Halloween is still a week away but snow has already fallen on Sleeping Beauty Castle as Disneyland continues to prepare for the upcoming holiday season. This week we’ll fill you in on the latest goings-on in the parks from the increased Christmastime presence to continued refurbishment and fall-safety projects around the parks.
In The Parks blogger Norm is still away on a much-deserved vacation, so I’ll be filling in for him today – but don’t worry, my regular Dateline Disneyland blog will also run on Monday. A big thank you to Disneyloon and Edgar Lopez for taking the photos for today’s blog.
Guest Relations refurbishment continues
The facade refurbishment at Disneyland’s Guest Relations building continues…
Inside the park, Halloween Time enters its final stretch this week.
Main Street refurbishments
On Main Street, the Penny Arcade and Candy Palace facade refurbishment continues
Some minor repainting over at Disney Clothiers is underway as well
Snowfall and Small Worlds
At the end of Main Street, Sleeping Beauty Castle is now covered in snow as the park gets ready for the upcoming holiday season.
The Castle’s holiday overlay is usually one of the first major holiday features to go up in the park so it can be ready in time for the start of the holiday season in mid-November.
In Fantasyland, “it’s a small world” is now closed to get its holiday overlay installed and Christmas lights are now being put in the strings that are already lining the facade.
The flume is dry while the overlay is installed
Topiaries are already covered with lights.
In Disney California Adventure, A Bug’s Land already has its holiday decorations up.
Oversized ornaments are in place
In Cars Land, the extra light posts on the right side of the street to support the garland that runs down Route 66 are now in place.
Radiator Springs Curios is now fully stocked with Cars holiday merchandise, much of which is specific to Cars Land.
Other stores throughout the parks now offer a wide variety of general holiday merchandise as well as new items from Disney’s upcoming animated film, “Frozen”
Safetyland
Back in Disneyland, new fall-safety additions continue to progress in Fantasyland and Tomorrowland.
Flags are still up around the bottom of Space Mountain to prepare for upcoming fall safety additions.
And work continues on the new awning under the Monorail track over the former Motorboat Cruise lagoon.
Refurbishments in the parks
King Arthur Carrousel in Fantasyland is still covered during refurbishment.
Nearby, the Mad Tea Party was still closed during the week for refurbishment but is expected to reopen today.
In Frontierland, Big Thunder Mountain remains closed through February for its major refurbishment project…
In New Orleans Square, some work at Pirates of the Caribbean is underway. Tarps are up at the ride’s exit.
And walls and tarps are also up at the exit ramp inside the building.
Not far away from Pirates, the Court of Angels is still behind walls as part of the Club 33 expansion.
And new tarps and scaffolding have gone up on the roof of the French Market – could this be related to the Club 33 expansion that will be taking over the upstairs area above the French Market?
Meanwhile, in California Adventure, the refurbishment at Flik’s Flyers continues…
as well as some light refurbishment work near the Red Car Trolley stop by Tower of Terror.
Starbucks in Downtown Disney
Outside of the parks construction on the new Starbucks Coffee shop continues. Not much progress can be seen from our perspective, but with the coffee shop set to open this winter, construction will need to ramp up soon…
Okay, that’s it for this week’s In the Parks! Are you excited for the holidays to come or do you think it’s still too soon to see snow on Sleeping Beauty Castle? Let us know in the comments below!