park at the end of your day. You can now pick up your packages again at the Stroller Rental building just outside the front gate.
The gift stand at the front of the park has also reopened.
UPDATED since this article was first published –
The canoes are testing and we have seen the marching band practicing backstage. Presumably, both will return on June 15th, or shortly thereafter.
Disney Tickets & Hotel Deals!
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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, in addition to TICKETS TO DISNEYLAND: More details and to get a quote (HERE)
Let’s Hear From You
Who’s ready for a proper Halloween and Christmas season this year?! I know I am. And as we told you last week, it also looks like fireworks may be on their way back to the resort sooner than you think. If Disney can just tackle the issues with mobile order and availability of tables, they might just keep a handle on the increase in guests after June 15th. But, if capacity of rides and restaurants doesn’t increase at least as much as the new guests let in next week, then it could become. real mess very quickly.
What are your thoughts folks?
