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50th Plans - New Space Mountain Looks like plans are beginning to solidify a bit more for Disneyland's 50th Anniversary. And as we had somewhat expected the grand ideas Marty Sklar and the Imagineering (WDI) folks had for Anaheim (and were written about here before) looks like they are being cut from the budget. Out of the "Big Five" major refurbishments for five Disneyland attractions originally planned, it now appears as though only Space Mountain will get the full top to bottom overhaul/redo treatment. So expect Space Mountain to close towards the end of 2003 for about a year while they install all new track, new vehicles and new special effects for the aging roller coaster. The domed building we see now will remain, but the interior will be basically torn out and replaced. No definitive word yet on if we get a more ambitious type of ride like the Rock 'n Roll roller coaster, or just a theme and variation upon what is currently in place.
Pooped Monorails The Disneyland Facilities department is now realizing what the Attractions department has known for several years; that the current Monorail fleet is just about to give up the ghost and die. The big Facilities Vice President now wants an all-new fleet of monorails designed, built and installed in time for Disneyland's 50th. Unfortunately, you can't just go out to the local Alweg dealer and buy new monorails. They have to be custom built by the only monorail manufacturer left, Bombardier Inc. who has a transit vehicle manufacturing plant in Vermont. Back in the 1950s Walt had his Imagineers build two of their own custom monorail trains in a Glendale warehouse using Alweg blueprints (and a whole lot of on-the-fly engineering by Bob Gurr) in just about a year's time. But now, with all the different levels of management and red tape that Disney has built in to WDI in Glendale and its accountants in Burbank and Anaheim, it is predicted to take several years to get a new monorail fleet built. The Facilities Vice President, to his credit as I understand it, is fed up with this corporate nonsense and has stated that he will find a way to get new monorails for Disneyland by the 50th. If a small team of Imagineers could build a fleet of monorails in one year in the late 1950s, why can't a giant company like Disney build a fleet of monorails in two years time with all of the technological advances of the 21st Century at their disposal? If you can cut through all the 21st Century red tape and Disney management layers, it might be possible. We wish that Vice President luck. Those Disneyland monorails are getting creakier by the day.
In fact, just this past weekend the Disneyland monorail system was closed more than it was open. In the middle of the first major rainstorm of the year, both the blue and purple trains had numerous mechanical issues that kept the entire system shut down for hours at a time on Friday. And then on Saturday evening around 7 pm, a monorail train passed into the Hollywood area of DCA and cast off a chassis "shoe", dragging parts and wires along the beam until the monorail came to a stop near the Grand Californian Hotel. Wires and springs from the monorail came flying down onto the Fasptass area underneath the beam at Soarin' Over California, which luckily had no one around in that area at the time. The disabled monorail was stuck on the beam for just under an hour, with over 100 people on board. It was finally towed back to the Downtown Disney station and the riders were able to get off the train. These types of major monorail downtimes that can last for hours are becoming increasingly common. Back in the 1980s and '90s it was extremely rare for the monorail system to be entirely shut down. And even if a problem did develop with one train, there was always a spare in the roundhouse ready to be pulled on. This weekend, only the blue and purple trains are in the minimum state of maintenance allowed to be used however, and the red and orange trains are in the maintenance facility undergoing overdue repairs that will hopefully get them through the busy Holiday period ahead. If you are staying at the Disneyland Hotel or Paradise Pier Hotel and are counting on using the monorails for transportation during an upcoming visit, it would be wise to not put too much faith in the system or count on it to always be running.
Don't get your hopes up... There are rumors that the new parade for the 50th will be just the recycled snow globe parade from Walt Disney World's Walt's 100th festivities - which is really kind of sad. A Pressler era production, this procession managed to do two things that really dismayed and disappointed visitors - it 1] Put Disney's cuddly characters behind distancing Plexiglas and 2] Served as a very long commercial for snow globes. Let's hope they do something else more along the lines of past successes such as the Party Gras parade or the Lion King Celebration. Also being planned for Disneyland's 50th is a special fiber optic treatment for Sleeping Beauty's Castle, not unlike some of the fiber optic technology used on the Main Street buildings five years ago for Light Magic. The new fiber optic Castle would be able to shimmer and glow during evening hours, and be able to put on synchronized light shows with the new 50th anniversary version of the Believe fireworks that is also being considered for the 50th. The one "new" attraction aside from a redone Space Mountain however is a proposal for a new CircleVision film for Tomorrowland. That still hasn't been approved yet, and some TDA planners are balking at the modest costs WDI has proposed for the production of the film and remodeling of the 35-year-old CircleVision building. (Not to mention the possible use of the current Rocket Rods queue and loading area for a new way to load the vehicles for Space Mountain.) Otherwise there isn't much else planned right now for any of Disneyland's attractions. All of the major technological additions and improvements that WDI originally proposed for Disneyland's fading E Tickets from the 1950s and '60s have been cut from the 50th's budget. The plan now (as has been over the past eight years) is to offer more new Park entertainment instead of making investments into the actual attractions - a very sad carryover from the Pressler regime. My suggestion here? It's the 50th - so why not really celebrate the past?
