It was another busy week for Disneyland! The Resort is littered with numerous refurbishment, expansion, and construction projects from Downtown Disney to Pacific Wharf. Not only are off-season projects abundant but Disney California Adventure’s popular Lunar New Year celebration has returned with expanded dining options and plentiful live entertainment and festival fun. Meanwhile, both parks are gearing up to launch the big Disney100 celebration, which kicks off this weekend with new nighttime spectaculars, new decorations, and a brand new family dark ride in Mickey’s Toontown!
We’ve got a lot to cover this week, so let’s get started!
Magic Keys return… again.
Early last week, Disneyland resumed sales for its Magic Key annual pass program. The program went on sale in December but quickly sold out again after only one day on sale. As of this writing, Magic Keys remain available for purchase at all levels except for the “Enchant Key” level, which is only available for renewal at this time.
But the big news here is not so much that they became available again, but rather that they are STILL available (at least as of when I wrote this last night). This is the longest stretch they’ve been available yet. Has Disneyland expanded the program to meet current demand, or have that many Keyholders decided not to renew? For further information and complete coverage of the Magic Key program, visit the MiceChat article below:
Disney100 arrives at Disneyland
The big 100th anniversary celebration of the Walt Disney Company will kick off this Friday in a global celebration. The heart of that celebration is taking place here, at Walt Disney’s original Magic Kingdom, Disneyland. The first signs of this milestone celebration started appearing in the parks with new Disney100 merchandise during the holidays. Then, late last week, additional decorative elements were added in the late night hours each night. We had a sneak preview of these decorations in a special article on Friday morning. More decorations, fine tuning, and special preparations will be underway throughout the week as Disney gets ready to start the party on Friday, January 27. But first, let’s take a look at everything that we saw up in the parks as of Sunday.
Disney100 Decor: Mickey and Friends Tram Route and Esplanade
On Thursday, the first signs of the Disney100 celebration began to appear across the Disneyland Resort. Arriving guests first noticed new banners and decorations popped up along the Mickey and Friends Tram Route and in the main entrance esplanade. But don’t believe everything you read on the banners. There are some historical inaccuracies.
Oops, the Matterhorn Bobsleds opened in 1959 — not 1955!
Character banners were mixed in with milestone attractions and films in the tram loading zones. 
Another mistake — Snow White debuted in 1937! Was nobody proofreading these?
In the esplanade, new banners added some Disney100 flair to the space
Below, a video overview of the first decorations we spotted on Thursday:
Disney100 Decor: Walt Disney’s Disneyland
At Disneyland Park, the first decorations to appear were new Disney100 crests atop the main entrance turnstiles.
By Sunday, additional platinum sparkles and bunting were added along the all of the main entrance turnstile buildings. Looks nice and feels like vintage Disneyland!
At night, the decorations above the entrance are lit in plain white light
Inside the park, guests got their first glimpse at the decorations for Sleeping Beauty Castle on Friday.
A new wishing star sits atop the center roofline of the castle.
Only two of the three Good Fairies were in place over the weekend. One more fairy is on the way, though! Bunting will be added as well. The bunting will be held up by the fairies and draped behind the new Disney100 platinum cabochon.
Looks good so far! My biggest gripe is that so much detail seems to get lost with the platinum paint job. The platinum look makes it hard read the “Disney100” logo and even a little difficult to discern what the fairie are since there’s a lot of gray on gray as you look from a distance.
Disney100 Decor: Disney California Adventure Park
In Disney California Adventure, an oversized Disney100 medallions graces the top of the Pan Pacific Auditorium entry turnstiles.
By Sunday, additional medallions and sparkles had been added. We expect bunting will be added here as well.
The smaller Disney100 medallions will likely be the hooks for a dash of blue bunting.
By night the the medallion at the entrance of the park glows in purple light. 
It’s a bit weird that only the enter portion of the Pan Pacific Auditorium facade is lit in the blue light — hopefully the lighting here is adjusted a bit so it isn’t such so jarring.
Inside the park, banners, and blue-and-platinum bunting line Buena Vista Street.
Over the weekend, platinum sparkles were added to the Carthay Circle Theater marquee.
With the Carthay Circle Theater right there and Buena Vista Street telling the story of Walt Disney’s early days in California and the founding of the Disney studio — you’d think Disney would be doing a lot more with Buena Vista Street to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the company. Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear that’s in the plan. The history and Walt are right there but all we’re getting are some illegible silver plaques. What a shame.
Disney100: The Disney Gallery Presents 100 Years of Wonder
An all-new Disney Gallery exhibit will debut this week in the lobby of the Main Street Opera House as part of Disney100.
