From construction to crowds, there’s a lot going on at Disneyland right now! On Friday, Disney unveiled a heartwarming tribute to its longtime non-profit partners at the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Over on the Rivers of America, it’s been a full week since the headline-making Fantasmic! dragon fire. The popular nighttime show remains dark while Disney sorts through the aftermath of the blaze. Meanwhile, construction rages on everywhere — from Tiana’s Palace to San Fransokyo Square, both parks have major projects underway… and don’t forget about the Hotels and Downtown Disney! We’ve got a full Dateline Disneyland update for you on all of the latest goings on and construction news at the Resort.
Welcome to Disneyland!
It was a lovely spring weekend at Disneyland. While overcast skies made for a grey end to the weekend, Friday was a picture perfect So Cal spring day, with warm temperatures and bright blue skies.
With spring break over and schools not yet out for summer, the parks weren’t terribly busy over the weekend.
Below, a look at wait times on Disneyland’s in-park info boards on Friday afternoon. While Disneyland’s E-Tickets saw some high wait times, the parks themselves weren’t congested or hard to navigate. With spring break over, more Magic Key passes are now unblocked on the weekends, and that did make for more pass holders.
Below, a look at some wait times in Disneyland on Saturday afternoon, just before 1 p.m. Honestly, not too bad.
A look at some wait times at Disney California Adventure from Saturday afternoon:
Of course, your typical bottlenecks such as the pathways from Adventureland into New Orleans Square, Fantasyland, and the main Tomorrowland entrance saw their normal congestion. By and large, however, crowds and crowd flow were pleasant.
Not too busy on Buena Vista Street!
When You Wish Upon A Window
On Friday morning, Disney unveiled a series of three new windows on Main Street. The windows sit proudly above the Disneyland Dream Lounge, the in-park home of the Make-A-Wish Foundation. The new windows honor the Make-A-Wish Foundation and are the first windows Disney has ever dedicated to a non-profit organization.
The center window honors the Make-A-Wish Foundation itself and all the wish children of the past, present, and future. The window on its left honors Chris Greicius. Chris’ wish inspired the creation of the Make-A-Wish Foundation. The window to the right honors Frank Salazar, who received the first official wish granted by the foundation in 1981. Frank’s wish was to visit Disneyland.
Since 1981, the Make-A-Wish Foundation has granted over 500,000 wishes, with Disney granting over 150,000 of those.
While the the Wish Lounge is not open to the public, the windows can be seen by all guests. The Wish Lounge is located next to the Disneyland First Aid center, at the end of Main Street, U.S.A.
MiceChat has full coverage of the unveiling of the new windows, including a visit inside the renovated Wish Lounge and more information on the story and the history of Disney and Make-A-Wish.
Wishes Granted: Touching New Windows on Disneyland’s Main Street
Fantasmic’s Dragon Dilemma
Work continues on the investigation into the major fire that completely consumed the giant dragon animatronic in Fantasmic just over a week ago. The dramatic blaze luckily didn’t result in any serious injuries. It has, however, caused some unexpected downtime for the popular nighttime show.
When the show eventually returns, it will need to so so without its dragon. In this “B-Mode” version of the show, the Maleficent dragon segment would be shown as animated visuals on water screens — and this how the show is commonly presented when the dragon cannot operate due to any technical issues or other unforeseen circumstances.
As of this writing, Fantasmic! is not operating in any capacity, and the pit that houses the dragon on the stage is surrounded by green tarps. When the sun hits the tarps just right, you can see the outline of the charred dragon head but otherwise, there’s not much to see here. In fact, there isn’t even any evidence of the major fire on the island — the stage is in remarkably good shape and there aren’t even any burn marks or damage to be seen.
Below, a look at the island stage from Thursday afternoon.
As you can see, the tarps cover the dragon’s pit entirely, so not even a ride on the top deck of the Mark Twain offers a look at the aftermath…
While Tom Sawyer Island remains closed to guests for now, walls are already in place to keep guests off the front of the island and the Fantasmic! stage.
Dusty Sage was there as the park opened the morning after the big fire and was able to see the charred remains the dragon as crew frantically attempted to erect scaffolds around the scene. Click the play button below to see for yourself:
Stay tuned to MiceChat for the latest news and updates on the reopening of Fantasmic!
