The D23 Expo 2017 will have entire pavilion dedicated to the Star Wars-themed lands coming to Disneyland park and Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Today, the creative minds behind the pavilion unveiled the amazing logo for Walt Disney Parks and Resorts: A Galaxy of Stories, exclusively at D23 Expo 2017.
In just a few short weeks, guests can catch a glimpse of the locations, starships, creatures and droids that will populate this remote village on the Outer Rim, and experience the world premiere of a detailed model showcasing the immersive 14-acre lands coming to Disney Parks in 2019. There will be plenty of artwork and media on display to show guests the creative process bringing the Star Wars, galaxy to life.
On Saturday of the D23 Expo, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Chairman, Bob Chapek, will also take the stage for a special Hall D23 presentation on what’s new and what’s next for resorts around the globe. In addition, guests can sit in on three other unique Disney Parks panel presentations:
Friday, July 14
3:30 p.m. Pirates of the Caribbean: 50 Years of Swashbuckling Adventures in Disney Parks
Saturday, July 15
3:00 p.m. Walt Disney Parks and Resorts – Bob Chapek
Sunday, July 16
12:15 p.m. Inspiring Women of Imagineering
2:30 p.m. Voices of Disney Parks
They’re also bringing back Mickey’s of Glendale, the Imagineer-exclusive merchandise store chock full of limited-edition collectibles and souvenirs. It’s all coming up at D23 Expo 2017 on July 14-16 at the Anaheim Convention Center, across the street from Disneyland Resort. Tickets and more information are available now at D23expo.com.
We have yet another limited release t-shirt for you, and this one will ship just in time for July 4th, 2017…
Click here to purchase
Available for only the next 9 days, “Make America Sing Again” celebrates the classic Disneyland attraction America Sings. This show was created by legendary Disney Imagineer Marc Davis and ran in the Carousel Theater in Tomorrowland from 1974 until 1988. Most of the animatronics from the show were recycled into Star Tours and Splash Mountain at Disneyland Park.
America Sings at Disneyland, 1974-1988
The shirt is available now and is guaranteed to arrive by July 4th, 2017 for all domestic purchases.
Thanks to our friends over at Fresh Baked Disney, we have another weekly look at how the construction of Star Wars land is going over at Disneyland Park. Here is a look at the project as of June 3rd, 2017:
Star Wars Land construction at Disneyland Park, June 3rd, 2017
The two structures towards the back, which we assume to be part of the Millennium Falcon ride, are now apparently attached to each other.
Star Wars Land construction at Disneyland Park, June 3rd, 2017
The AT-AT walkers are now pretty hard to see through all of the steel, but they are still there.
Star Wars Land construction at Disneyland Park, June 3rd, 2017
The multi-level show building for the “Battle with the First Order” (we’re still waiting on a real name) ride just looks like a mess of steel at the moment.
Star Wars Land construction at Disneyland Park, June 3rd, 2017
It is quite the behemoth. The two steel sections at the top will likely support themed elements on the roof of the building, parts of the facade basically.
Star Wars Land construction at Disneyland Park, June 3rd, 2017
Work continues on the new waterfront for the Rivers of America, hopefully still opening sometime this Summer.
Star Wars Land construction at Disneyland Park, June 3rd, 2017
Dirt.
Star Wars Land construction at Disneyland Park, June 3rd, 2017
Things are starting to look more like structures, which is good. Maybe soon we’ll be able to figure out what some of this other stuff around the major attractions is.
Star Wars Land construction at Disneyland Park, June 3rd, 2017
Lots of steel framework.
Star Wars Land construction at Disneyland Park, June 3rd, 2017
I’m not even going to pretend to know what is going on in this picture…
As always, Fresh Baked Disney also has a video of the construction that you should check out:
According to sources at the Disneyland Resort, the Paint the Night Electrical Parade is all packed up to be shipped off, but where is it going?
