While most of the MiceChat crew went off the rails this weekend for the world-famous Gumball Rally, the Disney news never stops. We have an amazing collection of photos and information for you today, including tantalizing news about a show for the shuttered Hyperion Theater, some great construction progress, operations updates, and a wild ride for some very happy guests…
Casting Mysteries
This week there were some intriguing Disneyland theatrical casting calls. Let’s take a look at each.
Casting: New Limited-Time Show Headed to the Hyperion Theater
A casting call has popped up for a new, limited-run show at the Hyperion Theater in Disney California Adventure. There’s no official word on what the show will be, but we have our theories and so did all of you in the article posted earlier this week.
The prevailing theories seem to be Hercules, Tarzan, or Rogers the Musical (from the Hawkeye series). What are you hoping for? Regardless, we’re happy to hear anything is coming to the Hyperion after 3 years of it sitting unused!
Casting: Hiro Hamada
Construction is underway at the Pacific Wharf area of California Adventure to transform it into San Fransokyo. With that upcoming change, there’s a need for Big Hero 6 characters. While we know that a Baymax meet and greet is coming, a casting call has also been posted for the film’s main protagonist, Hiro Hamada.
Does this mean Hiro will be joining Baymax? Or perhaps something else? Let us know what you think.
Casting: Live-Action Ariel
Ariel from the upcoming live-action version of The Little Mermaid is also currently being cast.
This is the Halle Bailey version of Ariel. The resort will likely continue to offer multiple different versions of the character.
For all the info on the casting mysteries, check out our article below:
Tiana’s Bayou Adventure Storyline Revealed
Splash Mountain’s days are numbered, but we still don’t know exactly when it will close. Though, it would make sense for that to happen relatively soon. Disney is ramping up the buzz for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure and sharing more about the storyline. Since the announcement of the Princess and the Frog redo of Splash way back in 2020, we’ve been teased with tiny shreds of information about what the attraction’s story will be. This week, more details have come to light.
The story for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is all-new, original, and set after the Princess and the Frog film. Apparently, following the success of Tiana’s Palace, Tiana went on to found “Tiana’s Foods,” an employee-owned cooperative. The headquarters of this new endeavor is built on an old salt mine.
Where they make hot sauce?
The main plot of the attraction will follow a mix-up in party preparations for a celebration to honor Tiana’s family, friends, and community for all the support they’ve given her. A special ingredient has been misplaced, and we’ve been invited to help.
We were very excited about the potential Princess and the Frog takeover at first. It seemed like the perfect fit. Splash Mountain takes place in a bayou, so does Princess and the Frog. Swap out the characters, change the music, add some new special effects and you’ve got a familiar experience but with more modern characters and music. Princess and the Frog even has great villains which would make a fantastic catalyst for the big drop. And is could all end in a Mardi Gras-style celebration with Tiana’s restaurant in the distance. UNFORTUNATELY… that’s not the direction this ride is going.
The more info Disney releases about Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, the less I’m looking forward to it. The story really has us shaking our heads and wondering if perhaps Imagineering has lost control of this project. There is way too much backstory about restaurants and ingredients and nothing about drama and thrill. Is it just me, or is this a completely unappetizing idea for a thrill ride?! What are your thoughts on the storyline folks? ‘
We know that a huge budget has been set aside for this project, and it should look very detailed and beautiful… but I just can’t imagine anyone is going to book a vacation to Disneyland to see Tiana’s new ride about finding missing ingredients. “Hey kids, we’re taking you to Disneyland to help Tiana find missing ingredients!” “Awe, mom, do we have to?”
How about this… use the story, characters, and music from the actual film… like all the other great story-driven rides Disney has done. It just isn’t necessary for a theme park to write the sequel to a film. If it’s important to tell the tale of Tiana’s salt mine food company, then let Disney Animation make the film first… but we’d imagine that not even Disney+ would fund a film about missing ingredients… so how is this happening at Disneyland? Someone please call Bob Iger and beg him to take a look at what’s going on with this seemingly misguided project. There’s a real opportunity for this to be a GREAT ride, why purposely make it sound so boring?!
For further details about Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, be sure to look at the article below:
NEW: Concept Art and Story for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure at Disneyland & WDW
Construction Updates
The projects around the parks are making some major progress. This week, it got a whole lot easier to walk through Disneyland again. Plus, we’ve got some updates on other construction work taking place across the resort.
Adventureland Reopens to Through Traffic
For the past month, Adventureland has been a dead-end as the walkway has been getting refurbished. This past weekend, the fresh-laid path reopened with a new re-graded slope from Adventureland to Pirates of the Caribbean. That also means that Fantasmic returned this weekend!
