It was Valentine’s Day this week, but you wouldn’t have known it if you were at Disneyland! I visited on Wednesday, it was the perfect time of year/the week for a trip to the park, with low wait times, sunny weather, and another week of AP Days. Well, that is, unless you parked at Mickey and Friends on Monday.

Getting Toasty At Mickey And Friends Parking Structure



The Mickey and Friends parking structure was in the news this week, as several cars caught on fire. Things were quickly taken care of, but several people had a bad day when they returned to their car after a day at the parks.

Here’s what it looked like when I visited two days later:

Main Street USA

I love days like Wednesday at Disneyland, especially on Main Street. Most of the time when I visit lately, I can’t enjoy Main Street because it’s so packed full of people. That was not the case for me this week, but it was back to packed as usual by Sunday.

Being able to actually enjoy this land is always a treat. Considering I spent my entire College Program doing Custodial on Main Street at the Magic Kingdom in Orlando, days like this were always my favorite days to come to work. I might be a little biased because of my residency on Main Street, but seeing people walk down the street not with panicked faces, but happy expressions is really what a visit to Main Street USA and Disneyland is all about.

…I also really liked when it wasn’t so busy as it was a chance for fun (and sometimes funny) guest interaction. Ask me about it sometime.

AP Days

Annual Pass Days are back in full swing, but this time Disney has opted to move it to the Starcade in Tomorrowland…for whatever reason. I don’t truly understand why they decided to move the event to busy Tomorrowland, considering the space over in Hollywood Land at California Adventure has always worked well and had, well, more space.

Coming from a Cast Member who spent a lot of time on the streets (that sounds funny now that I’ve written it down…but “Main Street Streets” is legit what my schedule used to say), Tomorrowland is not a great place to put an event, especially considering Tomorrowland in Disneyland is considerably more crowded than Magic Kingdom’s or any other land at any Disney Park. The silver lining is that the Starcade was just sitting empty, so at least we get to use the space again. Seems everything is Electrical Parade themed, which I’m totally okay with. The buttons are in-demand though, when I went back to Tomorrowland later on, they didn’t have any left. Whether that’s because they only have so many per day or in general remains to be seen. The designs should change every week on Friday though, as when I was there on Wednesday it was the turtle with the sombrero, and now it’s the Cheshire Cat.

The main attraction at AP Days is a rare character encounter. When I visited, they had Robin Hood and Friar Tuck out. Later on, Prince John and the Sheriff of Nottingham were out. Robin Hood is an interesting pick for a rare encounter considering a lot of children have likely never seen the film, but lets be serious here…a lot of the people in line were adults, and I’d venture to say that most were older than I am. Nonetheless, I was happy to see the old fox out. It’ll be interesting to see if they’ll be swapping Robin Hood characters for another set soon.

Call me a nitpicker if you will, but I’m incredibly peeved at the crappy lighting they set up for this photo opportunity. The lights aren’t bright enough and the colors are off.

There’s a few bits of Annual pass merchandise to buy, but none of it seemed to be anything to write home about. You can also pick up your AP merchandise at Disneyana as well.

Tomorrowland

The land of Tomorrow is still in Season of the Force mode. It’s still strange for me to hear Star Wars music instead of the Tomorrowland loop.

Construction finished underneath the PeopleMover track and moved to Star Tours. This will likely be for MaxPass expansion.

Have a look at wait times during early afternoon on Wednesday, and definitely balk at that short lived 20 minute wait time for Space Mountain. Interestingly enough, Star Tours remained under 30 minutes for most of the day when I’ve been used to about an hour lately. I essentially walked onto it in the evening.

Fantasyland

Over in Fantasyland, Matterhorn is still under refurbishment for an undetermined amount of time. They have nice signs to read about the history of the attraction if you have time to kill.

Usually Disney announces when attractions are coming back from refurbishment, so it’s interesting to see that there is no return date for Matterhorn yet. We can only speculate at this point, but I seriously hope they do more to remedy the jerkiness and overall uncomfortable ride and seat designs.





Wait times were also fairly low in Fantasyland for most of the day. Some lines kicked up by the time I returned later in the day, Peter Pan was a 30 minute wait.

The Heraldry shop is still lying dormant for the moment, mostly being used as an impromptu stroller parking area.

The Snow White Grotto is still under refurbishment. I didn’t walk back there, but I assume not much has changed since all the dwarves were stripped off. Hopefully they’ll fix Snow White’s Wishing Well while they’re working in the area, as I haven’t heard Snow’s voice singing from it in a very long time.

I’m happy to report that the water bottle over the doorway is now gone, a few months after we first initially noticed it.