Paint the Night debuted at the Disneyland Resort in May 2015 as part of the Diamond Celebration and ran through the end of the event in September 2016, only briefly for the holiday season in 2016 before vanishing again. The Main Street Electrical Parade returned to Disneyland Park in January 2017 and will be running through August 2017 (at least), meanwhile, Fantasmic is slated to return to Disneyland this summer and a brand new Disneyland fireworks show is reportedly coming in early 2018. With all of this nighttime entertainment, apparently it has been decided that they can afford to let Paint the Night go somewhere else.
Where will the parade go? Many expect that it is going to the Magic Kingdom since the Main Street Electrical Parade was taken away from Walt Disney World’s flagship park in the Fall of 2016. However, it is hard to image that it can successfully run a new parade in addition to a brand new (and very popular) fireworks show in Happily Ever After. Other parks at Walt Disney World seem an unlikely home for the parade, and Hollywood Studios can’t currently handle such an offering in its current state.
Simply because I have zero confirmation of where the parade is going, it may be worth mentioning that Disneyland Paris and Shanghai Disney are both without a nighttime parade as well. Regardless, the smart money would still be on The Magic Kingdom.
We’ll wait and see what happens, but regardless, the Paint the Night parade is packed up and ready to go, we just need to fill out the recipient’s address…
On May 26th, Disneyland Park launched the much-discussed Tomorrowland Skyline Lounge experience, an event meant to be a fireworks dessert party held on the second floor of the Star Wars Launch bay building. Based on the reaction our breaking of this story received, we decided to send someone out to review the very-first night of the experience on Friday.
Check-in took place at the Tomorrowland fruit cart, located underneath the former Observatron/Rocket Jets. The price for this experience was $45 per person, that was not collected on making the reservation for some reason, so they do collect before giving you your lanyard and wristband.
Guests lining up to enter prior to the event start.
Check-in began at 7:45pm and you are allowed up into the lounge at 8:00. You check-in (again) at the bottom of the ramp of the former-Innoventions building (now Star Wars Launch Bay on the bottom floor) where you are escorted up to the second level.
You then receive a free drink of your choice. Coke products, coffee, tea, etc., and you also receive your dessert box before being seated in one of the lounge areas. There were 4 or 5 different areas in all with several couches and chairs. At the very end of the balcony, there were several high-top tables if you would rather sit there. You were grouped with other parties, so you did have to share the space if you have a smaller group.
Once seated, you could charge your phone at one of the many charging stations, which is nice. Games were available to play such as Jenga, Connect Four and Checkers, because nothing says Tomorrowland like classic board games. You are in Disneyland, where you can play in essentially the world’s greatest playground, but hell, LETS GO FOR IT, CONNECT FOUR!
PhotoPass photographers were available to take pictures with the beautiful Tomorrowland scenery in the background, which is actually really neat. The views from up here are great, incase you have never been up on this patio (which I can’t imagine in many cases as it was open to the public for years).
Mickey and Minnie even made an appearance for a short meet and greet, the pair also available for photos. Blankets were provided by cast members if you were a bit chilly as well.
This being Disneyland, there is a good chance that the nightly fireworks are cancelled due to high winds and such. Needless to say seemingly, fireworks ended-up being cancelled due to high winds for this very first night of the experience.
The lounge itself was nice enough. The couches were nice and there were plenty of places to charge devices.
The dessert tray, while very tasty, was extremely rich. It includes:
Mickey Cloud Cake – Cream-filled Sponge Cake
Chocolate Eclipse – Cream-Filled Chocolate Cake drenched in Chocolate
Coconut Comet – Coconut-Strawberry Iced Sponge Cake filled with Cream
Planetary Pie – Mini Cherry-Filled Pie
Moon Rocks – Boursin Herbed Cheese, Cream Cheese, Shredded Cheddar, and Jack Cheese, Chives Pimento, and Bacon
No one sitting in our group finished any of their desserts. Again, not because they were bad, but just incredibly sweet. The Coconut Comet was basically a Hostess Zinger pumped up to eleven, and if you don’t know what a Zinger is, please head to the grocery store and rectify that. The Moon Rocks were probably the highlight of the offerings; a delicious cheese spread covered in bacon with an assortment of crackers.
