Disneyland's 60th Birthday: Rumors, Speculation and News

[GiveMeTheMusic]

Yes! The entire park will be closed! Both parks! And the hotels! All that will be open will be DTD.

The WOC closure was leaked by MiceAge a long time ago, so the only surprise with it is that it's going to reopen for spring break, as the assumption was that it would stay down until the 60th began. The Soarin' and Pan closures have also been known for some time, we just didn't have firm dates.

Luckily there are still tons of fabulous other attractions at DLR to keep guests busy.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Once again, this has not been confirmed, so we can't rejoice yet, at least I can't. I'll believe Hatbox is back when I see him with my own two eyes.

And given his history he may not be there the next time you ride.

How awesome would it be if there was a way he could just pop up for a few hours or just a day. Do that a few days before the announcement just to see everyone go nuts.

 

[TP2000]

My understanding is that this list only includes attractions going down by mid January. IASW goes down late January traditionally. I also expect them squeezing in the other FL dark rides at some point along with 1-2 day closures for other rides before mid May as they spruce everything up.

Can you imagine if WDW tried to refurb this many rides in that period of time? Anarchy

Bingo!

This is only the list of things closing the first two weeks in January. More rehabs will come along that will start in late January, February, March, April, etc.

And yes, if they tried to close this many things at once in WDW the East Coast fans would be absolutely apoplectic. It really shows how weak and thin the attraction lineup is at all four WDW parks.

 

[TP2000]

Good grief. The entire park is closed for the Star Wars race weekend.

The entire park is closed? I get it that it's a bummer when your favorite ride closes for refurbishment, but the entire park is not actually closed. Not even close.

The following five attractions will be closed for refurbishment during the Star Wars race weekend:

Haunted Mansion
Splash Mountain
Winnie The Pooh
Matterhorn Bobsleds
Peter Pan's Flight

Admittedly, that is an extra attraction or two than is usually closed during that time. WDW fans would be horrified to learn that even with 5 rides closed, including 2 epic E Tickets, Disneyland still has more rides and major entertainment on offer than WDW's Magic Kingdom Park has with everything open.

The following Disneyland attractions, 35 of 'em, will still be open and operating during Star Wars race weekend:

Disneyland Railroad, Main Street Vehicles, Horsedrawn Streetcars, Disneyland Story featuring Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln, Enchanted Tiki Room, Jungle Cruise, Indiana Jones Adventure, Tarzan's Treehouse, Pirates of the Caribbean, Mark Twain Riverboat, Sailing Ship Columbia, Explorer Canoes, Pirate's Lair on Tom Sawyer Island, Thunder Mountain, Pinnochio's Daring Journey, Snow White's Scary Adventure, King Arthur Carousel, Dumbo, Casey Jr. Circus Train, Storybookland Canal Boats, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, Teacups, Alice In Wonderland, Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin, Gadget's Go Coaster, Submarine Voyage, Autopia, Innoventions, Space Mountain, Magic Eye Theater, Star Tours 2.0, Astro Orbiter, Monorail, Buzz LightyearAstro Blasters.

Plus the Princess Fantasy Faire, Pixie Hollow, Mickey's Movie Barn, and other various meet n' greet attractions. Two Soundsational parades, two Fantasmic! performances, and a good old fashioned Fantasy In The Sky fireworks show. Also five shows per day of Mickey & The Magical Map in the Fantasyland theater. And... um... the Big Thunder Ranch petting farm and the Frontierland Shootin' Arcade (bring quarters!).

Did I forget the Main Street Cinema?

There's also another theme park next door that people seem to like. It's about a 75 yard walk from the Disneyland main entrance. They're going to do a new Frozen thing this January.

 

[TP2000]

The refurbishment schedule has been updated. It gives credence to previous rumours about Luigi's being replaced and other rides getting upgrades for the 60th. From Mouseplanet:

• Luigi's Flying Tires – closes January 12. Scheduled to reopen December 1, 2015.

Yes it does. Miceage broke the story on the dark ride upgrades last year, and they broke the story on Luigi's just a few weeks ago.

Apparently the Miceage boys were right. Again.

I'm thinking we'll need to start a Luigi's Flying Tires Extreme Makeover thread here soon.

 

[TP2000]

And for those keeping score at home...

