Expensive Candy

Disneyland's Halloween events are quickly becoming a great thing to look forward to come Fall season. From the classic Haunted Mansion Holiday, to the new, and INCREDIBLY popular Ghost Galaxy overlay on Space Mountain, it's definitely fan favorites all around. The nighttime Trick or Treat party at the sister park has become a BIG SoCal hit, and sells out almost every year. But since California Adventure is so under the knife with it's reconstruction surgery (thanks Eisner, oh, by the way, you look like you could use a few botox shots yourself), the suits decided to move the annual nighttime party from the younger sister park, back over next door to the big sister.

This is really a good thing, because Disneyland itself has far more seasonal decorations, and overall, just seems to fit. However, the prices for this little shindig has nearly doubled. Why? Because there's more to do. The Halloween Screams fireworks show that debuted last year, is now exclusive to the party. So, if you want to see the wildly popular villains pyro in the sky, you have to fork over $50 to $60 bucks. But the fireworks aren't the only thing you can see. There's now a small Halloween parade that goes down Main Street twice. Not into the entertainment? Candy's more your thing? There's 50+ Candy stations throughout the park. The park is planning on shelling out over half a million pounds of candy.

Overall, I'm all for the party over at the original park....for now.
Once DCA is done with its facelift, my vote goes for putting it back over at DCA. Disneyland can survive on its own with its seasonal offerings, but DCA is gonna need a boost here and there to catch up the attendance. Not like that will be a problem though, seeing that World of Color has been driving guests through those turnstiles in all out droves. Once DCA's entrance changes to Buena Vista Street, we could easily see more seasonal themeing, and this show can go back over there.
But for now, the party's at the Kingdom.

Audio Voices

Lately there's been a hoard of Twitter accounts that have popped up. But these aren't your regular people tweeting. They're, for the most part, classic Disney audio animatronic characters. Now, you can get an idea of what goes on with the AA's after hours, and what they REALLY think about things. Here's a list of them to follow:

Murphy - The twice fallen Dragon of Fantasmic!


The Hatbox Ghost - Soon to be back in his eternal home!


Madame Leota - The floating seance of the Mansion


Harold - Yeti of the Matterhorn.


Tom Morrow - not-so-famous-because-his-attraction-sucks

The Brontosaurus in the Diorama - chewing the same leaves since....ever.


Abraham Lincoln - It's always a Great Moment when he's at the party.


The dog in Pirates Of the Caribbean - still not giving up the keys.


The Nemo Bay Seagulls (note: they CAN say more than "Mine?")


Hitchhiking Ghosts - Trying to catch a ride since 1969


and the infamous Red head from pirates - shifting cargo. Lots and lots of cargo.


They're actually pretty funny. I'd suggest giving them a follow, and feel free to reply to their stuff. I know the mysterious Boy33 adds fuel to their fire at times. These aren't started by Disney, but are by fans just as an entertainment.

Following the voices...

Punking the Crowds

Just heard a rumor that Daft Punk might be playing opening night of ElecTRONica at DCA. Here's the deal it could be:
1. It's not true, but a fan's way of getting a sweet rumor going.
2. It's true, Disney's denying it right now so swarms of fans don't bombard DCA. Just like DCA "added" another World of Color show due to "demanding popularity" this past summer every night it was running up until the recent schedule change for the fall season.

I sure hope it's a true rumor. I'd definitely head over there to see these guys play. If not, then we still have the really awesome ElecTRONica to dance the cool Anaheim nights away, with our $10+ drinks in hand.


End of Line.
...for now.

A Wonderland of Film

So since Tim Burton has come out with his version of Alice in Wonderland, what's next for him? Well, according to IMDB, he's working on producing Big Eyes, a story about the painter Margaret Keane and her life in the 1950's and 60's. Another one is actually based on a popular novel, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. The Vamp hunter's due out in 2011, and so is Big Eyes. But what about directing? Well, he's got Frankenweenie, which has been locked away in scripting prison since forever. Like, back when he was animating for Disney forever. Ok, not forever but a really long time. He's directing and producing (finally) this film which is due out in 2012. Sad that we have to wait even MORE for this film. I've always been a fan of the story idea, and I can't wait to see this when it comes out.

But what about Disney? He's had a helping hand with Nightmare Before Christmas, which turned into a fan favorite seasonal overlay for the Haunted Mansion in now not only Disneyland, but also Tokyo. He recently created his own version of Alice in Wonderland which was a HUGE success. What's next for Burton and the Mouse? Personally, I'd love to see him get a contract to shoot live action versions of other Disney stories. The first one I would LOVE to see is Sleeping Beauty. Maybe not even told from the snoozing princess's point of view, but Prince Phillip's, or Maleficent's view. And definitely live action.

Imagine seeing the cinematography of thorns around a castle wall, while Maleficent is transforming from human to Dragon, and Phillip is standing there watching it all fold out in front of him. The whole movie would be great to watch, but the final fight scene would be amazing to see, especially on IMAX.
I guess we'll have to sleep on this idea before we see anything like it come to fruition...

World of Color: Tron Testing

Halloween Time at the Disneyland® Resort: Wicked Fun for Everyone!

New advertisement features a World of Color bit. Nice to see Disney add new stuff to an already previous, cool advertisement.

