Disneyland Resort Photo & News Report, April 16, 2012
Welcome Back to the Disneyland Resort
Crowds should be much lighter at Disneyland this week and will stay fairly light for the next few weeks. TouringPlans.com can help you navigate the parks with our per-park Crowd Calendar, Lines – Mobile Wait Times App that gives access to current and estimated wait times for attractions, and Touring Plans detailing the best plan of attack for hitting the attractions. Now more than ever, it’s a good time to subscribe to TouringPlans.com to plan your strategy to avoid the crowds!
Below are the predicted resort-wide crowd numbers for select days generated by the TouringPlans professional statisticians as measured for the upcoming week. For the access to the full year and per-park crowd level predictions, visit our Crowd Calendar.
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| Day |
Resort Crowd Prediction
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| Tues, April 17, 2012 |
5 out of 10
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| Weds, April 18, 2012 |
5 out of 10
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| Thurs, April 19, 2012 |
5 out of 10
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| Fri, April 20, 2012 |
7 out of 10
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Here are some quick-hit notes that we hope you’ll find helpful as you prepare your visits for the week:
- Full block outs this Saturday.
- Tuesday will be the lightest day for crowds this week in Disneyland.
- Disney California Adventure is a 5.8 on the Crowd Calendar on Monday.
See Disneyland crowds for the next 365 days.
Get Disneyland wait times on your iPhone, Android, or Smartphone.
Do more. Wait less.
End of Line
After 18 months, one hiatus, and quite a few reconfigurations, ElecTRONica came to a close this past Sunday night.
ElecTRONica, was a night-time dance party held in the Hollywood Backlot area of California Adventure. It began in October of 2010 as a promotion for the motion picture TRON: Legacy. Guests of ElecTRONica were entertained by a live DJ, laser lights and a 3D sneak peak of the movie. Visitors also had the opportunity to play their favorite video games from the 80′s in a replication of Flynn’s Arcade
An informal contest was held each night with guests playing the Wii TRON:Evolution video game.
Outer Circle Wins the TRON City Dance Crew Challenge on ElecTRONica’s Final Night
Sunday night was the final night for ElecTRONica, and while fans of the Tron themed dance party were saying ‘goodbye’ to the 18 month long event, they were also given the opportunity to vote in a dance competition. Disney held the “TRON City Dance Crew Challenge” over the past few weeks leading up to the finals, which were held tonight. Guests were able to vote for their favorite dance team by text message, and Disney just announced the winners of the DISC-OBALL trophy, Outer Circle.
Congratulations to all the teams. Here is a video of Outer Circle from Thursday night’s semi-finals.
Flynn’s Arcade was one of the more popular parts of ElecTRONica. It essentially recreated the 80′s version of the arcade, complete with neon lights, real 80′s vintage video games and music.
End of Line…
Carnation Plaza Gardens
Disneyland to close Carnation Plaza Gardens this Month
It’s now official, Disneyland will be closing the iconic Carnation Plaza Gardens area of Main Street the night of April 30th inorder to begin its transformation into the Princess Fantasy Faire.
Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Chairman Tom Staggs, and George Kalogridis the President of the Disneyland Resort, made the announcement at the 2011 D23 Expo. This quiet corner of Main Street, currently home to high school and community bands, Saturday night swing dancing, and guests looking for a place to rest, will be absorbed into Fantasyland. Disney described the Fantasy Faire in a blog post as an “enchanting village square that will immerse guests in the stories of their favorite princesses”.
Read More —>
Matterhorn Refurbishment
The exterior of the extensive Matterhorn Bobsled refurbishment is wrapping up. The scaffolding is nearly gone, and the walkway between the famous mountain and the Submarine Lagoon is uncovered.
Wild Weather
A huge thunderstorm rolled into the Disneyland area this past friday while I was shooting photos for this update. The storm was so intense that parts of the resort experienced flooding. The thunder and the lightning so close that we saw electrical disturbances with Main Street’s lighting.
I decided to film the intensity of the rain, since it’s actually rare for us to encounter such weather in Southern California, and I’m glad I did! I was able to catch flashes of lighting, very loud cracks of thunder and some of the electrical disturbances on video. Moments after, a huge downpour caused guests to run for cover in the Esplanade.
The downpour seen in the video caused about a foot of flooding near the temporary entrance to Disney California Adventure. The flooding was quickly corrected by an army of Cast Members.
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Pixar Play Parade Set to Return
The Pixar Play Parade is returning to Disney California Adventure this summer.
On what is becoming one of the most anticipated days since Disneyland’s 50th anniversary, the Pixar Play Parade is scheduled return on June 15th; the same day Disney California Adventure relaunches with the opening of Cars Land and Buena Vista Street, the kick off of the Mad T Party and the reopening of the Matterhorn Bobsleds following a six month long refurbishment.
Buena Vista Street‘s construction sent the Pixar Play Parade into hiatus last year. Disney filled the entertainment void with a few small pop-up shows. Pixar Pals, “Monster Mayhem” and “The Incredibles: Heroes in Training” used elements from the Pixar Play Parade to entertain guests near the Hyperion Theater. Those shows will end on April 29th in anticipation for the return of the full parade.
When the Pixar Play Parade does return this summer, it will do so on the longest parade route of any Disney theme park. The route will stretch from the Hollywood Tower of Terror to Paradise Pier near Boardwalk Pizza and Pasta. Google Earth shows the route as just over a half a mile!
A few changes have been made to the Pixar Play Parade, including a reconfigured Omnidroid float. “Jack Jack is now repositioned, and we are introducing Violet to the parade for the first time”, Disney said in a blog post. The parade floats are also being reworked to fit under the Red Car Trolley cables, which were recently installed over Hollywood Blvd and Buena Vista Street. These exact changes are unclear, but it was most likely a factor in the repositioning of Jack Jack.
Buena Vista Street Construction Update
Beautiful wrought iron details
The work above Claribell’s Hand Scooped Ice Cream is very detailed. (note the rain)
The Carthay Circle Theatre Marque has been unveiled.
The wrought iron arch, popcorn lighting and marquee is going to look amazing lit up at night.
The elephants, a reference to the movie Intolerance, which sat on either side of the Hollywood Pictures Backlot entrance (Soon to be known as Hollywood Land) since the park opened in 2001, have been removed.
All that remains for now is the base.
You can buy part of the actual gateway in a pin.
The X-1 jet has been removed from the Taste Pilots’ Grill marquee.
And for some strange reason, part of the sign for Soarin’ Over California is still missing. We first reported the sign missing in the January 16, 2012 Report.
Cars Land
The statue of Stanley, the founder of Radiator Springs, has been installed and unveiled.
The Cadillac Range lights were lit this past week.
Fillmore’s Taste-In has been lit at night as well.
The geodesic dome glows and rotates colors.
Around the Resort
Honda, “Wish List” Sweepstakes display at the Mickey and Friends tram loading area.
The entrance between the Fantasy Tower and the Convention Center at the Disneyland Hotel is closed off for work.
And a window has been installed in the hallway.
I teased out that I found a ‘Hidden Mickey’ on Buena Vista Street this past week. It was pretty much split down the middle of who wanted to see it and who didn’t. So if you want to see the ‘Hidden Mickey’ click HERE.
That’s going to do it for this week’s update. You can see the past updates here.
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