Merry Christmas! Oh, Halloween is on Wednesday? Well, looks like the Disneyland Resort is getting started a little early then. Today we’ll be taking a look at what holiday decorations have popped up early, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge and Mickey and Friends progress, and take a look around California Adventure before Halloween closes up shop.
An Elaborate Nightmare Before Christmas Overlay
It almost feels as though Sandy Claws has run amok with the mixture of Halloween and Christmas.
Most of the decorations in New Orleans Square are up.
And even Santa is already on the Mark Twain! Oh…wait.
In Fantasyland, Small World is all set for Christmas. The lights and the clock face’s hat are ready to go. You can ring out the bells again on November 9th.
California Adventure is not exempt from Sandy Claws, as Grizzly Peak is full of Christmas decorations already.
Santa’s meeting space is already set up. Just waiting for the jolly guy to take a seat.
As much as I love the Christmas decorations in this area, it’s a week too early.
If Christmas merchandise is more your speed, there’s plenty to be found all over the resort. The recently re-opened World of Disney is the main hub for now.
If you’re looking for something festive for your upcoming holiday party (in…two months?), check out these “ugly” sweaters. They can be yours for a price of $65 a piece. Might want to put that one on Sandy Claws’ list.
You can also pick up some holiday-themed home goods at the Disney Home store.
Mickey and Extra Friends Parking
I’m always impressed at the blistering pace that the Mickey and Friends expansion is going.
So much to do, but so much is done…
An interesting thing that happens on weekdays is that things back up that don’t necessarily need to back up. In this case, the security queue at Mickey and Friends. The reason? Some of the security lines were closed.
I was at Magic Mountain this weekend and beyond the fact that virtually now wait for anything during the week, I noticed that their metal detector area has a big cover over it now to keep you from baking while waiting to come in. It’s a nice quality of life enhancement from a park that I rarely see that at, and I’d love to see Disney do something similar. I’ve been in every checkpoint at Disneyland at some point and it’s miserable waiting in the heat. The four umbrellas added to the security queue are almost silly.
Rocks: A Star Wars Story
Speaking of blistering pace, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge is taking shape quickly for its Summer 2019 debut.
There were a lot of construction workers out, which helps give you an idea of the sheer size of the rock facade.
I’m interested in if there’s an in-story explanation as to why the different spires are different colors.
From the Mark Twain, you can see…not a whole lot more, actually. The trees are really growing in and that’s real progress if you ask me.
The texture work on some of these spires is incredible. While still looking vaguely Earth rock-like, they have an otherworldly texture to them, this one, in particular, is interesting.
A nitpick I have, unrelated to Star Wars, is that I would’ve liked to take these photos from the top deck of the Mark Twain. Instead, I was on the second deck. The top deck was closed for some reason, which is somewhat frustrating considering how many people were actually on the ship. It was mentioned to me that maybe they didn’t have a cast member on hand to man the top deck.
Our friends at Nearmap have some aerial photos to share:
Check out this overhead shot, lots to see around the Millenium Falcon as its skeleton starts getting pieced together.
Speaking of which, a closeup of the Falcon
It’s all looking fantastic right now, excited to see everything come together very soon.
Disneyland Hotel
If you’re still looking for some Halloween fun during this time of Christmas-o-ween, there’s pumpkin carving at the Disneyland Hotel.
Other activities include games, festive backdrops, and DLH guests can take a picture with characters in their Halloween costumes. This is the sort of stuff that was at Big Thunder Ranch once upon a time, but it’s great at the DLH regardless.
California Adventure
Welcome to DCA where I seemed to be playing a game of “how many different angles could I shoot the bats on Carthay Circle Theater” all day.
Carthay Circle really anchors the park and is a great sightline, I love finding new places to shoot it from. I’d love for Grizzly Peak to be that way, but the trees still haven’t been trimmed around it.
One of the first things you might notice while entering the park is that the Pixar Pier exhibit at the Blue Sky Cellar still has a bunch of signs up despite being closed.
Pixar Pier
Speaking of Pixar Pier, let’s take a stroll through Paradise Gardens on our way there.
World of Color is still down. There was no mention of World of Color: Season of Light this year so we don’t expect to see it operating until 2019.
The last few times I’ve been here only part of the platform was up. The whole thing was up this time.
There were tons of what I assume are hoses or wires, so something major is being done.
If you’re taking Paradise Gardens to the backside of Pixar Pier you might run into a mob of people. Almost every time I come this way I do. Why? Because the Coco show is so good that there is never a small crowd for it. Every showing is always full no matter what day of the week and what showing I walk by.
I’m going to chalk that as a win for this show and for Coco. Outside of Halloween, there isn’t much Coco around the resort despite its obvious popularity. As much as I’d love to see this show get a better venue, I think the property itself needs a better venue to house it. Maybe the whole dining area here should be absorbed into Pixar Pier and rethemed to Coco. It’s not like they don’t already serve Mexican food four months out of the year and use it for Coco for two. The show could move into a new space similar to Fantasy Faire’s Royal Theater. Whatever happens, it needs a bigger space.
The walls shifted around the upcoming Inside Out area, but there’s still not much to see besides a purple wall.
Our imaginary friend is still nowhere to be found.
Work continues on Jessie’s Critter Carousel. Some of the walls and scrims have come down but we’re still waiting until “2019” to see it open.
Some of Andy’s drawings and “stickers” of Jessie’s critters have been added to the walls.
While walking past the billboards I noticed that the Pixar Pal-a-Round seemed a little strange looking on the Wall-E board.
Luxo Jr. (or Pixar Lamp Jr.?) has been up on top of the Pixar Pier sign for a few days but is still wrapped up.
Cars Land
Every year I’m sad to see the Halloween decorations come down in Cars Land. I mean, it’s only been two years of Halloween at Cars Land but I like them that much.
I think the best time to visit Cars Land is during dusk, right when the lighting ceremony happens.
Just remember, by this time next week all this will be coming down and Christmas will be going up!
This and That
In Hollywood Land there’s a sneak preview of The Nutcracker and the Four Realms.
While you’re there, pick up a Caramel Apple Smoothie at Schmoozies, it’s still my favorite Halloween treat at Disneyland.
Stark has started demolition on the old Bug’s Land. There’s no more sign of bugs around, quite literally, the sign and signposts are all gone.
Part of the show building is being demolished as well.
Brian Pinsky has kept telling me to try the seasonal soup for Halloween at the Pacific Wharf Cafe for a while and I had a chance to grab a (bread) bowl. It’s a Cheddar Bacon Ale soup and it’s deliciously creamy. It reminds me of being back at Epcot and going to the Canada booth during the Food and Wine Festival.
Here’s the current refurbishment calendar for the Disneyland Resort:
Disneyland:
Matterhorn: Now-November 16
It’s a Small World Holiday Install: October 22-November 9th
It’s a Small World Toy Shop: October 22-November 9th
Space Mountain: November 1st
Mark Twain: November 13th-17th
California Adventure:
WOC: TDA
Downtown Disney:
Wetzel’s Pretzels: Now- November 11th
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Thank you for reading everyone! Let us know your thoughts about the holiday mashup at Disneyland.
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