The Disney Gallery explores Mechanical Kingdoms as Dapper Day comes to Disneyland

Disneyland guests arrived in style over the weekend as part of the increasingly popular Dapper Day events that encourage guests to visit the parks in their Sunday’s best. Meanwhile, The Disney Gallery unveiled its latest exhibit on Saturday, exploring Disney’s steampunk-style attractions and experiences around the world. Elsewhere around the parks, refurbishments, Cal/OSHA additions, and construction projects continue through the surprisingly busy warm winter off-season.

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!

Get a closer look at today’s update! Click on any photo in today’s blog to see a larger, high-resolution version.

It’s another busy week at Disneyland, so let’s get started.

Welcome to Disneyland!

The parks saw big crowds over the weekend, boosted by the increasingly popular Dapper Day events.

Mechanical Kingdoms

On Saturday, the Disney Gallery’s latest exhibit opened. “Mechanical Kingdoms: Steam-Driven Visions of a Victorian Future” explores the various attractions, areas and concepts for Disney theme parks, many based on Jules Verne works, that feature a certain steampunk-style flair.

The Disney Gallery exhibit, located in a portion of the Main Street Opera House lobby, features reproductions of Walt Disney Imagineering art work along with props and models from Imagineering, the Walt Disney Archives and The Disney Channel.

Attraction poster banners hang from the ceiling.

Timekeeper

EPCOT Center’s beloved World of Motion

Disneyland Paris’ Space Mountain and Disneyland’s unrealized Discovery Bay

Lots of great stuff on the walls!

Adventure Thru Innerspace!

Dream machine!

Nautilus

A recent piece – a concept for a show scene along the Rivers of America that would have been added during the major overhaul that happened a few years ago

Ride vehicle model for Tokyo DisneySea’s Journey to the Center of the Earth

Ride vehicle model for Tokyo DisneySea’s Aquatopia

Next door, the Disneyana shop is full of new steampunk-style art by commissioned Disney artists.

Refurbishmentland

Off-season refurbishments and construction projects continue throughout the parks…

[center]Clubbed[/center]
Work continues on the major Club 33 expansion in New Orleans Square…

Work around the Club’s new entrance.

[center]Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dry[/center]
Splash Mountain is still dry through the end of the month for refurbishment.

[center]Reopening the Wilderness[/center]
Tickets for Cast Member test-and-adjust previews of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad have been distributed and Cast Members and their guests will be cycling through the redone attraction starting the second weekend of March. Look out for possible soft openings soon after.

[center]“it’s a Cal/OSHA world”[/center]
Work continues inside “it’s a small world” on the installation of new Cal/OSHA-approved safety railing and equipment.

[center]Out to Dry[/center]
Tomorrowland’s Submarine Lagoon is dry and the Subs are set to be closed until later this fall. Rumor is that they may not reopen at all, but as of now, Disney’s official line is that the Subs will reopen by the end of September.

[center]Innovengers[/center]
Meanwhile, construction on the new Captain America meet-and-greet continues inside Innoventions.

[img]http://www.miceshots.com/usr/67/02-24-14-DSC_6289.jpg[/img]

[center]Space Junk[/center]
Atop Space Mountain, construction on the new safety addition continues, making the structure super safe and Cal/OSHA approved for maintenance workers.

Adding a new ring to the mountain’s structure isn’t ideal, but at least the mountain will soon be clean again.

At the entrance of Tomorowland, rumors are circulating that the Astro Orbiter may soon glow away as the first step in Tomorrowland’s forthcoming Star Wars-themed aesthetic retheme.

If you want a final ride on the Astro Orbiter you may want to get it in before the end of March…

[center]Refurbishment Adventure[/center]
Over in Disney California Adventure, the Aladdin musical has reopened. Soarin’ Over California will close for a few days this week and the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail will also open later this week.

Dapper Day

The spring Dapper Day events took place over the weekend, with events at the Grand Californian Hotel on Saturday and the day in the parks on Sunday. New this year was the Dapper Day Boutique in the Grand Californian Hotel, with over 20 LA-based vintage and contemporary fashion retailers.

On Sunday, Dapper Day attendees hit the parks in their finest.

This and That

In Downtown Disney, the giant poppy fountain near the Mickey and Friends tram stop is behind walls for refurbishment.

And construction continues on the new Starbucks…

New circular signage up for Starbucks – just no logo yet.

A few St. Patrick’s Day-themed merchandise offerings available now in select shops.

