Boo! Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to frighten you prematurely. The real chills begin next month. Hard to imagine in the current heat and humidity, but preparation for the spooky season has already begun. Closures for Halloween installation are beginning and the last few weeks of the Main Street Electrical Parade and Disneyland Forever fireworks are upon us. Plus, we all continue to wait for Magic Key Renewal information, there’s a new mobile order location, and we share images of construction projects all over the Disneyland Resort. Now, as they say, look alive; there’s a lot to see below…
Let’s start with some fun pre-Halloween news from around the Disneyland Resort.
Halloween Begins September 2nd
With the first signs of Halloween beginning to take shape as of today, we wanted to take a look at some attractions before they’re taken over by the ghosts, ghouls, and goblins of the Disneyland holiday team.
First, a little video the team put together showcasing Disneyland attractions as they appear in their normal mortal state…but not for much longer…
Redwood Creek Challenge Trail (Transformation Begins Today— August 1st)
Redwood Creek Challenge Trail is the first attraction to temporarily close for overlay installation. The Villains Grove transformation (part of the Oogie Boogie Bash) will take a little over two weeks, with the trail returning on August 19th. Just know that if you want to see Villains Grove, you’ll have to attend one of the (sold-out) Oogie Boogie Bash parties.
Certain parts were already in progress last week. Raya has vacated the campfire circle and construction walls were already up.
Plenty of other elements of the trail are either blocked off or, in the case of Kenai’s Spirit Cave, not working properly. When touched, the paw print no longer shows the spirit animal, it just plays the sound.
Nearby, a crawling log is missing.
Just outside the campfire circle, a hollowed-out tree stump was blocked off.
Moving on to an area that really gets into the Halloween spirit…
Cars Land (Transformation Begins Soon)
Cars Land’s Halloween overlay is done “one piece at a time,” as Johnny Cash would say. We’ll likely see some signs of Halloween creeping in soon, starting with the extra telephone poles that hold up decorations over the main road. Although, depending on who you ask, the scariest overlay has been sitting just outside Luigi’s for a few weeks… A rental car company is now being featured as a sponsor.
Curiously, Radiator Springs Curios continues to remain closed. With Halloween merchandise incoming, we hope to see this open again soon.
Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout (Transformation Begins Nightly Starting September 2nd)
While Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout will receive a Halloween overlay, the Monsters After Dark version of this attraction is installed nightly. It’s quite amazing what some lighting, re-programming, projection mapping, and a new soundtrack can do.
Something a little less scary but just a little sad is the “Kirby Krackle” in the pavement around the attraction. It’s starting to fade and…crackle. A clever idea to solve the story inconsistency of an alien building sitting at the edge of Avengers Campus, the swirly bits in the ground around the tower are looking like they won’t last much longer without a refurbishment.
Haunted Mansion (Transformation Begins August 15th)
Jack Skellington’s annual wrecking of the halls begins in just two weeks and the installation will take a little over two weeks more. Haunted Mansion Holiday opens September 2nd for the beginning of Halloween at Disneyland.
A fan favorite, this overlay actually lasts through the new year. It’s quite a long run for an overlay— Jack takes residence for a third of the year. Are you a fan of the holiday mashup version? Or are you a classic Mansion fan?
Missing from Halloween
Noticeably missing from this list of Halloween transformations is Space Mountain. The annual Ghost Galaxy overlay hasn’t been running for a few years now. Hyperspace Mountain was only recently turned off; it’s only a relatively quick programming switch to change to Ghost Galaxy. Hopefully, Disney will change their mind in the future and return the Halloween overlay or at the very least the gorgeous and haunting projection mapping show on the facade of the mountain.
Magic Key Renewals
Expiration dates for the first Magic Keys are rapidly approaching. Disney has remained silent on when renewals will begin. Personally, I expected them to have made an announcement by now. All Magic Key levels remain “Currently Unavailable” for now.
Disney has stated that something in terms of renewal is coming, and we’re expecting info about that to be released any day now. But with Disneyland’s busiest days of the year ahead for Halloween and Christmastime, we are very curious to see if all Key levels will be available or just some of them (and at what price)… and what, if any, changes will be made to the program to account for the currently pending litigation over the program.
