Disneyland Resort Update: Random References, Bad Puns, and Creative Descriptors Edition

Disneyland Resort, Anaheim, CA

Wait a moment... this isn't right.  You're reading a Disneyland construction update, but it's... Thursday?  Well, real life and work prevented me from visiting the parks last weekend, but I also had two more tabs from the Food & Wine Festival Sip and Savor Pass that I needed to use, and I won't be able to visit the Resort this upcoming weekend, since I'm venturing to the land of the hipster snowflake raver attention grabbers known as Coachella (don't be offended, Coachellagans, that was written ironically), so yesterday evening ended up being my sole chance to stop by and grab a couple more bites to eat from this year's generally fantastic Food & Wine Festival.  The result (after you catch your breath from the preceding sentence): you get a "bonus" construction update!

"Star Wars" Land

Whether we can see it from our standard perch or not, "Star Wars" Land is growing, and more and more stuff is coming out of the ground.  The First Order attraction has gained more steel and more vertical construction on opposite ends of its footprint, and an additional pad that may or may not be part of the same building is also taking shape.  All the while, another attraction is rising in plain sight--sort of.

Ready to pan across our usual introductory overview?  Alright! 1...

2...
(Vader's coming for you.)

3...

4...
(Better grab a light sword...)

5...

6--wait, we're into the details already!  Sorry, no more Jedi Knightmare on Elm Street mashup.  Here's the First Order attraction building.  It's gained a second penthouse!

Zooming in on all that steel, we see that the structural members appear largely complete here.  Those buckling-restrained braced frames look sexy.

Intermediate steel framing continues getting laid out within the second floor, presumably to support ride and show components rather than only the building structure.

Those happy little AT-AT's are still there.

Remember: happy AT-AT's come from Kuat Drive Yards.

Here's a look at the second penthouse added since our last update.  Should be interesting to see what happens on the ride in or under these sections.

Down at the ground, a bunch more steel and decking has arrived.  They'll just be laying out steel forever.  Meanwhile, the First Order Olympic Swimming Pool (F.O.O.S.P.) continues to just sit there.

What's new and fun is the continued progression of what we used to call the pit.

It's not so pit-like anymore.  In fact, it's shaping up to be a pretty tall and grand space!

There's tons of scaffolding, formwork for what appear to be round, concrete columns, and more formwork for concrete walls that are pretty tall!  Whether this will be the ride loading area, some Circlevision-style part of the queue, or a part of the ride itself, I don't know. But it's fun to speculate!

I'll just be honest and tell you when I'm speculating.

Meanwhile, here is some Guy Selga porn.  Wait, that sounded wrong.  I meant rebar porn for Guy Selga.  Noodle noodle noodle noodle noodle noodle...

All of this is happening right adjacent to the no-longer-pit area.  What you see is steel reinforcing bars for strip footings and concrete walls.  The orange caps are for rebar that ends at chest or waist level compared to grade or lower, to prevent impalement in case anyone accidentally trips and falls.

NOOOOOOOOOODZ!!

Over in the back by the Fantasyland and Frontierland main entrances, the grading is getting more fine-tuned, and more vegetation has been added.

Some fake boulders too!

The berm separating the Rivers of America from "Star Wars" Land is getting pretty dense now.  You'd think they'd pause putting up trees for rest.

Did you know former WWE wrestler Cactus Jack stopped by the parks recently and reminisced about how he loved Disneyland visits as a kid, and how things have changed as he's gotten older?  Yeah, it was bittersweet to witness the results of Mick Foley age.

Remember when the internet was barking up a storm about the desecration of the Rivers of America by "Star Wars" Land?

They wouldn't leaf the subject alone.  Fans would complain tree or four times a day!

OK, you realize by now that this pan was just an excuse to make horrible vegetation puns, right?

Onto the Hungry Bear area.

If you squint and look real close, you'll notice that they've started putting up scaffolding and formwork to build the bridge that will take the Disneyland Railroad over the Critter Country entry pathway into "Star Wars" Land.

It's the wood framing just in front of and to the left of the green pipe in the middle.  And under that is the dirt that will ultimately become the pathway coming from along the bank of the Rivers of America and just beside the Hungry Bear eating area.

Lastly, though I've been taking a ton of photos of this ultimately inconsequential (to guests) backstage building, work on the Millennium Falcon attraction has been going on this whole time.  It's right in this shot if you know what to look for.  Unfortunately, the majority of the ride footprint is literally either obscured by the trees along Disneyland Drive or by the First Order show building, depending on the angle.  The ride is still grading and foundation prep right now.  It will probably get more obvious once it goes vertical.

A Clarification...

I've been calling that little building they're constructing that's northeaest of the Mickey and Friends Parking Structure a "transportation" building, because it's backstage and located next to parking and trams, which is basically where Disney transportation has its "home."  But as some readers either implied or pretty much stated, it's more related to Disney security.  The grassy area is probably a little outdoor yard for the canines that patrol the Resort.  Anyway, the building's basically done--at least on the outside.

