Disneyland Resort Update: Porg Assimilation

Disneyland Resort, Anaheim, CA

Ladies and gentlemen, we've seen a lot of development at the Disneyland Resort this year and documented much of that in multiple posts, and we finally come upon the final Disneyland Resort update of the year.  This update is dedicated to WC reader, Brent, who has been badgering our intern about a new update for some reason, even though it's clearly established in Westcoaster Canon that the Intern never makes it to Disney property.  It's relatively short, but it's also our last look at "Star Wars" Land before 2018.  So, perhaps fittingly with recent news, we present The Last Update (of the year... from Disney).

Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge

We're starting to get to a point where updates from our usual Mickey and Friends perch will start getting meaningless, as the major ride buildings are near completion of exterior wall enclosure and will thus block a sizeable amount of our views into the future new themed land at Disneyland.  The First Order ride building has pretty much completed its exterior facade installation, while the Millennium Falcon ride building is not much farther behind.  Meanwhile, equipment and concrete continue to go up on the remaining buildings that will form a new berm, stretching along the future perimeter of the park from Fantasyland to Critter Country.  Rockwork is slowly progressing too, though not at the same rate as recently.  And if you look closely, you might even notice a bit of new development along the Critter Country entrance side of Galaxy's Edge!

Panorama time, folks! Just a little later than usual.

Owing to not getting out early enough but still wanting to capture something, I got to the Resort just after sunset last weekend.

Rotating along here...

Golden hour this is not, but the street lights add some glow, right?

So, here's the view from the northeast corner of the Mickey and Friends Parking Structure.

Public glimpses into Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge have definitely become limited as the walls go up and create a blank barrier into both the inside of the buildings and the land.

One can see that the entire Disneyland Drive facade of the First Order Building is fully enclosed, except for that big freight opening.

Rotating to the Millennium Falcon building shows a lot of wall up as well.

Guys, in a month or so, this will likely be all covered up.

Strapping and horizontal girts have been mostly placed and are awaiting the actual wall panels, though there's at least a small section that still needs the supports.

Peeking at the most completed peaks, we see the rockwork coming along. Hopefully, they won't leave the backside of the structure exposed like that.  We shall see...

Over by the First Order building, the supports remain bare, without mesh or plaster.  But that will come soon enough.

Really can't completely tell what this area is meant to be still.  If it was access, I would have thought the stairs and lifts would have been built by now.

Getting a closer look, the area looks the same as weeks ago.  On the other hand, those stanchions look like they could be used to support large signage or banners of some sort?

Suppose we'll just have to wait and see.

Panning along the Disneyland Drive facade...

Otherwise known as the Backside of "Star Wars" Land!!

Ridiculous amounts of ductwork and HVAC equipment litter the roofs.

Guess this will be the extent they'll be concealed.  At least you shouldn't notice things much from the ground.

Shifting over to another view of the rock spires of Batuu.

Plus future rock spires...

Over here, big mechanical equipment over the concrete building (perhaps part of a souvenir store or dining or maybe just conditioning utility space?) is coming together.

Rivers of America side might have a little bit of life again.

Groundwork continues to be worked on in this utility yard area.

Some more formwork for additional buildings has also gone up, continuing the structure toward Critter Country slowly but surely.

Splitsville

The new bowling alley over at Downtown Disney continues to progress, though it's obvious that it won't be open before the end of this year like originally scheduled.  Still, work is coming along, and they're working more than standard hours, so I imagine Splitsville should be open within the next couple of months or so!

Good evening from Downtown Disney, where the early sunsets meant by the time I got over here, it was blue hour.

On one hand, this means no regular daytime photos of Splitsville. On the other hand, have we ever done a nighttime-based construction update before?

Perhaps. Perhaps not. But Splitsville is moving right along.

One can see the entry lobby area getting its finishes and such.

Rolling along goes the construction.

Gotta finish that entrance canopy sometime, though.  But the curtain wall above is basically done.

Some stone veneer is going up too, on the side.  It's supposed to look like a real stone wall when it's done, but here's the real secret!

Porgtown Disney

Elsewhere in Downtown Disney, the Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire virtual reality experience is nearing completion and is in test phase.  It opens the first Friday of the new year.  Combining physical sets with virtual reality headsets, this attraction represents the next generation of video-immersive experiences and should be a huge hit.

Also, I guess some movie came out last Friday, yeah?  You should go see it.  

Pretty stoked about how Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire will turn out.  If it's anything like what Void has churned out in the past, it will be a lot of fun and uniquely innovative!

Of course, this past weekend saw the debut of a certain highly touted movie, so the Resort is all about that these days.

Reviewers from the movie critic community have been pretty high on the new film.

Reviewers from the general populace, however, have been split.

Regardless of what you expect, the movie is certainly interesting.

Really, though, without spoiling anything, we say just go watch the movie with an open mind and a reminder that at the end of the day, it's just entertainment.

Go form your own opinion about it.

Spoiler alert: there's also a new thing you'll never be able to escape, because they'll be with us.

Always.

This is probably our only update of the week, barring some bonus extra time I may or may not have, so enjoy a great Christmas.  The spirit of the season basically says be kind people to one another and don't be dicks, and I think we can all agree with that message.

Yule bah!