Disneyland’s halls have been decked with holly, silver bells are ringing down Main Street, and Sleeping Beauty Castle has been transformed into a winter wonderland… Yes, the holiday season is upon us once again. After a long nap in 2020, we sure are ready for fireworks, parades, food festivals, and lots of entertainment! But the holidays are a gift to Disney as well. While Halloween Time has become incredibly important to the bottom line, it is eclipsed by the increase in guest attendance and spending driven by all things holly jolly. This year brought a new revenue line-item on the balance sheet with the debut of an extra-ticket after-hours holiday party. But it’s not all merry… there’s a bit of coal in the stocking this year as well.  

We’ll take a look at all the holiday offerings at Disneyland and get you up to date on news from around the parks as well. Grab a hot cocoa and a Mickey-shaped sugar cookie and let’s take a trip around Disneyland!

Holidays Begin at Disneyland

There’s a special kind of magic about the holiday season at Disneyland, whether it’s the memories of the past or bringing the friends and family to make new memories, the nostalgia is strong right now. Walking through Town Square and seeing the massive Christmas tree and meandering down Main Street to admire all the garland and decoration, that entry experience is like living a holiday movie.

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And while the resort has been prepping for the start of Christmas since before Halloween was even over, getting to see it year after year still inspires that feeling of an old-fashioned Christmas.

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And across the way at Disney California Adventure, the festivities continue with all sorts of treats from the iconic Festival of Holidays. The festival ties together good food, drinks, and entertainment that celebrate various customs and cultures from all over the world. With no nighttime spectacular to keep guests in the park into the evenings, the Festival of Holidays is doubly important this year. 

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But are the holiday offerings everything we’ve been waiting for, especially since last year’s Christmas at Disneyland was mostly skipped (with the exception of shopping on Buena Vista Street)?  

Unwrapping Disney Merriest Nites

Something new was unwrapped this year, a limited-run holiday party at Disneyland called Merriest Nites. The first after-hours party took place on November 11, giving partygoers an early taste of seasonal celebrations at Disneyland one night before the actual start date of November 12. While this event is now fully sold out (tickets started at $165!), we had staff members at the first night. Here’s a quick glimpse at what Merriest Nites offered… and an amazing surprise that really stole the show:

The holiday after-hours event included different holiday-themed party areas in six of the Park’s lands: Main Street, USA, Adventureland, Frontierland, New Orleans Square, Fantasyland, and Tomorrowland. Each land’s party was hosted by a classic Disney character, plus there were some guest appearances, like the Muppets showing up in their own Christmas Caroling Coach down Main Street.

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One of the most impressive pieces of entertainment for the evening was this Muppets show that ran down Main Street, USA. Photo courtesy of PhotoMatt

Each land’s party included character photo ops (some of which were exclusive to Disney Merriest Nites), musical entertainment, and a photo backdrop, created by an artist featured at Disney’s WonderGround Gallery.

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Disney Merriest Nites is the only place you’ll find Mickey and Minnie in these Victorian costumes
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Over in Adventureland, a band played holiday tunes with an island twist.
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New Orleans Square’s photo backdrop by artist Dylan Bonner depicts Tiana and friends trimming their Christmas tree.

In addition to the seasonal food offerings and traditional park fare that are available during normal park hours, Disney Merriest Nites boasts over 20 different event-exclusive menu items. We only had the chance to try a few and from what we experienced, the dishes were hit-or-miss in terms of quality.

One of the tastier standouts was the Thanksgiving Leftover Burger from Tomorrowland’s Galactic Grill. Seriously, don’t sleep on this one. It may not look like much, but it was the best thing we ate all night.

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However, we don’t recommend wasting your time and money on the Coffee Nog from Red Rose Tavern in Fantasyland. The flavor was so artificial and off-putting that we could not finish it.

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Disney Merriest Nites had a big flaw that was noticeable immediately: long wait times for certain parts of the event. The first big wait was to get your party lanyard and wristband at the start of the event. One of our staff waited an hour in Star Wars Launch Bay (the check-in location for those inside the Park). The lines at the front gates moved much more quickly.

