How Newest Ride Proves That Progress Is Impossible Without Change
Walt Disney has countless inspirational quotes that I could have used in the headline for this story, but George Bernard Shaw's words felt more appropriate.
Many Disneyland guests, myself among them, visit partially for the familiar sense of history and nostalgia that the park offers. It was, after all, the only Disney park that Walt himself spent time in. When you walk down Main Street, ...
How Opening Day Of Mickeys Runaway Railway Still Kept The Attraction Hidden
The Walt Disney Company has a milestone year ahead of it, as the House of Mouse soon hits the one hundredth year of its existence. With that anniversary coming to pass, Disneyland kicked off its 100 Years of Wonder celebration at the California theme park with the opening of Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway on Friday. However, not everyone at the parks that day were given the chance to get a closer ...
How Rides Will Change Under COVID19 State Guidelines
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Riding on Space Mountain, soaring on Dumbo the Flying Elephant or journeying into the Haunted Mansion will be a far different experience for Disneyland visitors in the age of coronavirus. An in-depth set of state guidelines provide California theme parks with a roadmap for reopening rides and attractions following more than a year of coronavirus closures. The COVID-19 health and ...
How Sleeping Beautys Storybook Helped Set Its Animation Apart 65 Years Ago
In the mid-1950s - as scaffolding rose on Disneyland and Walt Disney further became a household name for TV viewers across the country - work was underway on Walt Disney Animation Studios ' next major fairy tale: 1959 's Sleeping Beauty, which celebrates its 65th anniversary on Monday. “Today, Sleeping Beauty is considered one of the most artistically-acclaimed and important films ever ...
How Southern California Attractions Like Disneyland Cater To Theme Park Junkies
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Can theme parks become even more addictive? That's what parks in Southern California and around the country are hoping to do with their new crop of attractions for this summer. Anyone in business knows it's more cost-effective to get your current customers to come back and buy more than it is to find a new customer for every sale. So park owners always design attractions with the hope that visitors ...
How Star Tours Inspired The Last Jedi
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The new Star Wars trilogy has been taking many cues from the film's that preceded it. However, it turns out that one element of Star Wars: The Last Jedi actually owes its existence to a Star Wars theme park attraction. Near the end of the movie, during the battle on the planet Crait, we follow the Millennium Falcon as it is chased by a squad of TIE Fighters into a fissure in the planet's surface. In one of ...
How Star Tours Saved Disneyland At A Low Point In The Park History
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Disneyland was struggling for new ride ideas in the 1980s after a slate of mediocre Disney films when Walt Disney Imagineering turned to Star Wars creator George Lucas for a boost of creative inspiration that would eventually lead to Star Tours coming to Tomorrowland. “I wanted to have an involvement in Tomorrowland,” Lucas said in a new Disney+ series. “I thought that was a portion of the ...
How Star Wars Canon Now Works In Disneys Theme Parks
When Disney created Star Wars Galaxy 's Edge at its theme parks, the aim was to let fans step into Star Wars. This happened both literally, by people moving their bodies through the area, but also figuratively, because everything happening in the land took place in the overall Star Wars canon. At least, that was the aim when Galaxy 's Edge opened in 2019. Park guests were visiting the planet ...
How Star Wars Has Taken Over Disneyland
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Officially, Star Wars Land at the Disney Parks is still a few years away, but anyone visiting Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif., will notice that Disney's latest franchise has invaded nearly every aspect of the resort. Disneyland visitors will notice that Star Wars is, literally, everywhere, including in merchandising, food and park attractions. And the experience begins before one ever enters ...
How Star Wars Land Will Give Tomorrowland A Chance To Return To Its Roots
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Now that we've had some time to recover from the R2D2-style head-spins we all did after the announcement that a Star Wars-themed land will be coming to Disneyland, we've honed in on why the news is so good. Not only will the 14-acre Star Wars Land introduce a much-needed new experience (the last major addition to Disneyland park was Mickey's Toontown, opened in 1993), it will also create space, pun ...