Here's the tally of operating attractions in mid January, 2015 at Disneyland and Magic Kingdom Park.

This is assuming Magic Kingdom Park has no refurbishments and everything is operating in mid January, and Disneyland's tally includes the five refurbishment closures including three closed E Tickets:

Disneyland Park
40 Attractions, 29 of which are rides, 8 of which are E Ticket rides

Magic Kingdom Park
34 Attractions, 25 of which are rides, 7 of which are E Ticket rides

I almost hate to mention it, but Splash Mountain usually closes at MK in January. That would drop them to 24 rides and 6 E Tickets.

 

[Californian Elitist]

Would be interesting to see how this 60-hour party would turn out, should it happen.

 

[Nland316]

I have a feeling that Snow White Grotto's refurbishment has to do with any repainting or equipment installation to the castle. It'd be so cool if they converted the castle to its pre-50th look! Basically how Hong Kong's castle looks now. Probably won't happen, but it would be a great nostalgic aspect to add.

 

[Californian Elitist]

I have a feeling that Snow White Grotto's refurbishment has to do with any repainting or equipment installation to the castle. It'd be so cool if they converted the castle to its pre-50th look! Basically how Hong Kong's castle looks now. Probably won't happen, but it would be a great nostalgic aspect to add.

I would love to see SBC back to its original color scheme as well. Don't think that's happening either, though.

 

[TP2000]

I dunno raven, that Walt-era Castle looks a little grey. Or rather, a lot grey.

The ratty looking rose bushes in bare dirt and cheap dime store wire garden fencing doesn't help things either. Funny how much things have changed aesthetically since the 1950's.

 

[Californian Elitist]

I dunno raven, that Walt-era Castle looks a little grey. Or rather, a lot grey.

The ratty looking rose bushes in bare dirt and cheap dime store wire garden fencing doesn't help things either. Funny how much things have changed aesthetically since the 1950's.

It is a little grey, but for nostalgia purposes, I would enjoy seeing it back to the way it used to look. I don't dislike the new potent pink and blue colors, but just for the purpose of the anniversary, if it even really is going to be nostalgia themed, I say change the colors back.

SBC's current surrounding are definitely better than how they were nearly 60 years ago.

 

[Californian Elitist]

Nothing's been officially confirmed in regards to the classic dark rides getting refurbs, but Pan is going down for multiple months. Let's speculate on what will be different, or share what we want to change in the ride.

The main issue for me with Pan is the rough landing at the end of the rise. I hope they somehow alter that.

All new animatronics would be great.

I have a feeling we will see a movie clip in Pan, like we see in the new Alice.

That's all I've got so far.

@Cosmic Commando, @TP2000, @GiveMeTheMusic , @sponono88, @nemofinder22 What do you all think?

 

[TP2000]

Nothing's been officially confirmed in regards to the classic dark rides getting refurbs, but Pan is going down for multiple months. Let's speculate on what will be different, or share what we want to change in the ride.

The main issue for me with Pan is the rough landing at the end of the rise. I hope they somehow alter that.

All new animatronics would be great.

I have a feeling we will see a movie clip in Pan, like we see in the new Alice.

That's all I've got so far.

@Cosmic Commando, @TP2000, @GiveMeTheMusic , @sponono88, @nemofinder22 What do you all think?

Now that I've seen digital mapping on Snow White and Alice, and the latest animatronic "projected face" tech on Little Mermaid, my wish list is;

• Better animatronics and an HD Pan projection to liven up the nursery and "Off we go!" scene
• Digital mapping to animate the streets of London scene, to replace the mechanical "traffic" and Michael's Crafts "clouds"
• Digital mapping to animate the mountains and volcano you fly over in Neverland, plus a really good subwoofer for the volcano.
• Better animatronics for all the key players; Pan, Hook, Smee, Wendy. I'd like to see a projected-face Tinkerbell a la' Sebastian.
• Do something with those Indians. A projected face on the Chief? At least some better arm movement.
• Improved lighting and better atmospherics for the Hook/Crocodile finale scene. A projected face for Smee?

You know what I'm not sure about?... How they will improve or change the already wonderful fiber optic starfield room. That room looks wonderful, and is already lightyears better than the Orlando and Tokyo versions. (The dark rides in Tokyo are really that park's weakest link, aside from Dumbo plopped in front of Haunted Mansion.)