And while the wait times for attractions were overall impressively low, even with “it’s a small world” Holiday currently unavailable, the lines for food were frustratingly long. A growling stomach can easily mar the party experience. We truly hope Disney gets this issue sorted for the remainder of the event nights.

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The check-in counter in Star Wars Launch Bay only had 4 Cast Members to check in all guests.

You can read more about what a Disney Merriest Nites experience entails as well as our thoughts on the first event night here:

First Look: Disney Merriest Nites After-Hours Event at Disneyland

Disneyland Christmas

Now that we’ve taken a look at the brand-new holiday party at Disneyland, let’s see what else is to be found at the park for the holidays.

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A Christmas Fantasy Parade

One of the classic elements of the holidays at Disneyland is A Christmas Fantasy Parade. As soon as you mention the name, that catchy tune will inevitably start playing in your head. This parade has been delighting guests since its debut in 1995 with only minor modifications over the years, and this is the first full-length parade to return to the resort (aside from the Frightfully Fun Parade for the ticketed Oogie Boogie Bash)! Although we always forget how long that parade is (we got to our spots at 5:20pm for the 5:30pm parade, we were in that spot until 6:15pm!), it has remained a holiday staple for good reason. Here’s a look at the classic parade this year:

Opening the parade is the music box ballerina and the teddy bear float, accompanied by the iconic fanfare of music.

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Of course, the toy soldiers have become a major symbol for Christmas at the Disneyland resort. These not-so-little guys have garnered quite a following. 

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As much as we’d love to “Let It Go,” there’s a little part of us that wishes that Mickey and Minnie were still on this float ice skating.

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And it’s not officially the holidays unless there’s a visit from Santa Claus. To wrap up the parade, the jolly old man makes his way down the parade route with a sack full of gifts in tow. 

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After so many seasons of essentially identical parades, we would love to see Disney switch it up every now and then— maybe introduce a few new floats and costumes, or perhaps a new musical segment. That said, this is a classic parade (just as much as the Main Street Electrical Parade—which will be making an appearance in the not-so-distant future) so too much change will ruffle more than a few Disney fans’ feathers. Is this parade on your must-watch list?

Light the Lights!

There are a few lightings which happen around the resort. The tree in Disneyland on Main Street, as well as the one at DCA on Buena Vista Street each have a simple lighting moment. Small World has a lighting moment. And Cars Land has a lighting moment when the neon and Christmas decorations illuminate. 

But the most popular is the lighting of the Castle (which they’ve named “Winter Enchantment”)…

 

Believe in Holiday Magic

If there’s one thing guests seem not to be willing to miss at Disneyland, it’s the holiday fireworks. But if you want to see the best version of the show, be prepared to wait. Thousands of guests waited hours for a spot near enough to the castle to see projections. But we enjoy this show from anywhere on Main Street and even Small World Mall.  

Our PhotoMatt waited for half the day to take this 4K video of the opening night show for you. And, as fate would have it, the winds changed direction just as the show was preparing to end, which resulted in a slight change in the fireworks shot off (to minimize risk of embers floating down upon guests.) 

The next night, we were able to watch the show from Small World Mall for a different view.

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Festival of Holidays

The holidays are celebrated in many different ways across various cultures, Disney California Adventure’s Festival of Holidays takes a multifaceted approach towards appreciating different practices. Although this year’s effort is pretty scaled back in terms of food booth offerings, there are several new additions to the festival that help balance it all out. Here’s a quick rundown of DCA’s Festival of Holidays:

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One thing that you’ll notice about the festival is that it’s much more compact than in previous years. All of the food booths are located along the parade route between Carthay Circle and Paradise Gardens, which means you don’t need to go hunting for that stray booth near Grizzly River Run. 