Construction Kingdom & Refurbishment Roundup
Let’s take a look at the latest progress on the various construction and refurbishment projects around the Resort. Below, a look at the latest refurbishment calendar:
Currently Under Refurbishment
- Tarzan’s Treehouse: Reopening as Adventureland Treehouse (officially TBA, but we expect this project to wrap up quickly and be available this summer)
- French Market: Reopening as Tiana’s Palace TBA
- Mint Julep Bar: Reopening TBA
- Silly Symphony Swings: Closed through May 18
- Matterhorn Bobsleds: Closed through June 1
Upcoming Refurbishments
- Splash Mountain: Closes May 31st to begin transformation into Tiana’s Bayou Adventure
- The Little Mermaid ~ Ariel’s Undersea Adventure: Closed June 5—7
- Peter Pan’s Flight: Closed June 5th—TBA
- Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride: Closed June 5th—TBA
- Alice in Wonderland: Closed June 5th—TBA
Adventureland Treehouse construction continues
There has still been no official opening timeline for the Adventureland Treehouse besides “2023.” Still, construction continues, with the upper portion of the treehouse emerging (but definitely still not complete).
Below, a video overview of the current progress on the Treehouse:
A new water tower is yet to be installed, which is part of the elaborate water wheel system.
You can see how those posts will look in the concept art below:
It looks like there’s plenty of work left to do here but we’re very excited to see this project continue to unfold. We’re definitely looking forward to seeing the treehouse reopen, hopefully by this summer.
French Market’s royal transformation
Tiana continues to move into the French Market as the restaurant makes its transformation into Tiana’s Palace.
I hope the ornate wrought iron and lighted trellis around the outdoor patio remains. It’s likely it will since it wasn’t removed along with the old French Market lighted panels.
A peek at the mess of construction in the patio area.
It’s nice to see the Mint Julep Bar sign still on the wall back there… I really hope they keep that name and that great painted sign design as part of Tiana’s Palace.
New Orleans Square Station fire repairs
Tarps are back up at the building that was damaged by a recent fire at the New Orleans Square railroad station… Yes, there have been an unusual number of fires at the park recently.
This had recently been uncovered, but with tarps back up, it’s unclear how much longer work will go on here. We’ve seen no visible progress on this project at all.
The fire reportedly affected the train’s sensor system. The result is Disneyland running a maximum of 2 trains at a time, causing long lines for the classic attraction.
Ship to Shore Marketplace reopens
The Ship to Shore Marketplace was scheduled to reopen over the weekend but wasn’t quite ready yet on Friday. Walls were down, however, and the outdoor vending location looked fresh and new again.
Matterhorn and Fantasyland East refurbishments
Work continues on the Matterhorn’s seasonal refurbishment. This aging classic requires a lot of maintenance every year…
Every effort is being made to keep this refurbishment on track as the park would like to get it open around the time Splash Mountain is closing for its major transformation at the end of the month.
For Fantasyland dark ride fans, you’ve got until June 5 to enjoy the trio of classics that reside in the eastern side of Fantasyland. This entire show building will be under refurbishment for an unknown period of time early next month. The closure includes Peter Pan’s Flight, Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, and Alice in Wonderland.
San Fransokyo Square Prepares for a Summer Reveal
Over in Disney California Adventure, work continues on transforming the Pacific Wharf area into the new San Fransokyo Square. The new theme is bringing a light overlay of San Fransokyo, the city seen in Disney’s “Big Hero 6” animated film.
Below, take a look at the latest construction progress.
It looks like Pacific Wharf Cafe is becoming the Lucky Cat Cafe from the film — no word yet on if this will include menu changes for the popular location that currently serves soups in Boudin bread bowls made fresh next door.
Work continues on the new Port of San Fransokyo Cervecería. The new beer location is being added to an existing, unused walk-up window at the Cocina Cucamonga restaurant.
New electrical going in, presumably for Cervecería menu signage.
The Cervecería is being added because soon, the old Karl Strauss beer truck will be leaving to make room for a Baymax meet-and-greet.
A tiny bit of remaining California “edutainment” — for California Microbrews!
The Pacific Wharf Distribution Co. beer truck has been a fixture since the park opened in 2001. As DCA continues to shed the remaining bits of its original identity and theming, this truck will soon depart (or possibly be relocated elsewhere in the park).
A construction wall is already up behind the truck.
Work continues on repainting and retheming the exterior of the restrooms.
It’s likely this opening-day signage will soon be removed or rethemed as well.
Avengers HQ Store
Not much to be seen here but work continues next to the Avengers HQ as Disney moves forward with adding a new gift shop at the Avengers HQ building.
Disney has not publicly announced this project or any sort of opening timeline. But they did confirm with MiceChat that this was indeed a retail project and not the start of the major E-Ticket attraction which we hope will one day take over the spot behind the Avengers HQ facade.
Rebuilding Silly Symphony Swings
Silly Symphony Swings is mostly rebuilt and will begin testing soon as it heads toward its mid-May reopening.
