Honk! The Disneyland Monorail is back! The iconic Highway in the Sky has returned to daily operation at Disneyland for the first time since the park’s extended closure. But as the Monorail takes to the skies, the Disneyland Parking Trams remain out of commission, with no timeline on when they might return. We look into this as well as give you a glimpse of the first signs of the holidays, update you on Magic Key woes, fill you in on the latest refurbishment projects, and much more in today’s Dateline Disneyland!
Let’s get started!
Welcome to Disneyland!
It was a beautiful, if not unseasonably warm weekend at the Disneyland Resort, with highs in the upper 80s and low 90s Friday and Saturday. The heat didn’t keep anybody away, however, and the parks were especially crowded all weekend long.
Big crowds hit the parks and problem areas like Fantasyland and New Orleans Square felt the pressure.
Disneyland Monorail returns to service as trams stay parked
On Friday, the Disneyland Monorail returned to service for the first time since the theme parks reopened. The Monorail’s return wasn’t exactly triumphant, however, with plenty of downtime for the Highway in the Sky’s first day back in operation.
MiceChat staff member Cameron got stuck on the Monorail for nearly a half hour late Friday afternoon in 90°F temperatures. After a trip to Downtown Disney with five unscheduled stops and no announcements from Cast Members on what was going on, guests on Cameron’s train were offered the option to disembark or stay on for the return trip back to Disneyland… but who would want to ride again after 30 minutes in a stalled Monorail train (with no air conditioning) in the blazing heat?
Even with opening day troubles, it is nice to have the iconic Disneyland Monorail back in service. The train returning to daily operation brings online another transportation option for guests and one that is advertised as a perk for guests staying at the Disney hotels. So, it’s nice to get a little bit of value back to staying on property during a time where a lot of amenities are still missing or in flux.
Of course, the elephant in the room here is the still-parked Mickey and Friends parking lot trams. Disney insists the tram service is still halted due to conditions related to the pandemic but with enclosed Monorails allowed to operate again, as well as Toy Story buses and nearly all indoor and outdoor moving attractions in the parks, something isn’t adding up.
There’s simply no reason for the trams to not be operating at this point other than the fact that keeping them parked is saving Disney a good amount of money. On top of that, rumors have been circulating that Disney allowed the trams to sit outdoors throughout the closure of the theme parks, leaving them to fall into disrepair as the elements took their toll. So bringing the trams back into service would cost even more due to costly repairs.
Whatever the reason, we’re six months into the reopening of the parks and it’s simply unacceptable that Disney isn’t offering tram service by now. With guests paying $25 to park, along with hundreds of dollars for theme park admission, a courtesy tram to get them to and from their vehicles is hardly much to ask for… your parking fees are supposed to be paying for it!
The walk is a bit of a trek, which simply isn’t ideal for young kids, the elderly, or those with disabilities.
Six months in, keeping the trams parked just comes off as Disney simply not caring about the guest experience while charging an absolute premium for it. Simply put: It is well past time to get the trams rolling again.
Let us know how important the trams are to you.
Disney Junior the first major indoor entertainment to return to the Disneyland parks
On Friday, Disney Jr. Dance Party in Disney California Adventure reopened, marking the return of the first daily operating indoor entertainment offering to return since the parks reopened in April.
While Disney has been running a Halloween-themed version of the Disney Jr. show during Oogie Boogie Bash since those parties started last month, the return of the regular show during regular park operating hours is new. It’s interesting, if not concerning, that the first indoor entertainment offering is skewed so heavily toward small children in a relatively small theater space.
Keep in mind that kids in this age group are still unable to get vaccinated. Disney running the show with apparently full capacity and no rules on social distancing seems like a risky choice — especially as the first show to bring back.
With the health situation continuing to evolve, it’s pretty wild to see this theater host a packed audience of preschoolers and their parents. Especially when just steps away in Hollywood Land, the outdoor Backlot Stage is being underutilized for a distanced meet-and-greet with Mickey and friends in Avengers costumes.
Surely, this large outdoor theater could be better used to more safely bring back entertainment.
Instead, you may spot Mickey in a Captain America t-shirt where you can get a socially-distanced photo with him, while kids are crammed into an indoor theater with zero social distancing. It would be nice to see Disney reconsider this and move the show outdoors until, at least, the option for young kids to get vaccinated is available.
Holidays start to move in
The first signs of the holidays started to appear in Disneyland last week. On Main Street, the new Plaza Point Holiday Shoppe in the former Main Street Photo Supply space continues to take shape.
Above the doorway, new text reads “Where Every Day is a Holiday,” replacing the Photo Supply’s “A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words” slogan.
Shiny gold window lettering is now up on the Main Street-facing side of the shop.
Looks very nice — elegant and appropriate for just about any holiday.
On the side of the facade facing the hub, the windows are covered. Note on Friday, the old Photo Supply marquee was still in place…
But by Saturday, the new Plaza Point Holiday Shoppe marquee had been installed. It looks great!
Nice details, perfectly in-theme on Main Street.
Inside, the back of the shop that opens into the back portion of the China Closet is closed off but new holiday decorations for the shop can be seen through the woodwork.
Christmas garland with period-appropriate beads, postcards, and ornaments are strung up. While the view is obscured, what we can see looks great! This shop looks a promising, well-themed addition to Main Street, U.S.A.
Plaza Point isn’t the only sign of the season popping up. While snow hadn’t yet started falling on Sleeping Beauty Castle, keen eyes can spot Christmas lights strung up in the trees surrounding the Castle moat.
Snow should start appearing on Sleeping Beauty Castle very soon!
And at the back of Fantasyland, Christmas lights are going up on the facade of “it’s a small world” before that attraction closes to install its fan-favorite holiday overlay.
