California Adventure construction, Fort Wilderness Graveyard, Stroller central, MORE

Inside Dateline Disneyland

Welcome to Disneyland Stroller Rental construction, Disney Gallery California Construction World of Color and Paradise Park Silly Symphony Swings The Little Mermaid and Cars Land Back from the Dead Fort Wilderness gaveyard returns to Tom Sawyer Island This & That 55th Anniversary merchandise already?, Closed trains, Dry moat Around the Park Photos from around the park. Weekly News and Information Weekly theme park hours, closures and refurbishments, George Kalogridis named President of Disneyland Resort, Starbucks on Main Street.

WELCOME TO DISNEYLAND
Vertical construction is now underway at the new central stroller and wheelchair rental center being built in the Main Entrance Plaza, in front of the Disneyland Kennel Club.


[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v647/dustysage/FridayVisions/2009/10-19-09/IMG_5243.jpg[/IMG]


Inside Disneyland, the Disney Gallery got new framed placards for all of the artwork on display. The back room with the Walt Disney Imagineering renderings now has the pertinent information on each piece, including artist name, and what the purpose of each rendering was for.


It's nice to see this information now along with the artwork - for some reason it was missing when the Gallery opened to the public.





CALIFORNIA CONSTRUCTION
Over at the other park, work continues on the various construction projects.

WORLD OF COLR AND PARADISE PARK VIEWING AREA


New trees have gone in along the back of Paradise Park.

















































SILLY SYMPHONY SWINGS
The old Orange Stinger marquee is finally gone.










The frozen beverage outdoor vending cart has relocated to the new spot across from the Swings entrance. The construction walls evicted it from its previous location next to the Swings entrance. Too bad this thing couldn't have gotten a makeover before they moved it across the walkway.



LITTLE MERMAID AND CARS LAND
The new Paradise Park trees obscure the view of the Little Mermaid construction site from Mickey's Fun Wheel





Cars Land:






BACK FROM THE DEAD
A couple old pathways on Tom Sawyer Island around Fort Wilderness are open again after having closed when Tom Sawyer Island got its Pirate's Lair makeover a couple years ago.


The pathways are open again after the area behind Fort Wilderness lost its long-standing construction walls and brought back a bit of classic Disneyland.


The old Fort Wilderness graveyard is once again back on Tom Sawyer Island after disappearing when Jack Sparrow and Davy Jones invaded the Island back in 2007.


The empty grave is missing, but it's nevertheless nice to have one corner of the Island that isn't making some sort of misguided reference to the Pirates of the Caribbean films.




THIS AND THAT
Sleeping Beauty Castle's moat is still drained





The Disneyland Railroad is down for a brief refurbishment.





Walls are down from in front of Fantasyland's Village Haus restaurant, but on Saturday, guests were still being redirected to alternate entrances.



The Courtyard of Angels in New Orleans Square is closed while the area gets some TLC.





A new line of Disneyland clothing has tags that note "55 Years of Magic" -- are we seeing the first bit of next year's 55th Anniversary merchandise already?









A new holiday version of the popular Dave Avanzino Disneyland shadowbox is available for $95.




AROUND THE PARK
And finally, we'll finish up the photo section of today's update with a few shots from around the park.













DISNEYLAND WEEKLY HOURS AND INFO

THEME PARK HOURS OCTOBER 19 - 25
For a complete listing of theme park hours, please visit the Disneyland.com Theme Park Calendar

Disneyland Park
Monday - Thursday: 9 am - 9 pm
Friday - Sunday: 8 am - 12 midnight

Disney's California Adventure Park
Monday- Tuesday: 10 am - 6 pm
Wednesday - Thursday: 10 am - 5 pm
Friday: 10 am - 6 pm
Saturday: 10 am - 10 pm
Sunday: 10:30 am - 9 pm

CURRENT ATTRACTION CLOSURES & REFURBISHMENTS

Disneyland Park

• Disneyland Railroad: Closed through October 28
• Gadget's Go Coaster: Closed through October 26.
• Big Thunder Ranch: Closed through November 19.
• Storybook Land Canal Boats: Closed through November 19.
• Casey Jr. Circus Train: Closed through November 19.
• The Enchanted Cottage: Closed through November 4.
• "it's a small world": Closed October 26 - November 12 to insatll holiday overlay.
• King Arthur Carrousel: Closed December 8 - 10.
• Disneyland: The First 50 Magical Years/Main Street Opera House: Closed. Reopens as The Disneyland Story: Featuring Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln December 17, 2009.

