Monorail Red Set to Debut at Disneyland as Blue Arrives

WDWNT on April 16, 2008

Disneyland begins riderless daytime tests of the Mark VII Monorail Red next week in anticipation of a public debut by mid-May, Disney officials said.

The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) could sign off on Monorail Red as early as this week, clearing the way for employee test runs and eventually park visitors, a Disney spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, the shrink-wrapped Monorail Blue trains recently arrived at Disneyland via flatbed truck, according to MiceAge’s Dateline Disneyland column. Late last week, sections of Blue were lowered by crane onto the beamway and pushed into the backstage roundhouse, according to MiceAge’s Monday in the Parks column.

Nighttime testing of Monorail Blue is scheduled to begin in early May, Disney officials said.

In late March, Disney put to rest persistent Internet chat room rumors that Monorail Red would have to be sent back to the assembly plant in Canada for major modifications.

The Mark VII’s sleek iconic exterior features color-shifting paint with gray pinstriping that evokes the stainless-steel side panels of the 1959 original designed by Disney Imagineer Bob Gurr.

— Brady MacDonald, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

Link to the Original Article

Indiana Jones Stunt Show Coming to Disneyland

WDWNT on April 16, 2008

Following very quickly in the steps of our sister site, WDW News Today, I was very happy to see Disneyland News Today linked to in an article on the LA Times Travel Blog! This link was included in an article published yesterday about the new Indiana Jones show for Adventureland:

Indiana Jones swings into Disneyland this summer in a live-action stunt show timed to coincide with the fourth installment of the movie series, “Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.”

The Anaheim theme park is casting actors with combat experience for the Indy role, a duplicitous female archaeologist and a physically imposing bad guy for “The Summer of Hidden Mysteries,” a staged show to be performed on the balconies, rooftops and streets of Adventureland, according to the Disneyland auditions website. Park visitors would be enlisted to help solve mysteries and uncover ancient artifacts during the performance.

The stunt show ties together the highly anticipated movie opening, May 22, with the theme park’s Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Forbidden Eye attraction.

According to the casting call:
* The Indiana Jones character, a rugged adventurer in his 40s, tosses off comic lines, throws a punch and interacts well with children — all with equal ability.

* The female archaeologist, in her late 20s to early 40s with an English accent, starts out kind and helpful but eventually reveals a villainous side.

* The bad guy, a brute with physical agility and stamina, pursues Jones through the crowded streets of Adventureland before a culminating series of balcony and rooftop confrontations.

If the new Indiana Jones movie proves successful, the Disneyland stunt show could take up residence in Adventureland’s current Aladdin’s Oasis theater through Christmas, according to MiceAge’s Al Lutz.


— Brady MacDonald, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

A New “Dream Prize”

WDWNT on April 16, 2008

We’re hearing that, like with the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage last year, exclusive first rides for Toy Story Mania will be given out as prizes in the Year of a Million Dreams.

Of course this is only a rumor, but seeing as it happened last year, it’s likely to happen again this year!

Up With Kim Irvine!

WDWNT on April 16, 2008

Today at 2:30pm on KCRW 89.9FM, they had an interview with Imagineer Kim Irvine, talking about the planned It’s a Small World changes.

To describe the interview, here’s an excerpt from this thread on MiceChat by Master Gracey:

The segment just ended… Unsurprisingly, WDI failed to address the issue yet again.

This is NOT about aesthetics — we know that they’re going to make the additions look like Mary Blair’s work — that is NOT the issue.

The issue is that the characters simply don’t fit the theme of the show — not the aesthetic theme, but the theme in terms of message and intent.

But Disney just isn’t willing to address that concern. They keep coming out and saying the same old “Disneyland is not a museum” and Walt Disney liked change with a lot of buzz words like “relevance.”

And as for the America scene — the KCRW host said “By the way, about that Papua New Guinea rainforest scene and whether it will be replaced with a themed display called ‘Up with America,’ Kim told me that no firm decision has yet been made.”

You can direct download this interview from the KCRW website here (half of the interview is something to do with architecture)!

Snow White Exhibit Removal Official

WDWNT on April 15, 2008

The latest addition to the Attractions Refurbishment list, is a short refurb of the Disney Animation building in Disney’s California Adventure. This refurb is just to remove the 70th Anniversary of Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs Exhibit. It will close on April 28th, & re-open on May 2nd.

