The holidays are here! From Main Street to Buena Vista Street, both parks are covered in Christmas lights and tinsel as favorite seasonal attractions including Jingle Cruise and ¡Viva Navidad! return for their annual run this week. Meanwhile, the highly-anticipated Star Wars Season of the Force officially launches today after a weekend of media previews and mixed soft openings. Is Disney’s big rollout of Star Wars in the theme parks worth the hype? We take an early look from over the weekend and share our thoughts on some of the new offerings in today’s blog.
Don’t miss your weekly Disneyland Resort crowd forecast — provided by our friends at Mouseaddict — in the Weekly News and Information Roundup at the end of today’s update!
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We have a jam-packed update for you this week, so let’s get right to it!
Welcome to the Holidays! |
The holidays are officially in full swing now at Disneyland! Disneyland officially launched its holiday season on Friday and both parks are now fully decked out in their holiday finest. Today we’ll catch you up on a lot of the holiday offerings that weren’t quite ready for our update last week.
We showed you some of Main Street’s holiday decorations last week, but one prominent feature was still missing that’s now in place — The Christmas tree.
The decorations on the Christmas tree got some changes this year for the 60th Anniversary Diamond Celebration, including new diamond swags.
The Disney Parks Blog released a video discussing the new Diamond Celebration Christmas decorations
https://youtu.be/9GzkHjgKYqI
Ornaments got repainted silver and blue, got diamond embellishments, and new clear diamond/crystal ornaments added.
New blue stockings with Minnie and Mickey plush
Newly-repainted blue sled ornaments
Nutcrackers dressed up for the Diamond Celebration
Mickey and friends are meeting in their holiday winter outfits in Town Square since Big Thunder Ranch Jamboree is staying closed this holiday season before it is demolished to make way for Star Wars Land.
Sleeping Beauty Castle doesn’t have its snow overlay this year, instead keeping its 60th Anniversary overlay throughout the holiday season. The Castle did, however, get some small garland accents on its drawbridge banners in addition to the wreath and garland on the Castle we showed you last week.
In Adventureland, the Jingle Cruise is now open for the season. The ride is mostly the same as last year, this time without most of the decorations on the boats and new snowflake decorations near the African veldt scene.
The signage explaining the holiday “story” of the ride are a bit heavy-handed.
Overall, the Jingle Cruise is a bit over the top, and not necessarily always in a good way. It’s fun enough over the holidays, though.
New this year – a lost shipment of snowflake decorations, scattered near the African veldt.
The fruitcake jokes were scaled back a bit this year but still play a prominent role
Over at Disney California Adventure, Buena Vista Street is as wonderful as ever with its holiday decorations.
Snowflake lights are up in Carthay Circle and along the parade route again this year. This is a great extra touch, especially at night.
No wreath on the Carthay Circle Theater this year with the 60th Anniversary decorations up
Garland is up on the building, however
In Hollywood Land, the great vintage-style lamppost decorations aren’t up this year, but all of the other 1940s-era decorations are up.
Just the tinsel garland on the lampposts this year
In the back Hollywood Studios area of Hollywood Land, Olaf’s Snow Fest and the blue-and-silver decorations in the trees are back…
Inside, the stage has been relocated and the indoor merchandise space has been removed and converted into queue for the snow play area, snow slide, and Olaf meet-and-greet. This is a smart move and helps the crowd flow in this venue a lot.
The food menu has been scaled back a lot, mostly just serving hot chocolate, cotton candy and kettle corn.
The house-made marshmallows are back
Cars Land is also totally ready for the holidays…
Paradise Pier is decked out for the holidays as well…
Golden tinsel garland up on lampposts along Paradise Pier
Little Mermaid gets some themed garland
In Paradise Garden, the truly excellent Viva Navidad street party and cultural festival has returned. We’re glad to see this offering return for its third year — truly one of the Resort’s must-see holiday offerings.
The Viva Navidad street party is one of the Resort’s best live entertainment offerings — super high-energy but without feeling forced or cheesy. Just a really great time.
Of course, Paradise Garden Grill is serving up the great Viva Navidad seasonal menu — the best Mexican food on property.
Elotes (corn) is available at the Viva Navidad outdoor vending cart
Nearby, the Pacific Wharf area has some new decorations this holiday season.
Decorations on the Pacific Wharf bridge
A buoy with lights out on the water
A fun little addition this season.
The Pacific Wharf restaurants got themed garland this year…
Pacific Wharf Cafe’s garland has sourdough bred bowls and wheat
A Mexican-inspired garland for Cocina Cucamonga
Lucky Fortune Cookery has garland with take-out boxes and fortune cookies
Ghirardelli’s chocolate treat-themed garland from last year is back
This year, Grizzly Peak debuted some new Christmas decorations. This land has historically been one of the least-decorated areas of the park but that is slowly changing starting with some new decorations this year…
The trees at the new Muir lookout tower got some decorations for the holidays
Lampposts between Grizzly Peak Airfield and Grizzly River Run have new garland that lights up at night.
