It’s time once again to check in on the latest progress of the expansion of Disney’s Hollywood Studios!
This update includes the latest progress on PizzeRizzo in the Muppets Courtyard, the demolition of the backlot for Star Wars and Toy Story Land, the construction of a Dr. Strange meet and greet inside One Man’s Dream, and more! Enjoy:
Disneyland Reporter Conner Purzycki brings us back out to the Disneyland Resort in his latest photo report. Today, we check in on Star Wars Land, the “desecration” of the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, and a number of smaller projects taking place around the resort.
Work on the Star Wars themed land for Disneyland Park rolls on (as it will be a few years).
This looks familiar…
The tunnel above is likely the one that will greet guests at the entrance to the land. An X-Wing and assorted items will greet guests just outside on the passage from Critter Country and Frontierland.
The cannon in Town Square is moving into a planter to make more walking space for guests, something much needed during parade and fireworks time.
Here is the new pedestal that the cannon will call home.
Work on the Market House facade has wrapped up.
The sidewalk work on Main Street has already wrapped up.
While the Diamond Celebration ended over a month ago, the castle decorations will remain until November.
The facades behind the New Orleans Square train station are being touched up.
Mickey’s Toontown is getting some TLC (and I don’t mean tables, ladders, and chairs).
Roger Rabbit’s Cartoon Spin is open while the facade is being fixed up.
On Friday, Disney Parks released dozens of new items inspired by the upcoming Rogue One – A Star Wars Story film.
The Crush sipper cup is now available on the West Coast at Award Weiners.
The Doctor Strange preview will be opening soon, but Disney is already stating that a Beauty and the Beast preview will occupy the space in the Spring.
The Mad T Party/Jammin’ on the Backlot/elecTRONica stage is finally coming down.
AP Days are rolling on through the Fall.
Scaffolding is now going up around the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. Odds are that it won’t even look like the attraction by the time in closes in January.
The attraction is being replaced by Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission Breakout, opening Summer 2017.
Quicksilver is now closed as well… WILL THIS BE THE SPRINKLES LOCATION???
Our latest photo report trip to Disney’s Hollywood Studios comes to us courtesy of Jose Castillo. In this visit, we take a look at the continuing demolition in the Backlot, the latest progress on PizzeRizzo, the opening of Gonzo’s Royal Flush, and more.
The Backlot of Disney’s Hollywood Studios has been reduced to rubble. The space will someday be home to Toy Story Land and the Star Wars-themed land.
Two facades are all that remains of the Streets of America at this point.
Gonzo’s Royal Flush opened next door to PizzeRizzo over the weekend.
Sadly, the interior of the restroom is not themed.. and yes, we made sure no one else was in the restroom before we took these.
Based on the last few new restrooms added in themed areas (like Tangled restrooms at the Magic Kingdom), we assumed these would be themed somehow, but they aren’t.
PizzeRizzo is nearing completion next door in the former Pizza Planet location.
The exterior was being painted while we were outside.
The exterior lighting was also installed on both floors recently.
Some of the brick work on the main facade is being replaced now as well.
In our last report, we showed you the first of the new merchandise stands to arrive in the park’s Center Stage area. Since it was dark we figures it might be a good idea to show you what it looks like in the daylight.
The control and lighting towers for the Star Wars: A Galactic Spectacular show are a bit of an eyesore, so it looks like Disney might be doing something to at least make them a little more tolerable.
A bunch of these strange markings could be found on both of the towers.
It appears that something will be tacked on to the sides of both towers.
Disneyland reporter Conner Purzycki brings us back to the Disneyland Resort for our latest photo update, looking at both parks as well as Downtown Disney. Let’s jump right in!
Construction continues on the Star Wars themed land for Disneyland Park, visible from the Mickey and Friends Parking Structure.
The tram route around the Mickey and Friends Parking Structure is currently being reconfigured.
World of Disney is open while the facade is being refurbished.
The space next door to Jamba Juice is currently vacant, rumored to be home to Sprinkles, which will open in November.
Naples has blocked off an area for needed outdoor seating for guests.
Some work happening at the former House of Blues space, rumored to be an west coast home to The Edison.
Some work also happening on the bridge area.
Still unsure what will happen to the space next door to this Starbucks.
Let’s take a ride aboard the Disneyland Monorail.
The Hollywood Tower Hotel sign is gone, visible from the Monorail.
Even though Season of the Force is over, it should be returning in November, thus why all of the lighting and such was left up in Tomorrowland. Hyperspace Mountain will likely switch off with Ghost Galaxy until Star Wars land opens, so don’t expect to see regular Space Mountain anytime soon.
All of the Star Wars banners were changed over to generic Tomorrowland banners.
Some work is being done to the Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters FastPass area, which is also used for Star Tours FastPass.
A nifty, yet temporary, Tomorrowland sign replaces the one for the Season of the Force.
I’m honestly surprised that it isn’t flat.
Definitely prefer this to the 1998 signage.
Some work being done to the sidewalk on Main Street U.S.A.
Star Wars construction, as seen from Frontierland.
