Disneyland Update – New Year Magic and Mayhem

5, 4, 3, 2…1! Happy New Year! 2022 is sure to bring some exciting things to the Disneyland Resort. While the holiday season winds down, there’s a lot to look forward to, including new rides, entertainment, and more news about the massive planned expansion of the resort. And although you’d think the week between Christmas and New Year’s wouldn’t have much new to see and discuss, things never stop at Disneyland. Here’s a look at the recent news from a rainy and not overly busy holiday week at the Disneyland Resort. I’ll warn you in advance, we have about 200 photos in this Update, so give your browser a moment to breathe and scroll slowly…

Disneyland Holidays Don’t End Until January 9th

Disneyland has one of the longest-running holiday seasons of the SoCal theme parks. Christmastime at Disneyland kicked off on November 12 and continues through January 9. And while many other parks and attractions finished their holiday run on Sunday the 2nd, you still have a week left at Disneyland to squeeze that last drop of holly jolly out of the parks before the decorations get packed away for another year.

Grab a snack at Festival of the Holidays. 

Meet Mirabel at Viva Navidad. 

Enjoy the holiday entertainment. 

Snap a character pic. 

Take in the holiday decor one last time. 

See the fireworks (and perhaps from a location other than the busy Main Street)

Get a hot chocolate from the Grand Californian Hotel and marvel at the Gingerbread house.

But as much as we love the holidays, we’re also ready for things to go back to normal. Seeing the snow-capped Castle has a magical feeling during the Christmas season, but now that the New Year is here we’re just about ready to let it go. 

Especially at the Haunted Mansion, which has been running the Nightmare Before Christmas overlay since the first day of Halloween way back on September 3rd. That’s one third of a year! Time for a little more scary and a little less merry.  

Santa has returned to the North Pole to recover from his long night of visiting every little girl and boy in the world (and you think Disneyland Custodial has it tough), so Santa Goofy has taken his spot in the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail. It’s a little detail, but a fun late-season change. 

But you can still see jolly old Saint Nick in A Christmas Fantasy Parade, where he’s wishing everyone a Happy New Year.  Though, the parade was canceled on New Year’s Eve due to steady rain all day. But we saw him in the rainy day cavalcade instead (just Santa in one vehicle and a few characters in the Omnibus. 

Disneyland’s poor Main Street Christmas tree struggled with lighting issues this entire season. The bottom rung of the tree would frequently fail to light up at all, while the rest of the tree seemed to have no issue. This has been a common problem even before the 2021 holiday season. 

Over at DCA, the Festival of the Holidays is still going strong. Though lines at the food booths don’t seem as long. And even though this festival ends on the 9th, it will be followed by two more festivals. Lunar New Year runs January 21st through Feb 13th, and Food and Wine is March 4 through April 26th. 

And to celebrate the end of the holidays at the Disneyland Resort, there’s a special photo opportunity happening at DCA’s Paradise Gardens. From January 3-9, you can enjoy Three Kings Day, El Día de los Reyes Magos. There’s some traditional decorations and a photo opportunity to celebrate with.

 

Disneyland New Year’s Eve

It just so happened that New Year’s Eve coincided with the day we usually shoot our Update. So between catching up on the latest news around the parks, we also got to enjoy some NYE festivities. Truth be told though, I was cold and tired after two days of shooting this update and had to call it a night well before the ball dropped. Though, from what we did see, it looked like it was a lot of fun.

Here’s a quick look at this NYE this time around:

We started off our New Year’s Eve trip in DCA. Overall, the atmosphere was pretty relaxed which is surprising, considering that traditionally, NYE is the busiest day for the Disneyland Resort. We arrived right around 1pm, and we had no problems getting in. There were a couple of NYE photo ops in Hollywoodland and along the parade route. 

Carthay Circle had a sign acknowledging the occasion. 

Additionally, there was a stage set up for the evening at the end of Hollywood Boulevard near the Hyperion Theater.

There were pyrotechnics set up in Paradise Bay to help ring in the new year. 

@ryanthesidekick on Instagram captured the short 4 minute midnight display: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Rʏᴀɴ | Dɪsɴᴇʏ Lɪғᴇsᴛʏʟᴇ (@ryanthesidekick)

Over at Disneyland, things were a little bit more crowded— especially as the night wore on. However, in the days leading up to NYE, there was still a surprising amount of availability. One of our photographers was able to make a NYE reservation the day before! So, even though the park did eventually feel pretty full, it wasn’t the wall-to-wall madness of a few years ago.