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The food offerings are a bit slimmed down this year, with most booths offering just two dishes. The good news about this though is that the food is a best-of menu from previous festivals. Here is a sampling of the things we tried:

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Beef Pot Roast Slider
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Reimagined Beef Wellington
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Esquites Carnitas Mac & Cheese
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Pork Belly Adobo & Garlic Fried Rice
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Rueben Tater Tots
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Nashville Hot Turkey Slider
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Shrimp and Grits
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Deconstructed Carnitas Tamal
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Impossible Arepa Encantada
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Cranberry Mule

The best way to save money while tasting as much as you can is to use a Sip & Savor pass. For $56 ($51 if you’re a Magic Keyholder), you get 8 redeemable tabs for items across the festival. You can purchase a Sip & Savor pass from most stores or any festival booth. Additionally, all around DCA there are eateries that accept the Sip & Savor tabs for a festival-sized portion of seasonal food. And here’s some good news for people with unused tabs from DCA’s Food & Wine Festival in 2020, Disney is allowing the redemption of those tabs through January 9, 2022.

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If you’ve got one of these lying around with tabs still attached, you’re in luck!

One other tip we have is to take advantage of ordering festival food from any booth. Many popular booths can easily run long lines, so the trick is to find a booth with no line/short line and order everything you want to try in one go. Then, you just take the receipt to the pickup window to the booth with the food you ordered and you’ll get your goodies momentarily. Just keep in mind this method is only applicable for food from festival booths, not participating locations around DCA.

On top of the food for Festival of Holidays, there’s an abundance of entertainment to enjoy as well. The mainstage location is at Paradise Bay with a rotating cast of performers. When we visited, we saw some very talented dancers and an a capella group.

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The unfortunate thing about this particular stage is it severely suffers from a lack of shade. This weekend saw record-breaking heat in Southern California, reaching upwards of 95º F with full sun. So while the performers were giving their all, they only had a handful of people watching— those that were able to find meager bits of shade around the concrete pavilion. We’d love to see some sort of shade structure be used because this stage has a lot of great entertainers, but they’re lacking an audience.

Further down the parade route to Paradise Gardens, you’ll find a couple other entertainment offerings. First and foremost, the fabulous ¡Viva Navidad! returns in its colorful and musical blaze of glory. This streetside entertainment occurs periodically throughout the day and it is one of the best forms of holiday entertainment that Disney has put together in a long time. We strongly encourage you to take a short 10 minutes out of your day to watch this touching show.

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In the Paradise Garden Bandstand, you’ll also find another musical act that has a nice tie-in to Disney’s upcoming film Encanto. El Sabor Bueno plays upbeat music with a Columbian flair, which is fitting as Columbia is the setting of Encanto

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While we’re on the topic of Encanto, there’s a new meet & greet opportunity with the main character from the movie, Mirabel Madrigal. 

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There are also stages at the Golden Vine Winery and in Pacific Wharf. We’ll be bringing you lots more coverage of the various shows and street entertainment in the coming days.  

SANTA!

Aside from the parade, you can also find Santa in Critter Country at Disneyland and Redwood Creek in California Adventure (which is really the more stunning location as it’s transformed into Santa’s Workshop). 

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A Gingerbread Hotel Fit for a Princess

Over at the Grand Californian Hotel & Spa, one of the features of the season is in the middle of construction. The gingerbread replica of the hotel itself has been given its basic structure and will continue its decoration for the next few days. By the end of it, the gingerbread house will nearly be as nice as the rest of the lobby around it.

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Just around the corner from the gingerbread house, the snack stand has been set up with an array of drinks and snacks. However, when we were there early afternoon, the line was over 45 minutes long. Are a cookie and a hot chocolate really worth the wait?

, Disneyland Update – The Down-low on the Ho, Ho, HoLater that evening there was no wait at all. So it’s just a matter of avoiding crowds. The only downside was there wasn’t as much of a selection of baked goods to choose from. We also noticed a similar pattern inside Disneyland for Jolly Holiday. It’s all about timing, folks.

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Although the gingerbread display is being built right now, the massive tree for the lobby still had not been installed yet. We’re looking forward to basking in the holiday ambiance soon. Though, we did notice that there’s still quite a bit of fall-time decor left up around the hotel, and especially just outside at Downtown Disney.

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It’s weird to be hearing Christmas music with the Halloween pumpkins still on display. 

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Holiday Crowds

Disneyland is now operating at near its artificial capacity limits most days, and will through the end of the year at the very least. The parks have attendance limits which are partially based upon the availability of attractions, entertainment, shops and restaurants, and also upon available staffing (so not every day caps out at exactly the same number of guests, even when all reservations are filled).

