I was at The Disneyland Resort yesterday and the day before to enjoy some fun in the sun. Lot’s of work walls popping up due to the upcoming slow season for the next month or two.
On the 4th, work walls surround the CALIFORNIA letters to prepare them for removal
Read More about Conner Purzycki’s 1/4/10 – 1/5/10 DLR Photo Report
From the Disney Parks Blog:
UPDATE: Congratulations to the winners of our ‘2-Day Ticket for $99′ Contest! For the complete list of winners, click here.
Contest open to US residents 18 and over. Void where prohibited by law. Ends 1/5/11.
So Cal Residents: Want to have a little fun with us today? Play along in our game and think about all the fun things you like to do at the Parks (we highlight 99 of them in today’s video). You could have a chance to win a pair of the newest tickets at Disneyland Resort – the 2-Day-for-$99 Tickets. These tickets are valid for 1 park per day through May 14, 2011.
As we mentioned in yesterday’s post, we’ll be adding some family entertainment on weekends between January 14 and March 6. We’re officially announcing the five, fun new experiences for “Family Fun Weekends” in today’s video that shows 99 exciting moments at the Parks (Hint: Look for Mickey!). Be one of the first 99 to correctly identify, in order, the five new experiences in the video, and follow the rules – listed at this link and summarized below – and you and your guest could enjoy all the fun the Disneyland Resort has to offer.
Here’s how you can enter if you’re 18 or older:
- Watch the video and e-mail the following information to contests@disney.go.com.
- Your first and last name in the body of the email.
- Your mailing address (no P.O. Boxes).
- The official names of the new entertainment, listed in order, as they appear in the video.
Please follow the instructions carefully. Entries that do not follow these directions will be disqualified.
We’ll send notifications to the winners via e-mail by 5 p.m. on Thursday, and we’ll post a link to the list of winners at the top of the post. To read all the contest rules and eligibility requirements, click here.
If you win, we will mail the tickets to the mailing address provided.
While you have to be a So Cal resident to win a pair of “2-Day-for-$99 Tickets,” you can still join in the fun if you don’t live in Southern California. If you’re not a So Cal resident, you are eligible to participate and win a 1-Day Park Hopper ticket.
Good luck!
P.S. Please don’t spoil it for others by posting guesses or answers in the comments.
Jamie Nakagiri was at Disneyland for New Years and has some photos to share of the festivities and the crowds.
Short lines for New Years
Read More about Jamie Nakagiri’s 12/31/10 NYE DLR Photo Report
Happy New Year Everybody!! To celebrate the new year, DCA held a “Fountains and Fireworks” show utilizing the World of Color fountains AND fireworks launched from the lagoon and backstage to create quite a sight to see…
I was at The Disneyland Resort yesterday to celebrate my birthday which coincidentally was on one of the busiest days of the year. So I stuck to DCA for the day, which was also very crowded.
Line to get into California Adventure around 9:20
From the LA Times:
An intense, 16-month construction project designed to transform the Disney California Adventure entryway from a nondescript strip mall into a circa-1920s Los Angeles streetscape will begin in earnest Jan. 4.
As part of an ongoing, $1.1 billion makeover, the sweeping and extensive reimagineering will wall off 4 acres of the main entrance between the C-A-L-I-F-O-R-N-I-A letters, Sunshine Plaza, Grizzly Peak and Hollywood Studios Backlot. The remade entryway, dubbed Buena Vista Street, will be designed to evoke the era when a young Walt Disney first arrived in Los Angeles.
After the winter holiday season ends, construction walls will go up around the iconic C-A-L-I-F-O-R-N-I-A letters Jan. 4 so that crews can turn the plaza area into Streamline Moderne turnstiles modeled after the former Pan-Pacific Auditorium in Los Angeles.
The LA Times posted an interesting story about a possible second phase to DCA’s major overhaul.
As Disney California Adventure reaches the midway point of a $1.1-billion expansion, I’d like to take a speculative look at what Walt Disney Imagineering might have in mind for Phase 2 of the massive renovation project. DCA’s extreme makeover was necessitated by the on-the-cheap, off-the-shelf nature of the nearly decade-old theme park that even Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger now calls “mediocre.” Phase 1, which began in 2008, fixes about a third of the flawed park. What I’m interested in looking at here are the possibilities for the other two-thirds. What follows is a land-by-land compilation of possible attractions and thematic changes for Phase 2: Most of the proposed plans that have come to light remain firmly in the “what if” stage. In some cases, Disney announced and then postponed attractions. In other instances, the ideas have filtered out into the online community. In all circumstances, Disney remains officially mum, guarding future projects as closely held secrets. Quite naturally, any sequel to the wholesale reimagineering of DCA remains contingent on the success of Phase 1, which wraps up in 2012. So far, the crowds have responded positively to the uptick in quality (Toy Story Midway Mania dark ride), spectacle (“World of Color” water show) and attention to detail (Silly Symphony Swings wave swing). And the best is yet to come. Crews have broken ground on Phase 1 projects that demonstrate Disney’s commitment (the $100-million Voyage of the Little Mermaid dark ride), ambition (the 12-acre Cars Land) and heritage (Buena Vista Street entry plaza). Mouse watchers believe if Phase 1 continues to pay dividends, Iger will pony up more money for Phase 2 starting in 2013. The operative word here is “if.” So far nothing has been announced for Phase 2, but Imagineers have been busy dusting off old plans and dreaming up new ideas for the re-emergent Anaheim theme park. As any Disney fan knows, these “blue sky” proposals can change repeatedly over the course of development – and many never see the light of day.
From the Disney Parks Blog:
As we look forward to 2011, we are excited to share that we are making great progress on the expansion of Disney California Adventure park. The year 2010 has been very exciting. In June, we made a big splash with “World of Color,” the nighttime spectacular that is wowing guests every night. On October 29, we reached an exciting milestone with Cars Land with the topping out of the Cadillac Mountain range – about 125 feet in the air. And, many of you have seen The Little Mermaid ~ Ariel’s Undersea Adventure and Goofy’s Sky School coming to life along the parade route. Both are scheduled to open in 2011 along with new restaurants and shops as we finish the entire Paradise Pier expansion.
Now, as we move toward a new year, expansion continues. In January, our efforts move to the front of the park.
On Jan. 4, we will begin making way for a new entrance modeled after the legendary Pan-Pacific Auditorium. This means, the “CALIFORNIA” letters will be removed, and we plan to save these icons for possible future use. Now’s the time to get your photos!
As this work continues, we are making adjustments to the Disney California Adventure Main Entrance area, including relocation of some Guest service areas. We’ll keep you informed about those here on the Disney Parks Blog as soon as we have specific dates and locations.
Also on Jan. 4, we will begin the transformation of the Sunshine Plaza area into Buena Vista Street inside the Main Entrance. When complete, it will represent Hollywood as it was when Walt Disney arrived on the west coast in the 1920s.
Stay tuned to the Disney Parks Blog for more updates as the expansion continues.
I was at Disneyland yesterday to once again enjoy the parks in the rain and take advantage of small crowds. Despite the rain, I still was able to catch some newsworthy photos to share.
Starting in DCA, new signs pointing your way around the work walls in Sunshine Plaza
DLNT Photographer Max Guggenheim was at The Disneyland Resort last Friday to see Disney Channel Rocks! He also captured some newsworthy photos to share.
Christmas is in the air, even in Mickey & Friends
