I Was On The Haunted Mansion During A Ride Malfunction And It Was The Best Experience I Have Ever Had
There are people who like Haunted Mansion, and then there are people who, if they spend a day at Disneyland without a visit (or three) to the park 's “999 happy haunts,” leave feeling like the day was a total failure. Given that I wrote the previous sentence, it probably isn 't hard for you to decide which category I fall into. The attraction isn 't just my favorite ride in the park, it 's my favorite ride ...
Everything New Coming In 2022
Disneyland spent nearly all of 2020, and the first part of 2021 closed, which means that 2022 will be the first time since 2019 that the Disneyland Resort will have the chance to put together a full year of fun for guests. 2022 will also be the first year in quite some time that the resort is not expecting to open a major attraction or new land, but that doesn 't mean there isn 't going to be some fun to ...
Disney Announces Splash Mountain Will Soon Reopen After Refurbishment Closure
Pirates of the Caribbean, “it 's a small world,” Matterhorn Bobsleds, Haunted Mansion, Jungle Cruise, Indiana Jones Adventure, Peter Pan 's Flight, Buzz Lightyear 's Astro Blasters, Roger Rabbit 's Toon Spin, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Astro Orbiter, Disneyland Railroad, Space Mountain, Dumbo the Flying Elephant, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run, Mr. Toad 's Wild ...
How Attraction Wait Times Have Changed Since Reopening
The changes in wait times at Disneyland and Disney California Adventure since the yearlong pandemic closure read like a timeline of the phased reopening of the Anaheim theme parks and the roller coaster ride of the COVID-19 pandemic 's ups and downs. Thrill Data, which uses big data and statistical analysis to track theme park attraction wait times, has been collecting wait time data for ...
Newest Addition To Main Street USA Is A Beautiful Tribute To A Disney Legend
Normally, when something new comes along that changes an iconic part of Disneyland, there are at least a few people who will be upset by it. However, this time I think we 'll all be in agreement that the newest addition to Main Street U.S.A. is a welcome one, as Dave Smith, the Founder of the Walt Disney Archives, has now been immortalized with a window on Main Street. Yesterday in a ceremony ...
Documentary Critical Of Disney From The Disney Family
Three years ago, Abigail E. Disney began to publicly excoriate the Walt Disney Company for its “obscene” pay inequality, with Robert A. Iger, who was then chief executive, at one end of the scale and hourly theme park workers at the other. The company founded by her grandfather and great-uncle repeatedly returned fire, at one point calling her assertions a “gross and unfair exaggeration of the facts.” ...
History Of Blue Bayou Disneyland Most Popular And Perennially Booked Restaurant
You decide you want to have a meal at Blue Bayou, the restaurant in Disneyland 's New Orleans Square inside the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. But you can 't just eat there whenever you want. You need a reservation. So you pick up your phone and open the Disneyland app to book a spot, only to find there 's no availability - not for a single table on a single day at any point in the future. So ...
Review Strawberry Sweetheart Tea Is A Sweet Slushy Valentines Day Treat
The season of love is approaching once again, and Disneyland Resort is ready to go with a new Strawberry Sweetheart Tea at the Red Rose Taverne in Fantasyland. But this concoction may not exactly be what you 'd expect from the name! Strawberry Sweetheart Tea - $6.49 Black Tea, with Lemon sweetened with Strawberries We were rather shocked at first when the Cast Member ...
Splash Mountain Is Closing Is The Song Of The South Story Finally Going Away
Disneyland first announced changes to Splash Mountain nearly two years ago, with an intention to make the ride more inclusive. While the company has maintained that the plans are still in place, it doesn't appear that major changes are happening any time soon. Plans to remove the Brer Rabbit theming on Splash Mountain, the log flume water ride that opened in 1989 in Disneyland and 1992 in ...
15 Items To Bring On A Trip And What To Leave At Home
After shutting down for over a year during the pandemic, Disneyland is officially back and fully reopened. While vaccination against COVID-19 isn 't required to visit the resort, Disney recommends that guests are either vaccinated or receive a negative test before entering the resort. Masks for guests ages 2 and older are required indoors and recommended outdoors. Packing is always a major ...
