Disneyland Resort Update: Post-Star Wars Catch-Up Edition

Disneyland Resort, Anaheim, CA

Happy birthday, Disneyland! Today, Walt Disney’s Original Magic Kingdom turns 2^6, and we celebrate by checking back in at the Disneyland Resort for the first time in a little while. We haven’t done an actual update post since before Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge opened, so we’ve got a lot of things to catch up on. Multiple attractions and amenities have opened since our last update, so lets run back and check out what’s happened since we got lost out in Batuu!

Pixar Pals Parking Structure Opens

A few weeks ago, the Pixar Pals parking structure finally opened, unlocking another 6500 parking stalls or so for the anticipated horde of people who are expected to flood the Resort to check out Galaxy’s Edge. That flood… hasn’t actually happened yet, for reasons we’ll get into at the end of the update. But the added parking has been a help, because even without a new themed land, the Disneyland Resort was already struggling with parking and often filling up to capacity.

The Pixar Pals structure is a beauty, though. Stylish, elegant, and with some pretty fantastic nighttime lighting, it has helped streamline and increase capacity of security, tram loading, and parking. Though not everything is complete, what’s there is already a breath of fresh air. Expanded security and tram loading is greatly welcome. Parking sensors will be a big help when they’re fully functional and tied to signage indicating the locations of open stalls. The bridge across Magic Way has been installed, and work is progressing on a pathway along Disneyland Drive that will take pedestrians from the parking structure directly to Downtown Disney without having to cross vehicular traffic. That will be a terrific enhancement in safety and efficiency.

Lets check out what the Pixar Pals have brought!

Welcome to the Pixar Pals parking structure! The Pixar Ball reinforces that it’s Pixar.

The structure is open and in use.

And it’s pretty dang spiffy!

Lets go up the escalator promenade and look up that oculus first.

There are still a few details that the architect in me wishes were different, like this drain pipe being exposed on the outside of the column.

They’ve installed the bridge across Magic Way since the last time we had an update here.

It looks cool. It’s a two-piece truss bridge that was connected together in the center.

The planters along Pixar Pals are notably higher than the corresponding ones at Mickey and Friends.

One positive: the new parking structure has a lot more elevators!

Five just over here by the escalators! There’s another elevator tower on the opposite end of the structure, next to Mickey and Friends.

These three reverse open on the ground floor.

Lets go back down. You can see that the center portion of the tram plaza is now being worked on to replace paving and landscaping.

The massive canopy here marks the entrance through security and into the actual tram loading area.

There are a million gates, most of them not used, and display screens that indicate where to go and what to do.

The bag check lines technically do/can bottleneck into the metal detectors, but thusfar, it appears that most lines have been funneling most bag check lines into their own metal detector lines, rather than have two bag check lines converge into one detector like had been the case.

Looking toward Mickey and Friends.

The displays also instruct guests to open their bags for inspection. Too bad Disney didn’t invest in bag scanners like Universal did.

Looking toward the Pixar Pals escalators, with the work wall on the left separating the open area from the part of the promenade being refurbished like I mentioned earlier.

Looking up one of the many stair towers of the Pixar Pals structure.

From an elevated view, you can see the remaining work to do here.

After several years of this area being torn up, it’s time to patch everything back together!

More trees is good for more shade, even if guests largely won’t be actively waiting in this area for the trams.

The planters are in the large ditches. The rest of the dirt is sub-grade for the pavers.

Fitting trees in place.

From ground level.

In a bit of unexpected development, they’re building a new elevator tower at Mickey and Friends!

At least that is what this looks like to me.

The under-capacity of the Mickey and Friends elevators has long been a complaint, and though Pixar Pals brings a bunch more, the still-larger Mickey and Friends structure can still use more elevators.

They’re just starting this mini-project.

Lanes have been removed at each level on the inside.

This blocked off area on each level will be where the elevator lets guests off.

In Mickey and Friends, the parking sensors seem to be working. They’re not tied to the counter for open space yet, but the actual lights themselves are turned on, green for open stall nearby; red for full.

At Pixar Pals, though, strangely, the sensors are not operational.

