MiceAge Disneyland News & Rumor Update

WDWNT on August 7, 2008

Mr. Al Lutz of MiceAge.com has put up another of his fabulous Disneyland Updates. Here’s a run-down of the juiciest things he talked about:

  • As previously reported here on DLNT, McDonalds will be leaving the Disneyland Resort on September 2nd. The refurbishments of Harbor Galley & the Conostoga Wagon will entail the entire replacing of the kitchens inside the mini-restaurants, as the current ones in there are owned by McDonalds, & leased to Disney. The same will happen with Burger Invasion, & once it re-opens, it will only remain for about 6 months, for in the fall of 2009, work will begin on the Beer Garden. Also, all McDonalds references will be removed from the SS Rustworthy, which should also be bulldozed in fall ’09.
  • One of Disneyland’s age old sponsors, Stouffers (owned by Nestle) have pulled out of their 45 year long sponsorship of the French Market. This is just part of Nestle slowly leaving Disneyland.
  • It seems written complaints are no longer accepted at Guest Relations in either Disneyland or DCA. It’s a long & complicated reason as to why, so I suggest you check the update for more info.
  • The Indiana Jones Adventure has long been due for a rehab, & unfortunately it still wont be getting one. However, many of the technical issues with the vehicles themselves have been fixed, so the attraction is operating slightly better. However a refurbishment really should happen.
  • This September, the slurry pavement out by the Haunted Mansion will be replaced with new, themed, concrete pavement.
  • The new DCA Preview Center in the old Seasons of the Vine building is currently planned to open up the second week of September, but as seen before, the date could change. It will open up with mainly concept, models, etc. for the Paradise Pier & Walt Disney Plaza re-dos. About every 8 to 10 months, the displays in there will be switched around to have anything from the Little Mermaid, to World of Color, & Cars Land.
  • Fantasmic! will be getting new HD projectors during its refurbishment this fall, that will vastly improve the clarity of the videos projected on the mist screens. Apparently these new projectors will be used on a much grander scale with World of Color when it debuts late 2009/early 2010. Also coming to Fantasmic! will be Flotsam & Jetsam from the Little Mermaid jetting around on jet skis during the Ursula section of the show. They will be 7ft tall, & 33ft long. Also, this January & February, Fantasmic! will be performed 7 nights a week due to Walt Disney’s Parade of Dreams not showing due to the re-paving of Main Street.
  • Disneyland’s planned new parade, World of Wonder, has been pushed back from a 2009 debut, to a 2010 debut for the 55th anniversary. This is due mainly to the designs of the parade, which have similar, but grander scale, acrobats as used in the Pixar Play Parade. Because of this, Disneyland will be keeping Walt Disney’s Parade of Dreams for one more year once it returns in March 2009, & Walt Disney World will also be keeping Disney Dreams Come True for one, maybe 2 more years.
  • As previously rumored, Tinker Bell should be a new addition to Disney’s Electrical Parade, as she’s due to replace the Blue Fairy as the opening float. Also scheduled to come to the parade is return of the Dwarfs Mine in the Snow White section, & potentially the whole Pinocchio section.
  • Finally, construction should begin this September on the replacement for Ariel’s Grotto, Pixie Hollow, this fall. 5ft tall blades of grass will shoot up in that area, & along the path you’ll get to meet each of the 5 Disney Fairies.

Be sure to check the update for many more news, rumors, & other interesting details from through-out the Disneyland Resort, & even the Anaheim GardenWalk!

Electric Screams of Color: The Musical, This Christmas

WDWNT on August 4, 2008

Screamscape have posted a few interesting rumors from through-out the Resort, some of which we have already reported, but they give extra backing to what we have already said:

Some improvements are slated to be made to the Electrical Parade for Summer 2009. First off it seems that the California parade will import a couple of floats from the old Paris parade, namely a new Pinnochio float and the Diamond Mine float. Meanwhile we’ve heard that the Blue Fairy float is likely to be on the way out and will be replaced with a brand spankin’ new Tinker Bell float that will serve as the new lead float for the parade. Apparently the float itself will still use the old-school style lights like the rest of the parade, but Tink herself will be covered in new LED lights instead. Speaking of LEDs… apparently the plan is to install a few new LED effects in all the floats so that Tink can create some kind of magic effect at the start that will travel back through the rest of the floats in the parade.

