The Disneyland Resort is settling in to a new level of crowds brought by the many new attractions and shows at Disney California Adventure. A surprising attendance trend continues this week as the little park that could, across the way, closely matches Disneyland’s daily attendance. This bodes well for Disney’s massive investment in DCA and their willingness to spend another bundle to finish off the job the started with Cars Land and Buena Vista Street. While we aren’t expecting any major news from Disney in the short term, there are lots of minor projects going on for us to show you as well as some VERY interesting news and rumors from Al Lutz.
Disneyland has been busy, but not crazy busy
MATTERHORN:
The Matterhorn is still seeing a far longer line than it did before the refurb. Is it still too soon to tell whether or not the new bobsled configuration is speeding things up?
AUTOPIA
If you have not heard, the Chevron sponsorship of Autopia has officially ended. But instead of renewing, Disney let the agreement go. Why? We will get to that in a minute. But here are shots from the ride, Chevron-less.
The checkered flags cover the Chevron logos
Chevron has been removed from the video screen
So, will the removal of a fuel provider mean that electric Autopia vehicles are on the way? Could an Autopia like attraction be on the way to Cars Land? Plenty to scratch our heads about. But Al Lutz fills us in on a bit of the master plan for Disneyland’s Tomorrowland.
SUBMARINE VOYAGE RUMOR
In a recent update by Al Lutz he explained that Autopia is ripe for a redo along with the redevelopment of the space occupied by Innoventions. But this, in turn raises the problem of the subs which are housed directly user Autopia. It seems that the Submarine voyage is the single most expensive attraction to operate in Disneyland and that iconic attraction could be redeveloped as well. There was a time when Disneyland was proud of its fleet of submarines. But it seems that they may soon make a final dive. What do you think? Do you want the Subs and Autopia to stay, or do you want that huge space redeveloped for a major Tomorrowland expansion? As for Innoventions, we are going to assume that there’s universal agreement that the big rotating advertisement for Microsoft has long outlived its welcome.
EXTRA SEATING IN ALADDIN’S OASIS
With the increased crowds, construction around the family bathrooms in the former Carnation Gardens stage area, the unused seating and restrooms at Aladdin’s Oasis have been reopened for the time being. This is a nice quite spot to get out of the hustle and bustle of a busy park and dream about the days gone by of the Tahitian Terrace (even if it does all look like Agrabah).
FANTASY FAIRE VILLAGE
Here we have the latest progress at the Fantasy Faire Village project.
BUENA VISTA STREET
Over in DCA, Buena Vista Street has seen its first Holiday overlay with patriotic 4th of July bunting and flags. While it’s hit and miss in execution, it bodes well to see them putting effort into the holidays already.
DETAILS
Over the coming week, we should see the last of the details being added to the already beautiful Buena Vista Street Stores.
Popcorn lighting in Big Top Toys
Set dressing is added daily
DANCIN’ WITH DISNEY:
Think of it as Mad T Party for the toddler set. The old Millionaire building has once again been repurposed as a new entertainment offering called Dancin’ With Disney. Too cool for the final “g” in Dancing (never a good sign), this indoor dance fest allows young and old alike to cavort and bounce around to dance music with a handful of Disney Characters.
“I don’t like dancing”
“I’ll huff and I’ll Puff and I’ll bust a move on the dance floor”
They have taken the old Disney Channel Rocks set and reused it within the soundstage as the DJ stand and focal point for the party.
Guests either aren’t interested or haven’t found this attraction
The old Electronica plastic furniture has been put into use as a “Parents Chill Zone.” Who comes up with these too-hip-for-Disney names?
It’s not the reuse of old props or set pieces that bothers us. Everyone does that. It’s the fact that they seemed to have thought that a half baked idea with poor execution could be combined with classic characters and techno music and it would be a success. Does that remind anyone of another failed project of 10 years ago? DCA perhaps? The same mistakes that they spent over a billion dollars to fix are embodied perfectly by this Dance party for kids. Thankfully this is just a thing for the Summer… Right?
If they really want to do something with the characters, we would LOVE to see them put the classic Disney characters on Buena Vista Street. That would be the perfect place for Clarabelle Cow, Clara Cluck, Horace Horsecollar and Oswald to reside. And a great excuse for Disney to release a whole bunch of what would surely be very popular merchandise. The upshot of all this is that Disney is nearly always at its worst when trying to be hip and nearly always at their best when they are square. Can we hear an amen?
And that is the news from the Disneyland Resort for today, but that’s not all, not by a long shot. Today and tomorrow we have news from Six Flags, Universal Studios and we offer you an opportunity to win FREE tickets to Knott’s Soak City as well. So, please be sure to click the links and check back to the site all weekend for lots of great new articles.