Back to the promenade, right now, if you want to walk to Downtown Disney instead, you need to head this way.

Admore the structure and duck under the bridging esclators to the 6th floor. You’ll cross the tram route here too.

And out onto Magic Way. You can see the bridge again from street level.

How it connects to the escalator promenade. This occurs at the second floor.

Building in additional railing.

The other side. All of those pipes are electrical conduits.

Looking at the bridge from Disneyland Drive and Magic Way.

It’s a nice looking bridge that fits with the aesthetic of the new structure!

Here’s where it connects to the Downtown Disney side.

As we saw last time, there’s a ramped bridge back down to ground level.

It curves and then runs parallel to Disneyland Drive.

Another angle of the bridge.

Right now, guests can enter Mickey and Friends and be directed up the ramp to the open level at the old structure, then cross over a bridge to the Pixar Pals side. Or, guests can actually enter the structure off of Magic Way and go straight up on that side.

I didn’t see any cars try, and it’s unclear exactly how advertised this is, but the entrance did not appear to be blocked. This will be beneficial for guests coming from the south, giving them option to just turn west on Magic Way after coming up north on Disneyland Drive, instead of requiring them to U-turn at Ball Road to pull into Mickey and Friends.

Over by Rainforest Cafe, here’s the site from last Friday. Presumably, the parking spots taken away by the trailer area form back when the new Downtown Disney hotel was still on will revert to parking stalls—minus the pathway from the parking structure and bridge.

Now, lets take a look at Pixar Pals at night.

I love that each level is lit in its own color.

The escalators look sleek and futuristic here.

The canopy does look like a giant UFO landing.

The Pixar Pals levels have the same colors as their Mickey and Friends counterparts. Just different names, patterned to Pixar films.

Entry canopy into security.

Inside the secured tram loading area.

It’s a massive, cavernous space.

With some cool light fixtures!

Things get really blue at the actual loading zones.

There are also numerous lanes allowing trams to take alternate bypass routes if not actually picking up new guests.

The column graphics are cute.

The wall graphics too.

There are multiple tram loading and drop-off zones.

I also love that Disney’s new construction this year has bottle fillers everywhere, to encourage greater use of reusable containers.

Disney did a great job with this parking structure, that’s for sure!

Downtown Disney Displays

Over in Downtown Disney, the summer has brought some new and pretty adorable floral centerpiece displays in the planters throughout the shopping District. They’re perspective illusions that come together only from certain angles, revealing abstracted Disney characters in various poses. These are fun to explore and look for, and if you’re not sure where exactly to stand to get the correct angle, look for the Mickey Mouse shoe prints on the ground to provide the correct viewing perspective.

Downtown Disney has these cool planter figures for the summer.

At the right angle, you see that it’s Goofy!

Another one from the side.

It’s Daisy! (Actually, the opposite angle is better.)

You can tell who this is.

Hi, Donald!

Pluto and Chip n Dale are not perspective illusions.

Mickey is, though.

See?

There are actually two Mickeys, for some reason.

And they’re basically copies.

Oh man, it must be dead at the Resort if there’s no outside like at Black Tap anymore!!! (Or this photo was taken before 5:00, so it would be in the lull between meal periods…)

Marvel Land Construction

Work on the Spiderman attraction of next year’s Marvel Land continues. The structural steel has been topped off, and crews are moving onto light gauge framing to build out the exterior walls and envelope. As a result, the building is now behind tarp and scaffold, though during the day, it’s fairly easy to see through the fabric and monitor progress.

Work is moving more slowly in the back area of Marvel Land, where Flik’s Fun Fair used to reside. There’s still a lot of dirt, with more land clearing occurring.

Now that Galaxy’s Edge is open and Pixar Pier is officially complete, this is the new front and center park attraction project!

Stark Industries is busy building a new Spiderman building.

The primary steel structure has been constructed.

No, they’re not surrounding the Guardians tower with scaffolding and tarps. This is what ya call an optical illusion!

But the building is progressing pretty well. They’ve got less than a year to go, after all.

A crane element rises up above the covers.

Look close, and you can see the signatures on this topping beam.

A slightly different angle.

Lets go up on the Pal-A-Round.