How The Disneyland Strike Of 1984 Changed The Magic Kingdom Forever
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Disneyland custodian Al Ramos came back from vacation in September 1984 with no work to return to, save for walking the picket line outside his job. The company wanted a two-year wage freeze, no health-insurance benefits for part-time workers and the freedom to outsource jobs. Members of a five-union coalition representing the theme park's custodians, ticket sellers, ride operators, sales clerks and ...
How The Haunted Mansion Will Change When Disneyland Reopens
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The 999 ghosts that call Disneyland 's Haunted Mansion home have been busy redecorating the classic dark ride attraction and the grounds surrounding the estate while the mortals were away during the yearlong coronavirus closure of the Anaheim theme park. Disneyland 's Haunted Mansion renovation brings new draperies, carpet, wallpaper and decor inside the attraction and fresh paint and plants ...
How The Jungle Cruise Movie Helped Bring Change To Ride
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A single Instagram post in 2017 caused a momentary panic in the Disney community. Dwayne Johnson, standing in front of a Herb Ryman-drawn map of the initial proposal for Disneyland, stated that he and his production company were partnering with Walt Disney Imagineering - the secretive division of the company responsible for theme park experiences - to “reengineer and redesign” the Jungle ...
How The Rise Of The Resistance Escape Pod Works In Star Wars Galaxys Edge
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Walt Disney Imagineering reveals how the dramatic Rise of the Resistance escape pod sequence works during a new Disney+ show that was offered behind-the-scenes access inside the new attraction coming to Disneyland 's Star Wars: Galaxy 's Edge. The sixth episode of “The Imagineering Story” docuseries on Disney+ debuting Friday, Dec. 13 shows how the Disney creative team combined three rides ...
How The Star Wars Galaxys Edge Virtual Queue Works
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While many lucky Jedis with reservations have already been frolicking around Disneyland's newest Star Wars attraction Galaxy's Edge, the rest of the world will get a chance as well June 24 - and Disneyland is doing its best to make sure lines don't turn it into the most frustrating place in the galaxy. It's no shock that many Disneyland diehards and even once-a-year visitors lament ...
How These 3 Families Ended Up Working Together On Main Street Electrical Parade
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Identical twin sisters, a father and son, and a mother and daughter all have one thing in common, they are all cast members associated with the current run of Disneyland's Main Street Electrical Parade. Twins The twin sisters, Hailey and Taylor Benson, started dancing at the age of three. Now in college, they decided to try out as dancers for the parade. "We auditioned, and both got the same ...
How They Maintain The Disneyland Railroad
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Every night, Disneyland Railroad's maintenance crew gives steam engines and passenger cars a detailed inspection to keep them in top running shape. Here's what happens: When a train is backed into the roundhouse, the engineer and fireman shut off the fire and make sure all of the valves are closed. Any leftover steam is kept in the boiler to make the engine easier to fire up in the morning. ...
How Tianas Bayou Adventure Will Expand The Story Of Disneys First Black Princess
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Tiana, Disney 's first Black princess, is getting her own attraction - one that will expand the character 's story as well as bring more diversity to Disney 's theme parks. Tiana 's Bayou Adventure, currently slated to open in late 2024, will replace both Disney World and Disneyland 's version of the classic Splash Mountain attraction, which features elements that originated from the ...
How To Actually Be Happy At The Happiest Place On Earth
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School is out, the kids are full of energy and expectations and parents across Utah are making summer plans. Gasoline prices have driven many Utahns to choose Disneyland as their summer destination. Here are five tips and little-known secrets for making your Magic Kingdom visit more memorable. 1. Know when to go The crowds at Disneyland are often a concern for parents. The serious vacationer ...
How To Avoid Crowds And Lines At Disneyland
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I'm not a fan of crowds. I like vacant beaches, empty parking lots and amusement parks with short lines. I suppose crowds and Disneyland are somewhat synonymous. As a lifelong Southern California resident, I have been to Disneyland countless times. Over the years, I have discovered a few ways to avoid crowds and lines at Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure. Is Disneyland Crowded Today? ...
