Disneyland Resort Update: Dirt and Rocks and Stuff

Disneyland Park, Anaheim, CA

Welcome back to another Disneyland update! By the looks of the analytics, it seems like you folks really like staring at pictures of dirt--in fact, more so than our other content combined. Well, if nothing else, Westcoaster has always been a democracy*, so we're going to indulge you with EVEN MORE PHOTOS OF DIRT!! Lets get at it.

"Star Wars" Land

The internet went abuzz last week when Blog Mickey posted an aerial photo of the "Star Wars" Land construction area taken from the NearMap aerial photo service. The photo itself is actually dated exactly one month ago, but it really showed off how massive the new land is going to be. It also provided some clues as to major pads for future attractions and gave an idea of the amount of disturbance to the Rivers of America. Well, work continues, with more dirt, more vertical construction, and the arrival of more site infrastructure components.

Here's an overview of the site...

...taken from the usual perch.

In an effort to better illustrate things, I've gone ahead and diagrammed over the Blog Mickey photo that sort of went viral last week. The numbers will be referenced in the photos below to give an idea of what is where, and I also traced over the current Rivers of America layout and what it appears to be adjusting to based on the grading. This is, of course, nothing official; just my own analysis.

Area (1) features the giant berm on the northwest corner of the site. This hasn't really changed, but when you see where it's located on the map, you realize just how much dirt has been moved.

A closer look at the berm provides some scale. It's basically behind and to the west of Mickey's Toontown and appears to correspond to the really tall rockwork in the rendering of "Star Wars" Land that Disney Park Blogs released last week--the rocks behind where the Millennium Falcon is parked. The shorter mound of dirt on the right is area (2).

Panning to the right and southward brings us to the very tall concrete wall of area (3) and another mound of dirt at area (4).

A close-up of the concrete wall at area (3).

More formwork has gone up for concrete walls in area (4) and area (5). These buildings look like they will provide utilties and infrastructure for the land.

Zooming in closer.

And closer... check out all them noodles. ARE YOU HAPPY NOW, GUY SELGA???

Here's a view of the same area from the second lift hill of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.

And then peeking over the construction walls from ground level.

Will ya look at that...

...fascinating.

Another glimpse of the site from Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.

Returning back to the Mickey and Friends Parking Structure, we glimpse a few more areas more southwest along the site through the trees.

Some majorly huge storm drain piping has appeared in area (6). Since the new land is going to be massive, it's going to need a lot of storm drain and sewer lines! [EDITOR'S NOTE FROM JIM: HAHAHA POOP PIPES!!!]

Close-up at the precast concrete wet utility assemblies.

By the time you reach this view, you're actually looking at the area of the drained back half of the Rivers of America.

It's just all dirt now, and it's getting truncated by a noticeable but not ginormous amount. More formwork has come up here as well, in area (7).

You can see a glimpse of Fort Wilderness through the trees here.

And moving as south along the site as I can reveals the rooftops of the Hungry Bear Restaurant. The mast of the Columbia can be seen just beyond. Looks like a lot of junk on the job site.

Meanwhile, at the dead end in Frontierland, beside Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, they've put up the new "Star Wars" Land rendering released last Monday.

See if you can compare the aerial to this rendering and get an idea of what might go where. It's concept art, though, so don't fall into the trap of assuming this is exactly how everything is going to be in detail and for sure. It's concept art.
(Image courtesy of Disney.)

Tom Sawyer Island

Work continues on Tom Sawyer Island, with major parts of the island behind tarps and scaffolding to provide some welcome maintenance and TLC. The rockwork along the stage looks drastically different, appearing to have been sanded down and primed for a new finish. It gives the island a particularly unfinished look that I'm surprised wasn't hidden behind more tarps. It's also had multiple friends questioning what's new and what's always been there, because things look so drastically different. But from the looks of things, it just looks like they're doing cosmetic touch-up's and not actually adding or removing anything--at least nothing visible from the New Orleans Square and Frontierland shore.

For this segment, we will focus on rocks.

These rocks no longer look like rocks.

As a result, the logs that have always been there really stand out now.

A front view of the very gray rocks.

It's like this rock isn't even a rock at all!

The rocks on the left side look similar.

As you can see, they really hide equipment and items for FANTASMIC!

I assume these will be repainted and re-weathered.

The scrim covering the dammed area hasn't changed.

Some Birthday Thing

Oh, apparently there was some 61st birthday celebration at the park yesterday for some reason? Or really, there's wasn't. Just a small ceremony and a banner photo op, but nothing elaborate or given away.

Disneyland is 60... one years old!

I'm sure they'll change that medallion to read "61" any day now.

Yup... any day...

Jambalaya Jazz Band

I mentioned last week that live music has returned to the Rivers of America. The Jambalaya Jazz band plays several sets each evening, bringing some fantastic jazz music along the Rivers of America. I like this. It doesn't replace FANTASMIC!, but it reminds me of back in the days when the show had a live jazz band play for half an hour as preshow entertaining before the main even began. Here are some more photos of the band in action.

The first set happens around dusk.

The seven piece jazz band floats on out for some lovely live music.

The Mark Twain makes a great backdrop for photos.

At night, the band is lit beautifully.

They go through all sorts of jazz, from Dixieland to swing.

The whole gamut of jazz instruments is covered here.

The band seems to fit comfortably on the raft.

Here's the trombonist.

Playing that trombone, as they are wont to do.

Then the saxophonist.

It's all jazz. Sorry, no "Careless Whisper" here.

They've got a banjo player too.

He's pretty fun and gets his turn jamming.

Next up, the trumpeter.

The **clarinet** player also gets some spotlight.

Once upon a time, I used to discount clarinets, but I have a better appreciation for them in a band now.
(Yeah, I effed up and called this an oboe earlier; I'm stupid, but my comment actually applies to both. lol)

And finally, the drummer.

The persistent heartbeat of the performance.

If you're at the park in the evenings, swing on by the Rivers of America to check outthe Jambalaya Jazz Band!

And that's it for this week! Stay tuned for more travel stuff and Halloween stuff, per usual. We've had a TON of new content this past month since the relaunch, in part to make up for all the time the site spent down as a dilapidated shell of its former self. But you can also see the direction we're taking things, and hopefully, you like it! Check out old updates you missed and tell your friends about how Westcoaster is back and more disappointing than ever! Your patronage is appreciated.