Fill Up The World!
The re-filling of the It’s a Small World flume started yesterday, & by now should hopefully be completely filled. You should be able to make out water in the flume in this picture of MintCrocodile’s:
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!
Refurbishment Updates
We have a couple more updates to the attractions refurbishments list. First up, it looks like the Harbor Galley, Conostoga Wagon, & Burger Invasion refurbishments wont last as long as we originally thought. The refurbishments will start on September 2nd & end on September 26th. It looks like they’ll all just get new menus, & have all McDonalds references removed. So it seems we’ll have to wait a little while longer for a Burger Invasion re-theme.
Also, last week it had looked like Disney moved back the refurbishment of the Hyperion Theater to start on September 29th, but that is no longer true, & will start as originally planned on September 2nd.
Finally a little update on It’s a Small World… The new flume apparently has apparently been installed, & the attraction will be going through a 10 week test & adjust phase, & if all goes according to plan, it will re-open on November 29th.
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!
See Within Your Mind… Lots of Refurbs!
As August has arrived, that means November is now available on Disneyland.com’s Calender, so it’s once again time for some changes to the attractions refurbishments list.
First up, the It’s a Small World refurbishment has long been rumored to end on November 28th, & we finally have official confirmation from Disneyland.com’s Calender that It’s a Small World will indeed re-open on November 29th.
Fantasmic! will have a 2 month long refurbishment beginning on September 2nd, & ending November 6th, due to the yearly maintenance for the Sailing Ship Columbia (which will be closed from September 2nd to October 25th), as well as more upgrades to the show itself.
The planned refurbishment for Gadget’s Go-Coaster that was to of started on October 20th seems to of been completely removed from the list.
Finally, the Pirates of the Caribbean refurbishment that starts on October 13th will last all the way through November 14th, re-opened just in time for Christmas.
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!
I’m Lovin’ It!
A whole load of new refurbishments during September & October have been announced. There’s so many, that I’m just gonna bullet them bellow:
- French Market – 9/2/08-9/19/08
- Sailing Ship Columbia – 9/2/08-10/25/08
- Conostoga Wagon – 9/2/08-????
- Fantasmic – 9/2/08-????
- Harbour Galley – 9/2/08-????
- Big Thunder Ranch – 9/15/08-9/27/08
- Pirates of the Caribbean – 10/13/08-????
- Jungle Cruise – 10/20/08-10/22/08
- Gadget’s Go-Coaster – 10/20/08-????
- Burger Invasion – 9/2/08-????
It’s interesting to note that all 3 McDonalds locations in the Resort (Conostoga Wagon, Harbour Galley, & Burger Invasion) will be closed starting September 2nd, for an undetermined amount of time. Could this be the end for McDonalds at the Disneyland Resort?
Also, the Hyperion Theater refurbishment has been pushed back to start on September 29th, instead of September 2nd. We still have no information on when it will end, but it should be in time for the Christmas season.
Finally, I just want to remind everyone of the already announced refurbs:
- Plaza Pavilion – 1/11/08-10/10/08
- It’s a Small World – 1/22/08-11/28/08
- Mark Twain Riverboat – 8/25/08-8/27/08
- The Haunted Mansion – 9/8/08-9/25/08
- Flik’s Flyers – 9/2/08-9/12/08
- Sun Wheel – 9/11/08-????
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!
More From Screamscape
Here’s a little bit more from Screamscape, this time on some Disneyland Park rumors:
2008 – It’s A Small World Rehab – Rumor – (7/3/08) According to Screamscape sources Disneyland is moving ahead with a scaled back plan to renovate Small World by adding in a few Disney character figures into the mix in appropriate scenes. If it’s anything like the new Hong Kong version, I’m sure the changes will be welcomed by the time opens and nothing to worry about.
Late 2009 or Early 2010 – Star Tours 2 – Semi-Confirmed – (7/3/08) The latest buzz on Star Tours 2 is that the project is now looking at a Fall 2009 opening date due to some project delays, but it’s still very possible for it to slip back to early 2010.
Darkbeer DLR Picture Update
Let’s take a look at the preparations for today’s opening ceremonies, with pictures taken yesterday from David “Darkbeer” Michael:
Signs were up through-out Tomorrowland directing guests to the attractions while the Innoventions Dream Home opening ceremony was taking place
A couple of attractions were closed as well
I presume the train was still operating, but just went straight pass the Tomorrowland Train Station
Moving over to Toy Story Midway Mania’s opening ceremony preparations
I think this is where the ceremony stage went up
A second stage was also up right by the attraction
Filming by Mr. Potato Head
And now a couple of non-ceremony related pictures:
The temporary stage in Pacific Wharf is gone
The It’s a Small World sign is now behind tarps too
DLR/TSMM Update
MasterGracey on MiceChat has put up a lovely photo update, which mainly covers Toy Story Midway Mania, but also has a few other things in it. Also, Mouseketeer on MiceChat posted a TSMM update, with a few more pictures. So let’s start with the non-TSMM related pictures:
While the Guided Tour Garden is closed for refurbishment, tour groups will meet at the Guided Tours building
A signing for the new Mark VII Monorail poster was held this past Sunday at the Disneyana Shop
The It’s a Small World Top Shoppe is now also behind tarps
The fire truck has returned to Toontown, looking as bright & shinny as ever!
Now let’s move onto the Toy Story Midway Mania pictures:
A look inside the queue building
The loading area
The start of the ride
The end of the ride
The exit stairs
Finally, Mouseketeer has a few pictures inside the ride itself:
The layout of the ride as seen from a Cast Member computer… You can find a bigger version of this picture here!
Many more pictures are available at the 2 links in the beginning of this post!
Monday in the Parks Update
Quite a few interesting pieces of news were posted in this week’s Monday in the Parks column on MiceAge, & I want to take the time to go through some of them here:
- For the whole summer, Disneyland will be open from 8AM to Midnight, but due to Grad Nites, Disneyland will close at 9PM this Wednesday & Thursday, & then next Thursday as well. DCA will close at 7PM those nights for the Grad Nite Blast Off event.
- The Magic Morning opportunity, that gets hotel guests into Disneyland one hour early, will be conducted on Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, & Saturday this week.
- Over at Pacific Wharf, the Hi Seoul Korea performance troupe will be performing a variety of different shows through Sunday, June 15th. Be sure to check the Times Guide for show times.
- This Sunday, DCA will hold its first ever triathlons, with swimmers actually swimming in the Paradise Pier lagoon! Contestants will enter & exit the lagoon by using the boat ramp near the launch of California Screamin’.
- The smoking location for the Tomorrowland side of Disneyland will be moved from the entrance to the Tomorrowland Railroad station, to the former Motor Boat Cruise loading station, which is now known as Fantasia Gardens.
Current Smoking Area
New Smoking Area
The clock tower itself from the Small World facade is out from tarps… Bit early if you ask me!
Dateline Disneyland Picture Update
Let’s take a look at some various things going on through-out the Disneyland Resort from this week’s Dateline Disneyland on MiceAge:
Banners for Toy Story Mania in Downtown Disney
Another Toy Story Mania ad, this one in the Esplanade
Cast Members at the parking toll booths are passing out flyers for the Indiana Jones Summer of Hidden Mysteries
The It’s a Small World train has been stripped down to the bear
The pond underneath Gadget’s Go Coaster has gone dry while the connecting water for Donald’s Boat is drained during the Boat’s refurbishment
The fire truck in front of the Toontown Fire Depot is missing
The article (linked above) has a detailed look at the Create Your Own Ear Hat station in the Gag Factory in Mickey’s Toontown
A look at the new Hot Dog Hut’s menu