Hat Box Ghost
The infamous Hatbox Ghost returned to Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion over the weekend, revealing the classic concept brought to life with new magic. Just how did Imagineers make this happen? Take a look:
As Disneyland approaches its 60th anniversary, Disney twenty-three brings readers inside the party, with an in-depth look at how the park is celebrating this milestone with new parades, spectaculars, and enhancements to popular attractions.
In preparation for the landmark occasion, D23: The Official Disney Fan Club took Disney Legend Marty Sklar—who worked at Disneyland on opening day—and Walt Disney Imagineering Chief Creative Executive Bruce Vaughn on a walk through Disneyland, where they reminisce about details from the past, such as the park’s legendary opening day, and look ahead at all the excitement yet to come.
Also in the Summer issue, available exclusively to D23 Gold Members, the Walt Disney Archives unveils rarely showcased ephemera from Disneyland’s opening including a media pass and concept art for freeway billboards promoting the world’s first theme park. And for Disney parks foodies, there’s a look at some of the park’s signature snacks, from Dole Whips and turkey legs to churros and Mickey Mouse ice cream bars.
Plus, film critic, historian, and co-producer of the Walt Disney Treasures DVD series Leonard Maltin gives a behind-the-scenes look at Disney’s three big summer movies featuring exclusive interviews with Tomorrowland director Brad Bird, Inside Out director Pete Docter, and Ant-Man director Peyton Reed. Each director offers Maltin—who authored the book The Disney Films—a fascinating look at the creation of the colorful, complicated, and magnificent worlds of their three films.
Also included in the Summer issue of Disney twenty-three:
D23 Members are invited to visit D23.com for additional online-exclusive features, including a gallery of more artwork from the Disneyland Pitch Portfolio, used to showcase concepts of the park that would turn Walt’s dream into a reality.
Other features coming to D23.com include:
Disney twenty-three, which is delivered directly to fans’ doorsteps, is offered exclusively to D23 Gold Members as a benefit of their membership.
The latest issue will begin arriving late May.
If the following artwork is any indication, Sleeping Beauty Castle will look a little different come Spring 2015 when the 60th anniversary festivities kick-off at Disneyland:
Much like the golden make-over the castle experienced in 2005 for the Happiest Homecoming on Earth, we expect thousands of sparkling “diamonds” to adorn the facade of Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland throughout the celebration of 60 years starting in the Spring.
Disney has not confirmed this nor any other festivities for the event, but a new nighttime parade for Disneyland Park and several attraction upgrades & refurbishments are also planned to coincide with the year-long celebration.
EDITOR’S NOTE: A natural successor to Disneyland News Today, the Disneyland Resort Report will be a re-occurring photo report and news series bringing you the latest from the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. In addition to this, each quarter, we will present a Disneyland Resort-focused episode of the WDWNT Podcast. We here at WDW News Today are happy to continue to cover our California counterpart and bring you the latest news and information regarding the topic.
Welcome to The Disneyland Resort!
In this picture, even the Monorail is the color of a pumpkin
A Festivus For The Rest of Us
In years gone by October was a fairly quiet time at Disneyland. Kids back in school, weather cooling down, maybe some introspection, as Fall takes us to a quieter frame of mind. Not today baby!
If you check your 16-month Advent Calendar, you will see that Halloween is now a gateway season for one long Holiday Time that will end in early 2015. Nowhere is that more true than at The Disneyland Resort.
Anything but a premium pass will soon begin to feel chipped away by holiday block out days. All of the remaining Mickey’s Halloween Party events are now sold out. Part of the second weekend of October was blocked out for many, mainly due to CHOC Walk: A yearly benefit for Children’s Hospital of Orange County. Park attendance during that weekend outpaced all but a few days of this past summer.
Park opening on Columbus Day. Columbus Day!
But, there are a couple of little “troughs” ahead, and they are great times to get your thirst for Disneyland slaked. Between Halloween proper and Thanksgiving weekend is one. The other is after Thanksgiving, for a week or two before the Christmas season shifts into twelfth gear. Your milage may vary.