While the improvements to the parade are likely to happen, the only question is if it will be in DCA or Disneyland.

In a disappointing twist, it seems that the real world Wall-E may not be coming to California Adventure after all. If the rumors are true something may have gone amiss with the first robot that we’ve all seen clips of already, that may be caused them to drop or delay plans to bring one to the park. Also due to construction on the Little Mermaid ride, there will not be another Golden Screams show held this fall. They may come up with some kind of replacement Villains concept in the Hollywood Backlot instead. And the fun news is that the new DCA Preview Center that will show off all the proposed changed coming to the park may be ready to open sometime this fall.

I have been hearing that they will actually close Golden Dreams as Golden Screams as soon as Halloween is over & then they will start work on the Little Mermaid. Although if you look at Disneyland’s official page for Halloween Time 2008, Golden Screams doesn’t appear to be listed. Time will have to tell on this one.

Early 2010 – Toy Story: The Musical – Rumor – (8/3/08) While I don’t know what the short-term plan is for the Aladdin show, we’ve heard that Toy Story: The Musical is now scheduled to open in early 2010 as a replacement. So I guess the question remains as to when exactly the current Aladdin show will close down.

2010 – Wonderful World of Color – Confirmed – (8/2/08) Sometime in very early 2009 I’ve heard that we may see the park drain the lagoon to do some of the extensive work needed for the upcoming World of Color night show.

And moving quickly over to Disneyland…

For the Holiday season we’ve heard that the park may add the “light up” snow effect to cover the front and back of the castle this year as well as expand it into the trees and garland in the hub and main street areas as well as the Town Square Christmas Tree. I’ve also been told that a new Toy Factory float will be added to the Christmas Parade to replace the old float.

I did once hear that what Screamscape is talking about might even be expanded to the Matterhorn, but I highly doubt that would happen. However, if the lighting effects do expand to the back of the Castle, that will make the whole thing look even nicer, & more complete!

The next few years at the Resort are going to be really exciting, & if even one of these rumors come true, I’ll be happy!

Refurbishment Updates

WDWNT on August 4, 2008

We have a couple more updates to the attractions refurbishments list. First up, it looks like the Harbor Galley, Conostoga Wagon, & Burger Invasion refurbishments wont last as long as we originally thought. The refurbishments will start on September 2nd & end on September 26th. It looks like they’ll all just get new menus, & have all McDonalds references removed. So it seems we’ll have to wait a little while longer for a Burger Invasion re-theme.

Also, last week it had looked like Disney moved back the refurbishment of the Hyperion Theater to start on September 29th, but that is no longer true, & will start as originally planned on September 2nd.

Finally a little update on It’s a Small World… The new flume apparently has apparently been installed, & the attraction will be going through a 10 week test & adjust phase, & if all goes according to plan, it will re-open on November 29th.

Stay tuned to Disneyland News Today for updates on all attraction refurbishments. And for up-to-the-minute information on the various refurbishments, be sure to check our Attraction Refurbishments page!

Monday in the Parks Picture Update

WDWNT on August 4, 2008

Let’s take a look at some of the various things going on through-out the Disneyland Resort from this week’s Monday in the Parks column on MiceAge:


The new ticket prices went into effect yesterday


In addition to the water playground in the Bountiful Valley Farm that we reported was closed last Friday (and it still is closed btw), a couple other water playgrounds in DCA appeared to be closed, at least yesterday…


… Including Princess Dot’s Puddle Park in a Bug’s Land…


… As well as the SS Rustworthy in Paradise Pier


Construction seems to be happening on both sides of Department 56


The stilt chefs in the Ratatouille section of the Pixar Play Parade appeared to be off their stilts once again yesterday… Probably was just for yesterday though

Be sure to check out the Monday in the Parks column (linked at the top of the post) for tips on how to get cheap tickets, & plenty more updates from the around Disneyland Resort this week!

