Disneyland Resort Update: Parking, Plans, and Pixar Pier

Disneyland Resort, Anaheim, CA

Hey guyyyyys, we're back at it again with a look at stuff that's going on at the Disneyland Resort.  If you missed our Disneyland update yesterday, you can find it right here.  Today, we're hitting up the rest of the Resort to look at current and future work to come, so lets dive in, shall we?

"Pinocchio Parking Structure" Construction

We start off with our exclusive and award winning* coverage of the new parking structure that is being constructed right next to the Mickey and Friends Parking Structure on the west side of the Resort.  As many can guess, with next year's opening of Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge coming up fast, there will be a significant increase in crowds and a need to handle that extra capacity.  This 6500-vehicle structure try to handle that (though I wonder what it's impact on traffic will be when that many more people are leaving the Resort area during peak nights), and the construction crews have been busy clearing land galore to prep for actual vertical construction.

No noodles have appeared on site quite yet (sorry, Guy Selga, we know you've been in morning since noods stopped appearing at "Star Wars" Land), but pretty much everything outside of the Mickey and Friends escalator landing and tram unloading area has been reduced to soil.  There's been some more rough grading near the center of the site.  The next step will be to start digging down to form the foundations that will ultimate support this giant parking garage.  But for now, you can engage in Westcoaster's fourth favorite pastime: staring at dirt.

Well, will ya look at that, the dirt has taken over almost the entirety of the old Pinocchio parking lot!

As of at least earlier this week, the only paved area south of the Mickey and Friends Parking Structure was the old tram loading area, which is now the unloading area.

Even the security area that was expanded into at the beginning of last year is now dirt.

As is the driveway that lead out onto Magic Way and also into Downtown Disney.

Beyond that, what was the Pinocchio lot is definitely all soil now.  But we'll still remember it by calling this future parking structure the "Pinocchio Parking Structure" until Disney releases an official name for it.

What's really incredible is that this one guy has raked the entire dirt lot just by himself!  How amazing!!

Yes, even though you see multiple vehicles, the work was all done by one guy.  You can't prove otherwise!

All of this is really thirst-inducing work, so a giant water tank is required.

Oh, and here's an angle of Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge I forgot to include yesterday.

* (No awards actually won.)

Downtown Disney 

Amongst the numerous improvements being made at the Downtown Disney district, a new "Four Diamond hotel" will soon be rising up adjacent to the Disneyland Hotel.  Granted, soon means opening in 2021, but working backwards means that construction will actually begin in summer of this year.  And recently, Disneyland confirmed several properties closing down to make way for this new hospitality anchor to the west side of Downtown Disney.

ESPN Zone, the AMC Theaters, Earl of Sandwich, Disney Vacation Club, Starbucks, and Rainforest Cafe will also close down this June to allow for land to be cleared for the new hotel.  Nothing has started yet, but the scenes below are numbered.

Welcome to Downtown Disney!  Soon to have less Downtown Disney things!!

Leaving soon... ESPN Zone!

No sports for you!!!

I'm actually surprised that this major anchor is going away, but it's in the way of the new hotel.

The biggest blow is that Earl of Sandwich is also leaving.  But hopefully, it gets incorporated back into retail that will go into the ground floor of the new hotel.

Neighboring AMC Theaters is also going away.  Given that movie theaters have gotten less popular these days in the wake of streaming media, and that a hotel will make much more per-day profit than the cinema, this is a logical move.

The Disney Vacation Club store is also getting wiped out.

Starbucks will also close down with the rest in June.  Don't worry! There's only three other ones on property.

Rainforest Cafe will get razed too.  It will not be missed.

One of the talking points about the new hotel that amused me was the boast that it would receive its own monorail station.  I'm pretty sure that's just because there's already a monorail station here, and it will just happen to be in a location that will serve the future hotel.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

So basically, everything in Downtown Disney west of the Lego Store will be transformed into the new hotel property and new anchor gateway for the west side of the district!

Meanwhile, construction continues on the Black Taps and Ballast Point coming to the center of Downtown Disney.  The exterior facade has been primed for new paint, and a few more banner stanchions have been installed.  Most of the work is going on inside, behind the doors and windows, of course.  But it's nice to see some exterior semblance of progress too.

Well, lookie here... the old Build-A-Bear / Ridemakerz block is getting primed for repainting.

Yes, that's primer.  Not splooge.

Some more corner stanchions have been added, this time to Black Tap.

Meanwhile, the poor Disney Dress Shop is the middle sibling stuck in the midst all this work.

Any bets on what color this will be in the future?

The priming is extending around the entire building block.

The Ballast Point corner.

The balcony, which will be part of Ballast Point, at least per the renderings.

I kind of feel like it looks pretty good in white in general.  Not this pasty primer white... a more even white.  But it would look less dated?

Wetzels is getting new paint too, as it wraps around.

Details and schmetails.

Naples Ristorante continues its construction and outdoor patio expansion.

They're adding a new canopy, so that's happening.

