Time to Peel the Orange!

WDWNT Author on July 14, 2009

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.

New DCA Refurb Project Dates

WDWNT Author on May 6, 2009

The DCA Project Tracker has some new information on upcoming refurbishments at Disney’s California Adventure:

  • Construction walls will go up around Golden Dreams on May 26th, as work finally begins on The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Adventure. On June 1st, those walls will spread down to Souvenir 66, Corn Dog Castle, and Dinosaur Jack’s Sunglass Shack, the last of which closes on May 26th and will become an extended queue for Goofy’s Sky School.
  • After the Orange Stinger closes for its refurbishment on July 27th, the next re-do will be for Mulholland Madness, which is scheduled to close in January 2010. Also scheduled for January 2010 is work finally beginning on Buena Vista Street.

These dates are far from official and are always scheduled to change, so stay tuned to Disneyland News Today and our Refurbishments page for the latest.

Disneyland Resort News & Rumor Report

WDWNT Author on January 8, 2009

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

WDWNT Author on December 20, 2008

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!

Walls, Walls, and More Walls…

WDWNT Author on October 25, 2008

We received some very interesting new refurbishment dates, & I want to take the time here to go through some of them. First up, the walls around the Plaza Pavilion are scheduled to come down on November 7th, so we’ll finally see something nice in that corner of Main Street. It’s a Small World will now re-open on November 29th, as opposed to the previously scheduled November 21st, as they probably still have quite a bit of work left to do on the attraction. Finally for Disneyland Park, Fantasy Faire Gifts over at the Princess Fantasy Faire will be closed from October 27th, through November 21st. Being closed for a month, they must be doing something pretty extensive, seeing as it’s just a small outdoor shop.

Over at DCA, the Midway Games close on Monday for their conversion over to the new Games of the Boardwalk. Both the Games & Mickey’s Fun Wheel will re-open on April 24th, 2009. The really interesting thing, is that Burger Invasion is now scheduled to be closed all the way through May 7th, 2010! That pretty much confirms that they’re doing much more than just ripping out the kitchen, & are probably re-theming it to the Beer Garden during this time. The Vineyard Room is listed as closed through October 3rd, 2009, so there’s a pretty good chance it could re-open around that time. Finally, the Orange Stinger will be closed just for November 4th, most likely so that Imagineers can look at what they’re going to do with it when time comes for the Silly Symphony Swings.

As always, keep an eye out on our Attractions Refurbishments page, as we’ll update it with any new information we get, when we get it!

Sting or Swing? Drive or Fly?

WDWNT Author on July 5, 2008

Screamscape has some details on the re-do’s of both Mullholand Madness & Orange Stinger:

2009/2010 – Silly Symphony Swings – In Development – (7/4/08) We’ve got a little more information to share today about the new Silly Symphony Swings restoration plans. According to our sources the remodeled attraction will have a Band Conductor Mickey on top of the tower who will move around to the music. The top will be remodeled to be more like a carousel to allow for the placement of scenes from the Silly Symphonies on the inside of each section.

2009/2010 – Goofy’s Flite School – In Development – (7/4/08) We’ve heard that plans for Goofy’s Flite School are moving forward, and yes that is the correct spelling. From the sound of things it may take on a similar look to Goofy’s Barnstormer in Florida as it will now look like an old giant barn has been converted by Goofy into a make-shift airplane hanger… while apparently leaving all the old chicken coops intact.

Orange Stinger To Get New Disney Theme

WDWNT Author on June 16, 2008

The Orange Stinger swing ride will get a new Disney theme and back story as part of the planned $1.1-billion Disney’s California Adventure makeover, Walt Disney Imagineering officials confirmed.

Gone will be the 40-foot-tall orange peel that surrounds the 48-seat spinning swing set and the Disney-free buzzing bumble bee theme, Imagineering officials said.

In its place: a Victorian architectural style more akin to the remade Paradise Pier section of the Anaheim theme park represented by the new Toy Story Mania attraction.

Imagineering officials declined to elaborate on the new “Disney theme.”

The Blue Sky Disney fan site reported the Orange Stinger will be redubbed…… “The Silly Symphonies Swings,” with a theme based on “The Band Concert” 1935 cartoon short featuring the first colorized Mickey Mouse.

The made-over 1 1/2-minute ride would feature a twirling tornado mast with smoke-spewing special effects, an orchestral score and a “Conductor Mickey” on top, according to Blue Sky.

— Brady MacDonald, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

DCA Expansion Update

WDWNT Author on February 27, 2008

The plans for the DCA renovations always keep changing, & here are a few of the latest changes:

  • The Orange Stinger, instead of being moved north, is now planned to be removed.
  • Instead of changing MuppetVision 3D to Mickey’s PhilharMagic or to a “flexible digital theater facility”, it will be kept.
  • In Phase II, the MuppetVision 3D & Who Wants to Be a Millionaire buildings may be made into another big E-Ticket.
  • The DCA Preview Center is now planned to replace Seasons of the Vine.

Information from the MiceAge column “Monorail Blew”.