Seeing lights go up on this beautiful facade is exciting after missing Disneyland’s holiday season last year. Can’t wait!
And finally, Magic Key holders were treated to previews of Mickey and Minnie’s brand new holiday costumes that will debut to the public this year. The charming and festive new costumes finally replace the long-stale Christmas sweater costumes.
The new costumes look great and are a long overdue update to the previous Gap holiday sweater look. The couple’s matching scarves are especially cute!
Hopefully the rest of Mickey and Minnie’s friends get proper costume updates as well!
Magic Key failing to unlock the magic
Speaking of Magic Keys, as Disney announced Mickey and Minnie’s new holiday looks would be previewed early exclusively for Magic Keyholders, word also came that the Magic Key Lounge in the former Starcade would close October 31. Apparently the lounge was just a limited-time offering for the launch of the Magic Key program.
Even though the lounge was hardly remarkable, it is a little surprising to see the first “perk” for new passholders disappear so quickly. Maybe Disney doesn’t expect Keyholders to care much about losing the lounge since the difficulty of booking reservations has eclipsed all other issues fans have with the new pass program.
Yes, the Magic Key reservations continue to be an issue. Every Magic Key-related social media post Disney makes gets immediately slammed with negative comments about reservation availability — and for good reason. Disney has created its own PR disaster with the Magic Key program and as more guests learn that Magic Key capacity is an arbitrary number that Disney can adjust at any moment the situation will only get worse. Add in that crowds are seemingly back at pre-shutdown levels, the cap on Magic Key reservations appear to be completely useless to managing crowd levels and the overall park experience.
There really seems to be no easy solution for Disney here and maybe it increasingly seems like it was a bad idea to rush in a new passholder program, especially one that’s not terribly different from the old one other than a needlessly frustrating reservation system. At this point, I tell anybody considering becoming a Magic Keyholder to wait to see if Disney finds a way to make the program more functional – because as it stands, it simply isn’t.
Pushing Mobile Order
Disneyland continues to heavily push the problematic Mobile Ordering system. This time, it’s moved into Main Street’s Candy Palace where you can place mobile orders for all of the house-made treats found in the candy cases. Luckily, adding Mobile Order here didn’t come with the removal of any existing cash registers thanks to the space being a food service and retail hybrid shop.
In this instance, adding Mobile Ordering here seems like a good thing. If you’re looking for a drink and a cupcake, it’s pretty easy to place a Mobile Order and pick it up without much hassle. If you want to shop for packaged treats or merchandise, then all of the regular registers are still available to you. This should really be the way all Mobile Ordering works — an adequate number of registers available for those who want to order from a Cast Member and the app system available for those who want to use it. Please Disney, make this the standard!
Unfortunately, the one decent implementation of Mobile Order comes at a cost. Instead of the nicely-designed and appropriately-sized “Mobile Order Available Here” signs and decals added to restaurant windows on Main Street and other locations, Candy Palace’s Mobile Order signage is ridiculously large and tacky.
The sign is nearly as tall as the doorway.
Same thing on the back entrance of the Candy Palace/Penny Arcade. Another sign that’s nearly as tall as the entry way. It felt really cheap to me.
Construction Kingdom
Let’s take a look at refurbishment and construction projects underway in both parks.
Crescent City changes
Over in New Orleans Square, the new Pelican’s Landing seating area continues to take shape.
Still not much to see here, but hopefully this will shape up to be a nice and much-needed seating area for the the waterfront.
Meanwhile, the Sailing Ship Columbia remains in dry dock for refurbishment.
The former Le Bat en Rouge shop is still closed. I caught a glimpse inside the shop as a Cast Member went in on Friday and the space appeared to be full of boxes of merchandise. It’s unclear what will eventually be going into the space but it seems like for the time being it’s not much more than a merchandise storeroom.
Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway construction
Back in Mickey’s Toon Town, construction continues on the upcoming Mickey and Minnie’s Railway attraction. Below, the repaving project heading into Toon Town is still underway.
New construction wall art is up as work behind the walls continues.
Hopefully we’ll see the new El CapiTOON Theater facade and the show building hills start to go up soon
Framework for the hills that will cover the top of the show building runs along the entire building.
New signage with plenty of jokes cover the construction walls.
Work continues on what will be the new entrance to the El CapiTOON Theater, which will serve as a facade for the new attraction.
Submarine Lagoon refurbishment
Work continues on the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage refurbishment.
Signage on construction walls has been changed from the “Winter 2021” date to simply “This Winter,” which could stretch into 2022.
With the Monorail operating again, we can get clear views into the Submarine Lagoon as work is underway to refurbish the attraction and get it freshened up for its winter return.
It looks like an archeological dig site. fascinating…
World of Color work
Over in Disney California Adventure, the big World of Color refurbishment project continues. The show’s massive platform of fountains, mist screens, and fire cannons sustained a lot of damage during the extended closure from no routine maintenance and there’s a lot of work that’s going on now to address this.
There’s no word yet on when the show will return to regularly-schedueld performances, just a vague promise of “next year.”
This & That
In Fantasyland, Arthur appears to have pulled the sword from the Stone.
In Frontierland, work is underway at Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.
We spotted a project meeting in the attraction’s loading area.
And in Adventureland, Tarzan’s Treehouse is still under wraps
Around the Parks
Let’s wrap up today’s update with a few photos from the parks.
Plaza de la Familia is such a lovely seasonal addition to Disney California Adventure
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Let’s Hear From You!
Okay, that wraps up our update for today. Are you excited for the return of the Monorail? Are you upset that the priority wasn’t the parking lot trams? We’d love to hear your thoughts on that and all of the other latest goings-on at Disneyland in the comments below! Until next time, see you in the parks… if you can get a reservation!
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