The new exhibition, “100 Years of Wonder,” will be “inspired by Walt Disney’s vision for Disneyland to be where his films come to life.” The exhibit will feature artwork created by animators of Walt Disney’s early films, alongside artwork by early Imagineers that transformed those films into theme park attractions.
Next door, the Disneyana art and collectibles shop remains open but the door to the Opera House lobby and Disney Gallery is closed.
Disney100: All Aboard Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway!
At the back of Disneyland, Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway will open to the public on Friday as part of Disney100. Mickey’s Toontown, as a whole, will reopen in early March. Last week, Disney reinstalled the Mickey’s Toontown marquee, with an updated look that’s proven to be a bit controversial on social media (but it doesn’t take much to get the armchair Imagineers riled up).
It’s the same sign as before, but each letter in “Toontown” represents a different Disney character. It’s a neat idea that can make the sign a little more difficult to read, but it’s also fun and whimsical.
The new version of Mickey’s Toontown sign:
And the original version (taken by our pal Mike Kindrich just days before it was removed):
Which version do you like better?
On either side of the new Toontown sign, new plaques replace former toon organizations and guilds. Below, Mouse Ear Society and the World Junior Woodchucks replaced the Benevolent and Protective Order of the Mouse and Optimist Intoonational, respectively.
On the other side of the marquee, the Toontown Handy Helpers and Toontown Hysterical Society replaced the Daughters of the Animated Reel (DAR), and Loyal Knights of the Inkwell.
Below, a video look at the updated Toontown marquee.
By Saturday, construction walls has been taken down. Cast Members will preview the new Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway attraction this week, followed by media previews on Thursday before the public grand opening on Friday.
Meanwhile, the toonified art deco fin of the El CapiTOON Theater can be seen over the trees, waiting for the first guests to step inside for the all-new attraction.
Disney100: MiceChat’s Complete Guide
And that’s not all! All-new nighttime spectaculars will be debuting in both theme parks on Friday. Disneyland’s “Magic Happens” parade will be returning next month. And tons of food and merchandise are available to commemorate this special occasion! Check out all of our coverage here on MiceChat for more information:
UPDATES! Disneyland’s 100 Years of Wonder Celebration Details
Disney100 Platinum Merchandise Collection Now In The Disney Parks!
Lunar New Year Celebration 2023!
In Disney California Adventure, the park’s spectacular and popular Lunar New Year Celebration has returned. This year, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit is taking center stage to celebrate the Year of the Rabbit in Chinese and Korean traditions. But wait! This year the Vietnamese zodiac is observing the Year of the Cat! So in a bit of serindipity, Oswald’s gal pal Ortensia will celebrate alongside her beau – rabbit and cat together in perfect harmony. In addition to Oswald and Ortensia, Mulan and Mushu are featured, live entertainment, artisans, and expanded food and beverage round out this year’s fantastic festival.
Celebrating the Year of the Rabbit and Year of the Cat
This year, Disney really decked out the San Francisco facades next to The Little Mermaid attraction. They look great (and give us a bit of hope for the upcoming San Fransokyo overlay on Pacific Wharf).
Festival Merchandise can be found at a couple points along the parade route.
For a complete look at this year’s Lunar New Year merchandise, check out Natalie Kipper’s article below:
Disneyland Lunar New Year Merchandise Celebrates the Year of the Rabbit!
The Paradise Gardens area of the park is the heart of the festival, with a special menu at Paradise Gardens Grill, arts and crafts activities, character meet-and-greets, and special live entertainment.
Signage explains the new year traditions of Vietnamese, Chinese, and Korean families.
This area really shines during this time of year. So pretty. 
The curtains of New Year Wishes are always a fun activity to participate in. 
Nearby, Chinese calligraphy artisans are on hand.
Character meet and greets can be found back in Paradise Gardens. Mulan and Mushu rotate with Oswald and Ortensia in the gazebo.
Oswald and Ortensia are absolutely adorable and perfect fits for this year’s zodiac animals.
Opening weekend of the festival saw big lines for characters.
Lunar New Year Festival Marketplaces expanded for 2023
Disney added two new Festival Marketplaces for this year’s Lunar New Year Celebration. New this year are Bamboo Blessings and Wrapped with Love. These two new booths join the returning four marketplaces, bringing the total of Lunar New Year Festival Marketplaces up to six this year!
- Lucky 8 Lantern
- Prosperity Bao & Buns
- Red Dragon Spice Traders
- Longevity Noodle Co.
Festival Marketplaces saw long lines over the weekend as well. 
There’s lots of new items to try in this year’s expanded Festival Marketplaces, so I tried five newbies and one festival favorite. 
The Mickey Mouse-shaped Hot Dog Bun is a go-to during the Lunar New Year Celebration. Can’t go wrong with this one!