Disney's California Adventure Park

• Orange Stinger: Closed for retheming. Reopens Spring 2010
• Jumpin' Jellyfish: Attraction remains open while towers rotate through refurbishment.
• The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Undersea Adventure: Under construction.
• Souvenir 66 and Corn Dog Castle: Store and dining location closed for remodeling through May 2011.
• Paradise Bay: Drained for construction of upcoming Disney's World of Color show. Expected to be refilled mid-October 2009.
• Disney's World of Color Nighttime Spectacular: New show under construction. Debuts Spring 2010.
• Golden State Park and Amphitheater: Closed. New, larger viewing area for Disney's World of Color viewing under construction in same location. The new viewing area is scheduled to open February 2010 as Paradise Park.

NEW DISNEYLAND PRESIDENT TALKS
The DisneyParks Blog had an exclusive video interview with Disneyland's new President, George Kalogridis early last week:

Exclusive Video Interview with George Kalogridis, New President of the Disneyland Resort

Longtime Disney executive George Kalogridis was just announced as the new Disneyland Resort President. I sat down with the new president in the lobby of Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel because he wanted to talk to the Disney Parks Blog. George had some interesting stories to share.

For the full story, visit: DisneyParks Blog: Exclusive Video Interview with George Kalogridis, New President of the Disneyland Resort




And the Orange County Register's Around Disney blog talked with Mr. Kalogridis shortly after he was named Resort President on Monday:

Q and A with new Disneyland Resort president
When George Kalogridis left his previous job in Anaheim, Disney’s California Adventure was barely a year old.

On Monday, Kalogridis, 55, toured a torn-up park undergoing a $1-billion renovation - and realized he’s now in charge.

Disney announced Monday that Kalogridis was named the new president of the Disneyland Resort, Orange County’s largest employer with 20,000 employees in two theme parks, three hotels and Downtown Disney.

Kalogridis took over after Ed Grier retired from the company on Friday.

From 2000 to 2002, Kalogridis was here as a vice president, to specifically oversee operations during the resort’s expansion - California Adventure, Downtown Disney and two hotels opened. Kalogridis most recently worked at Disneyland Paris.
On Monday, Kalogridis spoke to the Register in an exclusive interview.

Q. What do you plan to do in your new job?
A. I think in the first week, I’ll just try to make sure I reacquaint myself with the resort. I took a quick ride to Disney’s California Adventure, and I was able to see the new expansion in the works. That’s very exciting. Twenty thousand (employees are) a lot of people and that’s my focus.

Q. How much time do you plan to spend in the resort?
A. I suggest that if you spoke to cast members or guests that I have worked with … (you’ll find) I’m in the parks and hotels more than I’m not. I’m a visible person. I very much believe in, that’s how you operate best - if you are in the park and in the environment and understand what is important to cast members and your guests. My goal is to be very visible. And in my time with the company, that’s always proven to be something that’s doable.

Q. What is your first priority?
A. I think just making sure cast members can (put my) name and face together is really important to me. That will be priority No. 1.

For the full Q&A, visit: Around Disney: Q and A with new Disneyland Resort president

STARBUCKS ON MAIN STREET
From right here on MiceAge, Al Lutz's latest had a bit of news that got the MiceChat boards buzzing: Starbucks might be coming to Main Street. Al's update also includes the latest news on Disneyland Hotel plans, Fastpasses for World of Color, and much more:

Hello George & Starbucks

[ . . . ] If the plan gets its final approvals, and the Starbucks executives in Seattle can be convinced that Disneyland Cast Members can be properly trained and trusted to run the operation, the Market House on Main Street USA would be reconfigured into an old-fashioned coffee house serving up a basic menu of Starbucks espresso and coffee drinks. A similar 1930’s themed Starbucks coffee house would be included on DCA’s new Buena Vista Street main entrance complex that begins construction this winter, and the coffee served at all park restaurants and hotels would be switched to Starbucks brews under the proposal. [ . . . ]

For Al's full Disneyland update, visit: MiceAge: Hello George & Starbucks

Okay, that should wrap up this week's Dateline Disneyland. Many thanks to all of you for reading. Be sure to discuss this week's update in the comments section below! Your support keeps these updates coming! Without you they couldn't happen. We all know times are tough, so any amount of support helps. If you can donate to Dateline Disneyland please consider doing so via a safe and quick PayPal donation. To donate, click here. Don't forget that MiceAge and MiceChat has loads of new content weekly! If Dateline Disneyland isn't enough to satisfy your Disneyland itch, then don't miss David "Darkbeer" Michael's In the Parks column which runs here every Friday and is packed full of Southern California theme park news, photos, and gossip. And if you want even more Disney theme park goodness, don't miss MiceChat's Weekend Update, which takes a look at Disney theme parks and other international landmarks, curiosities, and oddities every Saturday! Dateline Disneyland is on Twitter! We now have over 5,000 followers! If you still haven't checked us out on Twitter, head over there now for updates throughout the week with links to breaking news, mini updates, photos, and links to newsworthy MiceChat discussions. Visit Twitter.com/DatelineDisney, or check out the widget to the right to follow us! See you here again soon! -Andy

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