If you went to the Disneyland Resort in the last week it might have felt a little weird to you. The parks are still in the process of taking down their holiday decor, so it’s strange to see the remnants of Christmas in the middle of January, all while the Resort prepares for the opening of its biggest-ever attraction later this week. But that doesn’t mean the parks aren’t busy —it’s been packed! Plus, there are a slew of attractions coming in and out of refurbishment, and DCA has lots of work underway for its upcoming Lunar New Year Celebration and brand-new Avengers Campus. Let’s take a look at everything going on, as well as what you need to know about an AMAZING new attraction opening this week. It’s a WOW folks, good news at long last!

So-Cal Ticket Returns and Annual Passes Re-Open

The 3-Day Southern-California Residents ticket has returned once again this year, boasting a one-day one-park ticket price as low as $67 dollars a person. Valid from now through May 21, 2020, this is a fantastic offer for those hoping to experience the Rise of the Resistance and save quite a bit of money along the way! The ticket also includes one “magic morning” early entry day, so this a deal that should not be overlooked.

Our partners at Get Away Today have this same ticket offer, but even cheaper! For more info about this deal and to book your tickets check out the article below. If you aren’t planning on getting an Annual Pass this year, this is the perfect way to visit the parks to see what’s new (like Rise of the Resistance this week!) without breaking the bank.

When entering the park at rope drop Friday morning, the lines were long and it seemed as if it was about to be a very busy day at the Resort. But it quickly became clear that the long lines were not caused by a massive rush of people, but rather due to the photo-taking process for those who had purchased the SoCal 3-Day ticket. With better technology available for Disney to take advantage of, we don’t understand why they choose to stick with the extremely slow photo-taking process at the turnstile.

Just off the top of my head, there are several ways Disney could speed this process up. I’d love to hear your ideas as well:

Have guests take their ticket photos at the ticket booth.

For guests buying their tickets online, have them upload a photo of themselves.

Have guests sync the ticket to the Disneyland App and have the app take a selfie.

With as good as Disneyland has gotten at creating kiosks for Fastpass distribution, guests could potentially process their new tickets and passes at kiosks outside the gates.

Create dedicated lines for guests activating new passes.

Or . . . perhaps go with the WDW system and have guests create a thumbprint ID.

Let me know what ideas you have to speed up the processing of new tickets and passes.

After the opening rush settled down, by mid-afternoon it was clear that it was the exact opposite of a “busy” Disneyland day. Most attractions hovered right around their average wait time and didn’t display any sense that the park was busier than usual, even with all the Annual Passes unblocked.

One of the best ways to gauge Disneyland’s crowd levels is to look from the bridge above Pirates of the Caribbean towards Frontierland. On busy days, you won’t be able to see much of the ground. When it’s sparse, like it was on Friday, you know it’s a good day to be in the park.

Dash Away, Dash Away, Dash Away All . . .

Now that the holiday season has officially ended (January 6th was the last day), the holiday decor has (mostly) been packed away until November this year. Main Street has lost the festive garland and extravagant Christmas Tree and has returned to its normal every-day form.

Although, the snowcaps of Sleeping Beauty Castle have yet to melt. But, since it’s still winter, it works.

A new garden arrangement has been planted where the Christmas Tree once stood.

While almost all of the holiday decor has been taken down, Frontierland still had its holiday garland on the entry sign as well as most buildings. Frontierland was the last area of the park to receive its holiday decorations, so that could be why it is the last area to have them removed.

Frontierland is not the only land still sporting a holiday overlay. A combination of Christmas and Mardi Gras decor can be found all throughout New Orleans Square. At least some of it will remain up through February 25.

New Orleans Square has some of the most beautiful Christmas decorations found throughout the entire Resort, so you won’t find us complaining about its extended stay.

The final holiday overlay that remains is Haunted Mansion Holiday. Jack Skellington will continue to wreck-the-halls of the Mansion until January 20th, and will then undergo an extensive refurbishment period and return to its corruptible, mortal state.