Fantasmic Dragon Breakdown 28 AUG 2010

Here's what happened during the show on August 28th with Murphy....doesn't look to pretty. Take a look.

Welcome Programmers....

This is the new concept art for ElecTRONica, the new dance club at DCA. Starting Oct. 8th, you can check out an authentic Flynn's Arcade, along with new DJ's, and the Tron Evolution Video game area.
Now...all we need is a guest appearance by Flynn himself on opening night...and maybe a concert or two by Daft Punk....

End Of Line.

Branson Summer Trip

Protest...Protest...Protest...

photo from OC Register .

So the female employee at the Grand Californian Hotel is causing quite a stir. She refuses to work, unless she can wear the traditional Hijab, of her Muslim faith. Disney is denying her request, and offering other options for her to use in costume, to continue working. She has taken days without pay, and will not wear the options Disney has offered. Now, there's a protest going on soon, with people supporting her.

Honestly, this lady needs to give it up. Disney is offering her options for her, and she's denying them. Do you see Jewish Castmembers with yamakas on stage? I don't. Disney is a non denominational company. They aren't racist. They're an entertainment company that has costumes, and when you're on stage, then you need to abide by those costuming rules. If you don't like it, then go find another job. In today's times, I'm sure there's people that would love to work, and take her job.
Looks like this story is still a work in progress...

The Queen Anne's Revenge...

Wow, she's awful purty! Mahalo to Shockya.

On Stranger Sets...

Photos are slowly leaking from on set of Pirates of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. Here's a few of the most recent, and I'll update as I find more. Mahalo to Shockya .

Lots and Lots of Change

Well, now that Disney decides to raise their prices...AGAIN, there's still more change going on at the Resort. I guess they're trying to find a way to pay for all of the stuff they're adding to the Resort. Money's got to come from somewhere, right? And we all know that TDA won't use the money Disney's already made. They just want more from the guests.

If you can't tell, I'm not too happy about the price increase.
Here's a list Micechat made for their weekly column.

Aside from Disney getting even more money (I'll rant about this in a later post) from their guests, there's a lot of stuff going on at the resort that's making Disney everything it should have been a decade ago. Disney's California Adventure is making severe progress in becoming a full day theme park. Paradise Pier should be the first project to be totally completed. The back half has already been completed for the most part, as Toy Story Midway Mania has been there for awhile now, the games are reopened with new Victorian facades, The Sun Wheel is redressed as Mickey's Fun Wheel, and The Orange Stinger is now Silly Symphony Swings.

Now the rest of the Pier:
The Maliboomer is going away September 7th, and the last riders are being blasted off on the 6th. Current plans, as far as I know, is that this area will be a park area, with a character meet and greet. For now. There could be plans for an attraction to be placed inside the helix and backstage. There's room for it, so who knows what the boys in Glendale are up to.
Pizza Oom Mow Mow and Burger Invasion are being redressed as Victorian themed buildings, still serving the same food.

Mulholland Madness is being redressed and rethemed as Goofy's Sky School. This attraction will be going down sometime early October. The whole theme is based off the 1940's Short "Goofy's Glider", and will be a flying school that teaches beginner aviators how to fly, the goofy way, of course.

Golden Dreams Theater is already gone, and now you can see steel rising up for the newest D-ticket attraction, The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Undersea Adventure. This is slated to open summer 2011.

The rest of the park is slowing evolving as well. The old Timon and Pumbaa parking lot is becoming a desert wonderland filled with Cars. Most of the steel infrastructure is already there, now they're working on sculpting and molding the rock work into the Radiator Springs backdrop. Everything here is slated to open in 2012.

Hollywood Pictures Backlot is a quiet project, but it's changing to REALLY look like Hollywood, circa 1930's and 40's. Red Car Trolley tracks are already being place, and soon will start to make their way to the front of the park, which is going to be redesigned into Buena Vista Street, a vision of how Walt arrived in Los Angeles back in the 20's. This is probably going to be one of the last projects completed, but will, in my most humble opinion, be the best.

and yet we haven't brought up Disneyland yet, now have we? That'll be in the next post.

Firing Back

So Disneyland is selling those toy guns again from my childhood. I'm pretty happy about this! Heck, I might even buy one for old time's sake. In an article according to Mouse Planet
they're the same guns as before, just painted bright red and green, and are being sold in the " Pioneer Mercantile, Pieces of Eight, and the Indiana Jones store." What's funny is that back on my trip to Branson, I saw the same guns (hey, its the midwest, guns are common for even 6 year olds.) being sold, and posted a picture of them on my facebook with a comment stating " Hey DISNEY! Get back to selling these things!"

(photo from the trip)

Apparently they listen to me. So Disney, if you're reading this, please bring back the people mover, not with any movie tie in. Oh and also, could you please not put a Tinker Bell attraction in the old Motorboat Cruise area? Thanks so much.

Viva La California

I'm back from vacation in Branson. It was a great trip, seeing that I got to fly on the coattails of other people's dinero. I got to go to the local theme park several times, the water park, several stage shows, movies, a day out on the lake on a nice boat, and paid airfare.

It was a lot of fun, but definitely a lot of life lessons were learned. Like learning when to shut your mouth and let things roll. Or to just let an argument go when others won't let up.
I'll say it again. I love California, and I can't really see my self ever moving out of this state.

I will go back eventually to this place again, maybe for a cool photoshoot or something. (: