Disneyland‘s classic Haunted Mansion celebrated its 45th Anniversary over the weekend as the theme parks entered the final stretch of the long summer season. Around the park, refurbishments continue from Main Street to Tomorrowland as the first signs of Disney’s popular Halloween Time season quietly emerge. Today, we take a look at the latest progress on those refurbishments and take a look at new Haunted Mansion and Halloween merchandise. We also head up to Los Angeles for a look at the ScareLA convention, — a special expo and trade show for all things Halloween — where a couple of special presentations celebrated the Haunted Mansion’s 45th birthday.
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.
Thanks for bearing with us this morning as some technical issues delayed the publication of today’s blog. Without any further delay, let’s get started!
Welcome to Disneyland! |
The summer season is starting to wind down at Disneyland, with Disneyland cutting back its operating day by a couple hours now as we move closer to the fall.
The final couple of weeks to enjoy Main Street in its traditional summertime patriotic bunting is now here. Soon, the red, white and blue will be swapped out for orange bunting and Main Street will be lined with jack-o-lanterns.
A look at Sunday wait times. Looks like both tourists and locals are staying away as Anaheim continues to get hit with high temperatures and humidity.
Over at Disney California Adventure, the park continues its quiet summer.
Over at the Red Car Trolley, conductors have quietly been giving away great little souvenir Red Car Trolley fare tickets to lucky guests.
Their supply is often pretty limited but if you’re lucky and ask nicely, you might just be able to get one as well. They’re small, but like the Buena Vista Bugle, they’re a great, unique, and free souvenir!
A look at Disney California Adventure wait times Sunday afternoon:
Refurbishment Roundup |
[center]Main Street Makeovers[/center]
Back at Disneyland, the Main Entrance Turnstile rolling refurbishment continues…
On Main Street, the new Guest Flow Corridors project continues along, aiming for completion sometime this fall.
And the Castle Brothers facade refurbishment is still underway. The walls were pushed back, closer to the facade, allowing the sidewalk to be accessible again.
The temporary accessible ramps from the sidewalk down onto the street have been removed.
The sidewalk is still not quite wide enough for ECVs or wheelchairs due to a tree, so handicapped guests are still be directed to pass through gift shops.
[center]Stairs to Adventure[/center]
Walls have come down at the stairs-to-nowhere in Adventureland after they were rebuilt.
[center]Finishing Up the French Quarter[/center]
Over in New Orleans Square, a few more props have gone up on balconies while a little bit of extra “detail” has been added at the new off-centered window.
Not really much to see – it still looks pretty bad but hopefully more will eventually be done to help.
[center]Finding Refurbishment[/center]
In Tomorrowland, the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage continues its refurbishment. There’s a lot of work underway in the lagoon, as it gets ready to reopen late next month.
…construction walls have come down in the waiting area at the ride’s exit revealing a set of new emergency exit doors and a Cast Member gate.
The space-themed murals are all gone and that’s probably for the best.
Only the wall behind the pay phones still has the outer space mural.
Next door, walls have also come down at the back of the Starcade.
And nearby, the Guardians of the Galaxy 3D preview will close over the weekend for removal. Disney said Captain EO will return “at a later date” but we’ll wait and see if that actually happens.
Haunting the Kingdom |
With summer winding down, Disneyland is now gearing up for the launch of its increasingly popular Halloween Time season, which will debut earlier than ever this year on September 12. The first themed jack-o-lantern has popped up in the China Closet window on Main Street, with seasonal merchandise starting to take over the Disney Showcase shop in Town Square.
Inside Disney Showcase, the summer vignettes are still up but will soon make way for Halloween Time displays, as seasonal merchandise has already taken over a good portion of the shop.
45 Years of Happy Haunting |
On Saturday, Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion officially turned 45. To mark the occasion, Disneyland released a special t-shirt and is offering special prints on canvas with meal purchases at select restaurants.
The special t-shirts were released on Saturday. Despite the insistence by Disneyland’s social media team that the shirts would only be offered for one day, the shirts are still in stock at the Haunted Mansion souvenir cart and in the Port Royal gift shop. They are limited edition, though, and won’t be restocked as they sell out.
Special commemorative prints of Mickey and Friends in the Haunted Mansion’s stretching portraits are available for a limited time at select Disneyland restaurants. Only one print is available at each location and it costs $5 with a $30 food purchase. For more information, see the Disney Parks Blog post.
A family also stayed overnight in the Haunted Mansion as part of a local KTLA sweepstakes. Below is the morning report on it.
Scaring up Halloween in Los Angeles |
Over the weekend the folks at ScareLA hosted a fantastically horrific two-day Halloween expo and trade show in Los Angeles. With Disneyland’s Halloween festivities far more cute and friendly than what the Halloween Haunt-loving ScareLA serve up, this blog would have normally skipped this event. This year, however, Disneyland’s classic Haunted Mansion celebrated 45 years and we were invited to attend to check out all that ScareLA had to offer, along with a couple great Haunted Mansion-related offerings.
The highlight for Disney fans at ScareLA was the filled-to-capacity When Hinges Creak: Celebrating 45 Years of The Haunted Mansion, a panel discussion led by Doombuggies.com‘s Jeff Baham with Disney Legends Bob Gurr and Alice Davis.
Baham’s discussion with the Disney Legends talked about the attraction’s history, Bob Gurr’s role in developing the ride system, Marc Davis’ (Alice Davis’ husband and fellow Imagineer) role in designing much of the attraction, and more. We live-Tweeted the discussion, which you can read through on Twitter.
Great early Marc Davis concept art for the Haunted Mansion.
We also checked out the Chilling Tales of the Haunted Mansion LIVE!, a charming live performance of Disney’s classic 1969 “Story and Song from the Haunted Mansion” LP by Captured Aural Phantasy.
Knott’s Scary Farm’s Director of Entertainment Production, Lara Hanneman and her Haunt designers also held a very special panel previewing their 2014 Haunt season
Among the highlights for 2014 are Elvira’s new stage show
The return of fan favorite mazes with new twists like Trick or Treat and Pinocchio Unstrung
New mazes for 2014 include Voodoo, a haunted maze through the New Orleans bayou, complete with a choose-your-own-path feature.
The new maze that drew the biggest crowd reaction was Special Ops: Infected, a new interactive haunt experience that will take over all six acres of Camp Snoopy.
The new maze will feature two distinct paths that groups of twelve will take through Camp Snoopy, both on missions to kill as many zombies as possible with laser guns that will keep track of players’ scores.
And returning this year after a long absence is the Headless Horseman and Haunt guests will be invited to submit photos (if they’re able to snap them fast enough!) of the Horseman to Knott’s via social media for a chance to win prizes.
In addition to panel discussions, lectures, classes and more, ScareLA also featured a huge show floor with countless booths, product demos, mini haunt walk-throughs, roaming monsters, and more. Below, some photos from the show floor.
One of several themed mini walk-throughs
Classes to make your own haunted props
Haunted Mansion-themed items for sale by vendors on the show floor
The full-contact, psychological Alone haunt was giving a mini-preview of its upcoming full haunt experience
Terror Trucks gave guests the opportunity to experience some Halloween walk-throughs on wheels.
And a display case inside previewed an upcoming group art show inspired by Disneyland’s never-realized Museum of the Weird. The opening reception will be attended by Disney Legend and Museum of the Weird designer Rolly Crump.
Overall, ScareLA was a ton of fun. If you’re a Halloween or Haunt fan, be sure to check out ScareLA next year! For more information, visit ScareLA.com.
This and That |
Back at Disneyland, a couple new Mary Poppins-themed Mickey and Minnie plush are now available
In Frontierland, the new Legends of Frontierland game continues to evolve and change as it progresses through its limited engagement.
Lots of new signage was added, seemingly in an effort to help explain the basic premise of the game to potential players.
The game also continues to tinker with features and roll out others, including higher levels for players to achieve.
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Weekly News & Information Round-Up | ||
Weekly Theme Park Hours August 11-17, 2014 |
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[B]Disneyland Park[/B] | [B]California Adventure[/B] | |
Daily: 9 am – 11 pm | Daily: 9 am – 10 pm | |
[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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August 11—18
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’s all for this week’s Dateline Disneyland. Did you celebrate Haunted Mansion’s 45th? Let us know how in the comments section below!
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