Conner Purzycki’s 2/11/13 DLR Photo Report

I took a quick trip to the Disneyland Resort today and captured a few photos from both Downtown Disney and Disney California Adventure.

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Starting in Downtown Disney, the stage by ESPN Zone is being replaced


AMC showing romance movies for Valentines Week 

Temporary stage setup down the way 

Over in DCA, the Glendale Hyperion bridge was painted again 



Here is the other side for comparison which still has the beige color 


World of Color just went though two weeks of refurbishment and I noticed some small new things 

Some new LED rings on some of the fountains 


and also a new mist screen nozzle on the front screen that looks a bit different than the old one 

The rear mist screen look the same as they did before. Just the front one is new it seems. 


Silly Symphony Swings is under refurb 

Neat Fun Wheel shirt 

DCA Poster Post Cards 



Swing by again soon! 

Paradise Pier Attraction’s Recieve Classic Disney Attraction Posters

From the Disney Parks Blog:

When the Blue Sky Cellar reopens on Jan. 28, don’t miss the walls.

Yes, I said the walls of Blue Sky Cellar.

This building in Disney California Adventure park previews the “blue sky” ideas of Imagineers, with models and sketches that reflect the evolving landscape of the theme park. But before you peek at all the Imagineers’ handiwork, take a moment to enjoy the new artwork on the walls of the entryway. (And find out how you can purchase your own copy very soon.)

Paradise Pier Attraction Posters

Nestled among the expansion updates, you will find new attraction posters from the boardwalk of Paradise Pier, including California Screamin’, Silly Symphony Swings and Mickey’s Fun Wheel. These posters will also be available for purchase. Watch for release dates and retail locations at www.ArtofDisneyParks.com.

The posters are part of a rich tradition within Disney Parks worldwide – a tradition that dates back to 1956 and the original park, Disneyland.

In the summer of 1956, Disneyland was about to enter its second summer. Most people had little knowledge of what Disneyland really was, and they knew even less about the attractions inside the park. According to an upcoming book, “The Poster Art of Disney Parks” by Walt Disney Imagineering’s Danny Handke and Vanessa Hunt, the posters were a fast, clear and visually attractive way to convey an image of each attraction.

Over the years, the style of the various attraction posters has come to reflect the time period in which they were created, as well as the tone and visual palette of the attractions and themed land where they were located.

This tonal tradition is carried on in the latest series of posters featuring the Paradise Pier attractions. With a nod to the classic travel poster aesthetic, the new attraction sequence graphically conveys the excitement and character of each Paradise Pier attraction.

This newly released artwork is the first of several scheduled attraction art releases. Additional series releases are scheduled within months of the initial Paradise Pier series. The first California Adventure attraction posters will be available at retail locations throughout the park on Jan. 28.

Are you familiar with the Disney Parks attraction posters? Let us know if you have a favorite among the hundreds that have been created over the years.

Chris Lastrapes’ 5/17/10 Mini-DLR Photo Report

DLNT Reporter Chris Lastrapes took a small trip to the Disneyland Resort today and has some newsworthy photos to share…

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Thanks for the Mini-Report Chris

Chris Lastrapes’ 5/6/10 DLR Photo Report

Chris Lastrapes took a trip to the Disneyland Resort today and has plenty of newsworthy photos to share.

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Thanks for the report Chris!

Blue Sky Cellar Goes Digital

A new website was unveiled today, the long rumored website produced as part of the Walt Disney Imagineering Blue Sky Cellar. At this new website (which you can find at DisneysCaliforniaAdventure.com) you can view concept art from upcoming attractions and areas such as Buena Vista Street, Goofy’s Sky School, Silly Symphony Swings, World of Color, The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Undersea Adventure, Cars Land, and more. Also available to view are the videos that play inside the screening room of the Blue Sky Cellar. There’s also a flip book describing the big plans of each new addition, which also features some other really cool concept art.

Disney did a phenomenal job with this website, which gives people a chance to see some of the same things they can in the Blue Sky Cellar, but from the comfort of their own home. Stay tuned to Disneyland News Today during the next couple of days as members of our team will be at Disneyland (including myself) to get pictures and video of the updated Blue Sky Cellar.

Time to Peel the Orange!

The Orange Stinger is now closed, and its makeover to Silly Symphony Swings will begin very soon. According to the OC Register’s Around Disney blog:

The spiral-peeled orange that marks the skyline of Disney’s California Adventure will soon be gone. The Orange Stinger swing ride closes for good beginning Tuesday.

It will be re-born as the Silly Symphonies Swings, featuring characters from the first colorized Mickey Mouse cartoon: “The Band Concert,” from 1935.

The attraction will remain a ride in which guests are suspended in swings that twirl around in circles.

The short features an orchestra made up of farm animals and conducted by Mickey Mouse, heckled by Donald Duck and his copious flute collection and finally swept up in a tornado – all the while playing variations of “William Tell Overture.”

Disney Spokesman John McClintock said that though the dismantling of the Stinger will start immediately, workers won’t start “peeling the orange” until sometime next week.

The newly themed swing ride will feature Mickey as the conductor on the top, and the cows, horses, dogs, pigs and other animals making up the band’s musicians will decorate the rest of the ride.

McClintock said Disney officials expect the Silly Symphonies Swings to open in spring of 2010, at around the same time the World of Color water and light show opens.

The refurbishment is part of Disney’s $1-billion expansion and re-theming of California Adventure.

Disney hopes to make the park more attractive after several years of lackluster attendance. Part of the strategy is to link the attractions there more closely with Disney and Pixar movie and character themes.

