Halloween Time is in full swing at Disneyland, with restaurants throughout the park serving up terrifyingly tasty seasonal specials. Meanwhile, the park continues to take advantage of what was traditionally its off-season with various refurbishments including repainting the iconic “it’s a small world” facade and preparing the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage for its reopening later this week. And at Sleeping Beauty Castle, Disney’s on-going voluntary safety-proofing of the park is bringing some controversial changes to the nearly 60-year-old park icon.
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.
There’s a lot to see this week, so let’s get started!
Welcome to Disneyland! |
Halloween Time is in full swing now at Disneyland. Crowds have returned following the recent heat wave to see the park decked out for the season.
A visiting military academy band performed on Friday
A look at wait times Friday afternoon
Back in Big Thunder Ranch, the annual Halloween Carnival pumpkin carvers are once again creating great jack-o-lanterns right in front of guests.
Halloween Time never bothered them anyway
Over in Disney California Adventure, the park is enjoying a bit of off-season now that summer is over and there’s almost no Halloween Time offerings on this side of the esplanade.
Light crowds Friday afternoon compared to Disneyland.
Mickey’s Halloween Treats |
Disneyland’s food and beverage team have cooked up a lot of special Halloween Time offerings at dining locations, at food carts and in candy shops. On Main Street, the Candy Palace has plenty of special Halloween-themed treats.
Over at Jolly Holiday Bakery Cafe, seasonal beverages have joined all of the fall pastries and desserts.
Halloween cookies have been added along the fall pastries we showed you a couple weeks ago.
Back in New Orleans Square, the Royal Street Veranda has Halloween Time banana fritters and a couple specialty drinks
Get your punch in a Maleficent souvenir sipper
New Orleans Square outdoor vending is serving up popcorn in a Nightmare Before Christmas souvenir bucket.
Elsewhere in the park, you’ll find Hatbox Ghost Mickey and Skeleton Dance popcorn buckets and mugs
At the French Market, a special fried shrimp po’boy and some seasonal desserts are available.
Nearby, the Mint Julep Bar has the popular pumpkin beignets again.
Over at the Harbour Galley, a special seasonal soup is on the menu.
Critter Country’s Hungry Bear Restaurant has a bleu cheese burger and a caramel apple funnel cake for Halloween
Over in Frontierland, the Golden Horseshoe is serving up ice cream nachos for Halloween Time, $5.99
Rancho del Zocalo has a pork tamale platter and chocolate flan for dessert.
Fantasyland’s Village Haus has a special flatbread
Tomorrowland Terrace is serving up a special “Monster U” burger
Refurbishment Roundup |
In the Main Entrance Plaza between the parks, the terrazzo compass rose is behind walls getting some much-needed TLC.
[center]Main Street Makeovers[/center]
Inside Disneyland, construction continues on the new Main Street Guest Flow Corridors, which are expected to open later this fall.
Meanwhile, facade refurbishments continue along Main Street…
At the end of Main Street, the Main Street Photo Supply Co. has emerged from behind construction walls but the shop is still closed while work continues inside.
It’s too bad the fall safety on top of the Photo Supply couldn’t be fixed up. It’s still just painted plywood and it doesn’t look great.
Marquees on the side of the buildings aren’t back in place yet.
[center]Safety Beauty Castle[/center]
Over at Sleeping Beauty Castle, work continues on the alcove seats along the Castle bridge.
The work here sparked some controversy in the fan community last week when Disney blogger and author David Koenig reported that work crews recently jackhammered away the seats here. The changes here come as Disneyland continues to voluntarily retrofit its nearly 60-year old park to with new safety enhancements following suggestions by state inspectors.
It’s really unfortunate if Disney opted to remove the seats here, which have been a fixture of Sleeping Beauty Castle since the park opened in 1955. Also rumored is the addition of new safety railing along the Castle bridge’s parapet wall.
Koenig’s report also noted the new fence on the Castle drawbridge, which replaced a simple chain fence which was supported by large decorative shields. The simple chain fence on the Castle drawbridge made sense, given Sleeping Beauty Castle was built with a real working drawbridge.