While some projects may cost more than others, none of the above would run anywhere near what just one new E-ticket would. In particular the first three rides would be relative bargains, while admittedly the Subs would require extensive work to get them back up. Even if these old attractions only reappeared for the life of the anniversary (providing an incentive to visitors to experience them again) it could help out more than you would think - heck, just look at what a few small rides at DCA did promoted as a Bugs land. (The new park has had a small attendance bump due to the new area.) As we mentioned in an earlier update, Disneyland's 50th Anniversary celebration is expected to last about 18 months. It will kick off in the fall of 2004 and run through the end of calendar year 2005. The new version of Space Mountain will likely not be ready to open by the time the party starts in late 2004, but all of the Anniversary entertainment pieces will be in place by then.
Oops, DCA forgot Christmas Once the suits at Team Disney Anaheim (TDA) committed themselves to canceling LuminAria just after Labor Day this year so that the funds could be funneled into the mounting costs for the new Aladdin show, the execs were left with the sudden realization that "We don't really have anything very festive happening at the new park this year." In fact, once the show was canned, there was absolutely nothing festive happening at DCA since the new Park's Christmas decorations are very sparse and very modest compared to the increasingly over-the-top treatment Disneyland gets for the Holidays. So what's an executive team to do? Since it's TDA we are talking about, they did what they always seem to do when it comes to adding and installing things at DCA; they panicked a bit and slapped something together quickly. And what will DCA get this Christmas season in lieu of LuminAria and all that fireworks smoke? Sand castles and ice skating it seems. (Never mind the fact that the new issue of Disney Magazine on the newsstands has a paragraph bout LuminAria returning to DCA this year on November 8th. The show got canned in September and the TDA suits failed to tell their friends at Disney Magazine , proving that Disney's "synergy" isn't always the benchmark Mr. Eisner touts it as.)
The "Holiday" themed sand castles will take up residence in the Sunshine Plaza area in front of the hubcap sun icon and fountain at the Park's entrance. That plaza never really became the "people space" it was intended, and even the WDI folks admit now that it ended up a bit sterile and bland. Unlike the Central Plaza or "hub" at Disneyland, no one really meets there or sits on the benches to rest and people watch. The "Sunshine Plaza" sort of turned out like the Disney version of a barren civic plaza from a misguided urban renewal project of the 1970s. In late 2001 TDA asked the Entertainment folks to liven it up a bit by having the Road Trip band or the Groove 66 singers perform lots of sets in that area throughout the day, but most visitors still don't visit aside from taking a picture or two in front of the fountain. But this December there will be reason to linger in the Sunshine Plaza, because it will be filled with master sand sculptors creating large "California Christmas" sand castles at a fake beach. As the plan is now, DCA visitors will be invited to step into the big sand boxes and create their own sand castle, or add on a bit to the professionally designed castles themselves. The professional sand sculptors will come in overnight and remake and repair the big sand castles to be ready for the next day. The suits are hoping it will give DCA a much needed boost of "Holiday family fun," as well as provide an iconic California moment for the tourists from out of state visiting for the Holidays. The DCA Stores managers are hoping this sand castle idea hits big, since sales at the two Sunshine Plaza stores have never met expectations, even when they were revised down to reflect lower attendance for 2002. While a few folks who filled me in on this seem enthusiastic about this last minute addition, I'm still wondering why the suits don't seem to understand that the problem with this park remains its poor quality attractions - people don't pay theme park prices to play in a sandbox, do paper crafts or even try to do the limbo. The other DCA idea sounds even less exciting, but they are going ahead with it anyway. The Christmas tree that was just put up in the amphitheater area across from Golden Dreams will be the backdrop for a special ice skating rink. Around the base of the tree and in the small plaza in the amphitheater they will be installing a fake plastic surface ice rink. Throughout the day the plan is to have Disney Characters come out and do some ice skating, while everyone watches on the sidelines. Right now as they have it planned there won't be much "show" to this concept however. If you have seen the ice skating float in Disneyland's