To celebrate the New Year,  there were multiple stages set up around the park. Sleeping Beauty Castle, Tomorrowland, Rivers of America, and It’s a Small World all had their own stages with DJs keeping the music going. The main stage was at Sleeping Beauty Castle and had the party host accompanied by Daisy and Minnie.

 

The area around the Rivers of America was very busy as folks stopped to watch the DJ that was on the Fantasmic stage at Tom Sawyer Island. This area is our go-to spot to gauge how busy the park is, and as you can see below, there were certainly a lot of people there that night!

As the night went on, Main Street began to liven up as more folks showed up for the celebration.

But by any measure, this was the least crowded New Year’s Eve in our memory due to the park reservation system. In a normal year, you wouldn’t even be able to see the pavement because much of the park would have been shoulder to shoulder. 

Tomorrowland had two stages. The Tomorrowland Bandstand was up and decorated for The Christopher Brothers.

And just behind it at the Launch Bay, a DJ was set up with visiting characters.

A friend of ours even attended a NYE dinner at Napa Rose, which ran from 7:30pm until just after midnight. The restaurant was bedecked in black and white balloons with silver and gold accents. 

The 6 course meal was $300 per person, and while it didn’t include most adult beverages, champagne was included as guests arrived and for the big midnight moment. 

Disneyland Availability

Park availability for the early days of 2022 is looking a whole lot better than the past few months. For Dream Key holders, there is wide availability on weekdays for the next 3 months, while many Saturdays are booked for Disneyland and a few dates for DCA as well. In fact, for a Saturday, you’d need to look all the way to the end of March at the moment. But dates can (and do) open up all the time as other key holders cancel reservations they aren’t going to use.

The availability for day ticket holders is even better. As of last night, the only day that was completely booked for both parks is Friday the 7th of January.  

 

A Little Rain 

Into every life, a little rain must fall. And last week we had plenty of it. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining. I love rainy days at Disneyland… LOVE THEM! They help wash away some of the crowds, add a little extra magic to photos, and allow you to just soak up the ambiance in a way that you just don’t get on the 99% of dry days we have in these parts… that is… until your shoes are complete soaked and you feel the squish of water between your toes with every step.  

We were at the parks on Thursday and New Year’s Eve to shoot this update and for most of Thursday it was just a very light rain. However, lingering puddles and consistent downpours eventually got the best of me. But I still lasted more than 8 hours at Disneyland under cold and wet conditions because I just couldn’t make myself leave, even after I started shivering  uncontrollably.  

While stomping through puddles, I remembered the announcements Disneyland made in the old days on rainy days. That’s park announcer Jack Wagner you’ll hear below. If you visited the park in the 70s and 80s, this will strike a nostalgic note: 

But rainy days, especially very rainy ones, bring a few changes to park operations. 

Although parades are part of what makes Disneyland so special, those large-scale productions can’t take place during the rain. Instead, on the wetter days of the year, Disneyland will pull out a Rainy Day Cavalcade to ride down the parade route. Since it’s still holiday-time, Christmas music was playing overhead and Santa made an appearance on one of the Main Street vehicles. Sure, it isn’t A Christmas Fantasy, but it’s still something fun to watch for a minute or two.

Do you have 60 seconds? That’s how long it takes to watch this rainy day parade substitute: 

 

As much as we love seeing Disneyland in the rain, the park was not designed with rain in mind. Headed down Main Street, it isn’t an uncommon sight to see groups of custodians pushing water down the gutters with brooms and squeegees since water tends to pool up. 

Of course, the park was built way back in 1955 and they’ve had a lot of time to improve since then… or not… even newer areas of the park aren’t free of planning issues regarding the rain. Out in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, the majority of the land offers virtually no protection from the elements. The Marketplace is open-air without a solid roof, which means that you can’t get much protection from the rain. Additionally, the craggy pavers aren’t really well-sloped to allow for drainage and collect pools of rainwater. 

And the standby line for Rise of the Resistance is a slow moving ordeal in the rain with no cover at all. 

Several Fantasyland attractions suspend operation on a rainy day for a variety of reasons. Storybook Land stops running since it is a slipping hazard for guests getting in and out of the boats and they don’t want anyone going overboard. 

For the Mad Tea Party, it isn’t so much of a safety issue but a mechanical one. Since the attraction is exposed to the sky, the mechanisms underneath the attraction can become waterlogged. That’s one of the reasons why the versions of the attraction in the other Disney Parks worldwide have coverings above them.