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There are times that you can easily forget the parks have attendance caps, because they can feel so crowded.

And while all guests must have a park reservation, not all reservations are created equally. Disney-owned hotel guests get the widest availability to park reservations. Next is those purchasing day tickets. Finally, there is a bucket of availability for Magic Key holders. But the buckets get readjusted all the time. So, if attendance is soft for weekday visits, some of that availability can be shifted toward the Magic Keys. This is one reason you’ll occasionally see fully booked weeks suddenly open up all at once.

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And at least an hour before fireworks, you’ll find guests packed shoulder to shoulder all the way from the castle to the Christmas tree.

That doesn’t mean that the parks are packed to the gills, but it does mean that standby lines for food can be very long (45 minutes or more at some of the popular restaurants during peak dining times), popular rides regularly reach 45 minute+ waits, and pinch points in the park (particularly parts of New Orleans Square, Fantasyland, and the Tomorrowland entry) will get clogged up at various times of the day. But beware, the launch of Genie will likely make all of that worse, with standby lines doubling and food being even more difficult to obtain for stand-by guests. Of course, if you are willing to use the system and pay to cut the lines, you’ll have an advantage over the average guest.  

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40 minute stand-by wait for Bayside Brews at DCA on Saturday!

As we mentioned previously, the top level Dream Key is now sold out. And with park availability booked solid through the end of the year and weekends in January of 2022 as well, it’s a good thing Disney finally limited sales. It’s just too bad it wasn’t done before the parks booked solid months in advance.  We have a feeling that park reservations are actually making the parks busier than they would normally be as potential guests snap up reservations whether they want them or not just so they won’t get blocked out.  

Dream Key availability as of 10pm last night (we use the Dream Key calendar because it has the widest availability of the keys, so if it’s mostly blocked, you know the other keys are suffering as well): 

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If you haven’t experienced the holiday activities at Disneyland yet, and don’t have a reservation, not all hope is lost. Hundreds of reservations become available every day as other guests give up their reservations at the last minute. 

Small World/Big Problems

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All the tiny details were put into place at the happiest cruise that ever sailed, lights were strung, the music cued… when something went terribly wrong. In the late night hours of Wednesday night, as the flume was filled with water, the pit holding electrical equipment and pumps flooded, shorting out the systems and causing a mess that still isn’t fixed.

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So, instead of “it’s a small world” Holiday opening with the Merriest Nites holiday party on Thursday, it was moved back onto the refurbishment list. While the ride is listed as closed for today, you may note that future dates show it open. However, the park will be reevaluating the status of the repairs on a daily basis and will push out the closure one day at a time until everything is fixed.   

Disneyland News: Small Issue Results in Big Problem for Small World Holiday

The good news is that the interior sets aren’t damaged and the exterior lighting and projections are still in working order.  

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Pumps have been removed from the attraction and are under 24 hour refurbishment right now. 

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But from the outside, the attraction is still entertaining guests. Here’s the lighting moment: 

Disneyland & DCA Live with Dusty Sage

If you haven’t made it to the parks and want to see a bit more, Dusty did a pair of walkthroughs over the weekend. One in Disneyland (holiday decorations on Main Street, Frontierland, New Orleans Square, the Christmas Parade, and more)…

and one in California Adventure (You’ll see some of Viva Navidad, Cars Land Christmas, and Santa)…

Disneyland’s Holiday Shop Till You Drop

Disney has not stopped adding to the seemingly endless supply of holiday merchandise sold at the Parks. Over the past week, we have documented 19 noteworthy new items and added them to our Disneyland Holiday Merchandise Guide. And even though it does say “Disneyland” in the title, you’ll also find most of these items at Walt Disney World (and some are even on shopDisney!).

Here’s a look at a few of the highlights:

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The Cranberry Red Holiday Ear Headband
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The Holiday Snacks Loungefly Mini Backpack
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The Stay Cozy Hoodie
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The Puzzle Advent Calendar (Want to see the puzzle? Check the guide!)

