The parks are celebrating the Independence Day holiday this week with a holiday fireworks show at Disneyland and a special addition at Disney California Adventure’s World of Color water-and-light show. The Disney Gallery opened a new exhibit Saturday with a focus on the company’s most recognizable park icons: castles. The new show takes a look at concept art of the various Castles that welcome guests to Magic Kingdom parks around the world and features new art for sale by Disney-commissioned artists. Meanwhile, construction continues next to Disneyland’s own Sleeping Beauty Castle, as the new Fantasy Faire princess-meet-and-greet area continues to take shape. Over at California Adventure, crowds continue to come but may seem more manageable as more and more Annual Passholders are blocked out as we enter peak summer season. Outside the parks, Downtown Disney is celebrating California Avocado Week, offering cooking demonstrations, activities and special menu items at participating restaurants.
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| [center]Inside Dateline Disneyland[/center] |
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| [center]Sponsored by TouringPlans.com | Do More. Wait Less.[/center] |
| [center]WELCOME TO DISNEYLAND![/center] |
Summer crowds are here and Cars Land is proving to be extremely popular with guests. Our friends at Touring Plans are here with their crowd forecast and tips for your visit to the Disneyland Resort.
Summer vacation season kicks into high gear this week, but with SoCal Annual Passholders blocked out for the rest of summer, there should not be a significant increase in crowds. 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. With summer crowds arriving, 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
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[center]Resort-Wide Crowd Calendar Prediction[/center] |
[center]Crowd Tips[/center] |
| Tues., July 3 | [center]10 /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., July 4 | [center]10 /10[/center] | |
| Thu., July 5 | [center]10 /10[/center] | |
| Fri., July 6 | [center]10/10[/center] | |
| [center]Crowd levels are based on a scale from 1 to 10, with 1 being the least crowded conditions and 10 being most crowded.[/center][center]See Disneyland crowds for the next 365 days. Get Disneyland wait times on youriPhone, Android, or Smartphone. Do more. Wait less.  [/center] |
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A look at Disneyland wait times mid-day Friday.
| [center]CREATING CASTLES[/center] |
The Disney Gallery reopened Saturday with a new exhibit celebrating the castles of Disney theme parks.
Of course, the Gallery’s gift shop is filled with new collectibles featuring art work from the new exhibit
It’s not my cup of tea, but I’m sure it has its fans.
Vase
Tile mosiacs on display in the bank vault
The first art room in the gallery is, as usual, filled with new art commissioned by Disney.
Click for closer view:
Click for closer view:
The second room is where the exhibit shines. Of course, with a room filled with gorgeous Imagineering concept art, it’s no surprise.
Click for closer view:
A model of Disneyland Paris’ beautiful Sleeping Beauty Castle is on display
The concept art on the walls is grouped by what’s inside the castle, the longview, blue-sky concepts and royal celebrations.
Tokyo Disneyland’s Cinderella Castle
The Disneyland original
Hong Kong Disneyland’s Sleeping Beauty Castle
Disneyland Paris’ Sleeping Beauty Castle
The concept art for the interior of Shanghai Disneyland’s castle
[center]MAGIC KINGDOM MAKEOVERS [/center] |
Work continues on the Fantasy Faire project at the former Carnation Plaza Gardens area.
| [center]RELOCATED HILLBILLIES[/center] |
Over in Frontierland, the popular Billy Hill and the Hillbillies from the Golden Horseshoe have been moved over to the Big Thunder Ranch Jamboree.
An attempt to bring more people back into the Jamboree?
It’s a big stage and the Hillbillies show is a lot less intimate back here, but the show is still a lot of fun.
Over at the Golden Horseshoe, there is no signage to let guests know that the Hillbillies have moved.
Ragtime is now performed in the horseshoe
| [center]CALIFORNIA CROWDS[/center] |
In Disney California Adventure, crowds continue to come to the park to experience the new Cars Land offerings, but guests visiting when Annual Passholders are blocked out will find wait times throughout the park to be rather reasonable for the middle of summer.
Radiator Springs Racers had a wait time that hovered around 100 minutes Friday afternoon. A far cry from the huge three-hour waits that guests experience on days that there are no Annual Passholder block-outs.
Only 30 minutes for Single Rider
| [center]FOURTH OF COLOR[/center] |
The Fourth of July pre-show at World of Color returned Sunday night for its annual run through July 4th. The pre-show is unchanged from last year’s version. Below, a quick iPhone video of Sunday night’s performance from MiceChat’s Fishbulb
The Fourth of July pre-show for World of Color will run nightly through July 4. At Disneyland, the annual “Celebrate America!” fireworks will play instead of the regular “Magical” show. Juyl 1-3, the “Celebrate America!” show will play in an abbreviated 9-minute format, saving its full 13-minute show for July 4th holiday.