The Vineyard Room Closing?

WDWNT on August 3, 2008

Various reports have been going around saying that the Vineyard Room restaurant in the Golden Vine Winery section of Disney’s California Adventure may possibly be closing, permanently or not, on August 31st.

Please do keep in mind that this is in no way confirmed, & it just pure speculation at the moment, but we’ll be sure to keep you posted on whether the Vineyard Room truly will be closing or not.

DisneyGeek DLR Update

WDWNT on August 3, 2008

Let’s take a look at some of the various things going on through-out the Disneyland Resort from the latest DLR Update on DisneyGeek:


The sign, minus the logo, is out from behind tarps, which brings me to something interesting…


On the left is the sign as it was before the refurb, on the right the sign as it was yesterday… Notice a new color scheme?


The “mini dolls” appear to be missing from the boat


Apparently the tarps on the train track, blocking the view of Small World, are down… So here are a few of DisneyGeek’s shots of the Small World construction progress


And on an unrelated note, the water playground at the Bountiful Valley Farm seemed to be either not working, or just turned off

Honey, I Shuttered the Magic Eye Theater

WDWNT on August 3, 2008

Rumors are floating around saying that Honey, I Shrunk the Audience could possibly be closing after Labor Day, & there are 2 possible reasons as to why:

  1. Disneyland is seriously looking at cutting down on the money spent, by closing shows during the slow season, & this seems to be stretching to Honey now, as it may join Fantasmic & Aladdin in the shuttered department this fall.
  2. And then there’s the reason everyone is hoping for, & need I say more than, a New Film?

Stay tuned to Disneyland News Today to find out the ultimate fate of Honey, I Shrunk the Audience!

Gepetto’s 3 Fairies

WDWNT on August 2, 2008

For those of you who are fans of the Three Fairies Crystal Shop in Sleeping Beauty Castle, that closed this past Saturday for conversion into the disabled room for the Sleeping Beauty Castle Walk-through, don’t dread. For the store will be moving in some form or another to the shuttered Gepetto Holiday Shop next to the Village Haus.

While this isn’t confirmed yet, I see no reason for it not to happen. Stay tuned to Disneyland News Today to find out the “final verdict”.

Court of Christmas Angels

WDWNT on August 1, 2008

We’ve heard from various sources that the Court of Angels in New Orleans Square (which is located near the exit of Pirates of the Caribbean) will soon be home to New Orleans Square’s Christmas Shop. The current Christmas store is located right next door to the Court of Angels, & this would be an expansion of that store. A canopy will be put up, with Christmas merchandise hanging everywhere, & of course cash registers will be added.

There’s no word one if this will be seasonal or year round just yet, & if this even will be happening, but be sure to stay tuned to Disneyland News Today for the latest updates!

See Within Your Mind… Lots of Refurbs!

WDWNT on August 1, 2008

As August has arrived, that means November is now available on Disneyland.com’s Calender, so it’s once again time for some changes to the attractions refurbishments list.

First up, the It’s a Small World refurbishment has long been rumored to end on November 28th, & we finally have official confirmation from Disneyland.com’s Calender that It’s a Small World will indeed re-open on November 29th.

Fantasmic! will have a 2 month long refurbishment beginning on September 2nd, & ending November 6th, due to the yearly maintenance for the Sailing Ship Columbia (which will be closed from September 2nd to October 25th), as well as more upgrades to the show itself.

The planned refurbishment for Gadget’s Go-Coaster that was to of started on October 20th seems to of been completely removed from the list.

Finally, the Pirates of the Caribbean refurbishment that starts on October 13th will last all the way through November 14th, re-opened just in time for Christmas.

Stay tuned to Disneyland News Today for updates on all attraction refurbishments. And for up-to-the-minute information on the various refurbishments, be sure to check our Attraction Refurbishments page!