Disneyland Resort Update: Not a Maintenance Report

Disneyland Resort, Anaheim, CA

Intern here. I guess Albert went off and did something more important than care for you fans, and who the hell knows where Jim went. He disappeared right before Avengers: Endgame released and I haven’t seen him sense. Not like I’ve seen a lot of people anyway, because I don't really get out of this utility closet very often.

Anyway, by the time I figured out how to get out of headquarters without tripping the alarm, I was able to get down to Disneyland to update you all on some very important things. You see, apparently it’s the hip and trendy new thing to do “fan site maintenance reports” with the cover of “we love Disney, and think that just because animatronic number 15 wasn’t flailing his arm a proper 48º the way he did when I was 12 means that we need to update Disney on what they should be doing with their jobs”. So once an update (at least from me), I’ll be pointing out things that need to be fixed. You hear that, beancounter # 15 on level two of TDA? Read up on what I’m saying here and GET TO WORK ON IT (Y’know, because they aren’t in the process of a project to literally clean up and enhance the park right now).

Pixar Pal Around and Around Until You Park Your Car on Level Cars

Things are moving along at an absolute clip rate with the new parking garage. The roofing is being installed on the ELO…I mean, UFO, siding is going up, escalators are in…trees are planted, and security gates are getting put up. This thing will be open before we know it.

What I’m curious about is just how much this will alleviate traffic this summer. I know the parks are going to be an absolute madhouse with Star Wars Land, but given this adds 6500 spaces, I’m intrigued as to how fast the parking process will go with the addition.

I’m not sure how Mickey and Friends’ security will change (if it does), but it seems that security at the Pixar side is inside and under the awning. The entire layout of this thing is fascinating to observe, and eventually learn how it all is..well,… — I’m not sure how Mickey and Friends’ security will change (if it does), but it seems that security at the Pixar side is inside and under the awning. The entire layout of this thing is fascinating to observe, and eventually learn how it all is..well, laid out.

Multicolored bricks adorn the ground before they layout the asphalt.

Also, they adjusted the walkway to Downtown Disney a bit to accommodate the new asphalt being laid for the tram route.

This is going to look great once it’s all done..

Not sure if it’s been noted before or not, but the signs here got a refresh and update. They were pretty sun faded before, but now they’re bright and ready to confuse guests again with parking in the OG or newb garage. Same color, different name. ¯\… — Not sure if it’s been noted before or not, but the signs here got a refresh and update. They were pretty sun faded before, but now they’re bright and ready to confuse guests again with parking in the OG or newb garage. Same color, different name. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

In anticipation of the new stroller restrictions, this was painted on prior to the queue entrance for security. Saw some families check their stroller sizes as they walked in. Hopefully this helps alleviate things more for guests before they even en… — In anticipation of the new stroller restrictions, this was painted on prior to the queue entrance for security. Saw some families check their stroller sizes as they walked in. Hopefully this helps alleviate things more for guests before they even enter the gates.

The gate here was slightly propped open, so I grabbed a shot of curvey noodz for Guy. He likes his noodz a little curvy.

I’m too lazy to look back at Albert’s past reports, but am assuming this is relatively new that the trees are cleared.

Because soon enough, this’ll link Downtown Disney to the Pixar Pals Garage. Which has me curious…if Disney ends up building out the 4th hotel on property over near Downtown Disney’s west end, and with a direct bridge to Downtown Disney, will the sec… — Because soon enough, this’ll link Downtown Disney to the Pixar Pals Garage. Which has me curious…if Disney ends up building out the 4th hotel on property over near Downtown Disney’s west end, and with a direct bridge to Downtown Disney, will the second floor of Pixar Pals be semi-designated to DTD parking? These are the questions that keep me up at night. That, or the bleach in the utility closet is getting to me…

There used to be a portable sign in front of this one, but that’s no longer here, and this one’s either back up and working again, or is all new. I don’t really pay much attention so I’m assuming it’s the latter.

STER WERS LÜND: Backseed of Bātoo

Really at this point in the game, you can’t see much of anything that’s changed. But here’s your dose of backside of buttoo rocks.

Downtown Disney - Black Taps, POP UP DISNEY and uhm…That’s About It

Downtown Disney recently opened up the Pop Up Mickey Museum of Immersive Instagram Experiences. It’s basically like Cheat Day Museum, Museum of Ice Cream, Color Factory, but Disney and just as basic. We’ll probably cover it at some point, but I’m an intern and $30 gets me like, a week’s worth of food from the 7-11 on Harbor, soo….priorities, amirite?

Walking through the giftshop and main entrance looks well done enough for fans to enjoy it and get some fun shots from it.

Two notes: The wall/windows outside are awesome for free instagram shots if you don’t wanna drop $30 for a ticket. Also: the three screens that used to play ESPN would be a great spot to air all the new Mickey Cartoon, and a promo video for the popup. I don’t know how good/bad attendance is going for this thing, but it seemed quiet when I was around. Would be at least great to have some visual movement on the screens rather than leaving them all black.

Black Tap soft opened after the weekend.

What seemed like it was dragging on and on to open somehow suddenly popped up and had a line of people wanting a crazy shake and burgers. I didn’t get a stipend for a meal here because Jim locked the finance box before he left, but I’m sure one of us will get around to stuffing our faces here soon to tell you how the food is. For now, here’s shots of what the place looks like. It’s a fun, modern design that offers a semi-quick service/sit down area with a nice patio area.