The fancy-Zinger
This is a nice offering and is at a low cost in comparison to the World of Color or Fantasmic dessert party packages. However, without fireworks, it’s a giant waste of time. Disneyland Park has the most unreliable nighttime spectacular of all U.S. Disney Parks, making it a gamble each night whether the show will be performed. Even the slightest amount of wind can cancel a show due to the proximity of the park to nearby neighborhoods. Seriously, only half of the Celebrate America Fourth of July fireworks shows ever scheduled at Disneyland, have actually happened.
You could always do this with the Jenga game if the fireworks don’t happen, I guess…
This is probably why event organizers decided to call it Tomorrowland Lounge rather than a fireworks dessert party, to try to ease some of the complaints that are going to come regardless when the fireworks are cancelled. We were even told several times by cast members that the fireworks were only an addition to the experience and that the lounge is the experience by itself. Large disclaimers on the website when booking this alls make it unmistakebly clear.
$45 for dessert and Connect Four? Just come to my place and I’ll host you for $20 a person, buy a box of Zingers, and play a Fireworks video on my TV for you.
In our opinion, you would be better off just spending your $45 on the many other delicious snacks in the park and grabbing a spot on Main Street, even if you do have to be around other people. It will result in less time lost from your day if the fireworks do not actually go off. On a side note, if you are on Main Street, you could have seen the short projection show that takes place on the front of the castle when the fireworks are cancelled. You’re also not going to see the awesome projections on Sleeping Beauty Castle if Remember… Dreams Come True does perform…
In review, unless you have the strong urge for a fancy Zinger and a rousing game of Jenga (which I hoped ironically would have been the Tower of Terror version), you should probably skip the Tomorrowland Skyline Lounge at Disneyland Park.
Permits filed by Disney to the City of Anaheim seem to hint at a rehab for Aladdin’s Oasis in Adventureland at Disneyland.
The permit states that the stage will be fixed up and expanded, the restrooms refurbished, and exterior walls altered and rethemed for the addition of a new pedestrian ramp.
This space opened as an Aladdin themed dinner show in 1993, but in 1995 became a restaurant-only location for the busiest park days. Now Aladdin’s Oasis serves as a meet & greet location and a space for occasional events. Prior to all of this, it was home to the Tahitian Terrace dinner show.
Does this mean that a dinner show is returning to Aladdin’s Oasis, or will it be used in some other dining capacity (the space was used for “on-the-go” parade packages as recently as this year).
Stay tuned to WDWNT.com for new details on this story.
Watch live as the Main Street Electrical Parade returns to Disneyland Park tonight during a special hard-ticket event. Be sure to join us at 9pm PT to see the epic return as it happens!
Due to tech issues with our live stream, we instead streamed the parade using Periscope. You can watch it at the link below:
Celebrate the return of the beloved Main Street Electrical Parade to Disneyland park with an assortment of commemorative products. This encore performance of the parade will run nightly until June 18 – that’s 45 years after it first lit up Main Street, U.S.A., in 1972. Here’s a look at what products guests will find during this special, limited-time celebration.
Adults and kids can relive favorite moments with graphic apparel that includes iconic images from the parade.
Disney will also introduce an animated glow headband with images of Mickey Mouse in the light-up ears.
There will be two pins celebrating the parade – a limited release logo pin, and a limited edition pin created especially for Disneyland Resort Annual Passholders. The latter pin will have an edition size of 2,000 (a valid Disneyland Resort Annual Passport must be presented purchase).