How To Avoid The Disney Parking Hassle
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The Disneyland Resort runs nearly 29,000 parking spaces for its visitors and employees, but guests still sometimes get backed up or have to park far away on crowded days. And this week, they had to start paying $2 more - a total of $14 - to park a regular car there. With the ongoing expansion of Disney's California Adventure, Disney has been working to ensure that enough space is available for ...
How To Beat Crowds Before Star Wars Galaxys Edge Opens
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You've done the research, combined it with common sense and picked the perfect time to visit Disneyland in order to beat the crowds: midweek in the dead of winter. Yet you're at the end of a 90-minute line for Space Mountain, wondering what the heck happened. Your desire for short lines and opens spaces diametrically opposes Disney's effort to fill its parks each day. Its seasonal decorations and ...
How To Beat The Crowds At Disneyland
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School's almost out, and you're thinking of dashing down to Disneyland with the kids for a few days of fun and fantasia. Just you - and many, many others. On a summer day, tens of thousands of people will push through the turnstiles at Southern California's sibling theme parks, Disneyland and California Adventure. Everywhere you look, you'll find lines growing faster than Pinocchio's nose - for ...
How To Build A Mountain
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Get this: in the middle of sun-drenched Orlando, Fla. The Walt Disney Co. is erecting a 200-foot-high replica of snow-covered Mount Everest. It's a showcase attraction scheduled to open in 2006 at Disney's Animal Kingdom theme park. The premise: Visitors board an old mountain railway headed to the foot of Mount Everest. As the train climbs higher into "the Himalayas," it passes thick bamboo forests, ...
How To Celebrate Your Anniversary So It Is Romantic And Fun
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Your anniversary is coming up, and you're on the lookout for the most romantic and fun way to celebrate. For Disney lovers, heading to the Magic Kingdom may be an obvious choice, but you're wondering exactly how to celebrate your anniversary at Disneyland. Of course, there's no right or wrong way to do Disneyland, but there are a few things you can plan to do in the park to ensure you have the ...
How To Create Lifetime Disneyland Memories
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Going to Disneyland on vacation is one of those memories, as a kid you remember as the perfect time. A trip to the Mouse House was never complete without those little things: a pair of ears, a couple of pictures and the excitement. It was a childlike feeling of being on a vacation with the family that was so very special! It is a feeling that today, even as an adult, is cherished. It never occurred ...
How To Do Disney On A Dime
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Before I start, I'd better forewarn you that while it's definitely possible to save money at Disneyland, it will never be cheap to visit this magical land of mouse and men. Take it from a former 11-year Southern California resident who's been to Disneyland more times than she can count. If there's a discount I'm on top of it, but it still costs a pretty penny to visit. The sheer happiness of ...
How To Do Disneyland In A Day And Not Lose Your Mind
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Here's the story: you want to wish upon a star and take your kids to Disneyland, but you want to make it as pixie dust-magical, efficient and meltdown-free as possible. I've always had a soft spot for Disneyland ever since my parents first took me when was I was seven years old. I loved it then and have always wanted to return with my own kids. My wife and I have managed to pull off the magic a few ...
How To Do Disneyland On A Budget
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Disneyland, the place where dreams are made and magic is created. And also a place where a whole lot of cash also seems to magically disappears into thin air. Yep, the Disney experience has never been a cheap one even if it continues to be hugely popular. In fact, each morning as the gates open, 44,000 people arrive to check out the 85-acre park outside of Los Angeles alone. But there are ...
How To Eat Healthily At Disneyland
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The classic brown bag: Pre-Planning Who says you have to eat Disneyland food when you visit Disneyland? For most of us, a Disneyland® trip isn't something that happens spur of the moment. We buy the tickets, plan the car ride, and book the hotel-so why not pre-plan our food as well? "Paper bagging it" at the Happiest Place on Earth is the most practical alternative to buying food that is not ...
How To Eat Vegetarian At Disneyland And California Adventure
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Disney fans and animal lovers (no, we're not talking fans of Simba) might have had a hard time finding vegetarian eats on visits to the park in the past, but thanks to the increasing popularity of meat-free diets, the folks at Disneyland have decided to point out a few more options for those steering clear of animal protein. In a recent post over at the Disney Blogs, one writer points out some of the ...