Disneyland Resort News & Rumor Report

Here’s a round-up of some of the latest rumors that our sources here at Disneyland News Today have been hearing:

  • Due to construction on the World of Color Amphitheater, which is right by where the second High School Musical 3: Right Here! Right Now! show stop is, only one show stop will be made per show, in the location at Sunshine Plaza. However this will mean the show will now be rolled out 5 times a day, instead of the usual 3. Also, instead of going all the way up to the Paradise Pier gates, it will now exit at the gates next to the Mission Tortilla Factory (aka, the future entrance to Cars Land). Don’t forget, the show will be dark Mondays-Thursdays for the foreseeable future due to budget cuts.
  • In news from backstage, the majority of the floats from Disney’s Electrical Parade (excluding the Alice in Wonderland whirly bugs, Dumbo section, & the Cinderella section) have been temporarily moved off Resort property. While we have no exact reason for the disappearance of these floats, it is quite likely that they’re probably getting newer GE 35 motors. For the time being, the Pixar Play Parade has temporarily moved into the parade storage building usually used for Disney’s Electrical Parade. In other news from Disney’s Electrical Parade, it seems some of the floats may be getting added LED effects, which will definitely be an extra boost in bringing the parade into the 21st century. There’s also the possibility that with the addition of the Snow White Dwarf Mine, Pinocchio section, & Tinker Bell section, that the Blue Fairy & Dumbo section may be removed from the parade, however I personally highly doubt that is true (at least the latter).
  • Construction, & just some basic changes, are really starting to beef up over in Paradise Pier. Apparently sometime this week, Mickey’s ears on California Screamin’ will be removed just leaving his “face”, which will eventually be changed over to a sunburst. As we mentioned in Myrna Litt’s latest photo report, the lenticular panel on the Paradise Pier bridge advertising World of Color has for some strange reason been removed. Speaking of removals, all of the old support structures for LuminAria (the holiday fireworks at DCA back only in 2001) have been removed. And lastly, the Orange Stinger is expected to close sometime in April (most likely after Mickey’s Fun Wheel opens up) for it’s conversion over to the Silly Symphony Swings.
  • An interesting development that was first brought up on MiceAge’s latest Al Lutz update is that this year, New Years Eve at Disneyland Park may become a hard ticketed event, the reasoning for this to be done would to keep crowds down slightly in Disneyland, & hopefully get more people to visit DCA. More information on this is available in the link to MiceAge.

News & Rumor Round-up

I have been informed of some very interesting news & rumors of what could be happening (or is going to happen) at the Disneyland Resort in the very near future:

  • Construction should be beginning on World of Color sometime during the upcoming week, weather permitting of course. The first signs of work will be near the California Screamin’ launch area. Along with that, the change-over from the Orange Stinger to Silly Symphony Swings should start in January 2009, & construction on the The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Adventure will finally begin in April 2009. Also, the Maliboomer will now be removed next year, with nothing replacing it at the moment, except for a nicely designed seating area on the current tower platforms. The “refurbishment” of Burger Invasion seems to be of been pushed along a whole another year, with it supposedly lasting through May 26th, 2011. The building will sit dormant for a while, until work begins on the Beer Garden.
  • Originally the plans for a new parade route in DCA called for it to go through Cars Land, & then up onto the parade route as it is today. Well now the plan is for parades to start at the gate right by the Tower of Terror, go through the Hollywood Pictures Backlot, through Buena Vista Street, & up along the rest of the regular parade route, which would make it the longest parade route in Disney history! This would prompt the removal of the Hollywood Pictures Backlot arch, however the two giant elephants would stay.
  • New restrooms will be installed opposite the current ones next to Golden Dreams in the San Francisco style buildings, with work beginning on January 5th 2009, to allow for the current ones to be removed for extra space needed for The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Adventure. The supposed completion day is March 30th 2009, which makes sense if Little Mermaid construction is expected to begin in April.
  • It’s rumored that a fruit cart will be installed in the former home of the Conestoga Wagon McDonalds fry cart in Frontierland. The only concrete details we have is that it should be opened by late May 2009.
  • In a rather interesting turn of events, it seems the Royal Coronation Ceremony & Disney Princess Storytelling Shows at the Princess Fantasy Faire will no longer be performed after January 4th 2009. This is yet another sign of how bad the New Year could end up being for Disney. Of course, the Princess Meet ‘n Greets, Princess merchandise area, & Enchanted Cottage food stand will remain open.
  • Finally, rumors keep persisting that Disney’s Electrical Parade will be returning to Disneyland. But now it seems that a return would cause for quite a few changes. The parade is going to have to get an entirely new name for it to be able to move back to Disneyland, due to the marketing campaign they had in 1996, legally saying that the Main Street Electrical Parade would never return to Disneyland. We however have no idea on what the new name could be just yet. A new version of the Tokyo Disneyland Electrical Parade: Dreamlights soundtrack could be replacing the classic Electrical Parade soundtrack we know & love. And as we’ve said before, the Pinocchio & Snow White Dwarf Mine floats will be returning to the parade. In fact, we have proof…

The black sort of curtain like structure is the Snow White Dwarf Mine. The Pinocchio Cigar Factory is in the blue draped crate next to the parade storage warehouse. The Pleasure Island float has reportedly already been pieced together.

Well that wraps up this interesting news & rumor report. Stay tuned to Disneyland News Today for the latest developments on these, & all other news & rumors.

PS) Posts may be a little sporadic over the week week, as I’ll be in England from tomorrow through the 29th. I will try to get some stuff to you guys though. Definitely don’t forget to tune into the Christmas Podcast Parade, being released Christmas Day on all WDWNT Podcast feeds!