Disneyland‘s busy holiday season faded away last week as both parks entered the off-season with various refurbishment projects. In Disneyland, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad is now closed for an extensive 10-month overhaul that will bring new ride vehicles, track replacement and new paint to the roller coaster. Nearby, Disney’s Limited Time Magic promotion continues with A Salute to the Golden Horseshoe Revue, bringing can can dancers back to the classic Disneyland venue for the first time in over 25 years. Meanwhile, construction continues on new attractions at Disneyland including the upcoming Fantasy Faire princess meet-and-greet area and the new stage show at the Fantasyland Theater. In Disney California Adventure, crowds continue to flock to Cars Land as the park enjoys a brief lull in crowds after its successful first holiday season since its grand reopening.
Get a closer look at today’s update! Click on any photo in today’s column for a large, high-resolution version of the image.
| Welcome to Disneyland! |
Last week Disneyland increased its efforts to crack down on ticket renters by having Guests using multi-day tickets have their photo taken before entering the park. The process has resulted in Cast Members stationed outside of every open theme park main gate turnstiles, each with an iPod Touch.
Cast Members ask Guests what kind of ticket they’re using. If the Guest is using a multi-day ticket, the Cast Member confirms if the Guest has a photo on file by scanning the ticket using the iPod Touch camera.
If the Guest does not have a photo on file, a photo is taken with the iPod Touch and it is instantly added to the system and appears on the turnstile screen when the Guest enters the park.
Below, our friends from Touring Plans have their weekly crowd forecast.
This week should be quiet as the resort heads in to a busy marathon weekend. TouringPlans.com can help you navigate the parks with our per-park Crowd Calendar, Lines – Mobile Wait Times App that gives access to current and estimated wait times for attractions, and Touring Plans detailing the best plan of attack for hitting the attractions. Now more than ever, it’s a good time to subscribe to TouringPlans.com to plan your strategy to avoid the crowds!
Below are the predicted resort-wide crowd numbers for select days generated by the TouringPlans professional statisticians as measured for the upcoming week. For the access to the full year and per-park crowd level predictions, visit our Crowd Calendar.
— Fred Hazelton, Statistician, TouringPlans.com
[center] [/center] |
[center]Overall Crowd Prediction[/center] |
[center]TouringPlans.com Crowd Tips[/center] |
| Tues., Jan. 15 | [center]2 /10[/center] | Here are some quick-hit notes that we hope you’ll find helpful as you prepare your visits for the week:
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| Wed., Jan. 16 | 2 /10 | |
| Thu., Jan. 17 | 1 /10 | |
| Fri., Jan. 18 | 8 /10 | |
| Crowd levels are based on a scale from 1 to 10, with 1 being the least crowded conditions and 10 being most crowded.See Disneyland crowds for the next 365 days. Get Disneyland wait times on your iPhone, Android, or Smartphone.Do more. Wait less.  Dateline Disneyland is sponsored by TouringPlans.com. |
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The new multi-day ticket process doesn’t negatively impact Guests unless lines to get into the park are already long. If lines are long, snapping a few photos of Guests with multi-day tickets can slow down the line just a bit.
Construction Kingdom |
With holiday crowds behind us, the Disneyland Resort is using the off-season for various refurbishment projects as construction on new offerings continues.
Main Street Station is now closed for refurbishment. Guests can still board the Disneyland Railroad at New Orleans Square, Mickey’s Toon Town and Tomorrowland stations.
Christmas has now disappeared from Main Street
Snow remains on Sleeping Beauty Castle for now
Icicles are now gone from the Castle.
Next to Sleeping Beauty Castle, construction on the upcoming Fantasy Faire princess meet-and-greet area continues to make progress.
More trees are starting to show up in the area…
Roof tiles are going up on facades
The new Castle wall extension has been painted
Back in Fantasyland, the Fantasyland Theatre continues work on the upcoming “Mickey and the Magical Map” show, set to open this summer.
Frontierland is seeing quite a bit of refurbishment this winter.
The Pioneer Mercantile is behind tarps during refurbishment. The shop remains open, however.
Not too far away, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad is now closed for its extensive 10-month refurbishment project which will bring new ride vehicles, track replacement, show upgrades and mountain repainting.
Big Thunder Trail is currently closed to accommodate a crane in the area.
Over on the Rivers of America, Fantasmic! is dark during refurbishment and the Mark Twain Riverboat is also in the dry dock while it gets some work done.
The Mark Twain is in Fowler’s Harbor during its refurbishment.
The Sailing Ship Columbia is still available for trips around the Rivers of America (and I highly recommend it).