It’s strange what you find when there’s not overcrowding, but I happened to walk into the ADA version of the Sleeping Beauty Castle Walkthrough on a whim. It’s tastefully done and lets guests who can’t make it up the steps watch a computer generated video of the walkthrough and see one of the storybooks while sitting on the provided bench.

Beauty and the Beast

Fantasyland and Fantasy Faire will be hosting Beauty and the Beast promotions soon. The first is already up in the form of “Royal Reception,” a Beauty and the Beast-centric shop between Pinocchio’s Daring Journey, and Village Haus.

Mostly standard merchandise, but it is much quieter than other stores around Disneyland and is a one-stop shop if all you want is Beauty and the Beast merchandise. Oddly enough, though, I didn’t seem to find much merchandise from the new film, most is from the 1991 film. The Belle doll looks like Justin Beiber with long hair, which would work better in some sort of Chucky remake more than as a children’s doll.

Other promotions will include an overlay for the Village Haus restaurant which will turn it into the “Red Rose Taverne.” It will include murals from the film (probably much like the murals from Pinocchio that are currently on the walls), and a new menu. The menu is definitely a welcome change, as the menu at Village Haus currently is pretty boring and mostly tasteless. It is confirmed though, that Disney will be selling the “Grey Stuff,” which is definitely going to be a hot seller. It’s something I miss from my time at WDW, and I’m glad to see it coming here (I also miss the Village Haus menu of flatbread pizzas at WDW as well, but that’s besides the point). Village Haus hadn’t changed yet when I visited.

Maurice’s Treats in Fantasy Faire will host promotional items as well in the form of “a twist on the current twists.” No clue as to what they mean by that, but it was stated that we will have dipping sauces for the twists soon, one actually being the “Grey Stuff.” That’ll be an interesting combination, as the “Grey Stuff” is generally served on a sweet dessert like a cupcake or a brownie, and the twists are definitely more pastry than sweet.

Gaston should also begin roaming around soon. I’ve always wanted to bring him an egg carton to sign and have him tell me how is he able to stomach five dozen eggs a day.

A cast member told me to check back next week for the promotions, but there’s no official word on when it’ll all happen.

Frontierland

In the Old West, we’ve got the usual Star Wars Land construction going on behind it, but also some changes at Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. There’s a new shack over the entrance, probably for upcoming MaxPass integration.

Adventureland

It was around 80°F in Anaheim on Wednesday (probably the hottest day of the year so far…which is hilarious), so it was a good day to stop and get a Dole Whip, especially considering it was a walk-up almost all day. They currently have a Moana sipper available for purchase, which will come with pineapple juice. Personally, I don’t think I could drink that much pineapple juice at one time, but if you really want the cup…

Speaking of Moana, the Master Wayfinder seems to been called back to the sea. I didn’t realize she was leaving, but hopefully she comes back in some capacity considering how popular her meet-and-greet was.

Moana may be gone, but you can still try out the pineapple parfait with a chocolate heart of TeFiti on top. I actually decided to give it a try (I’m a sucker for limited time food), and I was surprised that it was pretty good. I can’t eat large amounts of things that are overly sweet (so, like the majority of standard treats at Disneyland), but this one wasn’t too bad, especially with the cake mixed in to soak up some of the mousse. 8/10 would recommend if you had extra money.

New Orleans Square

It’s almost Mardi Gras in New Orleans Square. The decorations have been up since the holidays ended, but Mardi Gras is next week, on the 28th.

Jack Sparrow and the gang are still on hiatus until March 16th.

Most of the tarps are down around Tom Sawyer’s Island. I’m happy because I can take photos at this angle again!

I noticed something interesting, that you can clearly see Tom and Huck’s treehouse from out in front of Haunted Mansion. Not sure if I just missed it in the past, but it looks inviting.

The Sailing Ship Columbia is still under refurbishment, but it’s starting to look nice with it’s new rigging.

Compared to last week where Haunted Mansion was 100 minutes in the middle of the day, I’d say wait times on Wednesday were a huge improvement.

I noticed this a few weeks ago, but line route is different at the Mint Julep Bar. It goes through the dining area instead of filling up the walkway when it’s long. It’s also similar at the Royal Street Veranda as well, the line wraps around the bridge over Pirates’ queue instead of right through all the tables of people eating. A nice touch, really, as it helps alleviate traffic, and particularly at the Veranda, it alleviates people crowding your table while you’re just trying to eat some gumbo.

If you hadn’t noticed now, Mansion is my favorite attraction to photograph, so expect anytime I’m working on the Photo Update to see plenty of photos of the attraction.

