Now looking all the way ahead to July 4th… In previous years, Disneyland just did a little July 4th tag on the end of whatever fireworks show may be showing. Well it appears this year a full fledged 4th of July fireworks show will be shown instead of Remember Dreams Come True!
Celebrate America! A Fourth of July Concert in the Sky
9:25pm
Cast previews for Monorail Red will begin tomorrow & last through-out the rest of the week. Here are the exact times:
Monday, April 21
6:45 – 8:30 a.m. and 10:30 p.m. – 12:15 a.m.
Tuesday, April 22
6:45 – 8:30 a.m. and 10:30 p.m. – 12:15 a.m.
Wednesday, April 23
6:45 – 8:30 a.m.
Thursday, April 24
6:45 – 8:30 a.m.
So if anyone’s at the park tomorrow, be sure to have your camera at the ready! We all should be riding Monorail Red very soon!
Thanks to Year45 for sending in this information!
We’re hearing that the new Indiana Jones & Summer of Mysteries show could start showing at Disneyland, in the streets of Adventureland, on May 22nd. It’s also been rumored that the show may go into Aladdin’s Oasis, but seeing as there is no refurbishment planed for that theater, it’s highly unlikely.
Stay tuned to Disneyland News Today for further developments in this, the Summer of Mysteries!
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
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
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)!
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.
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!
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.
I found a rather funny press release put out by Disney earlier this week and felt I should share it with our readers. This is probably the first time Disney has acknowledged that they have a huge number of attractions based on Pixar films:
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — It’s a Pixar palooza at Disney Parks! In family-friendly attractions and immersive experiences on both coasts of the United States, guests can do it all — find Nemo, zap Zurg and meddle with Monsters.
But the fun doesn’t stop there. Coming this summer to Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., and Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, Calif., is a whole new interactive adventure: Toy Story Mania!
Celebrating Disney-Pixar classics “Toy Story” and “Toy Story 2,” this new ride-game experience combines delightful film characters with personality-matching games guests can play. Donning 3-D glasses, guests shrink to the size of a toy and hop fanciful ride vehicles following a midway-themed route. At each game booth, they aim for animated targets using special on-board spring-action shooters. And since games adapt to the skill level of each player, beginners and gamers alike have plenty of reasons to ride — and play — again and again.
Toy Story Mania! debuts at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Florida in late May and at Disney’s California Adventure in Anaheim in late June. It joins these other experiences inspired by favorite Disney-Pixar characters and films.
At Walt Disney World Resort:
Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor — Guests find the power of laughter in an engaging and interactive adventure inspired by “Monsters, Inc.” as they match wits with the one-eyed hero Mike Wazowski and his friends. As Monster-of-Ceremonies, Mike recruits comedian wanna-bes whose humor delights audiences at a 400-seat theater in Magic Kingdom. Finding Nemo-The Musical — The undersea world that charmed audiences in “Finding Nemo” comes to life in a musical stage show at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. The 30-minute Broadway-style production immerses guests in the story of Marlin and Nemo, an overprotective clownfish father and his curious son, with imaginative puppetry, dazzling special effects and an original musical score. The Seas with Nemo & Friends — This whimsical and visually stunning attraction at Epcot picks up where the film “Finding Nemo” left off. Riding aboard “clamobiles” in a colorful coral reef setting, guests meet Mr. Ray and learn that Nemo has wandered off. The journey continues as Dory, Bruce, Marlin, Squirt and Crush help with the search. These deep-sea friends inhabit a variety of vibrant vignettes, including a huge aquarium that contains more than 65 species of marine life. Block Party Bash — This high-energy extravaganza at Disney’s Hollywood Studios cranks the music and excitement to the max, putting guests in the middle of the wildest Disney spectacle ever — a non-stop musical block party that doubles as a fun-filled interactive street spectacular. Featuring characters from “Toy Story,” “A Bug’s Life,” “Monster’s, Inc.” and “The Incredibles,” “Block Party Bash” combines dancers, acrobats, stilt performers and a caravan of electric scooters to fill the performance area with awe-inspiring visual and sound sensations.
         At Disneyland Resort:
Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage — Guests embark on an underwater expedition where they discover Nemo and his finned friends from “Finding Nemo.” Thanks to cutting-edge imaging technology, characters such as Dory, Marlin, Crush, Bruce and, of course, Nemo, come to life before guests’ eyes in a brilliantly colored lagoon at Disneyland Park. a bug’s land — Designed especially for kids, this land at Disney’s California Adventure features Flik’s Fun Fair, which is full of attractions inspired by the film “A Bug’s Life.” Children can experience the world from a bug’s point of view by visiting Flik’s Flyers, Francis’ Ladybug Boogie, Heimlich’s Chew Chew Train, Princess Dot Puddle Park, and Tuck and Roll Drive’Em Buggies. Families can then cap off their adventures with a screening of the 3-D spectacular “It’s Tough to be a Bug.” Monster’s Inc., Mike and Sulley to the Rescue — Disney’s California Adventure guests are in for a ride of “monstrous” proportion as they climb aboard taxis and hit the streets of Monstropolis with Mike, Sulley and Boo. Along the way they’ll encounter the super-sneaky Randall Boggs, the yellow-suited agents of the Child Detection Agency and other characters from the film. Pixar Play Parade — Characters from Disney-Pixar films “Toy Story,” “A Bug’s Life,” “Monsters, Inc.,” “Finding Nemo,” “The Incredibles,” “Cars” and “Ratatouille” dance onto the parade route and invite guests of all ages to join in a whirling, spinning, fun-for-all animated playground. This daily spectacle at Disney’s California Adventure is brought to life in giant parade floats, puppetry, acrobatics and interactive surprises including bubble, fire and water effects.
         At both Walt Disney World Resort and Disneyland Resort:
Turtle Talk With Crush — Crush from “Finding Nemo” has made a different kind of screen debut at Epcot and Disneyland Park — as a chatting, joking quipster who engages guests in conversation from his movie-screen undersea environment. The interactive show is a breakthrough experience in real-time animation using digital projection and sophisticated, voice-activated animation. It’s Tough to be a Bug — Inside the massive trunk of Disney’s Animal Kingdom’s Tree of Life, and at the heart of Disney’s California Adventure’s “a bug’s land,” is “It’s Tough to be a Bug,” a humorous 3-D film and special effects show starring Earth’s least-known wild creatures — and a few familiar faces from “A Bug’s Life.” Guests will recognize friendly Flik and the villainous Hopper, but the rest of the show promises some “stingingly” surprising antics. Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin (WDW) / Buzz Lightyear Astroblasters (DLR) — Armed with infrared lasers, guests join forces with Buzz Lightyear to defend Earth’s supply of batteries from the evil Emperor Zurg in a spinning, brought-to-life spin-off of the movie “Toy Story.” The shoot-’em-up fun at both Magic Kingdom and Disneyland Park triggers sight and sound gags, while a lighted display inside toy-spaceship vehicles allows guests to keep score. For more information about Walt Disney World Resort and Disneyland Resort visit disneyworld.com and www.disneyland.com.
