Disneyland Park and California Adventures in Anaheim, California today said it will close on March 14 through at least the end of the month due to the coronavirus pandemic. Read the rest

Within Disney's fantastically complicated five-tier ticket pricing scheme, the cost of a one-day pass has increased from $199 to $209 per day. Here are other highlights from the SFGate article about Disney's new prices:

The MaxPass, which enables a park visitor to digitally book reservations for rides and attractions instead of waiting in line, increased to $20 from $15.

Parking stayed flat at $25 a day.

The price of the least expensive annual pass, the Select Pass, which blocks out holidays and peak-demand days, rose 5% to $419 from $399. The most expensive annual pass, the Premier Pass, which gives guests access to Disney parks in Anaheim and Orlando, Fla., without blocking any dates, jumped 13% to $2,199 from $1,949.

(Image: Mickey Mouse riding toy in Chinatown, New York City, by Benjamin Thompson, CC-BY-SA 2.0) Read the rest

No doubt the unofficial "Gay Days" at Disneyland and Walt Disney World inspired the resorts' new retro "Wear it Proud" line of clothing, accessories, and platform Crocs. I spotted the following pieces from the collection in Downtown Disney on my recent trip to Disneyland. As I sat down to write this post, I found Disney's official announcement, which is amusing:

Are you a dancing queen or a disco king? This new Disney Parks Wear It Proud Collection will take you right back to the ’70s, whether you were around in that decade or not! The wide assortment of apparel in fun, vibrant colors has something for every hippie at heart!

Wait, "hippie at heart.."? None of this looks "hippie" to me. LOL. Whatever. The collection is fun — love the contrasting red/blue colorway in this one shirt:

And the striped trim on this tank top (better image here):

THIS BAG!!

But these platform Crocs though -- wuht.

See more of the collection at shopDisney.com. Styles are available in both Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World patterns.

photos by Rusty Blazenhoff Read the rest

I missed the opening of Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance by a few weeks. Star Wars Galaxys Edge is wonderful.

OC Register:

On most days, the backup boarding group threshold tends to be in the 80 to 83 range, meaning visitors with boarding groups below that number are expected to get on the ride. The backup boarding group threshold has been as low as 42 — which happened on Wednesday, Jan. 29, when the park was closing early for an 80s Nite after-hours party.

Disneyland has been able to accommodate some backup boarding groups on most days. The park made it all the way to boarding group 122 on Jan. 27, one of the best operational days yet for Rise of the Resistance. On the flip side, the park only made it to boarding group 81 on Jan. 19 and 26. On most days, Rise of the Resistance reaches backup boarding groups in the 105 to 115 range.

Back-to-back downtimes hurt the most — and Rise of the Resistance has had its share of them during the first two weeks of operation. The ride had back-to-back breakdowns that stretched for approximately two hours or more on Jan. 22, 23 and 25, according to Touring Plans.

But those weren’t the worst days by far. Back-to-back breakdowns stretched for approximately 4 hours on Jan. 19, according to Touring Plans. On Jan. 26, Rise of the Resistance went down three times in a row over the course of an 8-hour period, resulting in no backup boarding groups being called, Touring Plans data shows.

Deutsche Welle's footage of the empty entrance plaza of Shanghai Disneyland as the PA system broadcasts a message that the park is "temporarily closed" for "prevention and control of the disease outbreak" is indeed "straight out of a Hollywood horror movie," as the caption says. Read the rest

Using sheer brute force, a Disneyland guest successfully removed Excalibur, the "sword in the stone," from its anvil in front of the King Arthur Carrousel. It was first reported that the sword was removed as part of a planned refurbishment but then a guest stepped up to share what really happened.

WDW News Today:

The sword is not removed for refurbishment. My friend Sam broke it last week on the 8th when we went to Disneyland. He literally ripped it out. The staff said that it was really old and that’s why he was able to do so. It was his first time at Disney and he’s a pretty buff dude, I told him if he pulled it out he’d win a prize and he just used brute force I guess lol. It was broken and jagged. The staff said they taped it off so no one would stick their fingers in and cut it on the broken piece left inside.

Unfortunately, the poor fellow didn't become King, as legend dictates. And a brand new sword has already been placed in its (freshly polished) anvil in its central Fantasyland spot. See photos of it at WDW News Today.

screengrab via Disney's Sword in the Stone Read the rest

My daughter and I finally made it to Disneyland's Galaxy's Edge. It was wonderful. Read the rest

If you ever find yourself time-traveling to 1975 and need to impersonate a Disneyland Haunted Mansion ride-operator, we've got you covered: just remember that in 1975, food and drinks were absolutely not allowed past the main gate, and that E-tickets should be torn in half and placed in the ticket box. (Thanks, Changa!) Read the rest

In this video, Disney shows what it takes to deck the Disneyland Resort's halls by bringing us inside the warehouse where they store all of their holiday decorations. Mark Apepe, the lead of this impressive production, hosts this behind-the-scenes peep and shares that they use an estimated 2,000 feet of garland and 80,000 ornaments for the "Main Street package" alone.

The Disney Parks Blog adds to his numbers:

The exterior of Main Street, U.S.A., features approximately 220 garlands that measure more than four miles long, with approximately 80 wreaths and 120 bows bringing the season to life on this charming street.

It takes nearly three dozen cast members 35 days to install the glittering façade of “it’s a small world” Holiday and nearly 18 days to decorate the holiday attraction’s dazzling interior.

The Disneyland Christmas tree stands 60-feet tall on Main Street, U.S.A. and features 1,500 Victorian-inspired ornaments with 100 oversized faux candles.