Once “The Season” is over, we will be into Disneyland’s 50th year and Diamond Celebration. And as we speak, plenty is going on amid the clamor to make the year especially magic.
Is There A Doctor In the House?
As part of the creation of a Guest Access Corridor along the east side of Main Street U.S.A., Central First Aid had to be moved over, ever so slightly. The result is not something everyone may notice, but is a marked improvement over the previous facility, with a touch of Walt Disney’s personal story woven into it.
Two lovely building facades have replaced the nondescript “temporary” building that stood in this spot for decades.
First Aid services now take place in what looks like a small town “Medical Building.”
The inscription on one of the building’s windows reads, “Doc Sherwood M.D. – Family Practice.” Sherwood lived in Disney’s Missouri home town of Marcelene. He once commissioned a crayon drawing of his stallion Rupert from the young artist. He has the distinction of being Walt Disney’s first “customer.”
Next to the First-Aid Station is the Wish Lounge. A refuge for Make A Wish Kids visiting the Park.
Like the buildings on Disneyland’s Center Street, the new structure is tapered down in scale to create a forced perspective as it leads away from Main Street. In some ways the building is reminiscent of the well executed Storybook Circus/Carolwood Park Train Station at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom. Rationally all of these new buildings are a little too small for their stated function, but they have enough detail to be convincing, reassuring and ultimately believable. This small addition to the center of Disneyland reflects that same sense of scale and quality.
The gate awaits. This “floodgate” will be the north end of the Guest Access Corridor. The access route is expected to be used during pyrotechnics and parades on Main Street.
I Know It When I See It
Downtown Disney’s Wonderground Gallery recently held one of its fairly frequent, always interesting, artist signings. This one featured five (count ’em, five!) artists in attendance. Among this imaginative and talented throng were favorite Florida fantasy artist Jasmine Becket-Griffith and Hipster Mickey mastermind Jerrod Maruyama.
If you haven’t been to this gallery, which specializes in what might be called contemporary or revisionist depictions of familiar Disney characters and tableau, we are really at a loss to explain your inaction.
He’s always been an everyman. Artist: Jerrod Maruyama © Disney
A dis-quieting metamorphosis? Artist: Jasmine Becket-Griffith © Disney
Jasmine Becket-Griffith signing art for a fan.
On your wall, in the mail, or on your person. Images © Disney
For more information on product or upcoming events, the Wonderground Gallery can be found on the internet at http://disneyparksmerchandise.com/parksauthentic/wonderground-gallery/
I’ll Stop The World And Melt With You
News that the characters from Frozen will soon be taking up residence in the Animation Building at Disney California Adventure Park is only… the tip of the Frozen iceberg, so to speak.
For the time being, their little snow covered chalet in Fantasyland is still the hottest place at Disneyland Park.
On a recent morning, the line to get a “return time” stretched past Village Haus, nearly to the edge of Fantasyland.
So who would have guessed that another facet of the Frozen franchise would suddenly appear at the Downtown Disney District? Anyone? Everyone?
Sound the Royal Fanfare (and act surprised), Anna and Elsa’s Boutique has arrived!
Frozen-haters: Walk on by.
This is a place for the little ladies to stock up on Frozen merchandise and, if they wish, get coifed and made up as their favorite Princess from the film. Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique’s colder sister.
How slammed will this place be during the holidays?
Restoration Nation
Stylized tarps, with the image of the building they cover have been around for quite awhile in the California and Florida Parks. These covering Coke Corner even have the appropriate seasonal decorations worked into the art.
At any given time now, buildings on Main Street are under tarps as Disneyland readies for next years’ Diamond Celebration. What is interesting this time, compared to a decade ago, is the nonchalant, business as usual, approach to the freshening. The preparation for the 50th anniversary seemed a breathless, hero and goat making marathon with no certainty of completion. Since that time the Resort’s condition has not been let to slip to panic inducing levels of differed maintenance, so preparing the Park “for it’s close-up” seems like no big deal.
The “E” Word?