Really nice new stuff, hopefully it extends throughout the rest of the land in the coming years
For now, the rest of the land only has its regular few pieces of garland up at the gift shop and Redwood Creek Challenge Trail entrance.
In the Grand Californian Hotel, the pastry team was hard at work over the weekend getting the Grand’s gingerbread house completed…
A holiday snack bar is up in the lobby near the gingerbread house serving cookies, cake pops, hot beverages, and more.
In Downtown Disney, Olaf’s Frozen Ice Rink and the holiday village are up and now open for business.
Season of the Forced |
In Tomorrowland, the much-hyped new Star Wars Season of the Force opens today. Disney hosted a two-day media event over the weekend for the new Star Wars and holiday offerings. Some weekend guests were lucky enough to catch soft openings of the new Hyperspace Mountain overlay of Space Mountain and the new “Path of the Jedi” clip show in the Tomorrowland Theater. Also available over the weekend were the new special Star Wars-themed menus at the Galactic Grill (regularly known as the Tomorrowland Terrace) and Redd Rocket’s Pizza Port.
The new Season of the Force signage up at the entrance to Tomorrowland is clunky and not great, but it serves its purpose.
New banners run down the defunct Peoplemover track, separating Tomorrowland into two sides – the light and the dark.
New scenes inspired by “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” debut in Star Tours today, but were never soft opened over the weekend.
LA Times columnist Brady MacDonald reported the following on the new Star Tours
The redesigned ride now features only two scenes instead of three. Finn, a character in the “The Force Awakens,” replaces C-3PO as the guide.
The new Hyperspace Mountain overlay for the classic Space Mountain soft opened for several lengthy periods of the weekend and I was lucky enough to ride it three times.
It’s a fun overlay, even if it isn’t very ambitious. Visually, Hyperspace Mountain puts you in the middle of a TIE fighter battle and primarily relies on projections to do so. The projections, which felt a bit too dim during my rides this weekend, come from the same projector set-up used during the Ghost Galaxy overlay during Halloween Time.
Using the same projectors as Ghost Galaxy means the projections are unfortunately not the highest quality and because of how those projectors are arranged and utilized in Ghost Galaxy, some Star Wars imagery projected feels woefully out-of-scale.
The overlay’s real success comes from its wonderful soundtrack, based on the John Williams Star Wars film scores. The soundtrack really elevates this from a projection-heavy overlay to a a unique (albeit, imperfect) Star Wars experience.
Smaller bonus moments including laser blasters really help to flesh out an otherwise minimal overlay that somehow feels like a lot more than it actually is. Overall, Hyperspace Mountain is a really fun temporary offering that will likely age poorly should it linger.
Edited on Nov. 17 to add: Below, our very shaky (and unfortunately dark) on-ride video of Hyperspace Mountain
In the Tomorrowland Theater, the new Star Wars: Path of the Jedi soft opened for several hours on Saturday but I was unfortunately unable to make it in to see the show. Reports indicate that the show is roughly 10 minutes in length and chronicles Luke Skywalker’s journey, ending with previously-seen scenes from the upcoming film.
The Tomorrowland Terrace has been renamed the Galactic Grill for Season of the Force. The new name also brought a new menu with very loosely-themed Star Wars food. Nearby, Redd Rockett’s Pizza Port also has three Star Wars-themed menu items.
I, along with a few friends, tried a several of the new Star Wars menu items over the weekend. After a pretty broad sampling of the new offerings, I personally cannot recommend any of what I sampled enthusiastically and I would enthusiastically discourage anybody from eating at least three entrees I tried. It’s really too bad two of the worst restaurants in the park are what Season of the Force was stuck with when it came to special food as the result of the special offerings ranges from bad to inedible.
The burgers and sandwiches come in Star Wars-branded foil wrappers
Below, the First Order Specialty Burger (Angus beef and chorizo patty, fried cherry peppers, and spicy lime aioli on a dark bun). This isn’t a great (or even good) burger but it is palatable enough to eat. That doesn’t mean you should eat it, however, and I wouldn’t recommend it to anybody. It’s themed in name only as the ingredients in no way have any relevance to Star Wars. It isn’t a good burger and isn’t truly themed, so why bother? If you’re hungry, there are better options elsewhere in the park.
The Pastry Menace and Darth by Chocolate desserts (yes, those are their real names) aren’t bad but there are so many better dessert options elsewhere in the park that these just aren’t good choices. The spiced chocolate filling for the Pastry Menace tasted like standard chocolate creme and the Darth By Chocolate was more or less a glorified pudding cup.
The Light Side drink is expensive ($7.59) but comes with a neat light-up Millennium Falcon. I didn’t try the drink but was told it tasted good.
While the Galactic Grill offerings were not great, Pizza Port’s offerings were far worse.
The Forest of Endor pasta was bland and weird all at once — with kale, pine nuts, beans and more mixed in with bland pasta. It’s certainly not worth the price and isn’t really enjoyable in any way to eat.
The worst Star Wars menu item I tried over the weekend was, by far, the Dark Side Chicken Curry pizza. I’m a big fan of curry and spicy food in general, but nothing about this pizza worked.
