Main Street USA is already littered with pumpkins as Halloween is very much the new season at the Disneyland Resort. We also share our reader suggestions for the rather bland display inside Disney Showcase and ask you to vote for the winner.  It seems that the Imagineers have heard your comments loud and clear and have altered the voice of Mara yet again inside Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye. But will this change make the fans happy, take a look and listen to our videos and let us know what you think.  We’ll also take a look at Big Thunder Mountain, Haunted Mansion Holiday, and the Blue Sky Cellar at Disney California Adventure.  There’s a lot going on it today’s Disneyland Resort update.

Holiday Displays

More pumpkins have found their way to Main Street. Most of this year’s Halloween displays are tasteful so far.

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This one is nice enough, but looks incomplete (and was left like this last year as well)

DISNEY SHOWCASE PHOTOSHOP CONTEST

We asked our readers what they thought should go into the blank space in this display.  We got some amazing entries and have selected our 8 favorites based on creativity and execution. But YOU will pick the winner.

daveyjones
#1 Hitchhiking
frankensteinPressler
#2 FrankenPressler
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#3 Runaway Brain
mickey-halloween
#4 Falling Stars
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# 5 Easy fix
micechat
Out of competition entry – Safety Starbucks

It is now up to you to decide which window dressing would look best inside Disney Showcase. Copy the caption below the your favorite entry and let us know your selection in the comments below. (We’ll identify the artists behind these photos, along with the winner, next week).  The winning entry will get a wonderful bag-o-crap randomly selected from the MiceChat prize box. You could end up with something shiny and new or a complete set of expired Fastpasses. What you get only Mara knows.

STARBUCKS

The Starbucks logo and window filigree became visible this week to visitors of the park.  Everything looks expertly designed and crafted, very much in line with the Main Street aesthetic so far.
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A saying scrawled in the window references the year that Starbucks went into business, 1971.

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When we were at the park, the windows are covered up tight, not allowing a single person to peek in and see the progress being made inside the new store.  Thankfully, a curious reader was on the scene when a little bit of this paper became detached from the window, allowing a clear look inside.

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Our deepest thanks to Allen Wolf for the Starbucks photos above. If you have photos or tips you’d like to share with the MiceChat readers, please send them to [email protected] and perhaps we’ll be able to use them in one of our weekly columns.

INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF THE CHANGING VOICES

Wednesday, imagineering made one more change to the voice of Mara in Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye.  It seems that they heard the loud reaction by fans of the attraction and have adjusted the show accordingly. It’s no James Earl Jones, but it’s certainly better than it was. Let us know what you think.

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These fixes and improvements to this brilliant attraction are appreciated by visitors and fans alike.  But we would really like to see them fix some of the things in the attraction that desperately need attention.  The rat room scene has never really worked.  Would it be too difficult to liven up that lull by bringing the Tokyo smoke-ring effect here?  Or something new altogether?  How about a foolproof way to synch the onboard audio commentary by Sala with the path your vehicle takes at the beginning of the ride?  Speaking of the doors, would there be any way to fix the effect so it always works (it seems that it is broken more often than working)? And what about the oft malfunctioning boulder. It’s a tricky thing to pull off with the amount of vehicles that have to roll through there, but wouldn’t it be an awesome thing to have that working consistently? Or what about the underwhelming dart room? They got the Mara room up to par, now how about renovating a little bit more of this broken down temple?

BIG THUNDER

The trail along Big Thunder Mountain Railroad is nearly finished with its resurfacing and should be open any day now.  In the meantime, work continues on getting this classic 1979 attraction up to today’s workplace safety standards.

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COURT OF ANGELS

Get your last visits to the Court of Angels in now.  It will soon be going down to be transformed into the new entrance to Club 33.  Yet another quiet spot in Disneyland will soon be gone.  It’s an understandable move on the part of Disney, but still a bummer.

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HAUNTED MANSION HOLIDAY

The mansion is now closed, and will be for the next few weeks as Jack Skellington moves in for the next 4 months.  Haunted Mansion Holiday will open as Halloweentime begins at the Disneyland Resort on September 13th.  We expect to see some very special things this year as it is the 13th anniversary for the overlay.

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DCA

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As Halloween approaches, more and more seasonal merchandise gets rolled out into the stores on Buena Vista Street.


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Don’t worry, Christmas still has a strong foothold as the major holiday.  See?  Ornaments.

 

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Blue Sky Cellar

The Blue Sky Cellar received very minor updates recently to feature, of all things, the Starbucks on Main Street and the pool expansion at Aulani.

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It’s fun to see these color and pattern boards. A neat look into the mind of Imagineering.

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So the good news here is that the stove will return.  And the Party Line Telephones will remain.

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Now, onto updates at the Aulani resort, which is getting more pools and fast food.

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Both additions to the cellar are placed in the shadow boxes on either sides of the screening room.  Here’s to hoping that the board approves some major theme park investments soon so that we can have something interesting to look at.

THE SEASONPASS PODCAST

The TSPP MicePod team discusses Carthay Circle Restaurant with Creative Director and Walt Disney Imagineer Ray Spencer. Also, Conversation with V.P. of The Warner Bros. Studio Tour London, Sarah Roots, and CCO of Thinkwell, Craig Hanna, on the hit attraction “The Making of Harry Potter” experience.

There you have it.  A look at Starbucks, another voice change for Mara and reader suggestions for the Halloween display at Disney Showcase.  Enough of us, let’s hear from you!

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Norman Gidney
Norman Gidney, also known as Fishbulb, has produced and edited many of the articles on MiceChat over the years.