Last month Hong Kong Disneyland premiered it’s new nighttime parade, “Paint The Night.”
The creative team, led by Disney Entertainment wunderkind Steve Davidson, has, by all indication, a hit on their hands in a park that for the last couple of years has been in ascendancy. Billed as Disney’s first-ever fully LED parade, it is a dazzling, high-tech descendant of The Main Street Electric Parade and SpectroMagic. Sporting more than 740,000 individual lights, “Paint…” features seven units, in a pretty even split of Disney and Pixar show scenes.
Here’s some photos from the new pageant’s premiere:
Image © Disney
Image © Disney
Image © Disney
Image © Disney
What will be interesting from the stateside perspective, is how much influence this show will have on the the still un-named, new Disneyland Park nighttime parade planned for the Diamond Celebration next year.
(By the way, these pictures were taken at Hong Kong Disneyland where Main Street and Sleeping Beauty’s Castle are nearly brick by brick replicas of Disneyland U.S.A. So at least we know this parade would fit on the street.)
Well, what do you think they should call it? Stick with Paint The Night? Come up with something different? Or… use a name with the E-Word in it? Electric?
That’ll do it for now…
See ‘ya real soon!
from DestinationVinylmation.com
This is part of a series of articles spotlighting the Vinylmation that were previewed at this year’s annual Walt Disney World Pin and Vinylmation trading and merchandise event, “The Imagination Gala.” The event was held at Epcot’s World Showplace from September 5-9, 2014. Today we look at the Disneyland 60th and D23 Expo releases we will see in 2015.
There are two exciting celebrations in Anaheim, CA in 2015. On July 17, Disneyland turns 60 years old. Besides the many exciting entertainment announcements on the horizon , Disney wouldn’t waste an anniversary that ends in 5 or 0 (or 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8 or 9) without releasing all kinds of merchandise for us to buy. We have not seen much yet, other than some of the graphics…
But in our little corner of the Disney collectible market, we already have a taste of things to come. We can expect much more, but Thomas Scott showed off a couple special Park Starz Variants that will help celebrate Disneyland’s 60th.
The Disney Design Group has chosen the Haunted Mansion Bride and the Pirates of the Caribbean Skeleton and created them in a silver tone. They also added a diamond to each figure, which is the prominent theme in the merchandise (the previewed pins featured diamonds as well). The Bride will release in August 2015 and the Pirate the following month. I do like the look of these figures and they both represent important attractions in Disneyland history, but I would much rather see original content created for the 60th as opposed to reimagining of figures that have already been done in variant form. The saving news… Park 16 is all Disneyland based.
That said, Park 16 should be a celebration of Disneyland milestones and important events and attractions from throughout all 60 years… but the Disneyland 60th vinyls should be specific to 1955. Casey Jr. Circus Train, Autopia, Rocket to the Moon, Golden Horseshoe and the Stagecoaches should all receive treatment during the 60th. I fear however, we will get reimagined designs and characters dressed up to celebrate the occasion.
Also in 2015, is the D23 Expo. A huge convention held by Disney for Disney fans every other year. It will be held from August 14-16 at the Anaheim Convention Center. Tickets are on sale now. Each convention, a few Vinylmation are made to be sold at the event’s main merchandise shop. We now have a look at one of those designed for 2015. It is a gorgeous Chernabog Eachez celebrating the 75th anniversary of Fantasia.
I guess I am a hypocrite, because although this is also a reimagined figure (like the Park Starz), I am loving this colorful paint scheme. D23 is always a blast, and having some fun pins and Vinylmation to look forward to is always a great bonus.
It’s hard to predict D23 vinyls since they are normally based on classic Disney animation and not tied much into the event (besides the logo figure). But if we are looking at anniversaries, like Chernabog above, Toy Story (20 years), Cinderella (65 years) and Pinocchio (75 years) are celebrating next year. While Toy Story and Cinderella have had numerous designs over the years (including sets shown at the gala), Pinocchio is under-represented and a special combo pack or Eachez (can anyone say nose accessory?) could be created for the expo.