Just some parking lot work left apparently (plus whatever remains inside the building).

But it's roofed and everything!

Guardians of the Galaxy - Mission: Breakout!

Over in California Adventure, that giant petrified hammerhead shark stood up on its tail and apparently projecting a major acid trip attraction, otherwise known as Guardians of the Galaxy - Mission: Breakout!, continues to have more and more of its exterior finishing up and revealed.  The ride has also begun testing.  I didn't snag a photo of it, but yesterday afternoon, I did notice the elevator shaft doors on the building facade opening and closing in the same manner as when the Tower of Terror reaches the point before it's biggest drops.

I will say, all that gaudy "stuff" and the Tomorrowland 1998 paint scheme does make it glow warmly during golden hour.

It's almost enough to not quite induce the same effects as ipecac.

Over on the Bug's Land side, they've added these nifty caution stripes to warn guests not to look at the tower too closely, lest their eyeballs explode from the over-the-top exterior theming and render their eye holes smoldering ruins of chromatic diarrhea.

Some guests have wondered why the tower has that dark strip down the middle.  Well, now that the tower has gotten older and is not a kid anymore, it wants to show that it is more mature and sexy and knows how to keep things tidy and trimmed at the important bits.

Here's the overview from Hollywood Land.

If you lit the sky on fire with a blow torch coupled with all the off-gassing of the various paints, this scene would actually match that rendering Disney showed last year pretty well!

Not quite sure why it has the Star Tours logo emblazened on its chest though.

(Calm down, DisNerds, that was a joke.  I know that doesn't actually resemble the Star Tours logo other than the shape.)

Whether you like them or hate them, the details are coming together.

Now, what's mostly left is just the lower volumes in front of the building.

This is called an exercise in how many textures can you jam into one facade.

Zooming in a little closer and starting from the Hyperion Theater side...

The Collector's Cornice.

Looking at scaffolding wrapping the corner of the front "lobby" part of the building.

And then we come around to the other plinth.

We pan up to the satellite dish, which will be used to look for other alien civilizations who believe in the exploding whale method of applying paint.

The Tower does have one weakness, though... right there in the middle is a small thermal exhaust port, right below the main port. The shaft leads directly to the elevator lift system. A precise hit will start a chain reaction which should destroy the tower. Only a precise hit will set off a chain reaction. The shaft is Groot-shielded, so you'll have to use racoon torpedoes.

Don't worry, this paint scheme is just the result of bullseye-ing womp rats in your T-16 back home.

As you can see, the exposed elevator doors have been left alone, other than paint, with on-ride camera strobe lights still in place. 

So the big reveal and climactic drop will still be a part of the attraction.  And with testing already underway, we could very well see some soft openings and/or Cast Member previews for Guardians of the Galaxy - Mission: Build Ridiculous Eyesore Assimilating Kitschy Ornamentation Using Techno-imagery! before the ride's Memorial Day weekend opening!

Wrapping Up Food & Wine

This weekend will be the final weekend of the Food & Wine Festival at DCA.  The event has been largely successful, though a couple of weeks ago, at the height of spring break, I finally encountered some issues with certain food items running out at multiple stands while long lines built up.  Still, overall, I've enjoyed the offerings and am pleased that Disney has also eased up on the pricing a little bit.  It's still more expensive than it really should be, but at least that upward trajectory we were seeing with specialty foods seems to have halted.

This week's AP button is shown next to a Sip and Savor Pass, which allows annual passholders to sample (8) food items for a total of $45.  As I mentioned in the Food & Wine Festival update, use this on food dishes $5.75 or more to get your money's worth.

One of my favorite dishes of the event was the Fried Artichoke at the I <3 Artichokes stand.  Seriously delicious.

Another favorite: the French Onion Mac n Cheese at The Onion Lair stand.  Far superior to the Bacon Mac n Cheese at the Bacon Twist kiosk.

Don't forget about the entertainment options included as part of the Festival.

In addition to the Paradise Gardens bandstand next to the Garden Grill, the stage at Paradise Park also features live musical performances in the afternoon and early evening.

Last night, Phat Cat Swinger closed out their five week run at the Food & Wine Festival.

They put on a rollickin' performance for a nice sized weekday crowd.

Included in the setlist were covers of swing revival staples like Royal Crown Revue's "Hey Pachuco" and Squirrel Nut Zippers' "Hell."

Some guests even got into the act with some swing dancing.

Guess the Fantasy Faire stage isn't the only place to do some swing.

Take us home, trumpet man!

And that, my friends, is that.  A special mid-week edition and "casual" recap of what's going on around the parks.  Well, at least the major things.  Hope you enjoyed the post!  And now, I'm off to join the desert people, the flower children, the Little Monsters, the Radioheadheads, the glampers, the oontz-oontzies, and all the other masses who congregate at a polo field complex east of Palm Springs this time of year. 

Goo gah!!