It’s a Small World

It’s a Small World is down to remove its holiday overlay and will reopen later this week. As a major “people-eater” attraction, it will be an important ride to have open once Rise of the Resistance debuts on Friday. It’s a pretty good bet that the park will be packed with guests waiting for their boarding pass to be called (more on that in a bit).

A world of hopes and a world of fears will be floating again on January 17th.

Progress is Found in Tomorrowland

Several construction projects are taking place throughout Tomorrowland, and there’s lots of progress to show. . .

The mural on the right side of the Tomorrowland entrance has emerged from behind scrims and scaffolding, unveiling a shiny new refurbished surface. This project has been going on for months and it is nice to see that it is nearing completion.

The left side, by Buzz Lightyear, remains hidden from guest view, but it shouldn’t take too much longer. With all the media descending on the Resort on Thursday for the Rise of the Resistance press event, it’s likely that the park will remove as many construction walls as possible.

The Space Mountain emergency exit stairwell is finally ready for railings. Though, we are very curious how it’s going to look from the ground. Space Mountain has such a clean and sleek style, we hope the stairs won’t be too noticeable.

It will be nice to see these projects wrap up so we can walk through Tomorrowland without seeing towers of scrims and scaffolding. Though, I would be willing to put up with even more if they’d just greenlight a new Tomorrowland plan. I’m all-in for a TRON Coaster.

We Like the New Digital Fastpass Distribution

When Disney decided to do away with the individual FastPass distribution kiosks at each Tomorrowland attraction and instead create a FastPass hub for all of Tomorrowland, we were skeptical that the new machines could keep up with the high guest demand for rides such as Space Mountain and Star Tours. The new FastPass distribution location has held up just fine during the busy holiday season and Disney has shown no signs of re-opening the individual attraction distribution areas.

The process remains quick and easy, with cast members there to assist guests who may have any questions about how the new process works.

The former Space Mountain FastPass machines remain covered and we wouldn’t be surprised if these are permanently removed to make room for more queue space or additional stroller parking.

The former Star Tours FastPass location is currently being used as an area for cast members to obtain boarding passes for their preview of Rise of the Resistance. Once the attraction opens to the public, this location will be used for guests to obtain a boarding pass as well. We’ve got more info about Rise of the Resistance boarding passes HERE and further down this Update.

Would you like to see this system rolled out park-wide?

Millennium Falcon Popcorn Buckets Touch Down in Tomorrowland

The popcorn bucket craze has gone extreme with the new Millennium Falcon buckets. The lines at popcorn carts were longer than usual to obtain the new Star Wars item, but there were plenty of Falcon buckets to go around. Many guests were walking around the park with the new bucket around their neck, so it is safe to assume that these will be a massive hit for Disney.

The popcorn bucket can be found at the Tomorrowland Popcorn stall location ($27) and at Galactic Grill filled with french fries ($25). Yes, we said “french fries.”

New steel Star Wars-themed tumblers have also made their way into Disneyland and can be purchased at Galactic Grill in Tomorrowland. The new tumblers have Luke Skywalker, R2-D2, and C3-PO on them and have a great vintage look to them.

The tumbler costs $24.99 and there were plenty of them in stock at Galactic Grill on Friday. If these collectible items are something that you’re interested in owning, my recommendation is to take advantage of Mobile Ordering so you don’t have to wait in crazy lines!

Rise of the Resistance Previews Begin

The Resistance base on the outskirts of Batuu has been a busy place this week as Rise of the Resistance has begun accepting it’s first recruits. Cast Member previews for the new state-of-the-art attraction began on January 8th and have been drawing large crowds to an area of Galaxy’s Edge that has been very quiet up until this past week. Previews will continue through January 14th, followed by a media event on the 16th and the grand opening to the public on January 17th.

Dusty and several of our staff have been able to ride the attraction and confirm that it is a home-run. The ride sets a new high bar for what a Disney attraction can be. The terms “ground-breaking”, “epic” and “mind-blowing” have been tossed around the describe the experience, and Walt Disney Imagineering should be incredibly proud of what they have created.