Check out our Attractions Refurbishment page for up-to-the-date attraction refurbs!

Dave Smith on It’s a Small World Changes

WDWNT on April 13, 2008

Laughing Place spoke with Dave Smith of the Disney Archives on the planned It’s a Small World changes:

[…] from Dave Smith, Chief Archivist for the Walt Disney Co.

With regard to the current controversy about changes being made in It’s a Small World at Disneyland, allow me, as the Chief Archivist at the Disney company for the past 38 years, to remind those who are complaining that Walt Disney never intended Disneyland to be static. To a reporter when Disneyland opened he said, “Disneyland will never be completed; it will continue to grow as long as there is imagination left in the world.” He continued those thoughts to Pete Martin who was working on his biography, saying that Disneyland is “something that will never be finished. Something I can keep developing, keep plussing and adding to. It’s alive. It will be a live, breathing thing that will need change. A picture is a thing, once you wrap it up and turn it over to Technicolor you’re through. The one I wrapped up a few weeks ago, it’s gone, I can’t touch it. I wanted something alive, something that could grow, something I could keep plussing with ideas; the Park is that. Not only can I add things, but even the trees will keep growing. The things will get more beautiful each year.” Walt Disney was constantly changing his park, just as he said he would. And those changes did not end with Walt’s death over 40 years ago. The Disney Imagineers have continued to follow his dream, frequently adding and changing things in the park to give today’s guests the best possible experience. The public expects more from Disney than they do from most companies, and we try to live up to that trust by continually improving a guest’s visit to our park. And, sure enough, those trees have kept growing and getting more beautiful every year.

As a follow-up we asked him this question:

I’ve read many people who have said they’re not opposed to change in Small World – or anywhere at Disneyland for that matter – but they are opposed to this specific change. While obviousy none of them know exactly what will be done, the addition of characters to what has up until now been a character free attraction is itself a change they are opposed to. Many feel it changes the focus away from “children of the world” to “Disney characters” and that’s not what Small World is supposed to be about. Is that something you might be able to speak to?

Dave Smith answered the following:

It is difficult for me to speak to that, since I do not know what characters are being put in the attraction, or what they will look like. But, we have added characters to previous character-free attractions: witness Pirates of the Caribbean (Jack Sparrow), Tiki Room (Iago, at the Magic Kingdom in FL), Treehouse (Tarzan), Big Thunder Ranch (Little Patch of Heaven), Tom Sawyer Island (Pirates Lair), Main Street Cinema (Disney cartoons), Haunted Mansion (Haunted Mansion Holiday), Submarine Voyage (Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage), El Rio del Tiempo (Gran Fiesta Tour, at Epcot), The Living Seas (starring Nemo and Friends, Epcot). Because of the great number of Audio-Animatronics children in Small World, I cannot imagine that the addition of a few characters like Alice in Wonderland will affect the theme.

DLR Picture Update

WDWNT on April 12, 2008

I just got back from 2 wonderful days at the Disneyland Resort! Let’s get straight to the pictures:


A new Kodak sign up on the Honey, I Shrunk the Audience entrance marque


The new Tinkertoy in the Pixar Play Parade


A wall up by Grizzly River Run. As reported earlier this week, the attraction is still open


The new emergency bridge from DCA to the Grand Californian


The Toontown room in the World of Disney store


A construction wall up by the Tomorrowland Terrace


The new Disneyland map front, that debuted today…


… And the DCA one


Today was the first day in this year’s California Food & Wine Festival


The Festival Welcome Center


Let’s take a look at the Festival Guide Booklet…


This year is the 3rd annual California Food & Wine Festival


A special restaurant has been set up in Pacific Wharf just for the Food & Wine Festival, in place of the old Lucky Fortune Cookery


The place to get Food & Wine merchandise. I got the pin!


The menu for this special restaurant, The Taste of California Marketplace


Construction on the ODV structures outside Toy Story Mania


The fountain outside of King Triton’s Carousel is working for once!


The sign for Seasons of the Vine has finally been removed. Weird how the attraction closed just as the Food & Wine Festival started


A new sign for the Year of a Million Dreams on the security tents


This could be DCA’s temporary entrance


Just to give you an idea where it actually is

Stay tuned tomorrow for bigger versions of these pictures & many more pictures in our Image Galleries!