The new Quesabirria Eggroll at Lucky 8 Lantern was pretty good but didn’t have enough Asian flavor to make it true fusion for me. The Red Spice Fried Chicken Bites at Red Dragon Spice Traders was a hit — crispy and surprisingly spicy by Disney standards. I’d definitely get this again.
The dumplings and wontons at Wrapped with Love were pretty good but with so many fantastic local dim sum spots in Orange County, it’s hard to recommend these for $9 for only three wontons!
The Mandarin Mousse Cake was a standout — light and not too sweet. It felt like a delicious orange creamsicle mousse. I’ll definitely be getting another one of these before the festival is over!
Mulan’s Lunar New Year Procession celebrates in the streets
A returning favorite is Mulan’s Lunar New Year Procession. This colorful mini-parade expanded its route this year and now runs the entire length of Disney California Adventure’s parade route. This is great news because it allows far more guests to enjoy it. This cavalcade is definitely worth checking out; I just love the pageantry of this great little procession!
Beautiful flower dancers
Check out our video of the full procession below:
Dramatic dragon dancers
Elegant ribbon dancers
Oswald makes an appearance in celebration of the Year of the Rabbit!
He’s too cute! 
Mulan and Mushu arrive on their special float.
Goofy waves from the back of the float.
Umbrella dancers close out the parade.
“Hurry Home: Lunar New Year Celebration” lights up the night
As part of the Lunar New Year festivities, the “Hurry Home: Lunar New Year Celebration” pre-show for World of Color has returned for the season. The pre-show tells the story of a lantern heading home to celebrate the new year. This was my first time seeing it and I found it to be wonderfully charming, especially with its fun fireworks finale!
The show is updated every year, according to the Chinese zodiac. This year’s show celebrates the Year of the Rabbit.
A fun fireworks finale!
For more coverage of Disney California Adventure’s Lunar New Year Festival 2023, don’t miss Nathan Villamor’s full guide and review of the festival here on MiceChat:
Hop Into Disney California Adventure’s Lunar New Year Celebration!
“it’s a small world” Reopens with Colorful Nighttime Lights
In Fantasyland, “it’s a small world” has reopened after the removal of its holiday overlay.
At night, the lighting scheme got a bit of an update with a couple of new splashes of color. The front of the facade is lit in white, with the back layers lit in deep blue — but now a couple additional splashes of color, such as pink and green, have been added. It looks quite nice!
A new light show on the facade now accompanies the quarter-hour clock show… but on Friday, the parade of children wasn’t quite working yet. We got video of the lighting sequence, however, for you to see.
The wonderful rainbow color sequence that chases the steam trains as they pass behind the facade is back as well. These are the sorts of little details that I love so much.
Construction Kingdom
Across the resort, construction continues on various projects big and small. Be sure to check out our Disneyland Resort Project Tracker were we’re keeping an eye on many of these projects.
Adventureland repaving and construction
In Adventureland, the major repaving project we showed you in last week’s Disneyland Update continues. On Friday, we noticed Cast Members were positioned just in front of the restrooms at the land’s entrance for the early part of the day. Cast Members, equipped with a microphone and speaker, repeatedly warned guests entering the land that they would only have access to the Jungle Cruise, Bengal Barbecue, and the Adventureland Bazaar.
The project stretches from the Jungle Cruise entrance (the attraction remains open) and runs north, past the upcoming Adventureland Treehouse, and down the pathway to the Pirates of the Caribbean.
The Jungle Cruise entrance and queue are currently routed through the Tropical Imports structure.
Bengal Barbecue remains open through a sliver of walkway, but that’s as far north in the land you can go: Adventureland is currently a dead end. If you’re looking for Pirates of the Caribbean or anything else on the park’s west side, you’ll have to turn around and access it through Frontierland.
Here’s a glimpse at some of the work that stretches down toward the entrance of Pirates of the Caribbean.
Re-grading the slope up to the treehouse should make this walk a little easier in the near future.
Pirates of the Caribbean remains open but its entrance is a bit of a bottleneck for now.
The bridge over the Pirates queue is open for overflow queue but closed to through traffic.
Work continues on the Adventureland Treehouse, which is expected to open sometime this year.
New Orleans Square train station
Over in New Orleans Square, the railroad station is open while work continues on repairing a Cast Member break room that recently caught fire after hours.
Hollywood Land refurbishments
Over in Disney California Adventure, scrims are up while Fairfax Market and some connecting facades in Hollywood Land are refurbished.
Mickey’s PhilharMagic will close for refurbishment starting Tuesday, January 24 and run through February 3.