Alice in Wonderland has a unique case of being an indoor and outdoor attraction. Unfortunately, during the rain the classic attraction has to close because there’s a possibility that the Caterpillar ride vehicles can hydroplane on the outdoor portion of the track as the vehicles descend from the 2nd floor back down to the ground level. 

Along the Rivers of America, there are a few changes that happen as well. The Davy Crockett Explorer Canoes and Tom Sawyer Island don’t operate in the rain. Just imagine the amount of mud that would get all over your kids if they were playing on that Island in the rain. 

It’s also worth noting that not all of Disneyland’s outdoor attractions shut down during the rain. Autopia was running despite the constant drizzle. I personally wouldn’t enjoy going through the gasoline-perfumed motorway in the rain, but it still drew quite a crowd when we visited.

Unfortunately, Disneyland just doesn’t have many places to escape the elements. The same is true of the heat on the worst days of summer. With Launch Bay closed, and few covered walkways, guests really only have the option of shopping or trying to find an indoor table at the few spots offering them

In addition to the handful of attractions that close, many vending carts and outdoor merchandise locations will also close. No one wants to buy soggy trinkets. Though we saw many guests waiting to buy churros in the rain.  

Disneyland Resort Construction

There’s a surprising amount of work going on right now at the resort…

Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway

There’s been a surge of noticeable improvement at Mickey and Minnie’s future attraction.

But the whole land will soon close for a year for major renovations prior to the opening of the big attraction. 

Sub Lagoon

We didn’t make it onto the Monorail for photos this week, but we wouldn’t be surprised to see the lagoon refilled very soon. Here’s a shot from last week to give you an idea of just how extensive the painting of the props in the lagoon is. VIBRANT details. 

Tarzan Treehouse

Tarzan’s Treehouse closed suddenly in early September of 2021 without a previous announcement of a scheduled refurbishment. The attraction had suffered an incident in winter of 2019 in which a board snapped under the weight of a guest who was jumping on the rope bridge. While the replacing of steps and slats is likely time consuming, this is an unusually long refurbishment at this point.  

Fantasyland Theater

The Fantasyland Theater is being prepared for new entertainment in 2022. It will host both a gospel festival and a restaged version of the “Tale of the Lion King” show which was previously offered at Disney California Adventure in 2019. 

We’re looking forward to Tale of the Lion King moving into a real theater. We hope they are able to enhance the show with a better set, lighting, and sound. 

Mr. Toad Chimney

This isn’t an important item, but a chimney is under refurbishment at Mr. Toad in Fantasyland.

Sailing Ship Colombia

The Columbia has wrapped up its refurbishment and is scheduled to begin sailing again today (January 3rd).  However, it goes BACK INTO REFURBISHMENT on January 24th. 

Mark Twain

Disneyland’s other big river boat is also scheduled for refurbishment. The Mark Twain will go down on January 31st through February 9th. Then it will operate for just one day before returning to refurbishment for an unknown length of time on February 11th. 

Of course, both of these boats are used in Fantasmic, which has been promised for 2022. So we are very glad to see these ships being prepared for our favorite Disneyland show.  

Merlin’s Marvelous Miscellany

The old Christmas shop in Fantasyland has gained a bit of new detail this week. The magical phrase “Higitus figitus migitus mum prestidigitonium” from the classic-but-oft-forgotten film The Sword in the Stone has been painted on the beam just outside the shop.

We’re still not entirely sure what is going into this “new” shop, but we imagine that it will likely be used as a flex space — after all, “Miscellany” is in the name. 

 

Magic Key Terrace Renovation

For our NYE lunch, we were able to get a reservation at the Magic Key Lounge. It ended up being the perfect place to enjoy a meal since it wasn’t busy up there and has lots of fresh air. 

 

While we were up there, we found out that the Magic Key Lounge will be closing sometime in mid-January for a retheme. Since the upstairs area of the Alfresco Tasting Terrace was converted into a Passholder-exclusive area back in 2020, the small-bites restaurant has been very popular. For this closure, the upstairs dining location will receive some new wall treatments to add some color while also swapping out furniture and light fixtures. Take a look at the concept art below:

Note the new cobalt and teal color scheme, new tiles, tables, and chandeliers. Looks like a comfy upgrade. 

And here’s how the space currently looks. Lots of beige and neutral tones. 

