Sleeping Beauty Castle emerged from refurbishment last week, revealing a refreshed paint scheme that toned down some of the more saturated tones leftover from Disneyland‘s 50th Anniversary overlay. The Castle’s new look will get sparkly diamond decorations in May as part of Disneyland’s big 60th Anniversary celebration. Meanwhile, work continues throughout both theme parks as they get ready for the Diamond Celebration, with new blue and silver paint for resort signage, a restored (and then slightly burnt) facade for “it’s a small world,” and the re-imagined Condor Flats area in Disney California Adventure.
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We’ve got another full week of refurbishment and construction news to get to, so let’s get started…
| Welcome to Disneyland! |
Park guests were greeted with a bit of rain over the weekend, but not enough to totally turn away the Dapper Day crowds that hit the parks on Sunday.
It’s baby duck season at Disneyland!
| Getting Ready to Dazzle |
The parks continue to get ready for the big 60th Anniversary before it kicks off in late-May.
Disneyland is currently in the process of repainting its big resort marquee signs around the Resort in new blue-and-silver color schemes. The new paint jobs are some of the first visible signs of the new 60th anniversary aesthetic, which will be hitting the Resort in full force this summer.
The big Downtown Disney signs on Disneyland Drive are the first to get the treatment, with the Disneyland and Disney California Adventure marquees at the Mickey and Friends Parking Structure beginning to emerge with similar new paint jobs now.
Looks good, even if the blue-on-blue is slightly hard to read.
The Downtown Disney entryway sign between ESPN Zone and Rainforest Cafe is behind tarps now
The Disneyland Resort Harbor Blvd. marquee hasn’t yet gotten the new look, but will likely go behind scaffolding soon.
It’ll be nice to see this paint scheme glow away…
Inside Disneyland, Main Street’s Fortuosity Shop is closed for refurbishment.
At the end of Main Street, the majority of Sleeping Beauty Castle’s repaint and refurbishment seems to have wrapped up and the Castle is now open again and out from behind tarps.
Portions of the castle that were previously painted a saturated gold tone for the 50th anniversary are now more of a beige/stone color and it looks great.
The 50th Anniversary overlay was great but the oversaturated color scheme has lingered too long and it’s nice to see some of the color getting toned down now as Disneyland prepares for its 60th.
Not all of the 50th overlay has disappeared, though. The Castle is still far more pink than it had historically been prior to 2005, with a lot more gold leaf and other gold accents like the ones seen below:
Note the metallic silver here — could this be a test to see how silver would look in place of gold leaf for the 60th anniversary overlay?
Speaking of the 60th anniversary overlay, eye bolts have been installed in various places on the castle facade for decorations.
Mini strobe lights for fireworks are still in place
Backside of the Castle…
The wonderful Castle Walk-Through has reopened as well…
Meanwhile, work continues on Snow White Grotto
In Fantasyland, work continues on Peter Pan’s Flight, with no visible progress from outside….
Likewise, the Matterhorn isn’t showing too much progress from the ground level…
Monorail views give a look into the load area…
Meanwhile, “it’s a small world” has started to emerge from its facade refurbishment. The white and gold (not blue and black) facade looks beautiful and refreshed after getting some much-needed work.
The refurbishment isn’t the only news in the small world, however. On Saturday night, a small fire broke out behind the far west edge of the facade. The blaze was quickly put out and is believed to be a result of fireworks fallout and luckily didn’t damage the iconic attraction or its facade, aside from a small bit of smoke damage.
The local ABC 7 report on the fire:
A burnt tree and some smoke damage, as seen on Sunday.
Inspecting the damage
Work continues in Critter Country, which is expected to reopen early April.
Hungry Bear work….
In Tomorrowland, a couple small areas are walled off at the entrance to the land…
In the extended queue for Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters, going back toward Pixie Hollow…
Meanwhile, not much movement to be seen on the Innoventions Dream Home removal or the Starcade project.
Starcade is still walled off for work, but no official word yet on what will move in here. With a “Tomorrowland” movie preview expected to go into the Magic Eye Theater, more “Tomorrowland” would fit in perfectly in the closed Starcade.
Over at California Adventure, work continues on remodeling Condor Flats into the new Grizzly Peak Airfield.
The new green front of the former Taste Pilot’s Grill is going up along with a new awning.
New trees going in around the new Grizzly Peak Airfield
Views of construction from the Monorail…
Lots of green and brown paint going up on the buildings here, including on the restrooms building.
Paradise Bay has now been refilled with water as World of Color’s refurbishment and enhancement comes to an end. Expect the traditional World of Color show to return next weekend, with the “World of Color — Celebrate!” show for Disneyland’s 60th Anniversary to debut in May.
Nearby, Ariel’s Grotto has reopened after its refurbishment
The Redwood Creek Challenge Trail is set to reopen this week (tomorrow), with Grizzly River Run’s refurbishment wrapping up later this month.
Newly rebuilt bridge
In Cars Land, Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree is once again running at full capacity after half of the ride was closed in our previous update.
And no visible signs of change yet at Luigi’s Flying Tires, which is closed to be converted into an all-new trackless ride experience.
Over at the Disneyland Hotel, a look at the installation of new fall safety additions.
In Downtown Disney, Olaf’s Frozen Ice Rink and the Downtown Disney Winter Village has finally been packed up and removed.
Nearby, walls have gone up around the doors to the former Apricot Lane Boutique…
No official word yet on what’s moving in here but we’ve heard there may be another Starbucks location in the works for this space…
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| Weekly News & Information Round-Up | ||
| Weekly Theme Park Hours March 2-8, 2015 |
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| [B]Disneyland Park[/B] | [B]California Adventure[/B] | |
| Mon.-Thu.: 10 am – 8 pm Fri.-Sun.: 8 am – 12 am |
Mon.-Thu.: 10 am – 8 pm Fri.-Sun.: 8 am – 10 am |
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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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March 1 – 8
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’s refreshed paint scheme? Let us know in the comments below!
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