Pacific Wharf transforms into San Fransokyo
Meanwhile, work is now officially underway on transforming Pacific Wharf into a corner of San Fransokyo from Disney’s animated film, “Big Hero 6.”
The Wharf lagoon is drained and some scrims are going up around a garden at the entry to the bridge. Note that although the Paradise lagoon (where World of Color is located) and the Pacific Wharf lagoon appear to be connected at first glance, they are separate bodies of water. In fact, the Wharf generally acts as the repository of excess water from the Grizzly River Run attraction. With that ride currently in refurbishment, we’d normally find this lagoon filled to its max. But instead it’s drained for construction.
The bridge will be getting an extreme makeover to give it more of a Golden Gate Bridge meets Tokyo look.
In the concept art for the bridge, you’ll see that the current arched bridge remains, but tall decorative towers will be added as the calling card for the area.
While we don’t expect Disney to add any major attractions to the re-themed mini-land (there’s simply not enough space), the area will infuse a popular Disney IP into one of the few remaining areas of Disney California Adventure that isn’t attached to popular film franchises.
By Sunday, additional scaffolding had gone up. We expect plenty more to be added in the coming days…
Take a look at the construction area in our video overview:
Expect more substantial work to get underway soon, as the current bridge will be re-themed to look like the Torii Gate Bridge from the film.
Cars Land tune-up
In Cars Land, walls are up around the leaning tower of tires in front of the entrance to Luigi’s Rollickin’ Roadsters.
The attraction remains open. 
Meanwhile, Radiator Springs Racers is closed for a brief refurbishment. The main goal of this short downtown is to repave portions of the track. Unlike a real roadway where cars stop and start at different points, the cars here always stop and break (sometimes heavily) in the same spots every time. And that creates uneven wear and tear which slowly degrades the performance of the attraction. This resurfacing will hopefully allow the attraction to be a bit more reliable over a wider range of weather conditions (we’ve learned).
But we’re still waiting to see of some broken elements inside the attraction were able to be addressed, such as the Sherif who has been stuck in position for many months.
The targeted repaving efforts are mostly in an area near the end of the race where the cars break quickly as you end the race and make a turn into the show building.
Anything that improves reliability is good news for guests.
We’ve had a lot of rains in California recently, we’ll see soon if the refreshed ride can handle the deluge.
Grizzly River Run refurbishment
Grizzly River Run is currently closed for its annual refurbishment.
We don’t know how the San Fransokyo project will impact the ride’s ability to be refilled, due to its connection with the Pacific Wharf lagoon.
Downtown Disney changes
Outside the parks, in Downtown Disney, work continues on some retail and dining projects that recently got underway. First up, all signage at the former La Brea Bakery and Cafe are now gone and the space will soon be home to a pop-up version of the popular Earl of Sandwich. 
Earl of Sandwich will eventually have a custom-built location in Downtown Disney’s upcoming west side expansion.
And at some point in the future, the La Brea Bakery building will be torn down entirely and a brand new location for the upcoming Porto’s Bakery will be built here.
Further along in Downtown Disney, the popular Disney Home and Wonderground Gallery spaces are being gutted. We’re curious to see if Disney Home is going to expand into the former Wonderground space, or vice versa — or will the two stores be combined in a new retail concept? Stay tuned!
By Sunday, the DisneyHome sign had been removed.
Signage for Wonderground Gallery was in the process of being removed Friday.
A look at the facade with no Wonderground signage on Sunday:
Nearby, Ralph Brennan’s Jazz Kitchen continues its very disappointing remodel into a bland, characterless box. Most of the New Orleans flair is gone here and now it looks like any modern restaurant in any number of So Cal strip malls. What a shame.
The balcony is now just black mesh railing and panes of glass. No more New Orleans style here.
More thematic details are being removed to be replaced with flat walls. 
The fountain in the restaurant’s courtyard is gone now. Such a bummer.
And over at the Monorail station entrance, a repaving project continues.
The Monorail remains open during construction.
Around the Park
Let’s wrap up today’s update with some photos from around the parks!
Luckily, even if the Jazz Kitchen is being stripped of its theme, Disneyland’s New Orleans Square still drips with Big Easy style. The land is covered in beads now as it transitions from the holidays to celebrate Mardi Gras.
Princess Tiana on the Mark Twain is always a treat!
Disneyland Discussion…
We’re done with another long Disneyland Update. But now the really important part, your thoughts! Let us know how Disney100 looks so far to you? Have you already planned your trip to see the new shows as well as Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway? Are you as charmed by Disney California Adventure’s Lunar New Year as I am? There are a lot of construction projects right now in both Parks, Downtown Disney, and two of the Disneyland Resort hotels. We know you have things to say, so let’s keep the conversation going…
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