Behind The Scenes At 21 Royal Most Luxurious Dining Experience
In 2017, Disneyland debuted 21 Royal, a first-of-its kind experience combining the best of its culinary and service talent to create an extraordinary dinner experience. But what can you expect from dinner here? Once you leave your car with the valet at Disney 's Grand Californian Hotel, you are privately escorted to the restaurant, locating in a space which was intended to be Walt Disney 's ...
Secret Way To Make This Ride Even More Terrifying
While Walt Disney World is a huge Resort featuring tons of attractions within its four Parks, many Guests prefer the iconic Disneyland when on going on vacation. Something about Disneyland is so magical and so, well, “Disney”. From classic rides like Mr. Toad 's Wild Ride, Space Mountain , and Peter Pan 's Flight to the original Sleeping Beauty Castle at the end of Main Street U.S.A., Disneyland is truly a ...
U.S. Grants Disney Patent For Virtual World Simulator For Theme Parks
At Disneyland, you can find Main Street, U.S.A., Adventureland, Fantasyland, Frontierland, Tomorrowland and perhaps soon a Virtualland. What You Need To Know The U.S. Patent Office on Dec. 28 granted The Walt Disney Co. a patent to create a virtual-world simulator in a real-world venue The patent could mean the creation of a virtual theme park or similar type of ...
Fire Alarm Evacuates Disney Restaurant Guests Into Rain For Over 1 Hour
If you are ever visiting a Disney Park, it is rare that something will go wrong. That being said, even in a world of fantasy such as this one, Guests will sometimes experience real-world upsets. We have written about attraction evacuations multiple times, but it is much rarer for a building or restaurant to be evacuated. Typically, if a ride breaks down and it is unsafe for the attraction to ...
A Special Kind Of Weird
Howard Johnson 's Anaheim branch hotel is less than half a mile from the Disneyland Resort, a roughly 8 minute walk. The hotel also has a webcam pointing at various spots at the Resort. The main spots are in Disneyland, with the Matterhorn acting as Sleeping Beauty Castle, so to speak, having the whole mountain and a zoom in on one of the Bobsleds. The mountain is featured prominently in the overview of ...
Growing Up In Disneyland
Some of you may have attended one of my many presentations at D23 or Disneyana Fan Club events over the past twenty years. My brother, David, has joined me as we walked the attendees through the wonderful life we had growing up in a celebrity family and Disneyland. Dad owned his own restaurant in Frontierland from 1957 to 1962 - a most unusual part of the Park 's history. Well, now I 've got a new book ...
Tropical Hideaway Now Dole Whip Up Our Lives
There are many fortuitous foods that you can consume as the new year begins. Particular legumes? So lucky, it is often said. Various fruits? Healthful and hope-filled for the future. A Dole Whip, like you might queue for in front of Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room on a toasty July afternoon? Any pineapple person and/or aficionado of icy-cold treats can testify that the Dole Whip is among ...
Meet Maynard Smith The 25-Year Disneyland Employee Who Is An Attraction Himself
It's unlikely that anyone who met Maynard Smith at Disneyland would forget him. Whether he's working at the Enchanted Tiki Room or hosting as his "evil twin" at the Haunted Mansion, Smith brings his many comical voices and a unique presence to work on every shift. He's so popular, in fact, that his fans created a Facebook page called "Maynard, the amazing Disneyland Castmember!" with 2,050 members ...
Another Fantastic Dream
Fantasmic! Will forever be my favorite Disney Park show. So, when I heard that the show was getting an upgrade on effects and scenes, as one might be able to imagine, I was happy about the new effects and iffy about the new scenes, especially when I heard that "Peter pan" would be replaced with "Pirates of the Carribean." Believe me, "Pirates" is one of the best movies ever made, but come on, leave the ...
Disneyland And Imagineering Part 14
There's Got to be a Morning After When we last left off, Walt Disney had made it through Opening Day. It wasn't all that he had hoped it would be, but he made it. "Black Sunday" was supposed to be a relatively tame press preview. Instead it resembled more of an all out free-for-all -- the park being besieged by triple attendance that was more than expected. From a certain point of view, this was ...
