It’s a Monday fun day for you with our latest Disneyland Update. Not a lot of big news today, but still lots of neat little things for you to consume. I love days like this when the weather is great and the park isn’t overly packed (busy, but not insane). We have construction updates, sweet treats, nature finding its way, a passholder scam to watch out for, and some thrilling surprises (you’ll get to see me scream). Plus, several new videos for you! Let’s get this show on the road . . .
Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge Construction
I feel like I’m going to burst. I just can’t wait for this new land to open anymore. It’s like waiting for a pot of water to boil. More and more progress, but still so far away. I feel like this all started a long, long, time ago . . .
We’ve had a few folks ask why the rocks don’t look like they’ll be completed on the back side. That’s actually how Disney does these sorts of things. If it can’t be seen from inside the park they tend to leave it unfinished. They’ll likely do a bit of camouflage once everything is complete. In Cars Land they have a patterned screen on the back of the Cadillac Range. Since they went to the effort of making the back side of the new Star Wars show buildings look better than usual, hopefully some magic touches will be added to the back-side of the rocks as well.
But it would break the illusion if you arrived at the Mickey and Friends parking structure to see rocks on a stick (which would give away how the forced perspective illusion works). A good magician doesn’t give away his tricks since it’s much harder for the audience to suspend disbelief when they’ve already seen how the magic trick is done. That’s why I think Disney will ultimately do something clever here, even if the rock-work isn’t completed in full 360º.
Once the new parking structure is complete, nearly every guest will be funneled into this spot behind Star Wars Land when arriving at the resort.
And from the park-side . . .
This is VERY Star Wars looking. While everything else you see from the river just looks like rocks, the round building stands out as being something from a different sort of frontier . . . one from the edge of a galaxy somewhere. 😉
Small World
I was contacted by a reader last week who was concerned about the lack of movement on the Small World facade. The good news is that there is some refurbishment going on with the clock face and children of the world parade. The rest of the elements on the facade have been turned off while construction in the area is complete.
Meanwhile, the new parade gates are about to be plused up a bit. New facade supports have been erected on either side of the gates with more toward the back of the new queue.
Opposite the queue, construction scrims are still up.
The parade route pavement in the small world mall area is in need of more elegant repairs.
Treat Yourself
Everything is coming up plastic these days as Disney pumps out new popcorn buckets and mugs to meet the demand. But some of the items are more interesting than others. While the Sully and Green Alien popcorn buckets were both adorable, we are less sure about this generic new bucket which seems to celebrate an attraction which symbolizes everything that’s wrong with the current Tomorrowland. It’s also a very basic and somewhat boring design compared to the other buckets we’ve been covering for the last few weeks.
And for the gents . . . an Infinity Gauntlet beverage mug that you wear. Like many of the plastic mugs and popcorn buckets that have come out lately, this one sold out right away at $20 a pop. Here’s how they look in the wild. . .
[click_to_tweet tweet=”Would you wear a plastic Infinity Gauntlet mug in the theme parks? Is it a hit or miss? #Disneyland #Avengers #Thanos ” quote=”Would you wear a plastic Infinity Gauntlet mug in the theme parks? Hit or miss?” theme=”style3″]
The doughnut cart off the Hub has a couple new options this week. The Wilderness Explorer treat returns along with peanut butter cup and strawberry stuffed options. Oddly, all three are iced in vanilla. I do think it’s great that they keep changing these up every week. The popularity of the doughnuts continues to grow. Now, if they’d just keep up with the demand we’d be thrilled.
We are placing this next item in the WTF category. See if this makes financial sense to you . . . for $5, passholders can buy a map of 4 churro carts. You’ll get a sticker on the map each time you buy one of the specialty PixarFest churros. Once you get all 4, you can redeem the map for a button at the AP Corner in Paradise Gardens (in DCA).
Basically, they are charging you $5 extra so you can buy 4 churros at full price . . . all for a button that costs them just a few cents. We like the new churros . . . but this little game is half-baked. If Disney really wants to offer something to the APs, don’t treat them like fools, offer them a discount for buying churros in bulk. They are overpriced bits of dough as it is for goodness sake. Disney would still make a fortune if they gave the maps away AND offered a discount or a free final churro for completing the map. They’d still be increasing the number of churros sold. There’s nothing special about being asked to pay extra for something anyone can already buy.