Look at all that vivid paint. Looks good.
Major Downtown Disney expansion progress
Work is really ramping up in Downtown Disney lately! The dirt lot, formerly home to the AMC Theaters is now seeing some significant progress, with a lot of dirt being moved around and building foundations going in.
Take a look at our video overview of all of the Downtown Disney progress underway!
The construction walls have been pushed out as repaving of guest walkways in this area continues as well…
A look at the work from the top of the Monorail platform.
Work is underway on gutting the Catal building and demolishing the Uva Bar as the new Paseo and Centrico restaurant and bar move in.
The towering planters are gone and space is being cleared for the new Centrico bar.
The entire central Uva Bar structure will be removed to make way for a new bar and awning structure.
The old Sprinkles location will be absorbed into the new dining facility — and also note that railing right above the former cupcake spot has been removed. Hmm…
A look at the former Uva Bar from above. Cleared out…
You can see walls labeled with “DEMO” inside the upper levels of Catal. Expect the entire space to look and feel different when it reopens as Paseo.
The new restaurant will be taking over newly-created second-level dining space above Disney Home and WonderGround Gallery (more on this in a moment).
Bye bye Uva Bar!
Disney Home and WonderGround both used to have very high ceilings — those are now gone and instead newly-created dining room space has been created above the stores. The existing dining room space from Catal will now flow into these new spaces when the new Paseo restaurant opens here.
Nearby, the desecration of Ralph Brennan’s Jazz Kitchen continues. The new signage was installed overnight on Thursday. Try not to be blinded by the new color scheme.
I’m not sure this is the upgrade Disney thinks it is.
The new Beignets Expressed signage is up. It’s just as boring as the rest of this remodel.
A big graphic has covered up dining room windows on the side of the building.
This whole remodel just seems really unfortunate. To willfully remove the theme from a theme park restaurant seems blind to what the Disneyland Resort is and what theme park visitors want… THEME!!! Hopefully the new menu is great when it debuts — if not, then this restaurant is really going to be in trouble like the boring Splitsville across from it. Some lessons are never learned until it’s too late.
Disney Vacation Club emerges at the Disneyland Hotel
The Disney Vacation Club tower is emerging more and more from behind its construction scaffolding and tarps.
Below, a video overview of the latest progress.
The new DVC tower will open this September.
The building seems fine enough even if it doesnt really match the existing Disneyland Hotel aesthetic. But we have a feeling those other towers won’t stand the test of time… nor the redevelopment of this area for the Disneyland Forward project.
It’s a bummer they didnt go with a classic mid century modern-style Tomorrowland theme for the exterior of the tower. They could have fully embraced the retro mid-century vibes of the hotel and tied it all into the Disneyland Hotel’s classic lands-of-Disneyland theme.
Instead, the new tower will feature a Disney animation theme in a somewhat mid-century styled building.
For more about the new Villas at the Disneyland Hotel tower, including concept art and a peek inside, as well as how you can book a room or become a DVC owner, take a look at our full coverage :
The Villas at the Disneyland Hotel – Rooms, Photos, Reservations
Pixar Place Children’s Memorial Hospital Hotel
Meanwhile, the Pixar Place retheme of the Paradise Pier Hotel is …coming along.
Take a look at our video of the construction progress below:
The creative choices here continue to baffle me. This looks like a bad children’s hospital, not a Disney hotel themed after Pixar movies. Stark black and white, boring stripes of primary colors, and now weird color buttons on the facade?
How is this Pixar-themed?
It’s not great, y’all.
Hopefully the interior of the hotel will be better.
This and That
Over the weekend, Downtown Disney offered fans a chance to see the Stanley Cup up close, take photos with it, and play games to win prizes from ESPN.
Long lines to see the cup!
And in the Grand Californian Hotel, a somewhat strange new centerpiece arrangement is on display in the lobby. It’s certainly unique — what do you think?
Around the Parks
We’ll wrap up our update today with some pretty springtime photos from around the parks.
Dusty’s Disneyland Live
Have time for a little more Disneyland in your day? If you don’t tune in at 5pm every Friday, you are missing out on something really fun (and sometimes deliciously bitchy). Take a look at Dusty Sage’s latest Disneyland Live video below:
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Let’s Hear From You!
Alright, that wraps up this week’s Disneyland update. You’ve heard what I thought about projects large and small at the Disneyland Resort… now let’s year from you. What things are you most looking forward to? Would you like Fantasmic to return soon without the dragon or have it wait until there’s more of a permanent fix? Do you like what’s going on a the Disneyland and Pixar hotels? Does the new orange and pink strip mall look of Jazz Kitchen resonate with you? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!
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