Pixar Pier

Although Pixar Fest begins next Friday, April 13, Pixar Pier will not open until Friday, June 23.  There is plenty of work to do, as crews race to repaint Mickey's Fun Wheel, remodel the old Paradise Pier boardwalk games, convert California Screamin' into the Incredicoaster, transform Ariel's Grotto and Cove Bar into the Lamplight Lounge, and change up the other stores and food stands along the backside of Paradise Pier. 

This week saw more progress at the future Lamplight Lounge, plus new framing for the reconfigured station of the Incredicoaster.  The roller coaster itself is also gaining more tunnels to enhance the storyline of the Incredibles family chasing after Jack Jack, who's gotten loose and is innocently wrecking a bit of havoc with his newfound superpowers.  The Imagineers have promised more media and effects on the popular roller coaster when it reopens, and though the whole notion of forcing an IP upon a perfectly good theme land still feels unnecessary, chances are that--similar to the Guardians of the Galaxy - Mission: Breakout! transformation--the ride itself will be plenty of fun.

Another gloomy late afternoon at future Pixar Pier.

They've pitched a pole at the future Lamplight Lounge.

And they've covered things to mitigate construction dust.  And also for painting.

Like everything else on Pixar Pier, this will be receiving a new color scheme.

Work continues on the outdoor lower deck, though they've placed tarps to block off direct sight from all the areas that could overlook it.

Meanwhile, over at the Incredicoaster, the first Increditube has grown.

You can see it continuing behind the Fun Wheel, which looks like it hasn't gotten any new paint since two weeks ago when we last stopped by.

The teal that's there is nice, though.

Continuing the tubing.

More details on the Fun Wheel.  Hopefully, they're also replacing the burned out bulbs.

The boardwalk games have been stripped down.

Not much apparent progress from here, but there's time for that.

Over on the launch side, some steel has popped up for the Incredicoaster station.  But more on that in a bit.

Here's a pan of the Pixar Pier waterfront.

Zoom zoom going up.

The second lift hill has not been fully enclosed yet, but they're getting there.

The first hill from a different angle.

And the lift again.

This close-up shows the progress on how they're enclosing it, a panel at a time.

Before you crest the hill.

Back to the Lamplight Lounge... work continues on redoing the entry structure.

Here's a different angle.  They've also applied new waterproofing on the wall sheathing (that's the orange stuff).

A look at Treasures in Paradise on the opposite side.

In retrospect, this building needed a lot of TLC, didn't it?

It'll get it, slowly and surely.

From the temporarily reopened Cove Bar, tarp has been added to screen construction below (as I earlier alluded to).

Looking back at Cove Bar--much quieter on a weekday!

Here's more progress on the Incredicoaster station.

I once thought that they would replace the entire roof, but that has proven to be incorrect.  Looks like it's more of a partial re-roof at the transitional areas to the roof addition.

And they'll just paint/repaint everything red after the roofing is installed.

Here's a closer look at the new beams and joists that will form the chevron addition to make the roller coaster look more mid-century modern.

Standing seam roofing at the back has also been removed.

The elevator tower for the accessible crossover onto the station platform.

Over at the former Triton's Undersea Carousel, things still look aquatic.

No apparent rush on changing this over to Jessie's Critter Carousel, yet.

The carousel animals are still from Triton's ocean variety.

Oh, and apparently, they added a tarp for performers at Paradise Park stage in the Food & Wine Festival.  Not needed on this day, but probably helpful against the glare on sunny days?

A Premature Retrospective to A Bug's Land

In other future Resort news, Walt Disney also recently formally announced the transformation of Hollywood Land into a new Marvel Land.  Part of this involves annexing A Bug's Land like it was 1940s Poland (Hail Hydra?), so lets take a moment to look at what we'll be losing.  It's Tough to be a Bug has already closed down for refurbishment into a future Marvel attraction, and the rest of the land will go down at the end of the summer.

First off, some ambient music...

There we go.

Oh, A Bug's Land... that rushed add-on that they had to throw in when they realized there really wasn't much to do at DCA when it first opened...

R.I.P., It's Tough to Be a Bug.  You may have been a 4D experience that literally poked people in the back and groped audience members in the seat area, but dangit, you were OUR 4D experience that literally poked people in the back and groped audience members in the seat area

Maybe you'll carry on on the bug motif and become a Spiderman attraction or something...

Flik's Fun Fair--cute and cartoonish, but not exactly high quality.

Good by giant clovers framing Guardians Tower.

Goodbye, one of several kiddie rides installed because they also realized the park didn't have a lot of family-friendly attractions, compared to Disneyland!

Goodbye, OG Maters.

Goodbye, symbol of the first year of information exchange in our current presidency...

Farewell, extremely tame bumper cars...

Most devastatingly, though, we bid adieu to the best ride in the history of the universe, Heimlich's Chew Chew Train.

A huge missed opportunity to retrofit this into Hulky's Smash Smash Train.

I mean, they're both giant, bulging green things.

We'll remember you well...

Especially your Infinity Stones-like obsession with candy corn.

And that wraps up this week from the Disneyland Resort.  It's a broken record, but there is so much work going on these days that it feels ridiculous.  But I guess that keeps us busy trying to cover everything!

Poo pah!