You’ll find all 19 new additions plus tons (and we mean “tons!”) of other holiday goodies in our guide:

UPDATED! Disneyland Holiday Merchandise Guide 2021

Disneyland Updates

It isn’t all holidays in today’s update.  Let’s take a look at construction and projects around the resort…

ToonToon Renewal

ToonToon has the biggest project in the resort right now, the massive Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway attraction construction. Not only is the show building HUGE (it stretches from one end of the land to the other), but the building has to be concealed from public view as well.  

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While the “What Building?” banner has been removed, framing for new hills to conceal the show building is underway.  

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Below is the entry to the new attraction. It will look like an old fashioned (but toon version) of a theater facade.  

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Here’s some concept art for how that theater facade and hills will look…

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All those metal supports will hold hills and other decorative elements. You won’t even know a show building is back there when they are done.  

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Things are progressing on the other side of the construction wall as well. concrete was laid inside the queue area, but the courtyard area is still a mess. 

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We have an interesting day/night shot for you. By day the entry to the new attraction is in shadows… but at night, we can see right in…

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There’s now a floor, some framing for interior walls, and electrical drops from the ceiling. But we can’t get too excited about this one yet, it’s not expected until summer of 2023.  

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Speaking of ToonTown, the whole land will be getting a massive facelift starting next March. The area will be transformed into a more green and playful area, with a new CenTOONial Park and water fountain and a Dreaming Tree. The area will be closed starting in March and will not reopen until 2023.

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One of the new areas coming to Mickey’s Toontown at Disneyland Park in early 2023 will be CenTOONial Park, the first space guests will see when they enter. This natural space will be anchored by two interactive play experiences. At the center of CenTOONial Park will be a fountain, designed for play, which will also become a center icon for Mickey’s Toontown. As its base, water tables will invite guests to play with the water and have a sensory experience. At night, the fountain will be brought to life in a unique spectacle. A nearby dreaming tree will be inspired by the tree a young Walt Disney would daydream under in his hometown. Sculpted tree roots will provide an opportunity for children to play, crawl and explore, and undulating topography will offer rolling hills and a place to sit and dream. Read more on the Disney Parks Blog. (Artist Concept/Disneyland Resort)

For more about the ToonTown transformation, take a look at the article below:

Disneyland’s ToonTown Closing in 2022 for Enhancements

Just outside the land, there are two projects. One is a walkway repaving project which has stretched on for far too long.  

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And the Fantasyland’s Theatre’s marquee restoration has been completed with some lovely new detail work.  

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We can only hope that some sort of entertainment will return to this outdoor theater soon. It’s very much needed.  

Pelican’s Landing 

There’s an interesting project on the west side of the park as well. Along the Rivers of the America, new waterfront seating is going in near the Harbor Galley quick serve shack.  This will be a great spot to sit and watch river craft float by… it may also be a good side view of Fantasmic (which we hope will return in the next few months). Harbor Galley is set to reopen on November 19th, we aren’t quite sure when the new seating area will be complete. 

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New lighting is already in place. 

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A new set of stairs has been installed (though there’s no real need to use them since the walkway naturally slopes up toward the restaurant just a few steps away.)

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Tarzan’s Treehouse

You can’t miss this project. The whole tree is behind a giant scrim. But hopefully not for too much longer. The Treehouse is set to return on December 11th.  

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Disney California Adventure Updates

DCA has been hopping lately. Once Disneyland reservations fill up, DCA follows quickly behind since guests can park hop after 1pm.  But with Festival of the Holidays now in full swing, many guests are hopping in reverse direction these days… leaving Disneyland at 1pm to go eat at DCA.  

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You can find Big Al greeting guests on Grizzly Trail.

World of Color Reanimating

The scope of the lagoon show refurbishment is major. Not only has the water been drained, but the platforms have been raised and supported on scaffolds, projection towers are being rebuilt, fountain heads cleaned and/or replaced, and everything being readied for a return next year. As you can see, they still have a lot of work to complete. 

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The tents move around from week to week, and are used to help keep the workers from roasting in the mid-day sun.  

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From the back side of the lagoon, you can see how deep the pit is and the scope of the scaffolds supporting everything.  This is also where the projection towers are being rebuilt.  