The churros themselves are interesting. Have you tried any/or all of them?
Lemon Churro – Town Square
Cocoa Churro – Frontierland
Carrot Cake Churro – New Orleans Square
Donut Icing Specialty Churro – Bugs Land
Beyond the 4 PixarFest churros, there are still more churros for you to try that aren’t on the map.
Rose Gold Churro – Main St.
Light Side/Dark Side Churros – Tomorrowland
These are supposed to look like lightsabers, but they didn’t come with lightsaber hilt wrap, so they are essentially just red and blue colored churros. People were still lined up to get them.
Classic Churro – DCA Carthay Circle
You can still get a basic churro if you want one.
Red/Yellow/Blue Racer Churros – Cozy Cones
[click_to_tweet tweet=”There are a lot of different churro flavors at the Disneyland Resort right now. Which is your favorite? ” quote=”There are a lot of different churro flavors at the Disneyland Resort right now. Which is your favorite? ” theme=”style3″]
Ask Dusty
Reader Ann Stanford wrote in with a request. She said that she and her husband had a disagreement over the weathervane above Peter Pan. One thought it was the crocodile and the other Captain Hook’s ship. You are both right Ann. While the Captain’s ship is indeed above the clock tower over the ride entry, Tick Tock is also to be found just a few rooftops over.
This and That
It was Mother’s Day on Sunday. In years past, Disney gave carnations out to the moms. Nothing this year. But they did have a sign in the shops reminding you to buy your mother a gift. How considerate.
I’m not sure when the hand cart returned, but it’s back.
The Pixar Play Parade continues to work its magic on Main Street. I do love the music for this parade. But very much looking forward to seeing what Disneyland’s new parade will be once PixarFest ends.
There are lots of new purses. We showed some of them last week. But this Ursula purse was new to us.
Dapper dresses remain popular in the parks. We are noticing more and more guests getting dressed up to go to the parks at all times of the year. It’s a fun trend.
Tree replacements continue. The large tree at Rancho Zocalo (which itself was a replacement for an even larger shade tree) has been replaced with a much smaller tree which doesn’t appear to offer any shade beyond its planter.
And across the way at the Stage Door, the large tree on the patio has also been replaced. This one is fairly large, but still needs time to grow in a bit.
The spring colors throughout the park are truly beautiful.
If you didn’t get the memo, Hyperspace Mountain has returned and is thrilling guests. But if you look behind the Hyperspace sign, you’ll see some strange tarps on the building behind the PeopleMover tracks. Not sure what that’s all about.
The Pixar-like clouds in the sky on Sunday made for some visual interest.
Pirates of the Caribbean remains closed until June 8th for its refurbishment and show scene refresh.
Take a gander at how much more open this little corner of Fantasyland looks now that the walls and planters have been removed from in front of Pinocchio. The two tiny trees also serve as stroller parking spots.
The ducklings are growing fest. Snow White spotted a mother duck and her babies crossing a busy walkway in Fantasyland. She stopped and made sure they all made it across safely . . . all while staying in perfect character. Now that’s the sign of a true princess.
Speaking of wildlife, the turtles were sunning themselves in the castle mote yesterday while a couple of Mallards looked on.
In Other News
It was a big week for new roller coasters in SoCal.
Electric Eel – SeaWorld San Diego
SeaWorld opened Electric Eel and I was there to take a spin. I have a huge fear of heights and don’t do looping coasters anymore. . . but they talked me into it and aimed cameras at me. So now the whole world knows what a chicken I am. And I did my very best to channel Mr. Rogers and not use bad language. That wasn’t easy as the ride really took me by surprise.
HangTime – Knott’s Berry Farm
And Knott’s Berry Farm previewed their new dive coaster, HangTime. We’ll have POV of this one for you later this week. But we did take a ride and get some video from the ground for you. It’s a very fun coaster which provides a high amount of thrill but in a smooth way without heavy G-Forces. It’s an upgrade from Boomerang which previously occupied this spot.
Well, that wraps up this update folks. Are you ready to strap on a plastic Infinity Gauntlet? Makes it difficult to eat all those churros. If you get a chance to take a field trip beyond Disney, are you brave enough to conquer HangTime or Electric Eel? Disney’s own Incredicoaster will launch on June 23rd.
Be sure to follow along on social so you don’t miss out on all the fun.
|
You must be logged in to post a comment.