While previews have gone well and ride capacity has been getting better as the ride staff gets accustomed to running large numbers of riders through the multi-stage experience, there has been a lot of downtime.

Rise of the Resistance is sure to draw large crowds for the near-future, and Disney is implementing a Virtual Queue system in order to help guests avoid waiting in painfully-long lines (which will be helpful if the ride is down for extended periods). If you plan on visiting within the first few weeks of operation, we highly recommend that you take a look at how the Virtual Queue system will work ahead of your visit. Without a spot in the virtual queue, there is no way to experience the attraction.

Check out our article explaining how the Virtual Queue works and what tips and tricks you might need to know in order to successfully secure a spot in line:

Will you be there opening day?

This is the Droid You are Looking For

Disney has finally announced that our favorite droid, R2-D2, will be making daily appearances in Batuu! We happened to catch him on his daily roll around the outpost and noticed the large crowd of guests that R2 had attracted.

Several children in the crowd were having trouble containing their excitement of meeting “the real-life R2-D2” and it is clear that Galaxy’s Edge is in dire need of more interactive experiences like this one.

After taking the time to interact with guests, R2 made his way through the marketplace and over to the Millennium Falcon to finish up some inspections of the infamous ship. Wherever R2 moved, the crowd followed, taking as many pictures as they could before R2 disappeared backstage. This is a step in the right direction for Galaxy’s Edge and we hope to see more roaming droids and new characters added soon (as was originally promised!).

Disneyland Refurbishments

As we head into the new year, several attractions are scheduled to go under the knife for refurbishment. Some of them more than just the usual tuneup.

Snow White’s Not-So-Scary Adventure

Snow White’s Scary Adventures has closed for an extensive re-imagining of the classic attraction and currently has no set reopening date. The changes aim to reconfigure the ending scenes of the attraction to give it a brighter and happier final act. If we had to guess, we would expect the attraction to be open by July before the attraction’s (and Disneyland’s) 65th anniversary, but until there is an official confirmation from Disney there is no way of knowing for certain.

For a full rundown of the changes coming to this classic attraction, read more below.

Mark Twain River Boat

The beautiful Mark Twain is undergoing its seasonal refurbishment and docked until January 31st. Until the Mark Twain returns to open waters, you can still enjoy the Rivers of America on the Sailing Ship Columbia and Davy Crockett’s Explorer Canoes.

Here is a list of current and upcoming refurbishments happening throughout Disneyland:

Haunted Mansion (Jan 21- TBD)

Indiana Jones Adventure (Spring – TBD)

It’s a Small World (Now – Jan 16)

King Arthur Carrousel (Jan 21 – TBD)

Mark Twain River Boat (Now – Jan 31)

Sailing Ship Columbia (Feb 3 – 6)

Snow White’s Scary Adventures (Now – TBD)

Fantasmic! Down to Weekends Only

The nighttime spectacular, Fantasmic! has been reduced to weekend-only performances (plus a show on Jan 20). This could be caused by the Mark Twain refurb, but Fantasmic does have an alternate version they can still perform without the Mark Twain ending. For the time being, the only major entertainment being offered on week-nights is Mickey’s Mix Magic.

California Adventure

As in Disneyland, nearly all holiday decorations have disappeared from around California Adventure. The Christmas tree has been removed and flowers have taken its place.

The flowers look much better than an open dirt planter, but this arrangement is a bit drab for a Disneyland Resort garden.

Cars Land has returned to its everyday look and the iconic “Welcome to Cars Land” sign has reappeared. The popular photo spot uses a different postcard-like sign for Halloween and Christmas, so we haven’t seen the usual sign since early September.

There were only a few hints of the holidays left . . . such as these delightful Cars holiday movie posters found on the wall next to Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree.

I know that many of you are sad to see the holiday decorations leave after a fun season, but it’s also refreshing to have the parks return to a classic look.

Avenger’s Campus

Walls remain up in front of Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout as work continues on installing new pavers around the trolley tracks.

