As bad as things have been looking for the Disney Company since the ouster of Bob Chapek a little over a year ago, this past week showed some blue sky at last. We’ll take a look at what that means for the parks, but we’ll also look at the latest construction, refurbishments… and a variety of big celebrations in the next week at the Resort. And, with rain holding off for at least the next 6 days and reasonable crowd levels, it’s looking like a stellar time to visit the Disneyland Resort.
I’m Going to Disneyland!
The Kansas City Chiefs, my hometown team, won last night’s Superbowl in Los Vegas. And what are they going to do next? Well… at least one of them is going to Disneyland. You can see 3rd time Superbowl MVP Patrick Mahomes celebrated in a cavalcade down the parade route at 2pm today (Feb 12th).
UPDATED: Our partners at the Howard Johnson Anaheim Resort live-streamed the moment when the Patrick Mahomes cavalcade rolled by. You can catch it here. Note that due to all the people live streaming in the park, there was choppy bandwidth, but you still get the idea of how quick this cavalcade was.
Also, through today (Feb 12th), Snickers is hosting a Super Bowl celebration in Downtown Disney’s West Side stage area.
Get your photo taken
Play games lawn games (the bar is set pretty low here)
Get a free Snickers
And enjoy music and dancing.
DISNEY REVEALS
Before we get to the Disneyland news, I want to very briefly mention Disney’s Q4 earnings and reveals. It’s worth noting that Disney surprised investors with better-than-expected earnings, largely from a record quarter for the theme parks and a lower-than-expected loss for Disney+.
There was also some big news for sports fans, as Disney launches a new sports streaming service with some other industry partners. They have also entered into a partnership and equity stake in Epic Games. Bob Iger mentioned a possible Walt Disney World-like experience for the Fortnite platform, and the partnership will bring many new Disney games in the years ahead. And while the most buzzed-about announcement was that Taylor Swift’s concert film is coming exclusively to Disney+, it was Disney’s recommitment to spend 60 billion on the parks over the next 10 years (approximately double the previous 10 years) that caught my eye. 70% of those funds are set aside for capacity expansions (think new parks and new lands). It’s excellent news that Disney continues to remind investors that they intend to spend this money on park expansions. Every time they do so, it makes it harder for them to back-peddle.
You can find out more in our dedicated coverage:
Disney Earnings News: Taylor Swift, Games & Sports Surprises, Parks Expansions Ahead
RAIN, RAIN GO AWAY
It’s been a rainy February so far; the LA area received half a year’s worth of rain in just a few days last week. But it looks like we will have a one-week reprieve until the wet weather returns. If you can handle soggy shoes, a rainy day at Disneyland can mean lower crowds. But watch out for less-than-optimal conditions in places. Disneyland wasn’t built for rain, and there are low-lying spots without good (or any) drainage… even after all these decades.
Take the entry to ToonTown for example. This is one of the wildest situations we’ve EVER seen in the park. On a rainy day last week, the entry to ToonTown flooded… leaving guests to wade through. Why didn’t the park close off the land and evacuate guests already in the land out the back? Imagine walking your kids through this…
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A WEEK OF BIG CELEBRATIONS
In addition to the Super Bowl celebrations today, the Disneyland Resort is in the middle of a Lunar New Year extravaganza, a mild Mardi Gras, Valentine-themed events, Celebrate Gospel this coming weekend, and then Food and Wine returns on the first of next month! That’s a wild amount of special events and celebrations.
Lunar New Year Wrapping Up
While Disney California Adventure has been celebrating Lunar New Year since last month, the actual holiday was February 10th. You just have a few more days to use up your festival tasting lanyards. The festivities wrap up this Sunday (February 18th).
I’d like to share a moment of zen from the Lunar New Year Festival. Mike Kindrich perfectly captures the beauty and elegance of this year’s festival…
We’re really going to miss the Lunar New Year festival and wish that Disneyland would expand the festival for an additional week or two.
Mardi Gras
Tomorrow is Mardi Gras. Disneyland unfortunately doesn’t do much more than decorations in New Orleans Square.
The masks are up on the balconies. Some of them fun and festive. Some delightfully creepy.
If you visit Eudora’s Chic Boutique at the back of New Orleans Square, you can buy beignet mix and make some New Orleans treats at home… or just buy a pair of ears.