Sleeping Beauty’s Winter Castle shimmers during the day and is illuminated each night with more than 126,000 twinkling LED lights, sparkling “icicles” and shimmering snow-capped turrets.

A 50-foot Christmas tree adorns Carthay Circle to help guests get in the holiday spirit. The tree and surrounding buildings are decorated with vintage-style ornaments in keeping with the theme of Buena Vista Street, inspired by Los Angeles as it appeared when Walt Disney arrived in the 1920s.

Like I said, impressive.

(Hey wait, are those rubber chickens dressed in Santa suits at the 1:18 mark?) Read the rest

One of the most exciting elements of Imagineer Christopher Merritt's astounding, essential Marc Davis in His Own Words -- a two-volume set of one of Disney's most storied Imagineers, whose contributions to the Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean and other rides cannot be overstated -- was the revelation that there was a fully prototyped ghost for the Haunted Mansion that appears to have never been put into production. Read the rest

Foolish mortals, Disney's latest Haunted Mansion merchandise is to die for.

In 1969, the Haunted Mansion opened at Disneyland and now, fifty years later, they've pulled out all the stops to make us pull out our wallet. From special light-up Grim Grinning Ghosts Mouse ears to two insane artist-made guitars (and everything in between), there are plenty of opportunities to drop some cash at the Resort right now. On my recent trip there, I tried to capture every single Haunted Mansion-related product and store display I could find (I won't share them all here but, if you're curious, I've posted some in Flickr.)

Today I want to share with you a couple of items that really caught my eye. The first being these long striped socks featuring the stretching room portraits. So good!

My one complaint with them is that they are printed using dye sublimation which means they are polyester, and polyester makes for stinky socks. Because of that, I didn't buy them even though I really wanted to. Luckily, I soon found a way to itch my "stretching room portrait merch" scratch. In a Main Street, U.S.A. store, I found this small double-sided pouch ($19.99) which unzippers to not only show the entirety of the portraits but to make the bag bigger too. How clever! And, as you can see, it has the same art as the socks.

I did buy one of those, and my sweetie had to have this door knocker.

Hey, while you're here, watch this fun video about the history of the Haunted Mansion. Read the rest

Let there be light!

Known for its dark atmosphere, Disneyland's Blue Bayou restaurant (the one you see from the Pirates of the Caribbean ride) has finally added tiny lights to their menus. So, next time you dine there, you can keep your cell phone where it belongs and order food without its assistance. To turn on the lights, lift up the menu's main cover and on the right-hand side there will be a small, hard flap with a button. Press that button and voila!

Now, I don't know how long they've been part of the menu. My last visit was in early 2018 and I didn't see the lights then. A little internet research shows that the lights have been there at least since October 2018 and that in 2016 the park experimented with menus that lit up from behind.

Also, getting Blue Bayou reservations can be tough unless you plan way ahead of time. But I was able to get in at the last-minute with the Disneyland app. I was also able to snag a late-night reservation to Oga's Cantina in Galaxy's Edge through the app.

photo by Rusty Blazenhoff Read the rest

Boing Boing reader Pink Frankenstein is behind this stunning, high-resolution recreation of the 1968 Disneyland souvenir map, which he's generously licensed CC 0 (there's also a 700 DPI, 3.5GB Photoshop master file). Pink Frankenstein adds, "Any idea who the original artist is?" Read the rest

Plus a look at some of its swell merch.

Hey hey, I'm fresh back from a short two-day excursion to Disneyland. I have a bunch of stuff to share with you but I'm going to start with my visit to Trader Sam's Enchanted Tiki Bar, that little cocktail oasis behind the pool at the Disneyland Hotel. And, if you haven't been, it really is small. Read the rest

Tightrope Girl took 18 hours and the widow Constance Hatchaway took 13 hours

If you've ever tried to draw anything on an ordinary Etch A Sketch toy, you know it takes some mad skills to be able to do what "etch artist" Kevin E. Davis has accomplished with these four Haunted Mansion stretching room portraits. The series is part of his Disneyland Project which also includes absolutely incredible Etch A Sketch drawings of Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge, the treasure room of the Pirates of the Caribbean, the exterior of It's a Small World, and more!

Each of these took 13 hours to complete

Because he has a family and life outside of work, Kevin can only create his art during his lunch hour. So one drawing can take months to complete.

And, in case you think they are faked in some way, head to his Instagram feed for "making of" photos and videos. These are the real deal, folks. In fact, he's so good that he evens adds hidden Easter eggs, like his initials, in the finished pieces.

Take a look at these timelapse videos he created:

Read the rest

There are actors and then there are people who really get into a role and make it theirs! This Evil Queen at Disneyland is definitely in the latter category. Watch her play around as her big, bad, narcissistic, villainous self with guests of the park.

Here are longer videos of the Queen from Fatima Lakhani, a YouTuber who specializes in "character interactions":

screenshot via GMA Read the rest

[[Imagineer Chris Merritt (previously) was the protege of the Disney legend Marc Davis, the character designer whose work defined the look of such classic attractions as Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion. Merritt has written seminal books on southern California's themed attractions, including Knott's Berry Farm and Pacific Ocean Park.

[[His latest book, Marc Davis in His Own Words: Imagineering the Disney Theme Parks, is his magnum opus: a gorgeous, two-volume, slipcased set on the life, philosophy, reminisces, career, and designs of Marc Davis, incorporating many never-seen rarities from Davis's own collection, as well as the Disney archives. Chris was kind enough to supply us with this excerpt from Chapter Nine, which tells the backstory of my beloved Haunted Mansion, largely through transcribed, verbatim quotes from Davis himself. -Cory]] Read the rest