Work has been going on behind this wall for quite some time now, and the new paver pattern they are installing can be seen below.

Steel beams continue to rise behind Luigi’s Tires as a new back-stage support building is constructed.

When you see it from the Pal-A-Round, you can see how quickly it’s going up.

Looking at the construction site from an aerial view, you can see that there’s a lot happening in the Avengers Campus. The stunt show tower near the Spider-Man attraction is behind scrims, and a large portion of the show building is covered in siding.

We’ve zoomed into the concept art so you can visualize what the construction above will look like:

The Ant-Man microbrewery (which is expected to be called the PYM Test Kitchen) has been covered with construction tape and cones on the roof.

Avengers Campus will open summer this year. There’s no exact date for its grand opening, but we’re already halfway through January and the land is coming together quickly. If all goes well, they’ll be done in time for the summer season.

Lunar New Year Arrives

Decorations have started showing up for the upcoming Lunar New Year Celebration coming this weekend to Disney California Adventure. The celebration will run from January 17th through February 9th and will feature live entertainment and food inspired by an array of Asian cultures. 2020 is the Year of the Rat (or as Disney is spinning it, Year of the Mouse) and what better way to celebrate it than at the Lunar New Year festival!

The Lunar New Year Celebration uses bold colors and decorations to bring good luck for the new year. I love the giant lanterns at Paradise Garden.

Festival of Holiday food booths have disappeared as preparations begin for the Lunar New Year Celebration as well as The Food and Wine Festival that follows shortly after.

For more info about the upcoming Lunar New Year, and all of its special food selections, check out our article below!

Annual Passholder Lounge Draws Crowds

Earlier last week, Disney opened the new Annual Passholder lounge inside the Alfresco Tasting Terrace. On Friday the line was not nearly as long as it had been on the first few days that it had opened, but the wait was still over an hour for most of the day.



You check in with a Cast Member in the courtyard of the Blue Sky Cellar who takes your name and gives you an approximate wait time.

World of Disney

Display windows were updated this week at the World of Disney store in Downtown Disney. The Christmas-themed window displays have been removed and replaced with current resort merchandise and new window art.

Also, the store’s display nearest the Esplanade has been changed from Star Wars to a myriad of printed leggings.

MiceChat Anniversary & Gumball Rally

MiceChat/MiceAge is turning 17 years young and we will be celebrating with a weekend of celebrities and events at the Disneyland Resort February 7th through 9th, 2020. The main event is the Gumball Rally, which is a race through Disneyland to see who can ride the most attractions in a single day. It’s absolutely the most fun you’ll ever have in the parks.

Gumball Rally Tickets and Information HERE

Join over 500 of your fellow Disney fans to see who’s got the best strategy for riding the attractions. Compete in teams of 2 to 4 individuals and have the time of your lives.

For more information about the event and to register, visit the Gumball Rally Info Page HERE.

Disneyland’s Southern California Resident Ticket Deal is Back!

3-Day Disneyland Resort tickets for travel now through May 21, 2020 are available at a $106 savings on each adult ticket and $86 savings on any child (ages 3-9) ticket! It is only valid for residents who live in ZIP codes 90000-93599. Residency will be verified at time of booking and government photo ID is required to use the tickets at the parks.

Here’s the best part . . . we have them cheaper and can be combined with hotel discounts and an additional $10 off using the “micechat” discount code (on 3 night stays) – Shop the SoCal Resident Special HERE

Not a SoCal resident? Our partners at Get Away Today help you save money on Disney theme park tickets and travel packages. For Discounted theme park tickets and travel packages to Disneyland, Walt Disney World, Universal, Knott’s Berry Farm and other family vacation destinations, always start HERE: Get Away Today (When calling, mention MiceChat so you get your special rates and deals!).

Let’s Hear From You

Well, that does it for this week’s Disneyland Update. Are you going to be camping out for the opening of Rise of the Resistance on the 17th? Do you think the parks are going to be packed this week with people trying to enjoy Disneyland before insanity arrives on Friday? Let us know in the comments below.

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