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Weekly News & Information Round-Up
Weekly Theme Park Hours February 24-March 2, 2014
[B]Disneyland Park[/B]	[B]California Adventure[/B]
Mon.-Thur.: 10 am – 8 pm Friday: 9 am – 12 am Sat.-Sun.: 8 am – 12 am	Mon.-Thur.: 10 am – 8 pm Friday: 9 am – 10 pm Sat.-Sun.: 8 am – 10 pm
[CENTER]For a complete listing of theme park hours, visit the Disneyland.com Theme Park Calendar[/CENTER]
[center]Closure and Refurbishment Schedule[/center]
[b][center]Disneyland Park[/center][/b]
[b]Big Thunder Mountain Railroad:[/b] Closed for extensive refurbishment and delayed several times. The attraction is currently expected to reopen March 31, 2014. [B]Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage:[/B] Closed through September 26, 2014 for major refurbishment. [B]Splash Mountain:[/B] Closed through February 28 for refurbishment. [B]”it’s a small world”:[/B] Closed through April 24, 2014 for fall safety equipment installation. [B]Mark Twain Riverboat:[/B] Closed February 24-28, 2014 for refurbishment. [B]Disneyland Railroad:[/B] Closed February 24 through March 7 for refurbishment. [B]Alice in Wonderland:[/B] Closed March 10 through July 3, 2014 for enhancements and redesign of outdoor portion of ride track. [B]Indiana Jones Adventure:[/B] Closed March 17 through May 8, 2014 for refurbishment. [B]King Arthur Carousel:[/B] Closed April 28 through May 8, 2014 for refurbishment. [B]Pirates of the Caribbean:[/B] Closed April 28 through May 22, 2014 for refurbishment. [B]Space Mountain:[/B] Closed May 12 through June 26 for refurbishment.
[b][center]Disney California Adventure[/center][/b]
[B]Redwood Creek Challenge Trail:[/B] Closed through February 27, 2014. [B]Soarin’ Over California:[/B] Closed February 24-27, 2014 for refurbishment. [B]Heimlich’s Chew Chew Train:[/B] Closed March 3-6, 2014. [B]Mickey’s Fun Wheel:[/B] Closed March 3-6, 2014 for refurbishment. [B]The Little Mermaid ~ Ariel’s Undersea Adventure:[/B] Closed March 20-May 9, 2014 for refurbishment and rumored enhancements. [B]Grizzly River Run:[/B] Closed April 21-June 19, 2014 for refurbishment. [B]It’s Tough to be a Bug!:[/B] Closed April 21-May 8, 2014 for refurbishment.
[b][center]Downtown Disney and Disneyland Resort Hotels[/center][/b]
Starbucks Coffee: New Starbucks store under construction in former BLINK by Wet Seal location. Opens this winter.
[center] A weekly look at projected crowd levels at the Disneyland Resort.[/center]
February 24-March 2 MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT SUN If you’re looking for a replacement for the Mobile Magic app, take a look at Mouseaddict’s unique features, for free! We expect a return to the usual late-winter pattern of smaller weekday attendance and higher crowding on the weekend. Area hotels are booked in the early part of the week. The weather may dampen the crowds on Friday and Saturday. Looking for the best replacement for Mobile Magic on your iPhone? Download the remarkable Mouseaddict app for iPhone and iPad with the Addictometer crowd map overlay: see exactly where crowds are gathering, right on the map! The free Mouseaddict app features more than five dozen categories of searchable resort information, weather forecasts, park and show schedules, and more. Download on the App Store or at mouseaddict.com.
[center]Headline Roundup A quick look at noteworthy Disney theme park headlines from around the web.[/center]
Annual Passholders can continue to enjoy classic Disney movie screenings and sing-alongs at Disneyland on select evenings in February — Two more were just added to the schedule for this week. (Disneyland.com) Walt Disney World raised prices again on Sunday, bringing the one-day admission for Magic Kingdom to $99 for adults and children 10 and up. Will Disneyland follow suit and just how expensive is too expensive? (Orlando Sentinel)

Did you visit the parks over the weekend for Dapper Day? What’d you think of the new Disney Gallery exhibit? Let us know in the comments section below! Thanks for reading! Dateline Disneyland is only here because of you. We’ve been able to bring Dateline Disneyland to you each week because of your generous donations. Consider helping us out by donating 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! [B]- Andy[/B]

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FTC-Mandated Disclosure: Promotional consideration for this edition of Dateline Disneyland was provided by the Howard Johnson Plaza Hotel & Water Playground.

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