Work continues on the Rivers of America while its many attractions are closed.
The Columbia is getting ready to host the Pirates of the Caribbean in an updated Fantasmic!
A fangless, new-faced Mickey meets guests on Main Street.
The canon is missing…
The old Millionaire soundstage now sits vacant, but has seen better days on its exterior.
After 6 years, the backlot stage is finally coming down.
It might actually be nice to see this area back to normal, as ugly as it is.
As we reported last week, the Hollywood Tower Hotel sign is already gone from the Tower of Terror.
The attraction will close in January to become Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout.
To infinity and beyond!
A lot of guests are angry about this, personally, I still don’t think it actually matters, but to each his own.
It’s time once again for a Disney’s Hollywood Studios expansion update. This is a pretty big one as it includes our final glance at the Streets of America and the removal of all traces of the original Studio Backlot Tour, the headlining attraction from when the park opened back in 1989.
We will have photos of the wreckage later this week in a photo report, but the above video does a pretty good job showing the size and scope of this project.
In our latest photo report, we take a dark and dreary evening trip to Disney’s Hollywood Studios to see the latest progress on the demolition around the back of the park, as well as some other minor changes and newsworthy happenings. Welcome to Hollywood!
For some reason, Walt Disney World is currently rolling out dozens of new mugs and ceramic tumblers at the resort. I know mugs are one of the highest selling items at the parks, but I have never seen so many released at once, including the character sports team variety we had in our last Studios report.
The entrance of thew Backlot Studio Tour and the remains of the tank pre-show are were completely bulldozed over the last week.
The end of PIXAR Place is now just a big open sky and some construction vehicles.
This panorama does a pretty good job showing off the current scene. You may also want to check out this week’s expansion update for video of the area, as well as the removal of New York Street:
I have seen some weird and wacky things at the parks in my time, but this is easily one of the weirdest… the second bank of cash registers at the Studio Store has been turned into a coloring station.
That’s right, this store is down from 3 cash registers to 1, and the larger bank of registered was covered into a coloring station.
While it is a nice gesture, it looks pretty terrible as it is a ragged piece of furniture that has been there for 25 years and is fairly decimated at this point. Beyond that, it has had Disney Junior characters shoddily laminated and plastered all over it.
The worst part? There are easily exposed electrical outlets. While we had to peel this one back to find them, they were very much exposed nearby.
I feel like this is something I might find at a Six Flags, but never any a Disney theme park. Hopefully this will be corrected.
During construction on Saturday, a water main was struck, forcing Disney to close all of the park’s water fountains. On the plus side, any guest who asked about the water fountains was offered a complimentary bottle of water from a nearby location.
Just the Chrysler building facade now stands at the end of the street where New York Street once stood.
The walls were expanded outward to accommodate the latest phase of the demolition.
I’m not sure why this one piece got left behind…
A number of new merchandise carts and stands are on their way to Disney’s Hollywood Studios, the first of which arrived in Center Stage over the weekend.
It carries on the art deco styles of the area, and actually is a big improvement over the silver carts that once stood here.
It’s time once again to check in on the latest progress of the expansion of Disney’s Hollywood Studios! By popular demand (although I still don’t really understand why anyone wants to hear me talk), this edition is the first narrated by Tom Corless, as he explains what exactly you are looking at throughout the update.
This update includes the latest progress on PizzeRizzo and Gonzo’s Royal Flush, the demolition of the Streets of America for Star Wars and Toy Story Land, and more! Enjoy:
Conner Purzycki brings us a fairly news-heavy photo report from the Disneyland Resort on the first day of its transition from the Diamond Celebration into HalloweenTime. Heavy promotion has started for the Tower of Terror final check-in, Star Wars land continues to rise from the dirt, Mickey and Minnie are getting an entirely new look, and the popular AP Days promotion has returned. See, I told you there was a lot going on! Let’s get started, because there is so much to see:
Banners around the resort promote HalloweenTime and the Tower of Terror send off events.
Billboard by the tram station don’t even mention Halloween Time, it’s all Twilight Zone Tower of Terror promotion. Halloween Time is a pretty big deal at the Disneyland Resort, so giving Tower of Terror the headline billing for this season is kind of a big deal.
Construction of the Star Wars themed land continues in the back of Disneyland Park.
While it may appear that this project is ahead in schedule compared to Hollywood Studios, this version of the land features more tunnels and an elaborate mountain range to separate the area from Frontierland and Critter Country.
The Tower of Terror off in the distance, making this an interesting snapshot in Disneyland history.
Some of the Paint the Night floats are visible just beyond the Star Wars site. The parade is set to return for the holiday season at the Disneyland Resort before the finale run of the Main Street Electrical Parade begins.
Promotional signs for AP Days out in force at the Mickey and Friends Parking Structure.
The Diamond Celebration still lingers at the Disneyland Resort, including the Diamond Days promotion, which is still going for some reason.
Halloween Time and the Diamond celebration decorations clash on Main Street.
Some work being done outside of the Disneyland Railroad station.
Some tarps still up on the Market House, but Starbucks remains open through it.
Some other Main Street facades are now also behind tarps.