If the spot looks a little different to you, that’s because the little garden at the point of the railing below had to be removed to make way for a longer ramp.
The New Orleans brickwork has been extended around the corner now and looks nice.
Indiana Jones remains closed during its major refurbishment. Signs outside promise that temple tours will begin again in the spring. Some of the rockwork closer to the Jungle Cruise boathouse has also been reworked.
(We’re not sure if the mistakes on the signs are intentional or not)
Adventureland Treehouse
With the walkway reopened, you can now see that the construction walls have been pushed back toward the Adventureland Treehouse. Some of the scaffolding and scrims have been re-arranged as well.
Peoplemover Tracks Refurbishment
The Peoplemover tracks got a fresh coat of paint this week. But don’t get too excited, the Peoplemover is NOT coming back. This is part of standard cosmetic maintenance for the structure, although we sure would love to see an attraction return here.
Simultaneously, one of the Tomorrowland signs was removed from the Peoplemover track.
Perplexingly, this was not the sign that was struck by a vehicle last year. That sign is still up. It’s probably missing because of the new coat of paint and just not re-installed yet.
The signs were originally installed for the Season of the Force in 2015 and updated with the current Tomorrowland signs after that promotion ended. With the entrance of Tomorrowland awaiting a visual update, these signs are holdovers until a proper entrance is finished. We still don’t know when that might happen despite the concept art displayed on the construction walls.
Refurbishments
Haunted Mansion is down for its de-holiday-ification. The happy haunts will be back later this week on February 9th.
Nothing seems to be happening at the New Orleans train station. A building at the station caught fire back in December. The damage looked extensive the last time we saw the scrims down, so Disney is likely still deciding what to do with it. That does mean that for the time being, the trains will still continue to be run manually via radio and will stick to a maximum of two locomotives on the track at a time.
Here’s the current refurbishment calendar:
Currently Under Refurbishment:
- Tarzan’s Treehouse Transformation: (September 1st, 2021-2023)
- Mickey’s Toontown (March 9th, 2022-March 8th, 2023)
- Indiana Jones Adventure: (January 9th-Spring 2023)
- Grizzly River Run: (January 9th-March 16th)
- Fairfax Market: (January 9th-February 11th)
- Haunted Mansion: (January 30th-February 9th)
- Inside Out Emotional Whirlwind: (January 30th-February 9th)
Upcoming Refurbishments:
- Mickey’s PhilharMagic: (February 13th-23rd)
- French Market and Mint Julep Bar: (February 17th-TBA)
- Silly Symphony Swings: (February 27th-TBA)
- Mark Twain Riverboat: (March 6th-9th)
- Splash Mountain transformation to Tiana’s Bayou Adventure (TBA 2023-2024)
Downtown Disney Updates
Outside of the parks, there are a few new things this week.
Temporary Earl of Sandwich Location Now Open
You can’t keep the good Earl down for long— the Earl of Sandwich has re-opened in a temporary Downtown Disney location. This was previously La Brea Bakery, and will eventually be Porto’s, but for now, you can order a pretty good sandwich here. The Earl of Sandwich is promised to receive a permanent location on the west side of Downtown Disney when it comes time for the Porto’s construction.
Interestingly, a table-service option is also coming. The Earl of Sandwich Tavern will utilize the table-service section of the old La Brea Bakery and will offer a full-service breakfast, lunch, and dinner with a full bar.
Wonderground Gallery/Home Store Construction
The Wonderground and Home Store project continues.
D100 Display at the Grand Californian
The lobby at the Grand Californian is receiving a sweet display. Just like the gingerbread houses around the holidays, the pastry team is making this display from scratch!
This & That
There’s always more. We have a few more things we’d like to share this week…
Runaway Railway
Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway has only been open a week, but someone has already managed to damage the pepper shaker in the concession stand section of the queue. Fortunately, it has already been replaced.
For those worried about entering the virtual queue for the attraction, it seems to have greater availability, especially after the 1pm entry time (particularly on weekdays). Boarding parties don’t always fill up in the first few seconds the same way they did for Rise of the Resistance. That’s good news for those who want to experience the new attraction, and perhaps the ride won’t need to remain on a Virtual Queue for much longer.
Sleeping Beauty Castle Overlay
Disney 100 has been going for over a week now and Sleeping Beauty Castle’s overlay is still unfinished.
The finials are still missing on the tallest spires.
You might also spot some hanging wires. I wonder what they’re for.