Christmas parade where Belle and the Beast or Chip and Dale ice skate with each other to music and talk to the crowds along the parade route about it, you kind of get the idea what this little DCA ice dinky rink will be like. Except the Characters ice skating at DCA won't have an audio track, and there will just be some background music playing. You will simply stand in the amphitheater and watch the Characters skate at several times during the day. It won't be nearly as interactive as the sand castles at the Park entrance, and visitors won't be allowed to skate themselves like they used to do at the Disneyland Hotel marina during the Holidays. But, at least it will be something extra for DCA that has a "Christmas" feel to it. Again, this was all slapped together at the last minute, and there
isn't much of a budget for any of it. But it brings home the fact that in
October the TDA planners came to the sudden realization that DCA was going
to be completely outdone by Disneyland this year when it came to Holiday
cheer. Somehow, even with the sand castles and the ice rink, DCA will
still be completely outdone this year when it comes to Holiday cheer. Can you imagine if they did a Christmas version of the Electrical Parade, with new Holiday music intertwined with the original music and decorative additions to the floats? (Why they just didn't bring over the soundtrack to the Paris Holiday Electrical Parade is a mystery to everyone I chat with.) Or what if they redressed the Eureka parade to show the way the different cultures of California celebrate the Holidays? With the multicultural and colorful floats used in Eureka, they could cover Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Chinese New Year, Ramadan, etc. all in one unique parade. Oh well, maybe TDA's new year's resolution for 2003 should be to plan things out for DCA a bit better. Let's hope this latest batch of miscues at DCA are just bookending a disappointing era in the parks, now that Jay Rasulo has replaced Paul Pressler.
New Emporium Treasure Planet Windows They replaced the Lilo & Stitch Main Street Emporium windows with scenes from Treasure Planet - and, well, let's just say I was underwhelmed with the lack of motion and effort put into them. The following four shots give you an idea of what is there - but keep in mind the many Christmas light reflections and the digital camera's problem with taking photos in low light make these less than optimal shots.
I was also very disappointed with the last trailer I saw for the movie, which I caught when I went to see Spirited Away at the El Capitan. After the first "fly by" trailer, where there seemed to be some grandeur to the movie, the second peek at the film made it look awfully pedestrian. Treasure Island has always been a favorite book for me, and I especially loved the Disney film version. I am still going to see this movie when it opens, but so far the trailer and these windows have been less than welcoming. I'll wait and see what the final product turns out like.
Revamped Holiday Fireworks I'd had a rather brutal week, culminating in a project that took me through two sleepless days. I really hadn't planned to visit Disneyland this weekend, and had in fact e-mailed most folks that I would be sleeping in the rest of the day. Thankfully though, a kind friend called me up Sunday morning wanting to visit the happiest place on earth, so taking advantage of his doing the driving, I joined him. And I have to say I was very glad I did.
The decorations were all up and looked great for the most part (although things were still being tweaked here and there - there were a few dark spots where light strings had failed), the park was packed due to the holiday weekend (but thanks to Fastpass we were able to do the two holiday attractions comfortably, small world and Mansion) and we stayed around for the fireworks.
Boy, was I delighted when the fireworks concluded. They took a good show, and vastly improved it with a stronger opening and ending display. Several other tweaks were made throughout too. It was fun to hear how the audience responded so favorably to all the new changes, and it reminded me that there are still some folks at the Disney company who really do try and make things better for the audience. It made my night, hopefully the revamped show will make yours.
We'll have another D-I-G update for you soon. See you at Disneyland!
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As I continue to visit the park, I try and post updates to the D-I-G here on this page. This will be the spot for any advance information, rumors and gossip I can gather, a bit of editorializing on my part, and all sorts of other tidbits and news items that don't quite fit anywhere else on the site. To help avoid long downloads for you, this page will contain only the latest updates, the previous ones will be available on the Al's Archive section of this site.
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