Disneyland Park to Serve Alcohol to Guests at New 21 Royal Street Upscale Restaurant

As soon as work wrapped up on the new Club 33 at Disneyland earlier this year, work began on a new establishment on the other side of the Club’s kitchen, located at 21 Royal Street in New Orleans Square. The location was originally intended to be part of Walt Disney’s apartment, but was most recently used as an executive dining room before the remodel.

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The restaurant is expected to be the first in Disneyland history to serve alcohol to non-Club 33 members. Andrew Sutton will be the executive chef for the restaurant in what will also be the first true upscale restaurant open to regular park guests in Disneyland Park’s 60 year history.

No official announcement has been made by Disney yet.

UPDATE: Disneyland has since responded to this story and has stated the space will be a new private dining space for executives and Club 33 members only.

Annual Passholder’s: RegisterTo Be One Of The First To Glow With The Show At Fantasmic

From Erin Glover on the Disney Parks Blog:

On Friday, we told you that the popular “Glow With the Show” Ears would soon light up audiences during “Fantasmic!” at Disneyland park, and today we’ve got some exciting news just for Disneyland Resort Annual Passholders! Registration is open right now for a special opportunity for Annual Passholders to “Glow With the Show” at a private viewing of “Fantasmic!” on August 28.

‘Glow With the Show’ Ears
Bring your “Glow with the Show” Ears and be among the first to see this magical new experience! That’s right – the premiere showing of this special technology during “Fantasmic!” will be a private viewing exclusively for Disneyland Resort Annual Passholders. Register now to attend, because space is limited and based on availability!

Here are the details:

  • One night only – Tuesday, August 28
  • 10 p.m. – 12 a.m.
  • Private viewing of “Fantasmic!” will begin at 11:30 p.m.
  • Select attractions, shops and food offerings will be open for event guests until 12 a.m.
  • Attendees are strongly encouraged to bring their own “Glow with the Show” Ears. Hats are not required for event attendance, but strongly encouraged for optimal viewing experience.

And here’s how you register:

  • Registration applies to Annual Passholder and up to 3 Annual Passholder guests
  • Visit any open ticket booth in the Disneyland Resort Main Entrance Esplanade
  • Present your active Annual Passport and a valid, government-issued photo I.D., as verification of your eligibility to register for the event
  • Based on availability, cast member will complete your registration and give you a voucher, required for admission to the event. Limit one (1) voucher per eligible Annual Passholder; multiple vouchers will not be honored

Important additional information:

  • Annual Passholders must be at least 18 years old to RSVP for this event, but their guests (up to 3 additional Annual Passholders) may be younger than 18.
  • Registration will close at 10 p.m. (PDT) on Thursday, August 23, 2012, or as soon as capacity for the event is reached.
  • Registration must occur in person at a Disneyland Resort Main Entrance Ticket Booth.
  • Each eligible Annual Passholder is limited to one (1) registration voucher, and voucher does not guarantee admission.
  • Registered Passholders and each of their guests must be valid Annual Passholders on the day of the event and must use their Passports for park entry.
  • Valid Photo I.D. may be required at check-in.
  • “Glow with the Show” Ears are not provided for event participation.
  • The event is subject to change or cancellation without notice.

Tiana’s Showboat Jubilee Concept Art

Concept art has been released for the new Tiana’s Showboat Jubilee show coming to New Orleans Square from November 6th, 2009 through January 3rd, 2010:

From this concept art, you can see that the band and Louis the Alligator will be at the front of the boat, Prince Naveen and Princess Tiana will be on the 3rd level, the performers will be on the second and third levels, and the guests will be on the bottom level (be sure to click on the image to see a bigger version of the concept art)

Myrna Litt’s 11/5 Photo Report

It’s once again time for a photo report from Mrs. Myrna Litt. She visited the Disneyland Resort yesterday as Christmas decorations have started to be put up:

Anyone know why there was a conductor in this restaurant’s train?

 Christmas decorations have started to be put up in Sunshine Plaza.

Scaff-holding is up around the Sun Wheel.

I absolutely love these construction walls at the bottom of the picture! An absolutely fantastic design choice.

Read More about Myrna Litt’s 11/5 Photo Report

Christmas Angels

According to various reports, the Courtyard of Angels in New Orleans Square, as previously rumored, has been transfered over to a Christmas time store, selling what else but Christmas merchandise.

We will try to get pictures of this new store for you later this week, so stay tuned.

Refurb Season Is Coming!

UPDATED @ 11:00AM

We have a few more updates for you to the attractions refurbishment list. First up, over in Entertainment, for the week of August 25th, both Disney’s Electrical Parade & Fantasmic! will not be offered on the Monday through Thursday, due to a lot of kids being back at school. The following week, both will go on hiatus. Fantasmic! will return on November 7th, & Disney’s Electrical Parade will return in mid December.

August 17th will be the last day for the lovely Ariel’s Grotto meet ‘n greet. Work will then begin on changing over that area to Pixie Hollow for Tinker Bell & her fellow Fairies. So if you want your picture taken with Ariel in her Mermaid form, August 17th will be your last day to do it until 2010!

The New Orleans Square Railroad Station will close on September 2nd for repaving of the station & surrounding area (including the area in front of the Haunted Mansion). Trains will just go straight through that station, & continue on to Toontown. It’s due to re-open on October 17th.