Finally, guests should look for a hand-painted Ink & Paint cel titled, “Mickey’s Dragon.” This new piece is limited to an edition size of 350 and will be available in a variety of formats including unframed, framed, framed with pin, and framed with postcard and pin. The specially designed limited edition pin (edition size 300) is only available with framed formats, while supplies last. You can see artwork for the pin in the upper left corner of the image shown above.
Select items will be released in Emporium and Disney Showcase on Main Street, U.S.A., inside Disneyland park on Jan. 19 during the special, after-hours premiere ticketed event.
The Ink & Paint cel will be released at Disneyana shop also on Jan. 19. If you are unable to visit Disneyland Resort, a limited number of cels are available for purchase online here, while supplies last. Applicable tax and shipping fees apply; discounts are available on the framing only.
On Jan. 20, additional locations, such as World of Disney in Downtown Disney District, will carry select Main Street Electrical Parade products.
Disney today finally announced the further expansion of FASTPASS to two of their most popular attractions — Toy Story Mania in Disney California Adventure park and Matterhorn Bobsleds in Disneyland park. However, the bigger news is that the eventual introduction of digital FASTPASS at the resort will be part of a paid service.
Later this year, Disney will launch Disney MaxPass, which will allow guests unlimited downloads of their high-resolution PhotoPass images, but also enable the convenience of mobile booking and redemption of Disney FASTPASS return times – all by using the Disneyland App. Disney MaxPass will be available for an introductory price of $10 a day. Disneyland Resort Annual Passholders also will have the opportunity to purchase Disney MaxPass on a daily or yearly basis.
Guests will continue to have the option of Disney FASTPASS service at no cost by obtaining FASTPASSES at attraction FASTPASS kiosks, just as they do today.
This contradicts rumors of the last year or so about the installation of the system and ensures that paper FASTPASS service will remain at the Disneyland Resort for the time being.
Disneyland Park is home to some of the most epic theme park snacks of all time: the Dole Whip, the churro, and the Mickey Pretzel, just to name a few. Now, as of this past weekend, it is home to specialty doughnuts. BUT DO THEY LIVE UP TO THE RICH LEGACY OF JUNK FOOD AT DISNEYLAND? You are about to find out…
Disneyland’s doughnuts can be found here, at the hub coffee cart
The hub coffee cart is home to the crazy creations, an interesting spot to say the least. This location already can boast some pretty hefty lines (even without selling Starbucks Coffee), never mind with these colorful treats glistening in the visible display case.
Each doughnut is $5.75 each
All 3 doughnuts we found upon visiting are $5.75 each. Enough yapping, let’s eat some “family-based treats” at the Happiest Place on Earth.
The peanut butter cup doughnut was OK. It tasted like a donut with a peanut butter cup on top… which I suppose is what it is. The chocolate icing was nice in flavor, but the actual donut was meh. In fairness, it was 10pm in the evening when these were obtained, so they just might have been sitting there for too long to be perfect.
Lemon Doughnut with Fruity Pebbles ($5.75)
Lemon Doughnut with Fruity Pebbles ($5.75)
Now the lemon doughnut covered in Fruity Pebbles… this one is amazing. The lemon icing mixed with the fruity pebbles is simply magically. Even though the doughnut underneath wasn’t very fresh, the tartness of the lemon mixing with the sweet Fruity Pebbles makes for one of the absolute best snacks in all of Disneyland.
This vanilla donut was just alright. It is really, really sweet, In fact…
In-joke for my fellow wrestling fans…
The waffle cone bits were soft and not crunchy which is not what we expected. The M&M’s Minis actually worked very well on the doughnut. This one isn’t a bad choice if you have picky eaters or kids in your party who want to get in on the fun.
We should probably try them again when they are fresh, but regardless, the Fruity Pebbles doughnut is the real winner. This thing can go toe-to-toe with the best of them as far as Disneyland snacks are concerned. Be sure to give that one (and maybe one of the other two) a shot on your next trip to Disneyland Park.