The hub Jack-O-Lanterns are back.
While the “60” came down overnight, the rest of Sleeping Beauty Castle is still sporting the 60th decorations.
The heavily discussed new look heads for Mickey and Minnie Mouse debuted at the Disneyland Resort yesterday.
These style heads also appear in Mickey’s Royal Friendship Fair at the Magic Kingdom and at the Shanghai Disney Resort.
Work continues on the Rivers of America as it prepares for a Summer 2017 reopening, including a newly enhanced Fantasmic show.
The Columbia is being re-rigged for a new segment in Fantasmic, themed to Pirates of the Caribbean.
The Haunted Mansion is currently closed for its Haunted Mansion Holiday makeover.
A new cemetery has been placed up on the hill in the queue, featuring some fo the more famous tombstones from the attraction lore.
The Halloween Tree honoring Ray Bradbury is back in Frontierland.
Even though it was worked on extensively in 2015, the Peter Pan’s Flight facade is once again behind tarps in Fantasyland. The attraction is open.
Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy will be replacing Hyperspace Mountain until November. Hyperspace Mountain is expected to return and run until the opening of Star Wars land (only bowing our for Ghost Galaxy every year).
The new Starbucks in Downtown Disney is already getting a facade touch up, along with a Sprinkles location moving in next door.
More Tower of Terror and Halloween Time banners going down to the Disneyland Hotel.
Some work being done to the outside of Rushin’ River Outfitters.
AP Days have returned to the resort for the fall season.
A number of annual passholder exclusive items are available at the event.
Specialty food and beverage offerings from around the resort are showcased.
Trader Sam’s has a special Mahalloween mug this year celebrating The Haunted Mansion.
The lines for the AP Days Showcase were pretty long.
The now infamous Backlot Stage still remains, simply as it is more cost effective to leave it standing than remove it at this point.
The Pete’s Dragon preview is gone, so the Sunset Showcase sits dormant.
If you ever wanted to train to be a Jedi like Luke Skywalker, you may want to take a look at the latest Disney patent…
Disney Patent for Interactive Star Wars Lightsaber
“An entertainment environment has a user with a faux light saber that interacts with a drone flying through the air or operated with hidden rods to appear as if its flying through the air. The faux light saber has LEDs attached thereto to provide IR light to the drone. As an LED is turned on, an invisible light sensor built into the drone captures an image of the field of view with a bright spot at the position of the activated LED. A visible light source built into the drone then projects light through particulate matter toward the faux light saber. As a result, the uses is provided with the illusion that the faux light saber has deflected a laser beam. Multiple LEDs can be activated in sequence at various times to give user the impression that the movement by the users of the faux light saber is deflecting multiple laser beams.”
While sometimes these patents mean nothing, rumors have suggested that the Star Wars lands coming to Walt Disney World and Disneyland would be full of role-playing experiences like this. Could you imagine being able to train to be a Jedi just as Luke Skywalker was by Obi-Wan Kenobi in Episode IV, deflecting lasers with your weapon?
Could guests get to be Jedi knights?
Again, this could be nothing, but guests could in fact be wielding an interactive lightsaber at Disney Parks someday.
In our latest photo report, we take a trip to Disney’s Hollywood Studios to see what’s new (and what’s left) of the park, including new additions in the Muppets Courtyard, and the latest progress on the ongoing expansion of the park.
Disney’s Hollywood Studios star
Not sure when this happened, but Launch Bay is now on the star at the park entrance.
Disney’s Hollywood Studios star
Streets of America
In case you have been living under a rock for over a week, the Streets of America demolition is in full swing for Star Wars land.
Streets of America
We have both video of the demolition process and an aerial look at the removal of the Streets of America, just in case you have missed them.
Streets of America
Streets of America
Streets of America
Streets of America
Work walls have expanded as construction continues on PizzeRizzo in the Muppets Courtyard.
Signage featuring Rizzo the Rat has been installed.
Gonzo’s Royal Flush, straight out of The Muppets film is now the name of the nearby restrooms. I can’t wait to see how themed these are on the inside…
Echo Lake Eats has come to an end. I guess Food and Wine needed their booths back…
Sunshine Day Cafe
Sunshine Day Cafe has still yet to open, but at least it is Roger Rabbit related, right?
Sunshine Day Cafe
Some new Frozen pins for sale.
Still no sign of the red car trolley cart on Sunset Boulevard.
Halloween merchandise in full swing at Reel Vogue.
Descendants kids’ costumes for sale.
Too many guests were touching the very expensive statues in Star Wars Launch Bay, so they put them behind a railing…
Several new limited release phone cases and MagicBands are available at Star Wars Launch Bay.
Billboards for the new LEGO Star Wars series and Rogue One out in the… Animation Courtyard? Star Wars Courtyard? I don’t even know anymore.
The prop shop is being emptied out before the bulldozers come in and level the building.
Most of the tank area of the Backlot Studio Tour has bee removed already.
A look over the walls (extending a tripod mind you).
More work happening backstage…
There’s a new bar by the exit of Toy Story Midway Mania’s 3rd track.