Red Car Trolley
The Red Car Trolley has had a few issues after returning a few weeks ago. Currently, only one trolley is running and for a while, it wasn’t even making it through a whole day before shutting down. The Trolly’s new route has it stop in front of the Hyperion Theater instead of the Guardians of the Galaxy Tower as it did in the days before Avengers Campus was built.
Also, a little oops that fellow MiceChat staff member Mike Kindrich pointed out. The Buena Vista Street charging plate for the trolley was installed in a location that puts the door right in front of the wig-wag.
The trouble is that the Red Car Trolley is ADA-accessible. For wheelchairs to access the trolley, a ramp pulls out; unfortunately, the ramp would hit the wig-wag. Not a huge deal, the trolley can just drive a few feet to load wheelchairs, but it won’t be able to charge during that process.
Take a ride on the trolley from the Hyperion Theater back to the California Adventure Main Entrance…
Rancho Del Mobile Order
Last week, we reported that Rancho Del Zocalo would soon offer mobile order. To accommodate this, half of the windows were converted into mobile order pickup.
Something wonky is going on here. When we arrived at the restaurant, the line was approximately 10 to 15 minutes. In the app, mobile order was available within 30 minutes. Not a soul was picking up a mobile order.
First, there’s also no obvious way to get into the restaurant to pick up a mobile order since the standby line spills out the front entrance. Once inside, the two pickup windows are obvious, as well as directions painted onto the wall telling you to exit a certain door for mobile orders. Except, no one was picking up mobile orders and we couldn’t make one for a half hour. The only thing Rancho has managed to do is create an artificial wait time for the standby line— there likely wouldn’t have been a wait at all if the additional windows were serving standby guests.
Just like at the Plaza Inn, the layout of Rancho Del Zocalo doesn’t make sense for mobile order. We’ll keep an eye on this; hopefully, some adjustments are made or Mobile Order is abandoned here. It would be nice for there to be restaurants that operate as guests expect them to without using a mobile phone.
Late Summer Crowds
It’s been steady but not crazy busy at Disneyland this week. High summer temperatures tend to melt away the locals, while tourists remain resolute in their efforts to squeeze the maximum magic out of the parks. That trend may continue into August, with high 80s forecast for at least the next two weeks:
While roaming California Adventure this past weekend, we noticed a pattern. Every E-ticket we walked past had a huge Lightning Lane queue.
When we hit Pixar Pier, two lines had backed up into one another…
Adorable Snowman’s line had backed up against the Incredicoaster single rider line.
The main entrance for Incredicoaster wasn’t much better, with the Lightning Lane queue stretching to Jessie’s Critter Carousel.
It’s not all that uncommon for Radiator Springs Racers to have a long Lightning Lane queue, but it’s quite abnormal for it and every other E-ticket in the park to have one simultaneously.
The only two that didn’t seem to have this problem were the two Marvel attractions (WEB Slingers and Guardians). Additionally, lines weren’t short at Disneyland, but they weren’t spilling into the walkway like they were at DCA. None of this was a problem last summer when FastPass was discontinued.
So, why was Lightning Lane so bad this weekend? Well, we think it’s because 1) There are more tourists visiting right now and they are much more likely to purchase Genie+ and 2) Disneyland doesn’t limit the number of Genie+ it sells every day. It’s clear that Genie doesn’t really make things better for guests as lines moved much more efficiently when there was no Genie+ or FastPass. At this point, we wish Disney would just dramatically increase the price of Genie+ and severely limit the number of people who can purchase it each day. Better yet, just make each attraction an individual selection and price them high enough that not very many people take advantage of it, but Disney still makes the additional revenue they are looking for. We’d like to hear your thoughts on that.
Disneyland Resort Construction Updates
ToonTown Remodel
It’s hard to see what’s going on in ToonTown, but what we can see are the hills— now in color.
I’ve cropped in and punched up the color on the photo below so you can see it a little better. The fading effect from green to “faraway” purple mountains to reflect distance is fun. We’ll have to see how well it performs standing in front of the El Capi-TOON Theater next year.
Tomorrowland Refurbishments
Tomorrowland is full of construction walls right now. Joining the Tomorrowland entrance (which was planted a few weeks ago, but still displays old concept art on a construction wall) are the former Buzz Lightyear FastPass distribution area and the former Magic Eye Theater queue.
The Buzz Lightyear/Star Tours FastPass area is now blocked off.