You can see how the old It’s Tough to Be a Bug theater is having its square footage greatly expanded with this building addition.

There’s some extra structure coming off the side, behind the front facade too.

Construction continues a little beyond too.

But mostly on the dirt level.

Not a ton of change back here since last time.

Tale of the Lion King

For the summer season, Disney California Adventure has debuted a new outdoor, live theatrical stage show that retells the story of the Lion King. Clearly done to help promote the “live action” (I mean, it’s 100% CGI, so I’m not really sure this can be called live action—photorealistic if anything, but there isn’t even one actual live character) movie that opens tomorrow, it’s an energetic and fun-looking show that takes place at the stage in Paradise Park.

Unfortunately, last Friday was the in the throes of our first heat wave of the summer, so the show was actually cancelled “due to inclemental weather” when I stopped by. Not closed was a merch booth directly in front of the Little Mermaid ride. After all, Disney will never miss a chance to hawk merchandise.

The Tale of the Lion King plays several times a day, and times may vary depending on the day.

On this particular day, the afternoon session was cancelled due to the heat. The stage backdrop is pretty nice, though!

Not closed: the merch booth.

Get your Lion King everything here!

I can’t help but think that some of this merchandise is a bit tacky.

Like a total hodge podge of all past and current Lion King fashions.

And apparel that tries to cash in on meme culture—or what an executive imagines meme culture comprises.

Inside Out: Emotional Whirlwind Opens

While “Star Wars Land” was garnering all the attention last month, another attraction also finally opened across the Esplanade. Inside Out: Emotional Whirlwind debut as the final piece of Pixar Pier. Yes, more than one year after it officially opened, Pixar Pier is now officially complete.

The attraction is a retheming/reskinning of Flik’s Fun Flyers. Guests ride one of several giant memory orbs and spin around as Joy, Sadness, Fear, Disgust, and Anger process their reactions to this centrifugal attraction. It’s cute for the relatively simple ride that it is, and is colorful and charming in and of itself. It just doesn’t match the rest of Pixar Pier at all, and it’s fairly obvious that the designers were hamstrung by budget in terms of what they could do with the ride. On the other hand, it does bring back another family-friendly attraction in a park that is largely limited on them—especially after Flik’s Fun Fair’s removal took out four of them.

Welcome to Inside Out: Emotional Whirlwind!

Where the theme is: COLOR!

Or emotions. Sadness is both, really.

Here’s a nifty sign by the queue entrance.

There’s a photo op with Disgust.

The memory orbs carry little boxes for guests to ride in.

It’s not illogical to theme a balloon ride to this movie.

It just doesn’t really aesthetically fit with the rest of Pixar Pier.

But it has been popular during these past few weeks, with lines in excess of 40 minutes even!

Part of that is probably also due to capacity.

I couldn’t stick around till night, but it is a beautiful sight at night. If there’s one thing I have to acknowledge, is that the creative team did a great job with the ride’s lighting package.

The surrounding area has also been spruced up in the purples of the “Inside Out Neighborhood” motif.

Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance Opening… Not Even That Soon

Last week, the opening date of Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance was also finally announced. It is… Friday, January 17, 2020. Yeah… next year. Walt Disney World will actually debut theirs before us—on Thursday, December 5th of this year (and also Walt Disney’s birthday). So in a way Galaxy’s Edge will have a bit of Pixar Pier syndrome in that it won’t be fully complete for a significant amount of time after it’s official open.

Of course, Galaxy’s Edge is much more beautiful, detailed, immersive, cohesive, and immersive than Pixar Pier. But still, it’s a little disappointing to know that the marquee attraction of Disneyland’s largest expansion ever won’t actually be available to the public until seven and a half months after its land opened.

The Rise of the Resistance is a slow rise.

This will continue to be guarded in secrecy for another six months.

Apparently, the Resistance isn’t ready yet. Or maybe they’re procrastinators. Poor Vi Moradi is going to have to just keep on dodging the First Order without the ability to actively recruit…

Patriotic Park Vibes

In other news, the red white and blue motifs were still up at Buena Vista Street and Main Street, left there since Memorial Day and carried through Independence Day. The ambiances look great with these patriotic decorations!