The drawbridge has been raised and lowered only twice in the park’s history; once on the park’s opening day and again in 1983 for the opening of Disneyland’s new Fantasyland.
With the new gate along the drawbridge cemented in in places, it’s doubtful we’ll ever see the working drawbridge in use again.
We’re hoping the changes are done well but to see removal of charming features from Disneyland’s historic icon, rather than enhancements, is disappointing.
[center]Royal Remodel[/center]
In New Orleans Square, work continues on the Royal Courtyard after work crews completely removed the space’s staircase.
Meanwhile, we continue to “wait and see” if any further changes will be made to the new Club 33 changes elsewhere in New Orleans Square. The off-center window continues to be embarrassingly off-center while other windows are oversized and disrupt the forced-perspective scale.
[center]Construction Country[/center]
Nearby, the Mark Twain Riverboat and Fowler’s Harbor continue their refurbishments. The repaving in the area has wrapped up…
In Critter Country, the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh entrance is behind tarps for refurbishment, but the attraction is still open.
A portion of the Hungry Bear Restaurant is also behind tarps for some work…
Back in Frontierland, the Stage Door Cafe is closed for refurbishment.
…and some facade refurbishment continues at the Crockett and Russell Hat Co. facade.
[center]it’s a refurbishment world[/center]
Over in Fantasyland, it’s a small world’s iconic is slowly disappearing behind scaffolding and tarps as a much-needed refurbishment gets underway.
The facade has needed work since at least late last year, so it’s great to see it finally get freshened up in time for the park’s 60th.
Hopefully leftover scrims from past projection shows are finally removed.
[center]Dive, Dive (Again)![/center]
In Tomorrowland, the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage is preparing to resurface from its extended closure and refurbishment by the end of the week. The lagoon looks spectacular and it’ll be great to see the subs gliding through the water once again.
Over at the Magic Eye Theatre, the Guardians of the Galaxy are still in the process of moving out as Disney gets ready to bring in a new extended 3D preview of Walt Disney Animation Studios’ latest effort, Big Hero 6.
The Big Hero 6 preview is set to debut September 26. The film hits theaters on November 7.
[center]Grand Refurbishment[/center]
Over at the Grand Californian Hotel, scaffolding is still up along a portion of the park-facing facade as work continues…
Inside the resort, the incredible Napa Rose restaurant has soft opened following a refurbishment and kitchen renovations.
[center]Love is an open store[/center]
In Downtown Disney, the Studio Disney 365 store should finally be closed as of this posting to begin its two-week conversion into the delayed Frozen-thenmed “Anna and Elsa’s Boutique.”
Merch Madness |
Back inside Disneyland, more and more of the new line of Haunted Mansion-themed merchandise continues to roll out at the Port Orleans shop in New Orleans Square.
An adorable Haunted Mansion sweatshirt for kids.
…and Haunted Mansion wallpaper cloth placemats.
New Hitchhiking Ghosts (and the Hatbox Ghost) magnets
The recent singing busts ornament set with a new paint job
And a weird Constance the Black Widow Bridge plush.
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Weekly News & Information Round-Up | ||
Weekly Theme Park Hours September 22-28, 2014 |
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[B]Disneyland Park[/B] | [B]California Adventure[/B] | |
Mon.-Wed.: 10 am – 9 pm Thursday: 8 am – 10 pm Friday: 8 am – 7 pm Sat.-Sun.: 8 am – 12 am |
Mon.-Wed.: 10 am – 8 pm Thursday: 8 am – 6 pm Friday: 8 am – 12 am Sat.-Sun.: 8 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]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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September 22-28
The free Mouseaddict app for iPhone and iPad features more than five dozen categories of searchable resort information, weather forecasts, park and show schedules, the latest news and articles from MiceChat, and more. Download free on the App Store or at mouseaddict.com. |
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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! What do you think of the Sleeping Beauty Castle safety changes? A necessary evil or safety-proofing overkill? Let us know in the comments section below!
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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. |