Boy is Mike going to be surprised that he hasn’t found a man-sized treat after all.
The mint julep bar has a special grape beignet and berry julep for the occasion.
I waited in a long line to buy the grape-flavored Mardi Gras beignets from the Mint Julep Bar. You can get a green dipping sauce with it. They’re sugary and not too bad. But go for the regular powdered sugar, the original is better.
Valentines Day
This is your warning… it’s almost Valentine’s Day! If you haven’t bought your chocolates and flowers for your special person, you have until Wednesday! And if you’re single… well, you’ve got me. Unfortunately, Disneyland’s after-hours Sweethearts Nites are sold out. But there are a few small things to enjoy anyway. Mostly food.
While the events are sold out, you’ll still find photo frames in various locations.
Valentines treats, like the Red Velvet Cake at Earl of Sandwich
And cookies, rice crispy treats, chocolate covered strawberries, and other items at the candy places all over the resort.
But my personal favorite spot is the snack stand in the lobby of the Grand Californian Hotel.
Coming Soon…
And while Lunar New Year and Valentine’s are wrapping up… Celebrate Gospel kicks off on the 17th and the California Adventure Food & Wine Festival on March 1st.
CONSTRUCTION
There’s quite a bit for us to unpack on the construction and refurbishment front. Let’s start with the big projects…
Downtown Disney
The rain slowed things down a bit in Downtown Disney. We’ll have more to show you next week. But we do like this mural of Tiana that has popped up on the corner of the old ESPN Zone building.
Nearby, a giant trailer is ready for Earl of Sandwich to move in. It won’t be long now before the current Earl spot is torn down and major construction begins on a brand new Portos. But this temporary location is just until a new permanent 2-story establishment is built for Earl of Sandwich on the far side of the new West Side lawn.
In the center of Downtown Disney, the new Centrico Bar is progressing quickly. And while the Paseo restaurant complex next to it has seemed much further behind, it’s beginning to come together as well.
We still don’t know an opening date for Paseo and Centrico, but Tortilla Jo’s has announced it is permanently closing its doors on March 31st. (The Taqueria will stay open a couple weeks longer until April 13).
All about the changes coming to Downtown Disney, including the most recent concept art:
Downtown Disney Transformed: Updates on New Restaurants & Shops!
DCA DVC Lounge
Few major construction projects are happening in Disney California Adventure. The long stretch of walls around the old Blue Sky Cellar is the most noticeable. This chunk of land is being gobbled up by Disney Vacation Club and is likely to be a combination lounge and sales center.
The one area of the construction that impacts guests is the patio of Wine Country. While the wine bar remains open, there is no seating for guests. Take your wine and wander.
Haunted Mansion’s Maniacal Mess
Our favorite ghost house is undergoing some dramatic changes. Walls now stretch all the way from Tiana’s Palace to the exit of the attraction. Then they pick up again and stretch all the way around Splash Mountain. Two major attractions with extended closures at the same time shut down a massive amount of ride capacity and created a construction wall that runs halfway across the park. Interesting scheduling to say the least.
Half of the stretch of walls you see above will be reimagined as a dining garden, an expansion of seating for Tiana’s Palace and HOPEFULLY a well shaded spot as well… even though most of the mature trees in this area have already been chopped down.
The other half of the area will be for a newly designed queue garden for the attraction. The old cemetery and switchback has been dug up… we can only hope they relocated the bodies! 👻
Here’s concept art for a portion of the new queue.
The Mansion itself has been stripped of its Nightmare Before Christmas decor.
With that gigantic wall hiding all the work being done, Disney has done something fun. They’ve decorated them with some historical images, lenticular portraits, and QR codes that allow you to become one of the ghosts yourself.
Just imagine some of the early concepts for the Mansion which might have placed it at the end of Main Street USA. Or look at that gorgeous concept by Harper Goff above, with the Mansion on a hilltop with a creepy church below.
Some of the iconic crypts have been recreated on the walls as well.
Become one of the ghosts when you scan the QR code on the walls (only works when you are in the park).
Tiana’s Bayou Adventure
Disneyland’s next big attraction is well on the way to another milestone. The exterior of the mountain salt mine has been prepped to install oodles of bayou plants.