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Some Hollywood-style magic is exposed here. When the lagoon is full, those big boulders may look real, but when the water is drained, you can see that they are totally fake and don’t even go all the way down to the ground. 

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Here we see the new supports for one of the projection towers.  

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Kingswell Camera Shop Redux

Disneyland’s camera shop was transformed into the period-appropriate Plaza Point Holiday Shop. But DCA’s Kingswell Camera Shop got a simpler redo (the resort now has a single smaller camera/PhotoPass window on the Esplanade side of the Disneyland entry gift stand)

The new signage just removes the word “Camera.”  

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The store is located in the Elysian Arcade on the west side of Buena Vista Street. It was always sort of an awkward spot off an underutilized entryway in a quiet corner of the building. The area has been opened up and now serves as an expansion of retail space. There are some new embroidery machines, merchandise walls with hats, and other items. This will be an easy flex space as the main store often features seasonal items. 

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This counter previously offered camera equipment, was later repurposed as an Annual Pass merchandise location, and now has embroidery equipment and items which can be customized.

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Disney Company News

Disneyland celebrated Disney+ day last Friday. It was awkwardly also the first Day of Christmas, so this event slid under the radar.  

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That’s a lot of carpet to waste for just one day. Good thing this event fell on the first day of Christmas and not Earth Day.  

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Guests could walk the blue carpet, enjoy some photo ops, and enter the park early if they were Disney+ subscribers. Take a look at our article below and let us know if this event made much sense to you. Also, is Disney+ offering you enough new and interesting content for you to renew when the time comes? 

FULLY UPDATED: Disney+ Day Reveals & Surprises!

Disney+ seems to be falling into a lot of corporate discussions these days as CEO Bob Chapek has placed Disney’s streaming services right at the heart of the whole company.  But with new subscribers slowing, a lack of new programming to keep folks renewing, challenging times may be ahead for some parts of the company. But it’s the comments from Disney’s senior executives calling their customers fat and misleading investors about the popularity of the Magic Key program that have us most concerned. There’s certainly been a change in tone and priorities at the company. Worrisome.

But it looks like shareholders are finally catching wise to what’s going on. Disney’s stock tumbled nearly 5% on the news and hasn’t recovered since. 

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 You can read our highlights (or should we say lowlights) here: 

Disney’s Q4 Earnings Report Precipitates Stock Tumble – The Factors At Play!


Merry and Bright Theme Park Ticket and Travel Deals

, Disneyland Update – The Down-low on the Ho, Ho, HoOur travel partners at Get Away Today are here to help you make new family memories with discounted theme park tickets and hotels. Extra days, big savings, travel packages and more. Snap up those deals to Disneyland, Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line and other family travel destinations while you still can, with your MiceChat partners at Get Away Today- HERE


The World-Famous MiceChat Gumball Rally Returns!

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Event Information

After a long hiatus, it’s time for the big return of the MiceChat Gumball Rally at Disneyland. The event is a competition to see who can ride the most attractions at Disneyland in a single day. Guests compete in small groups of 2 to 4 members and spend the day doing what Disney fans love most… riding the attractions!

So, say goodby to those nice people on the dock… because the Gumball Rally is rolling your way on February 12th.  

Due to the need to book theme park reservations, we recommend booking your park reservation for Disneyland NOW, then sign up for the Rally so you don’t miss out. We are also offering discounted theme park admission and discounted hotel rooms this year via our partners at Get Away Today.  

Gumball Rally Event information * HERE *

We will also be celebrating the 20th anniversary of MiceAge/MiceChat on February 13th with a noon meetup in the park and other surprises (get that Disneyland Park reservation while you still can)


Let’s Hear From You!

That was a massive update, but there’s still so much to show you. Stay tuned for even more holiday coverage, updates on it’s a small world, the impending release of Genie, and much more.  

Huge thanks to our crew who spent days at the resort (some coming in from out of town) to help us cover all the holiday activities, entertainment, food, decor, and merchandise. Andy Castro, Mike Kindrich, Natalie Kipper, Photo Matt, Brian Pinsky, Dusty Sage, and Nathan Villamor, thank you for your help with this coverage and all the supporting articles, photos, and videos! 

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