A New Blue Arrival!

WDWNT on April 12, 2008

Sometime during the course of this week, the Disneyland Resort was welcomed with a new arrival. Monorail Blue was delivered this week. When the pics below were taken it was parked on flatbeds in the KCML (Katella Cast Member Lot) adjacent to the Buzz Lightyear lot used for overflow parking.

Pictures courtesy of Dateline Disneyland on MiceChat.

Jingles II!

WDWNT on April 10, 2008

ANAHEIM, Calif., April 8, 2008 — In beloved recognition and gratitude for her service as Honorary Ambassador of Disneyland’s 50th anniversary celebration, Disneyland Resort Cast Members today presented legendary star Julie Andrews with a unique dedication that will forever ensure her place in Disneyland’s storied history.

This dedication shines in a most appropriate place, on King Arthur’s Carrousel in Fantasyland. The Carrousel was one of the 15 Disneyland attractions that were “goldenized” in 2005, in honor of the “Happiest Homecoming on Earth” celebration for Disneyland’s 50th anniversary. Jingles, the lead and most popular horse on the attraction, was painted gold for Disneyland’s special milestone and Julie was photographed with the horse during the festivities.  To acknowledge Julie’s role as an honorary cast member, Disneyland Resort has given Jingles a magical makeover and is dedicating the cherished horse in her honor.

Carrousels have a special meaning at Disneyland as Walt Disney had a fond appreciation for them and included carrousels in many of his biggest and most notable endeavors.  As a father, he took his young daughters to ride merry-go-rounds on many weekends and those happy and memorable times were the seed of his dream called Disneyland.  Julie Andrews’ association with carrousel horses dates back to the classic 1964 film, “Mary Poppins,” and her lead role as the magical nanny.   During one escapade, Mary Poppins embarks on a “horse race” with the two young children and her friend Bert. With a little bit of luck – and stunning visual effects – their carrousel ponies break free and gallop through the countryside.  The movie won five Academy Awards – including one for Julie Andrews – spawned the cheerful song “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!,” and left a sentimental spot forever in the hearts of movie-lovers worldwide.

Since Jingles’ 2005 golden transformation, the popular carrousel horse now dons a new and hand-painted, colorful jewel-tone palette.  Special features have been added to honor the screen legend, including embellishments of gold leaf horseshoes, flowers representing Julie’s love of gardening and Mary Poppins’ themeing on Jingles’ enhanced golden saddle. Hand-painted features on the saddle include Julie’s initials, the number “50” representing Disneyland’s 50th anniversary, Mary Poppins’ boots and a flying silhouette of the beloved Mary Poppins character.  Golden, wooden jingle bells also adorn the horse’s body.

Disneyland Cast Members also presented a miniature, one-of-kind replica of Jingles for Julie.  The commissioned, hand-carved wood piece stands nearly 2 ½ feet tall and wears a special broach that is a replica of the custom-made Disneyland Ambassador pin that Julie received for being an Ambassador for Disneyland’s 50th anniversary.

While at Disneyland for the unveiling ceremony of Jingles, Julie signed copies of her new autobiography “Home: A Memoir of My Early Years” for Cast Members and Guests.  In her new book, the critically-acclaimed writer shares numerous personal photos and anecdotes of her time on Broadway, including stories of performing in “My Fair Lady” with Rex Harrison and in “Camelot” with Richard Burton; her first marriage to famed set and costume designer Tony Walton, with whom Julie gave birth to daughter Emma; her meeting with Walt Disney, and her departure for Hollywood.

Jingles!

WDWNT on April 9, 2008

From the OC Register:

Thousands of Disneyland park guests gathered around King Arthur’s Carousel on Tuesday morning to watch Disney’s top brass dedicate a special carousel horse to legendary performer Julie Andrews.

The gesture recognizes Andrews’ service as the theme park’s ambassador during its 50th anniversary, as well as her contributions to the company over the past 44 years.

The carousel horse is decorated with emblems and logos that recall some of Andrews’ most well-known roles. Its name is ‘Jingles.’

Andrews achieved icon status after the 1964 debut of Mary Poppins, in which she played the title role. In the movie, she rode cartoon carousel horses and used one to win a horse race.

On Tuesday, Andrews told the gathering of resort officials and theme park employees: “I hope this horse is here for a long time.”