Just wanted to post some more and sunnier photos of Buena Vista Street in its All-American colors. Also, the Red Car Trolley is currently closed for refurbishment.

Flags and bunting.

Love the crisp colors.

Buena Vista Street celebrates the country’s heritage everywhere.

See?

Main Street has its stars and stripes too.

This is not a hate symbol.

Lamppost is a figure giving the double vees.

About Those Crowds…

There was a lot of fuss and consternation over the unusually low crowds that settled upon the Disneyland Resort parks last month. Initially, it was thought that the reservations-only management of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge had resulted in an unforeseen side effect of all non-reservation holders staying away from the parks, for fear of crowds. And yet, after Galaxy’s Edge opened to all guests on June 24th, the crowds and wait times continued to remain low—historically low, even! Could this mean that Galaxy’s Edge was a failure????

Well, if you subscribe to Disney tabloid theory, yes. But of course, that’s sensationalism and dramatization, motivated by the desire to increase clicks and views and thus revenue. In truth, the low crowds have been due to a combination of circumstances creating a bit of a perfect storm:

• The vast majority of annual passholders are blocked out until the end of August. Right now, only Signature and Signature Plus (and Premiere) passholders can visit the parks. Deluxe and below are blocked out Disneyland. While they can go to California Adventure (which has seen longer average lines than Disneyland), many are likely waiting to be unblocked from Disneyland to visit.

• A much hyped, brand new expansion has also created a backlash of people staying away from the parks in fear of crowds that are turning out not to materialize. Remember the first Carmageddon a few years ago? Officials warned people to stay off the freeway when the I-405 was being closed for a weekend for the demolition of the Mulholland Drive bridge, and they repeated the ad campaign so much that even people who were not planning on driving anywhere near the site ended up staying home just to be safe. For out-of-town visitors and non-passholders who cannot just show up at the parks on a whim, this has meant that trips that they might have planned for the summer have been pushed back.

• Disney has also managed the opening of the new land very efficiently, and its lone attraction is an extremely high capacity ride. People were referencing the initial 20-30 minute waits for Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run as evidence that the ride wasn’t as successful as hoped, but in reality, Disney cut back heavily on the number of people allowed into Galaxy’s Edge during the reservation-only period, in order to ease beginning operations. The ride’s high capacity was able to process those guests who were allowed pretty quickly. And even after the land was open to everyone, the decrease in general attendance due to the aforementioned factors meant that even increases in Smugglers Run wait times weren’t really that large.

• Some guests may be waiting until Rise of the Resistance opens before visiting, so that they can get the full experience without having to come back in less than a year. Obviously, not the Passholders, but for the rest of the public that visits Disneyland only once a year or two or three or five or even in a lifetime, it makes more sense to just wait.

With word getting out about less-than-expected crowds, Disney relaxing cast member sign-in’s, and the park’s introduction of an “Annual Passholders can bring a friend to one park for one day for only $99” promotion (running through the end of August), plus the full summer break upon Southern California, the crowds have actually picked back up over the past few weeks. Although one can find sporadic below-average waits still, there are certainly plenty of rides with queues that are as long as people are used to.

The real test of whether Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge is as much of a draw as Disney hopes will come at the end of next month, when Deluxe, SoCal, and SoCal Select passholders are allowed to visit. If crowds remain light, then we can start to talk about Disney’s investment.

A glance at last Friday’s DCA board in the late afternoon certainly shows quite a few attractions with lengthy waits—suggesting that this whole “Disney is dead” business might be overblown.

That wraps up our update for today! As the Resort wraps up a large number of its projects, we’ll ease up on our construction update frequency.

There are still some works to monitor, though. Marvel Land will continue until next year, and there are still some Project Stardust items to work on at The Hub. There are still the incomplete elements of the parking structure promenade and bridge. At some point, construction for Mickey’s Runaway Railway should start in Mickey’s Toontown (though that might be largely hidden from public view, due to where the attraction site will be). Next month’s D23 Convention should reveal more projects for the next few years too. After all, as Walt said, Disneyland will never be completed.

Which is good, since it gives us content to continue to publish.

Ciao!!