It is visually unappetizing in every way, which would be fine if it tasted good, but it doesn’t. At all. To be totally blunt – this pizza is disgusting. I invited my friend David to try the Pizza Port offerings with me on Sunday and we shared both the pizza and the pasta. We agreed we could finish the pasta if we really wanted to (we didn’t) but between two adults, we couldn’t force ourselves to finish the pizza slice. It was that bad. Do not order this.
Pizza Port also offers a “themed” salad — and by themed, it just has slices of starfruit because, well, Star Wars. We didn’t try this salad but it didn’t look very promising.
Of course, there are plenty of specialty cups, popcorn buckets, and other novelty items available.
Meanwhile, the new Star Wars Launch Bay never soft-opened for guests but the media was treated to a sneak preview of the facility Friday night.
Disney publicity images showing the exhibit spaces show a sparsely-themed venue, with crate-themed display cases set against walls painted a plain white. While museums stage exhibitions at levels that would usually be considered Disney-quality (see the EMP Museum‘s “Infinite Worlds of Science Fiction” exhibition), Disney’s own exhibit for the roll-out of their biggest franchise property is filled with plain white walls and carpet with text.
To be fair, I haven’t been inside the Launch Bay yet, so perhaps its better than what Disney’s own publicity images suggest. I doubt Disney would release images that show off the worst parts of this attraction purpose, but you never know. I’ll share more complete thoughts on Star Wars Launch Bay and the full Star Wars Season of the Force experience in next week’s update.
Also opening today: the newly enhanced Super Hero HQ on the upper level of the Tomorrowland Expo Center.
This & That |
If you’re a fan of Disney and Starbucks, the in-park Starbucks locations have a selection of new holiday ornaments based on the Disney-specific Starbucks cups and mugs you can get in the parks. They’re pricy ornaments ($12.95 each) but fun little items for fans that fall in the overlap of the Disney and Starbucks fans venn diagram.
Mini ornament versions of the Disneyland and Disney California Adventure “You Are Here” mugs
These are only available at their respective in-park locations — you have to go to the Market House on Main Street for the Disneyland ornament and to Fiddler, Fifer & Practical Cafe on Buena Vista Street for the California Adventure ornament.
Also available are ornaments of the standard Disney Parks hot and cold cups served in the parks
And exclusive to Disneyland and DCA, mini ornament versions of the 60th Anniversary mugs and cold cups
Enjoy retro fun just steps away from Disneyland at Howard Johnson Hotel & Water Playground A short walk from the park, HoJo Anaheim is conveniently located next to Matterhorn Mountain at Disneyland with nearby dining, freeway access, FREE parking and FREE Wi-Fi. For more information on HoJo Anaheim, room rates, or to book your stay today, visit HoJoAnaheim.com/MiceChat Save with MiceChat & Passholder Discounts Every Day! The HoJo Anaheim is now offering daily discounts for MiceChat members and even DEEPER discounts for Disneyland Resort Annual Passholders! For more information visit the HoJo Anaheim Innsider Boards which features an up-to-date listing of available nights, or call (714) 776-6120 and ask for In-House Reservations to book. If your date isn’t listed, the HoJo Anaheim still offers rooms for 20% off their best available rate if you call (714) 776-6120. |
Weekly News & Information Round-Up | ||
Weekly Theme Park Hours November 9-15, 2015 |
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[B]Disneyland Park[/B] | [B]California Adventure[/B] | |
Mon.-Wed.: 9 am – 10 pm Thursday: 8 am – 8 pm Fri.-Sun.: 8 am – 12 am |
Mon.-Wed.: 9 am – 8 pm Thursday: 8 am – 8 pm Fri.-Sun.: 8 am – 11 pm |
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[CENTER]For a complete listing of theme park hours, visit the Disneyland.com Theme Park Calendar[/CENTER] |
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[center]Closure and Refurbishment Schedule[/center] | ||
[b][center]Disneyland Park[/center][/b] | ||
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[b][center]Disney California Adventure[/center][/b] | ||
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[b][center]Downtown Disney and Disneyland Resort Hotels[/center][/b] | ||
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November 16-22
The free Mouseaddict app for iPhone and iPad features more than five dozen categories of searchable resort information, weather forecasts, park and show schedules, the latest news and articles from MiceChat, and more. Download free on the App Store or at mouseaddict.com. |
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[center]Headline Roundup A quick look at noteworthy Disney theme park headlines from around the web.[/center] |
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Alright, that wraps up this week’s update! Are you excited for this year’s holiday festivities? And what do you think of Season of the Force so far? Let us know in the comments section below!
Special thanks to our Dateline Disneylanders!
Benjamin, Mark D., Bruno, and Casey! To help support Dateline Disneyland and get some fun swag in return, visit our Patreon page now! For more Disneyland news, be sure to read MiceChat’s weekly In the Parks blog. And be sure to check out our sister blog, Dateline Disney World – a fantastic weekly photo blog covering Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida! Thanks for reading. See you at Disneyland! |
FTC-Mandated Disclosure: Promotional consideration for this edition of Dateline Disneyland was provided by the Howard Johnson Plaza Hotel & Water Playground. |