In New Orleans Square, the Haunted Mansion is closed while the holiday overlay is removed. The attraction is set to reopen in its traditional state by Friday.
| Limited Time Magic: A Salute to the Golden Horseshoe Revue & New Orleans Bayou Bash! |
As part of Disney’s “Limited Time Magic” promotion, a tribute show honoring the classic Golden Horseshoe Revue hit the Frontierland stage last week bringing back a Revue show to the stage for the first time since 1986.
Running Thursday through Mondays until February 4, the show is a quick hit and is drawing big crowds.
Cast Members distribute vouchers for the showtimes at a podium in front of the Golden Horseshoe Saloon. Due to its popularity, it’s a smart idea to arrive early in order to secure tickets for your desired showtime.
The back of the ticket features the special menu for the show.
The show, “A Salute to the Golden Horseshoe Revue,” is only about 20 minutes long, but packs in a lot of fun in the short running time. It pays tribute to the original show through classic songs and dance routines, including can can dancers.
From start to finish, the show never forgets that it’s a tribute show — the hostess, Miss. Lilly, makes note of the show being gone for some time and takes a moment mid-show to talk about how the Revue was Walt Disney’s favorite Disneyland attraction and point out that Walt hand-picked the bull horns hanging around the balcony of the theater.
The tribute aspect of the show is nice, even if a bit forced. The show also features a “Five and Dime”-style (from California Adventure) crowd interaction bit where Miss. Lilly sings to a gentleman in the audience. It draws laughs from the audience, but is perhaps a bit unnecessary.
The show shines in the songs and the dance numbers and that may be partly due because former Golden Horsehoe Revue can can dancer Demetra “DeeDee” Bozikis is acting as Assistant Stage Manager for the new show
And it’s great to have can-can dancers back in the Saloon — they’re a lot of fun.
It would be great if Disney brought back a permanent “Golden Horseshoe Revue”-style show to the venue on a long-term basis.
Below, a bit of video from the show:
If you’d like to see the show, you have three weekends left to do so before it comes to an end, and Annual Passholders can enjoy a $35-per-ticket Golden Horseshoe Revue dinner show. Details below:
Annual Passholder Dinner Show Dates:
Thursdays through Mondays, January 10 through February 4, 2013Time:
6:30 p.m.Price:
$35 per Passholder, per showReservations:
Call (714) 781-PASS (7277) and select option 0Menu:
Starter: Corn chips in a souvenir Golden Horseshoe boot mug
Entrees: Black forest ham and roast beef sandwiches
Sides: Golden raisin and carrot salad, Yukon golden potato salad, Very Berry fruit salad
Children’s Menu: 2 PB&J sandwiches with sides
Vegetarian Option: Vegetable and cheese sandwiches with sides
Beverages: Mint Julep, water, coffee
Dessert: Walt & Lilly’s 30th Anniversary Celebration Cake
If you want to attend a performance but aren’t an Annual Passholder or interested in the dinner package, you should visit the podium at the entrance to the Golden Horseshoe where a Cast Member will issue a ticket for your requested show time, based on availability.
In addition to its traditional chili in a bread bowl and chili cheese fries, the Golden Horseshoe is serving up a selection of special menu items while the tribute show is playing. The Stage Door Cafe is also serving up the special menu items, including Monte Criso nuggets (pictured below) and bone-in buffalo wings.
Next up for Limited Time Magic is New Orleans Bayou Bash!, a Mardi Gras-style celebration in New Orleans Square featuring Tiana and friends from “The Princess and the Frog.” For now, New Orleans Square is still decked out for the holidays, but by Friday, the land’s various holiday decorations will either be left in place or swapped out for the Mardi Gras celebration.
The only corner of New Orleans Square that isn’t covered in Christmas is now the Court des Anges
New Orleans Bayou Bash! will run January 18-21, January 25-27, February 1-3 and February 8-12.
| Kodak moves out |
Kodak has now begun the process of moving out from Disneyland after ending one of Disney’s longest sponsorship deals. Park maps are no longer “Compliments of Eastman Kodak Company” and the Kodak ad on the back panel of the maps now advertises Disney’s own PhotoPass service.
For now, signage in the parks is still in place, including the Kodak logos at the Main Street Photo Supply and the Kodak Picture Spot signs.
The Kodak kiosk in the old Fantasyland ticket booth near “it’s a small world” has been vacated.
The kiosk is now empty until Disney starts selling their own merchandise from the location.
Signage is still in place for now
| Welcome to California Adventure |
Over at Disney California Adventure, the busy holiday season has disappeared from the park.
No more Christmas tree
The traditional Buena Vista Street window displays are back, but they’re still cluttered with merchandise.