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Independence Day Entertainment Schedule
July 1 — 4 |
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| Disney’s Celebrate America! A Fourth of July Concert in the Sky Disneyland Park |
9:30 PM |
| World of Color with special Fourth of July pre-show Disney California Adventure Park |
9:00 PM, 10:15 PM |
| [center]DOWNTOWN DISNEY[/center]
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Downtown Disney restaurants are celebrating California Avocado Week through July 7 with special menu items and cooking demonstrations with restaurant chefs.
The Downtown Disney stage near ESPN Zone hosts cooking demonstrations daily at 5:30 p.m.
Sunday evening, House of Blues Executive Chef prepared the restaurant’s special Avocado Week entree –
It’s great to see these sorts of events at the Resort — it’s like a mini Food and Wine festival and hopefully we’ll see a full-scale Food and Wine Festival return to California Adventure in the next year or so.
Other special-menu items… Catal:
Tortilla Jo’s
Ralph Brennan’s Jazz Kitchen
La Brea Bakery Cafe
Other actives take place on the main stage as well, including guacamole-making contests where winners walk away with a $100 gift card to a Downtown Disney restaurant and an $85 gift basket
| [center]THIS AND THAT[/center] |
Back in California Adventure, the Bug’s Land mural continues to get extra work
Adding more green foliage in the background
In Condor Flats, something we missed: the facade of Taste Pilot’s Grill has been touched up after the removal of the jet plane.
[CENTER] Dateline Disneyland is sponsored by our good friends at the Howard Johnson Plaza Hotel & Water Playground.[/CENTER] 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 [CENTER]MiceChat.com and Annual Passholder Discounts |
| [center]WEEKLY NEWS & INFORMATION ROUND-UP[/center] | ||
| [center]Weekly Theme Park Hours July 2 – 8, 2012[/center] |
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| [CENTER][B]Disneyland Park[/B][/CENTER] | [CENTER][B]California Adventure[/B][/CENTER] | |
| [CENTER]Daily: 8 am – 12 midnight[/CENTER] |
[CENTER]Daily: 8 am – 11 pm[/CENTER] |
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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]California Adventure[/B][/CENTER] | |
| [CENTER][B]HIGH[/B] [B]7.3—8.1[/B] out of 10[/CENTER] |
[CENTER][B]HIGH[/B] [B]9.9—10[/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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| Disneyland raises ticket prices for annual Halloween parties
Disney recently announced dates for the annual Mickey’s Halloween Party at Disneyland and along with this year’s dates were higher prices for the after-hours trick-or-treating party. The OC Register has details: |
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| [b]Disneyland increases Halloween prices[/b] | ||
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Disneyland visitors will pay $2 to $5 more to go to the park’s popular after-hours Halloween parties this year.
Disney is already getting ready for its big fall promotion, Halloween Time. The company this week announced the dates and prices. Halloween Time runs Sept. 14 to Oct. 31 with a few ride revisions and special decorations that can be seen by all visitors. The after-hours Mickey’s Halloween Party events at Disneyland for trick-or-treaters require extra tickets on 11 nights. The tickets, for annual passholders, go on sale July 9. Regular park-goers can buy them starting July 16. Tickets start at $46 for annual passholders and $54 for regular park-goers, when purchased in advance. The most expensive tickets, for Oct. 29 and Oct. 31, go for $69, even if purchased in advance or by annual passholders. Prices have gone up dramatically since the first 2005 party at Disney California Adventure, which charged just $18 a night. “Since they moved it to Disneyland and made it more expensive, not only do we not go, but I also do not attend Halloween Time or the Halloween party,” said Oleg Chaikovsky of Irvine in an email. “I am the lone passholder in the family, and I can’t justify paying … almost $50.” The after-hours events include trick-or-treat stations, exclusive viewings of the Halloween Screams fireworks show, a mini parade, villain greeting areas and dance parties. Ticket holders also can get into Disneyland three hours before the parties start. |
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| [b]Full story: OC Register: Disneyland increases Halloween prices[/b] | ||
 Alright, that wraps up this week’s Dateline Disneyland. Thank you, as always, for reading and please be sure to let us know what you think in the comments section below!
Don’t forget to visit our great sponsors over at Touring Plans when planning your next visit to Disneyland! 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! Don’t forget that MiceChat has lots of new content throughout the week! Our new MiceChat.com homepage has all of our content organized by category for your browsing convenience. So be sure to check out all of our great weekly content including In the Parks, Weekend Update and our sister column covering Walt Disney World in Florida, Dateline Disney World. [B]- Andy[/B] |
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