Disney California Pixar Symphony Stark Land of Color

I guess this is where we show you the mishmashed things that’s going on at Pixar Pier. I don’t have anything nice to say about this land and its garish design as a whole, so I’ll leave it at this: There’s major visible progress on the Inside Out attraction, Jessie’s Critter Carousel is open, and after over a year and half, this thing that should have taken maybe 6-8 months if they did it right (if they ever should have done this project at all), is finally coming to a close. So here you go: Pixar Pier Photos and a random shot of a succulent fountain I’ve never noticed before.

PhilharMagic - Open and Now With More Duckfoot

Mickey’s PhilharMagic opened up in HollywoodLand. I’ve never seen the show until now, and was told ahead of time that it’s a very scaled back version compared to Florida’s. I can’t compare the two, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The show itself is really cute. I see why people love it. I enjoyed it, but can see that the scaled back nature really felt compressed inside the Sunset Showcase. The screen itself is quite small compared to what a full-scale film would regularly look like. Otherwise, it’s still a cute show and serves a great purpose: an excuse to sit inside A/C when it gets hot as balls this summer.

Stark Raving ConstructionLand

There’s still a massive pile of dirt over here, but also, more steel has gone vertical! The dust of the Avengers will in the endgame, get swept away when new buildings show up.

Project AvengerDust

By the time I made it over to the Magic Kingdom, it was getting dark so some shots are a bit noisy. But overall, the park’s getting prepped for the crowds that’ll lightspeed their way in to the park to check out the shiny new toy back behind Frontierland.

First up, Main Street U.S.A.

There’s a lot of walls around the land as they work on scaling down planters, widen walkways, etc. What’s been done so far has, in my opinion, noticeably helped guests whether they’ve known it or not. The lowered curbs on the corners at the entrance, and what’s been done around the exterior of the hub has shown a ease of continued walking for guests rather than that awkward stutter step of trying to launch the front wheels of a wheelchair/stroller up and carry through with the back wheels. Now, you just roll on to wherever you need to go with ease…

No more awkward shuffling strollers around! Roll ‘n go, baby!

Walls are everywhere, but soon enough they’ll come down and all this will be a distant memory.

UPDATE: I got lazy as I was writing this this week, made it back to the park and got updated shots of the above areas. It seems that these planter areas are getting widened and moved around a bit. See the new look below.

Anyway, back to stuff…

Walt Disney’s Enchanted Sign Land

In the middle of project stardust lies the new old sign that showed up while we await the new big sign for Adventureland. I’ll have to hand it to Disney’s teams for bringing a fun old sign back from the past. If you don't know what we’re talking about, then search #DisTwitter on Twitter, and ask someone who thinks they know things and they’ll link you to some old article about the sign.

In the mean time, we have a signless Adventureland. Which, on a nerd level, is really fun to see what it looks like without something you’re so used to seeing, even if you don’t pay as much attention to it when you’re around. Even way finding signs … — In the mean time, we have a signless Adventureland. Which, on a nerd level, is really fun to see what it looks like without something you’re so used to seeing, even if you don’t pay as much attention to it when you’re around. Even way finding signs like this serve a great purpose, even if it’s just a themed arch.

Hyper Space Alien Planet Pizza Tours Port

Probably by the time you read this, Hyperspace Mountain will reopen on May 4th for obvious reasons, along with the continued remodel of Alien Pizza Port. I’m assuming that place is getting a permanent change over to the Little Green Men theme that once was temporary, given the scrim design. Outside of this, not much else is going on at Tomorrowland as of now.

While I was roaming around this week, I noticed people lining up for a thing near Innove-Launch Bae…Bay. IDK W/E.

I forgot people pay to sit on light up chairs on the second deck of a giant empty shell of a building to eat mediocre desserts and watch the fireworks from a place that used to be free. But also, I’m legit curious how many people actually buy into this, and how much these things that the F&B teams put on for pyro shows will be impacted if Disney continues to build out more projection based shows that rely less and less on pyro to be viewed from areas such as this. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The Maintenance Report - Week One

Lately I’ve noticed that there’s certain things that have been let go at Disney. It’s a shame to see such disarray around the resort, especially with such lazy care given to the fact the largest land expansion in park history is about to debut in less than a month. Disney, it’s not us, it’s you. You’ve really let things go, and we feel it’s our obligation as paying customers to demand nothing short of hyper-perfection. I mean, I can count on two fingers the amount of cast members that used a full-hand to direct me to the nearest restroom, where I timed the flush cycles of each stall after imbibing myself on eight corndogs. Turns out no flush can wash that turd down, so you still fail for not being able to handle my idiocy.

With that said, I would like to address, much like other sites who think this is a okay thing to do, a maintenance issue I saw while walking through DCA.

Disney, I can’t believe that you can’t have all of your trees in the hub of Buena Vista Street bloom at the same time. I mean, HOW DISCOMBOBULATED DOES THIS LOOK? You have cactus, pine trees, succulents and tababooyeah trees and yet you can't even get these little twiggy guys to finish blooming from one season to the other at the SAME TIME. Isn’t your whole thing about ‘synergy’? Well get these trees to synergize and bloom better so I don’t have to photoshop all of these trees to look even across the board. It’s just a really bad mess you’ve got on your hands here, and I wouldn’t be doing you a service without pointing it out like the p@$$hole I am.

Okay kids, that’ll do it for this week. If you feel that Disney is lacking on their maintenance, then please send your reports and complaints to the actual watchdogs who clearly don’t have anything better to do with their time in the park, don’t bother the CMs at City Hall or anyone else at Disney for this matter because they’re actually doing a damn good job of trying to maintain hundreds of acres of highly and uniquely themed environments while simultaneously funneling thousands of guests a day through these areas. So give them a break, let them do their job and have a magical friggin day.