Celebrate Soulfully
Disney’s Black History Month promotion, Celebrate Soulfully, is in full swing. Most of the celebration is around the west side of Downtown Disney, but a few things pop up in the parks as well.
This promotion is always a good excuse to have great live performances.
I particularly love the chalk art on the sidewalks in Downtown Disney.
Get more info about Celebrate Soulfully this year in the article below:
Sweetheart’s Popcorn Bucket
Despite being billed as an exclusive to the Disneyland After Dark event, Sweetheart’s Night, the Valentine balloon popcorn bucket is now being sold to regular daytime park guests.
Destran Ice Cap
I’m always buying weird food when I’m at the park— here’s a new one (to me) from Ronto Roasters: the Destran Ice Cap. It’s Sprite with orange-tangerine syrup, then topped with sweet cream cheese. This is definitely one of the strangest items I’ve tried in Galaxy’s Edge, the cream cheese sort of grows when you stir it; so much so that the cast member warned not to stir it too much because it will spill over! It was somewhat like drinking a sugar cookie.
If you’re looking for a delicious drink at Disneyland, Ronto Roasters’ Meiloorun Juice is still the best: Pineapple Juice, Lemonade, with Blueberry, Cranberry Juice, Lemon Juice, and Desert Pear.
MiceChat Gumball Rally
This past weekend, hundreds of MiceChat readers competed for all the gumballs in our annual MiceChat Gumball Rally! The Gumball Rally is a competition to see who can ride the most attractions at Disneyland in a single day. It was yet another incredible, completely sold-out year for the rally.
The premise of the Gumball Rally may sound simple, but the game changes every year to keep teams on their toes. This year, the teams were tasked with riding the brand-new Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway — perfect for the theme of the event: “Off the Rails!” But there was some tricky calculus involved… all attractions in the park were worth just one point each, even the ones which generate the longest waits. Teams had to decide if getting on the ride was worth the risk of missing out on other attractions.
It took many volunteers to coordinate and run the rally. The nearly 100 Spotters, scorers, photographers, and coordinators made it all run incredibly smoothly. We love these folks!
Over the years the many returning teams have become like family, with lots of new people joining the fold each year.
As the clock ran down, teams ran from the resort over to the Anaheim Hotel to turn in their game books in time! (Check below for a very special offer that the Anaheim Hotel is sharing with our readers in celebration of the MiceChat).
Many came back dead tired.
but the sense of accomplishment was real.
As the scores were tallied, rallygoers shuffled in for a grand finale!
Finally, it was time to announce the special prizes and winners…
Our amazing partners at Get Away Today announced the top 3 medaling teams. The 1st place team won our incredible gumball machine trophy (which features golden gumballs, the Disneyland Railroad, and 4 scenes from the Grand Canyon and Primeval World), PLUS a $250 travel award from Get Away Today.
We’ll have all the details, winners, and scores for each team a little later this week!
Thanks to everyone who came out for the 2023 MiceChat Gumball Rally! To relive this year’s Gumball Rally, search the hashtag #mcGumballRally on social media! And make sure you don’t miss out on future MiceChat events, add your name to our email list: MiceChat Newsletter and Events List
Special MiceChat Reader Celebration
The Anaheim Hotel hosted the MiceChat Gumball Rally launch and award party this year. In celebration of our teams, the site, and all of our readers, the hotel has created a very special offer for stays through April 1st, 2023. Get 20% off and a 20% resort credit when you book with the link and promo code below:
- The Anaheim Hotel Book HERE
- User promo code: MC23
And, through April 15th, the hotel is offering a $25 all-day parking offer for those of you who are looking for alternative theme park parking (when space is available). Just print this offer and take it with you:
A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words
As we come to the end of this week’s update, we’d like to leave you with some beautiful photos from around the resort:
While it’s not quite spring yet, gorgeous springtime flowers are planted in Downtown Disney. The bees sure are happy about this.
This hawk was perched atop a Big Thunder spire.
Discount Disney Theme Park Tickets & Hotels!!!
MiceChat brings you the BEST theme park ticket, hotel & package deals! (You’ll find extra nights free, big discounts, and special offers as well).
Check out the latest offers for Disneyland, Walt Disney World, Universal Studios, and Knott’s Berry Farm:
If you live in Southern California, there’s a very special ticket offer for you that runs from January 9th through May 25th:
(MiceChat works with Get Away Today to provide you with the best theme park travel deals and we may make a small commission on any sales made through our links)
Let’s Hear From You
Are you surprised that it’s already easier to obtain a Virtual Queue spot for Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway? Have you had a chance to experience the new attraction? What would you like to see go into the Hyperion Theater?
You must be logged in to post a comment.