I didn’t take any photos in Critter Country, but the only thing going on over there is Star Wars Land construction around the Hungry Bear Restaurant. Darth Daver has you covered for photos of progression of that project, and you can check out his latest update here.

Limited Time Magic

If you haven’t stopped by to see the return of the Electrical Parade, it’s still happening until June. Even though I watched the thing every single night for nine months during my College Program, it’s still fun to go see, but I recommend getting there early as it pulls in big crowds!

I’m still surprised how an almost 45 year-old parade can drum up almost as many crowds as a new one, but it really shows you how magical the Electrical Parade is for a lot of people. I hope they don’t scrap it after its run ends in June.

When you finish watching this classic parade, definitely check out the other returning classic, Remember…Dreams Come True fireworks! Disney added some projections that help enhance the show, bringing it up to speed with Disneyland Forever. Make sure you check the schedule before you go though, as Disneyland has shortened hours and may not be showing it every night, as I learned when I arrived and the park closed at 9 with no fireworks. Oh no…guess I just have to go to Disneyland again.

California Adventure

Across the esplanade, California Adventure was a bit more busy than Disneyland was. Part of that could be that several attractions are closed, and DCA is a park that needs more attractions to eat up the crowds. Unfortunately, it seems to almost always be struggling, even at full attraction operation, but Disney does have a few plans to remedy that in the near future…

The meat of that ongoing overcrowding battle is bringing Marvel into the park. Unfortunately, what we’ve been seeing of the first big Marvel push thus far isn’t that impressive.

Guardians of the Galaxy Mission: Breakout! is set to open on May 27th, but just from what the facade looks like, it looks chaotic to me. The exposed area is likely where the sign is going to go, so it might break up the unimpressive parts. Imagineering usually does a bang-up job of that kind of stuff in the end.

I’m excited to see what they do with a great property like Guardians of the Galaxy, but I’m not impressed so far with the exterior of the building. I guess the silver lining is that they announced I can go meet Groot at the Summer of Heroes promotion if I don’t like Mission Breakout.

There’s more Beauty and the Beast to be had in Hollywood Land at the Sunset Showcase. It’s just a preview, but if you were on the fence on if the new live action film was going to hold a candle to the original 1991 animated film, this is one good way of being convinced.

The props from the film are neat. It certainly gives the space a little more than just doors and red carpet.

Wait times were a little higher overall at California Adventure, but most of the smaller attractions had very little wait. It didn’t take long to get on Screamin’ this past Wednesday.

The Paradise Garden Grill is still serving the Lunar New Year menu. The short ribs are pretty good, albeit a little pricy for what you get. I didn’t like the almond milk tea though, it was incredibly strong.

Redwood Creek Challenge Trail and Grizzly River Rapids are still down for refurbishments. You should be able to earn your Wilderness Explorer badges again this week, but if you’re looking to take a trip down the river, you’re going to have to wait until the end of March.

A reminder that the current version of Disney Junior is leaving soon. Dusty wrote about the more heartbreaking story of why it’s changed in last week’s update HERE.

Looks like they’re adding FastPass for Midway Mania on Paradise Pier near the Don Tomas turkey leg stand.

And The Rain Rain Rain Came Down Down Down…

Disneyland on Friday looked like it was essentially taken out of the classic Winnie The Pooh film, as there were flash floods all over Anaheim. Brian Pinsky was nice enough to provide a few photos of what it looked like around the resort after the heaviest rain.

When the rain comes, the crowds leave. It’s quite magical seeing the parks empty and reflective. I had a family friend come to Disneyland just to get an AP button, and she could barely get from Downtown Disney Parking to Tomorrowland. She was disappointed though, as apparently when they ran out of the turtle on Wednesday, there were no buttons on Thursday, and then they started the Cheshire Cat button earlier than anticipated.

Main Street was flooded up to guest’s ankles and they had to slosh their way through the Hub. It was even worse when my friend went to the Honda Center after her Disney adventure, as the rain was torrential and everything was flooded. With the stadium being cold for the hockey game, it was certainly a chilling experience.

After-Hours at Disneyland

If you read my Universal Studios Hollywood feature or follow any of my photography, you’d know that I like to stay after-hours to take photos at the parks. I ended that Universal feature with some post-closing photos, so what better way to end this update than the same way!

That’s it for my first full Disneyland Photo Update! Thank you so much for reading. There’s going to be more rain this week, so stay safe out there folks!

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Thank you ! All of us on the Disneyland Photo Update crew would like to thank you for joining us today. Today’s MiceChat Disneyland Update was shot and assembled by Scott Attula with additional photos from Brian Pinsky.

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