Every Town USA
The final stop on my lovely tour of Disneyland, at least until "Star Wars Land" is completed, is the entrance to the entire park. Said to be inspired by Walt's hometown of Marceline, Missouri, "Main Street, U.S.A" is designed to look like the idealized center of a town at around 1910. One of the designers, Harper Goff, showed Walt some pictures of his childhood home in Colorado and Walt liked the ...
Disneyland And Imagineering Part 13
Disneyland, the idea, came from the mind of Walt Disney, but Disneyland, the theme park, was a collaborative effort. It took a great many men and women to create it. Since all men are created equal, everyone who contributed should be credited. I've known about C.V. Wood for many years, and although he was not an Imagineer, he was a land developer who made significant contributions in terms of sales and ...
A Sprinkle Of Pixie Dust
"Fantasyland" is said to be Walt Disney's favorite Land. And it's tough to blame him. "Sleeping Beauty Castle" welcomes you, as both the main entrance and park icon. "King Arthur Carrousel" was built in 1875 and operated in Ontario, Canada from 1922 until 1955 when it was relocated to Disneyland. Until 1975, only one horse was white, and now all of them are. Merlin hosted a ceremony that determined which ...
Disneyland And Imagineering Part 12
Although Disney had a dislike for the typical carnivals of the time, it wasn't so much the content, but the environment and the lack of attention to detail. Long before the park was built, after one of his frequent visits to Griffith Park with his daughters, he stated, "Things could be done better than this. A park should be designed for total family enjoyment. Besides a merry-go-round, there could be ...
Hang With Mickey And Friends
"Mickey's Toontown" is designed cartoonishly. Everything from "Mickey's House" to the post office looks, well, goofy. Opening in 1993, it was inspired by "ToonTown" in the 1988 movie "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" It was originally planned to be behind "Main Street, USA" and called "Hollywoodland." "Hollywoodland" combined the concept of "Mickey's Birthdayland," which was to be in the Florida park for the ...
I Was A Real Life Mermaid
Did you know there used to be live mermaids at Disneyland in the late 1950s and 1960s? It's true! In this excerpt from Chris Strodder's book The Disneyland Book of Lists, one of these former Disneyland mermaids shares her tale. When the new Submarine Voyage launched in mid-1959, eight costumed mermaids splashed around in Tomorrowland's lagoon as part of the celebratory festivities. ...
Disneyland And Imagineering Part 11
The Storm before the Storm It was becoming increasingly clear that the year-long struggle to get the park opened was wearing on everyone involved. No one was more affected than Disney himself. Many around him had noticed a change in his behavior. He seemed uneasy and unsure of himself. His wife Lillian was worried that with previous warnings from his doctor about stress, the pressure would lead to a ...
Hunny In The Briar Patch
"Critter Country" was originally called the "Indian Village." Until 1971, that section of Frontierland contained Native American shows and attractions. The following year, it became "Bear Country," the first major expansion since the "Haunted Mansion" and cost $8 million. "Bear Country" was themed like the forest of the Pacific North-West. The centerpiece attraction was "Country Bear Jamboree" and was also ...
Adventure Awaits
When "Adventureland" was first conceived, it was to be based on Walt's award winning documentaries on Africa and Asia. "Jungle Cruise" was the star attraction until "Swiss Family Treehouse" opened in 1962. The inspiration for the "Jungle Cruise" includes the True-Life Adventure documentary, "The African Lion" and the film, "The African Queen" (the name for the Land was to be "True-Life Adventureland" ...
Disneyland And Imagineering Part 10
"I know it's here somewhere" I'm not sure if that's exactly what was said upon first sight of where the Rivers of America used to be, but I'm sure it was something similar. Maybe with a little more salt. A lot of the excavation for the layout of the park revolved around removing existing trees and vegetation, digging out what would be the basin for the riverbed that would become the Rivers of America. ...
Todays Future
During the rush of getting the Park constructed, "Tomorrowland" was the last land finished. Budget cuts didn't allow all of its attractions to be opened that first day. One of those cuts was to use the "Nautilus" sets from "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" as a walk-through. When it closed in 1966, the organ belonging to Captain Nemo was moved to the ballroom of the "Haunted Mansion." For the first four ...