World of Color

Pixar Pier and Paradise Bay are looking beautiful again now that water has returned to the bay. The clouds made the scene a little more dramatic. 

Construction continues on the light towers at the back of the bay which have yet to be reinstalled. 

Holiday Overlay Removals:

Haunted Mansion removes its holiday overlay January 10th-20th. Just 10 days. 

And once crews are done reverting Haunted Mansion, it’s a small world gets its turn. The holiday overlay removal starts on January 24th and is expected to take until February 3rd. 

But there’s even more attractions going down for refurb soon: 

• Inside Out Emotional Whirlwind: (January 31st-February 10th)
• Splash Mountain: (January 10th-TBD)
• Grizzly River Run: (January 24th-TBD)
• Disneyland Monorail: (January 31st-TBD)
• Mickey’s Toontown (Spring 2022-2023)

This & That

And now for a few special interest stories from the week:

Main Street Windows

There are some familiar faces looking out once again from the animated windows of the Emporium. The Peter Pan window had a lengthy refurb, but you can now watch the Darling children and Peter take flight above the London rooftops.

And just around the corner at another entrance to the Emporium, a new light-up window showcases Disney Animation’s Encanto.

New Orleans Square Evacuated

When we visited Disneyland this past Thursday, we noticed that guests and cast had been evacuated from almost all of New Orleans Square. We’re not sure what caused the situation, but everyone in the area — including from Pirates, all the restaurants, the shops, the walkways, and even from Club 33 — were evacuated and New Orleans Square was closed down until the situation was resolved. It was pretty eerie seeing a bright flashing light in all of the shops and restaurants.

At first, we thought folks were waiting for the Disneyland Railroad, but they were actually just waiting around for the all-clear to return to their dinners. You can see some kitchen staff and others standing out with the guests. 

Tables abandoned in the normally busy Cafe Orleans. But all of the restaurants in New Orleans Square had to be evacuated. 

Diners just standing around in the rain. 

Pirates of the Caribbean also had to be closed. 

Belligerent Guest at The Golden Horseshoe

There was a scary incident in Frontierland last week as well. A belligerent guest threatened some Cast Members at The Golden Horseshoe. For a time, the cast thought the man had a weapon, which thankfully turned out not to be the case. Some cast took refuge while others attempted to deescalate the situation. In the end, the location was closed for the rest of the evening, though some were reassigned to the Stage Door quick service windows instead. We really feel for the cast in this stressful situation.  

Lovepop opens in Downtown Disney

We previously showed you the lackluster Pele Soccer store which opened last week in Downtown Disney. Thankfully the new Lovepop store is quite a bit more creative. 

All the cards sold here are pop-ups, some of them quite elaborate. 

This whole corner of the store is filled with bouquets of pop-up flowers…

The store has a mix of Disney and non-Disney themes. 

I’ve been buying their cards for years since finding them in Disney Springs at Walt Disney World. 

Happy New Year Everyone! 

Considering this was a holiday week when most of Disneyland’s projects are paused, there sure was a lot going on. It wasn’t as busy as in years past, crowded at times but not out of control as you remember from the past. At no point were guests stopped from park-hopping. Park reservations for the busy Christmas and New Years Eve days were even available a day in advance. There are quite a few refurbishments coming up, which is always a disappointment for some guests. But park availability seems to be improving. That’s the result of a mix of things, including a sharp rise in virus cases, a shift of availability toward Magic Keys, and the true off season arriving.  

If you don’t have a Magic Key and live in Southern California, there’s a special limited-time offer that starts TODAY. The ticket allows you to visit Disneyland 3 times on weekdays from January 3, 2022 through May 26, 2022 for $199 (subject to theme park reservation availability). There’s no weekend availability, but at a cost as low as $66 per visit, this could be a good fit for those with a little flexibility in their schedules. MiceChat has them just a bit cheaper for you through our ticket partners at Get Away Today:  Disneyland Resort Southern California Resident Offer from $194 HERE

We’d like to leave you with just a bit more today. With the rain and final days of Christmas there were just a few things we thought might help get your 2022 off to a good start…  

“All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.” – Walt Disney

Top Disney Stories of 2021

There were a lot of Disney stories that came out of 2021, and we’ve compiled a list of our top 10 news stories from the past year. We were surprised putting together this list because with so much happening last year, we had forgotten about some of the news items. Take a look at the biggest stories from last year and see if you can remember them in real time.

The Top 10 Disney Parks Stories of 2021 – The Fun and the Furious!