The gorgeous custom-designed books in the Los Feliz Five and Dime window are still being used as merchandise stands.
Instead of Red Car Trolley merchandise, the windows are now cluttered with 2013 items.
The baseball window at Five and Dime is thankfully no longer filled with Cars Land souvenirs, instead a few Red Car Trolley items are on display.
A look at a few other Buena Vista Street windows:
The holidays have left Cars Land, as well.
The temporary poles down Route 66 that were installed to hold holiday garland are still in place for now
You’ll still find big crowds and long lines in Cars Land, even with holiday crowds gone.
Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree will soon get its flooring repaired
Nearby, the Walt Disney Imagineering Blue Sky Cellar is closed to install a new exhibit previewing the upcoming Fantasy Faire and Fantasyland Theater show coming to Disneyland.
The Cellar will reopen January 19
In Hollywood Land, Muppet*Vision 3D is back after the holiday run of Prep and Landing 4D.
In Grizzly Peak, Grizzly River Run is closed for refurbishment.
Grizzly trail is closed during the refurbishment.
| This & That |
California Adventure’s merchandise team may not care about the Buena Vista Street windows, but from what I’ve seen, the fans certainly do. What you may not know is that all of the books in the Los Feliz Five and Dime book window were custom-designed for Buena Vista Street by Disney artists and animators. Below is the “Wind and the Willows” cover by Jody Daily, who many of you might know as one half of the Kevin Kidney and Jody Daily Disneyland collectables design team as well as “Pixar Play Parade” and “Mickey’s Soundsational” designers:
The Davy Crockett cover (as well as Casey Jones and Jungle Book) by Jeremy Spears, “Prep and Landing” (story artist) and “The Princess and the Frog” (concept boards).
The Sleeping Beauty cover by Lorelay Bove, “Winnie the Pooh” and “The Princess and the Frog” (visual development artist)
Brittany Lee from Walt Disney Animation Studios did the following cover for The Little Mermaid:
The Robin Hood and Paul Bunyan covers were done by Bill Perkins (“Winnie the Pooh” and “Bolt” visual development artist).
Below, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, by Disney animation layout artist Brian Kesinger.
Shame these books keep being used as merchandise displays, or pushed into corners on the floor of the window display. They’re beautiful works of art and the merchandise already gets enough display space inside the shops, on the shelves and display spaces that was designed for merchandise (imagine that!).
In both parks, new popcorn boxes have debuted as well as souvenir buckets
And finally, the Disneyland Monorails no longer feature their Cars Land overlays. The eyes and mouths have been removed as well as the audio spiels inside the cabins.
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| Weekly News & Information Round-Up | ||
| Weekly Theme Park Hours January 14 — 20, 2013 |
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| [B]Disneyland Park[/B] | [B]Disney California Adventure[/B] | |
| Monday-Thursday: 10 am – 8 pm Friday: 9 am – 10 pm Saturday: 9 am – 11 pm Sunday: 9 am – 10 pm |
Monday-Thursday: 10 am – 8 pm Friday-Sunday: 9 am – 10 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]Expected Crowd Levels[/center] [center]presented by TouringPlans.com[/center] | ||
| [CENTER][B]Disneyland Park[/B][/CENTER] | [CENTER][B]Disney California Adventure[/B][/CENTER] | |
| [CENTER][B]LOW—HIGH[/B] [B]1.2—9.9[/B] out of 10[/CENTER] |
[CENTER][B]LOW—HIGH[/B] [B]2.8—8.1[/B] out of 10[/CENTER] |
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| [CENTER]Crowd levels are based on a scale from 1 to 10, with 1 being the least crowded conditions and 10 being most crowded. [B]For crowd predictions for the next 365 days, visit [/B] |
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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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| [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 edition of Dateline Disneyland. Thank you for reading! Did you get a chance to see the Golden Horseshoe Revue tribute show? Let us know what you thought in the comments section below.
Did you miss our 2012 Year in Review over the holiday break? Check it out (in two parts!) below: Don’t forget to discuss this week’s column in the comments section below! Your comment could win you a prize in the final week of our 5th Anniversary Giveaway Celebration! We’re only here because of your continued support. If you’ve enjoy Dateline Disneyland over the last five years, please consider helping us out by donating a buck or two so we can pay the bills and keep the updates coming! You can donate with a click of a button via PayPal — click here! 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! |
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| FTC-Mandated Disclosure: Promotional consideration for this edition of Dateline Disneyland was provided by TouringPlans.com | Do More. Wait Less. and the Howard Johnson Plaza Hotel & Water Playground. |