As is the queue in front of the Magic Eye theater (recently showing The Path of the Jedi and now showing nothing).
An odd thing happened a few weeks ago. The sign in the Space Mountain exit that directs guests to Star Trader and Alien Pizza Planet had fallen off, revealing a little blast from the past. The original sign pointing guests to the Magic Eye Theater and The Space Place Restaurants still remained underneath.
We went by this week and this is how it looks now after being repaired.
I’m feeling nostalgic now for something I never remember experiencing…well, here’s me crossing my fingers we hear something about a Tomorrowland refresh come September at D23 Expo…
Speaking of falling signs, just outside of Pizza Planet, there’s a Coca-Cola rocket still missing its swirl of planets.
The missing letters were fixed a while ago, but the galaxy swirl never returned after it swirled away during a wind storm last year.
Tarzan’s Unnamed Adventureland Treehouse
Whatever is going on at the former Tarzan’s Treehouse is still ongoing…
What would you like to see happen with the Tarzan Treehouse?
Grizzly Peak Airfield
A construction wall popped up in front of the plane in Grizzly Peak Airfield this week. The plane there has been behind barriers for weeks now. We’re not sure what is happening beyond the construction walls.
Disneyland Hotel & Downtown Disney
Disneyland Hotel is replacing the beige with more blue. The very blue hotel will be getting even bluer. Guests were notified this week that workmen might be outside their windows…
The beige sections at the tops of the towers and on balconies are being repainted in the same shades of blue used on the rest of the towers.
Meanwhile, that giant dirt lot where AMC Theater once stood is just sitting there with no activity.
Disneyland Refurbishment Calendar
Currently Under Refurbishment:
Tarzan’s Treehouse
Mickey’s Toontown: (March 9th, 2022-2023)
Upcoming Refurbishments:
Redwood Creek Challenge Trail: (August 1st-19th)
Haunted Mansion Holiday Install: (August 15th-September 1st)
Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue!: (August 15th-September 2nd)
Matterhorn Bobsleds: (August 8th-TBA)
Pirate’s Lair on Tom Sawyer Island: (September 6th-8th)
This and That
To wrap up today’s Disneyland Update, here are a few of the smaller stories from around the resort.
Outside La Brea Bakery, a Honda CR-V with an Electrical Parade wrap has rolled in.
It even has a cute snail on top.
Speaking of, this is your reminder that the Electrical Parade and Disneyland Forever end their run on September 1st!
We caught Disneyland Forever in front of the newly reopened Submarine Voyage.
In the Hub, half of the digital wait time board was blank during our visit.
I’m not sure I like lightsabers being sold in Frontierland, just outside of Galaxy’s Edge…
Finding Nemo: Submarine Voyage returned last week to the delight of hour-long lines. It really is great to see it back.
Can you tell we’ve been having fun photographing the lagoon again?
Next year is the 100th Anniversary of The Walt Disney Company and to celebrate, the company is giving all Disneyland cast members a special 100th Anniversary name tag. In place of their hometown, cast members can select their favorite character to display under their name. Favorite characters can be chosen from a pre-selected list, ranging from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, and LucasFilm characters.
The list isn’t entirely exhaustive but does have quite a few niche characters. For example, cast members can select standard characters like Mickey, Donald, Woody, Buzz Lightyear, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Luke Skywalker, or Darth Vader. They can also select a small selection of obscure characters like Bookworm from Toy Story, M’Baku from Black Panther, or Salacious B. Crumb from Star Wars. While there are a surprising amount of niche characters, the list seems to omit some obvious choices. Live-action mainstays like Mary Poppins or Jack Sparrow are missing. Disney Parks characters like Madame Leota, Harold the Yeti, or Big Al are also omitted.
Regardless of any character choice oversight, we’re excited to see what the design of the name tags look like; the special anniversary name tags are always cute! What characters are you hoping to see on cast member name tags next year?
Finally, I’ll leave you with a sweet treat. The Royal Street Veranda is serving Blueberry Fritters. These things taste like deep-fried blueberry pancakes you dip in lemon sauce…delicious.
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Let’s Hear From You
That’s all from the Disneyland Resort this week. Are you excited about the upcoming holiday seasons? Are you one of the Magic Key holders still waiting to renew? Will you be sad to see the summertime entertainment end on September 1? Let us know in the comments below.
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