Much of the heavy-duty building materials have been cleaned up, and the old gardens now have new mesh to affix faux plants to. The entrance to the attraction is being rethemed to look like the facade of Tiana’s Foods, which is the queue experience before you head off in your logs into the bayou adventure.
Unfortunately, unlike the Haunted Mansion project just up the path, the only fun thing to see on this loooooooong stretch of construction walls is this singular photo op featuring Louis the Aligator. We wish there was a whole lot more of this kind of visual interest to get guests excited about the ride. There’s a lot of concept art Disney has available to share. It’s such a shame they haven’t done more than a bunch of “Tiana’s Foods” signs and this one photo wall.
The one holdout from the Splash Mountain days is the Briar Patch shop, which remains as a little carve-out in the massive construction zone. It will get some sort of a re-theme before the new ride opens. But for now, it’s a shop selling generic Disneyland merchandise.
REFURBISHMENTS
Beyond all the major construction, there are a slew of refurbishment projects all over the resort. It’s walls, walls, walls and loads of work. While that may seem very inconvenient to visitors right now, we should also be thankful that so much upkeep is happening. There’s a lot more that needs to be done.
Every building in Disneyland is in a constant state of deterioration and, therefore, needs to be painted, have lightbulbs changed, replace roofing, and sometimes even major structural rejuvenation. At the moment, there are several of these projects.
City Hall
The grand dame of Main Street is getting a facelift. Due to wind and rain, the scrims were rolled up for a while, giving us a glimpse at the work.
Stage Door
Next to the Golden Horseshoe, Stage Door is being painted and getting some trim work.
Lockers/Lost and Found
More surface work is happening on the exterior of the sprawling locker, Guest Relations, restroom building just outside the front gate.
Grizzly
Another MASSIVE project is the refurbishment of not just Grizzly River Run, but also much of the area around it.
When this ride gets a refurbishment, it’s a big deal. The mountain is massive and there is a tremendous amount of ground for crews to cover.
The refurbishment of the water wheel has been a multi-year project. It received a major refurbishment last year but quickly became non-functional. So it’s once again under the knife.
Lots of new bolts have yet to be weathered.
Across from the entry to the attraction is a small project that looks like it might be a new stage or character meet-and-greet spot.
Further down the path, in Grizzly Airfield, the restroom and shop are also behind scaffolds but remain open to guests.
Mark Twain Riverboat
Disneyland’s biggest boat has been under refurb since September 17th and should return on February 23rd.
Astro Orbitor
Hard to imagine that the refurbishment of this simple spinner requires such a long closure. But this ride has been closed since November 27th and won’t wrap up until March 14th.
And while the ride was completely disassembled, it is starting to come back together now.
UPCOMING REFURBISHMENTS
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- Disneyland Monorail: (February 19th- 23rd)
- Paradise Garden Grill: (February 19th-29th)
- Sailing Ship Columbia: (February 26th-29th)
- Radiator Springs Racers: (February 26th-March 1st)
- Incredicoaster: (March 4th-14th)
- Redwood Creek Challenge Trail: (March 4th-TBA)
MICECHAT LIVE
You’ve seen the photos, now journey with us through the park on our live video from Friday evening. It’s an info-packed video filled with beautiful sunset vistas.
You’ll find us live every Friday at 5pm on our Facebook Page and the MiceChat YouTube. Please be sure to like/follow/subscribe and support our broadcast.
MICESHOTS
With Valentine’s Day nearly here, we thought we’d share some romantic spots in the park suggested by our readers. While we were getting ready for our live video on Friday, we saw three engagements near Snow White’s Wishing Well. Tis the season. (We’ve shared some of the comments from our readers below)
For more great romantic spots, be sure to visit the MiceChat Facebook Group discussion page (HERE)
Now, let’s share just a few more photos from the park this week…
We had some really dramatic clouds this week.
This one looked like a hand behind the Incredibles arch.
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LET’S HEAR FROM YOU
And that brings us to the end of this week’s Disneyland Update. So many festivals are wrapping up and about to start. What catches your eye? Will you be in the park today to catch the Patrick Mahomes cavalcade? How much of the $60 billion that Disney plans to spend in the parks and resorts around the world would you like to see spent at the Disneyland Resort… and on what?
Thank you for reading! Will you be our Valentine?