Big Thunder Ranch will be closed from September 15th to the 25th (it originally was planned to be closed until the 27th) so they can add the Woody’s Halloween Round-up overlay. It will then be closed from November 3rd until the 20th for the Santa’s Reindeer Round-up overlay.

The previously planned Pirates of the Caribbean refurbishment that was to of gone from October 13th to November 14th seems to have been completely removed from the list.

A second Mark Twain Riverboat refurbishment will happen in November (the first is from August 25th-29th), from the 3rd to the 5th.

Finally for Disneyland Park, the new store, replacing New Century Timepieces will open September 30th, & the It’s a Small World Toy Shop will open before the attraction on September 28th. And over at It’s a Small World itself, the new flume has been painted.

One quick thing over at DCA, the Hyperion Theater refurbishment that starts on September 2nd, finally has an end date, that being December 18th.

Stay tuned to Disneyland News Today for updates on all attraction refurbishments. And for up-to-the-minute information on the various refurbishments, be sure to check our Attraction Refurbishments page!

Court of Christmas Angels

We’ve heard from various sources that the Court of Angels in New Orleans Square (which is located near the exit of Pirates of the Caribbean) will soon be home to New Orleans Square’s Christmas Shop. The current Christmas store is located right next door to the Court of Angels, & this would be an expansion of that store. A canopy will be put up, with Christmas merchandise hanging everywhere, & of course cash registers will be added.

There’s no word one if this will be seasonal or year round just yet, & if this even will be happening, but be sure to stay tuned to Disneyland News Today for the latest updates!

Article Mania!

Here are 3 articles from the OC Register with information on the Innoventions Dream Home, Wall-E in the parks, & an incident in New Orleans Square:

The Innoventions Dream Home is still closed and will possibly open to the public next week, according to Disney Spokesman John McClintock.

Last week Disney pulled back the curtain on the new Innoventions Dream Home, but the attraction was only open for limited hours and only to annual passholders.

McClintock said today that Disney workers are “making sure that all the technology in the home is working perfectly” before opening the Dream Home to the public. He said that the goal is to open the home to the public next week.

Currently, the second floor of the Innoventions building is open. Just the first floor, the Dream Home level, is closed.

We’ll keep everyone updated on this blog about when the Dream Home will open to the public.

Disney’s Wall-E character debuted in theaters yesterday, but don’t expect the little robot in the Disneyland Resort any time soon.

A Disney Backstage Pass newsletter mailed to Disneyland Annual Passholders a few weeks ago included thata three-foot-tall Audio-Animatronic model of Wall-E would be visiting people in Disney’s California Adventure this summer

But, Disney Spokesman John McClintock said the robot is not expected to be in the park for a few months.

“We don’t expect Wall-E to be in the Disneyland Resort any time soon, especially during the summer,” McClintock said.

treebranchphoto2Update: New photo on the left sent in by someone who was in the park when the tree branch fell. Right click and click view image on either photo to see an enlarged image.

A tree branch broke and fell onto a pathway last night near the French Market restaurant in the New Orleans Square area of Disneyland.

A Disney spokeswoman said it was one branch and that it did not fall directly on anybody. She said that no more than five people were near the branch when it fell. She said those people had minor scrapes.

Irvine resident Vicki Munsell was at the park yesterday when the branch fell. She was there with her family celebrating her and her husband’s 14th wedding anniversary.

Munsell and her family were eating at the Cafe Orleans restaurant when they heard someone shout and she turned around in time to hear the branch cracking and see it fall on a pathway.

She said people ran over right away to help. While Disney said the tree did not fall on anyone, Munsell said people were pulled out from underneath the tree. Still, Munsell agreed that she did not see anyone injured with more than a few scratches.

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Munsell took the photo that you see at right with her camera phone, and she sent it to The Orange County Register. After the branch fell, she said the area was blocked off by Disney cast members who removed the branch and checked on people nearby.

This is not the first time trees have fallen on people in theme parks. On Aug. 1, 1997, a large tree limb at Knott’s Berry Farm broke and fell onto four visitors near the Montezooma’s Revenge ride, causing minor injuries to three and leaving the fourth hospitalized. And on May 5, 2001, Jeanne Gill, 73 suffered a broken hip, and 27 others are injured when a 20-foot oak tree falls in Frontierland at Disneyland.

I’m Into Nuggets Y’all

Rumors are abound that McDonalds may be pulling out as a Disneyland sponsor. McDonald’s currently operate 2 fry carts over in Frontierland & New Orleans Sqaure, & the Burger Invasion restaurant over in Paradise Pier. Each restaurant sells a limited McDonalds menu, so I think it’s safe to say that they wont be missed.

Another company ready to butt out of a sponsorship deal is Carnation. Carnation has been involved with Disney pretty much since the opening of Disneyland. Back in 1984, Nestle acquired Carnation, & it’s become one of their lesser known brands. As Al Lutz of MiceAge explains it…

… Nestle’ contract as a whole is on the rocks, after meeting up with legal headaches regarding some of the beverages it sells that compete directly with Coca-Cola’s expanding reach into coffee and beverages besides soft drinks. As it stands now, Coca-Cola wants to have a sponsorship presence at Disneyland and other Disney parks more desperately than Nestle’ does, and as push comes to shove with the lawyers it looks like it is Nestle’ and its family of different brands who will likely leave the park.

Just so long as Coca-Cola makes it financially lucrative, Disneyland may even be removing decades old signage around the park like that found at Carnation Plaza Gardens, the sight of a long gone snack bar that served up its last milkshake a decade ago.