I'm also not sure how they improve or alter that weird ending part where the mermaids are hanging out next to the pirate ship at the very end. I think the money and energy should be spent on upgrading the actual show scenes inside the ride itself.

And lastly, there's the ride system. Anything they could do to smooth out the landing at the end would be welcome. It's been improved over its original system, but still feels too herky and jerky, so anything they can do to enhance the feeling of flying would be nice. Not sure there's enough time to do much about that though.

This upcoming four month Peter Pan refurbishment seems to be only enough time to get the showmanship inside the ride ready for the next few decades of the 21st century. I can't wait to see what they accomplish!

 

[Mike S]

Now that I've seen digital mapping on Snow White and Alice, and the latest animatronic "projected face" tech on Little Mermaid, my wish list is;

• Better animatronics and an HD Pan projection to liven up the nursery and "Off we go!" scene
• Digital mapping to animate the streets of London scene, to replace the mechanical "traffic" and Michael's Crafts "clouds"
• Digital mapping to animate the mountains and volcano you fly over in Neverland, plus a really good subwoofer for the volcano.
• Better animatronics for all the key players; Pan, Hook, Smee, Wendy. I'd like to see a projected-face Tinkerbell a la' Sebastian.
• Do something with those Indians. A projected face on the Chief? At least some better arm movement.
• Improved lighting and better atmospherics for the Hook/Crocodile finale scene. A projected face for Smee?

You know what I'm not sure about?... How they will improve or change the already wonderful fiber optic starfield room. That room looks wonderful, and is already lightyears better than the Orlando and Tokyo versions. (The dark rides in Tokyo are really that park's weakest link, aside from Dumbo plopped in front of Haunted Mansion.)

I'm also not sure how they improve or alter that weird ending part where the mermaids are hanging out next to the pirate ship at the very end. I think the money and energy should be spent on upgrading the actual show scenes inside the ride itself.

And lastly, there's the ride system. Anything they could do to smooth out the landing at the end would be welcome. It's been improved over its original system, but still feels too herky and jerky, so anything they can do to enhance the feeling of flying would be nice. Not sure there's enough time to do much about that though.

This upcoming four month Peter Pan refurbishment seems to be only enough time to get the showmanship inside the ride ready for the next few decades of the 21st century. I can't wait to see what they accomplish!

Wow. So much that can be done. Meanwhile it'll still be stuck in the 70's in WDW

 

[Animaniac93-98]

(The dark rides in Tokyo are really that park's weakest link, aside from Dumbo plopped in front of Haunted Mansion.)

I'll defend the Tokyo Snow White for copying the load area and first half of the original, "Witch on a Rampage" version of WDW's Snow White. At least it still exist in some form, somewhere.

As for Disneyland's Peter Pan, a good choice for upgrade would be the effect with the ship at the end they added for Paris:

If there's one thing the DL/Paris model suffers from it's trying to cram as many of the figures molded for WDW's version in the final scene. In Florida/Tokyo, where the ride is longer, you don't fly over a model of Neverland, but through it past the various locations (Indian Camp, Mermaid Lagoon) and that's where those figures are found. In California/Paris, they're just stuck in the end room (where your focus should be on the pirates) because there's no where else to put them. The more dimensional London set is also better IMO.

It's too bad the WDW/Tokyo model still hasn't been updated, because if it was, it would be the better version.

At least DL will get even better. Very interested in seeing what they do.

 

[Californian Elitist]

Will they even touch the starfield scene at all? Out of all the scenes in the ride, that one is the most well-done and "fine", so to speak, but I'm all for improvements.

Dear Lord, the plastic bags have to go. I don't know why I didn't mention that. Digital mapping for Never Land sounds like a win to me.

I really do wish Toad was down. He could use the most upgrades.

 

[George Lucas on a Bench]

Peter Pan needs an extensive rebuild to increase capacity.

As for Snow White, I hope they don't touch the original 1955 dark forest scene.

 

[Californian Elitist]

Peter Pan needs an extensive rebuild to increase capacity.

As for Snow White, I hope they don't touch the original 1955 dark forest scene.

I forgot to ask your opinion, Endor.

I was thinking about how they could make Pan longer, but to do that, they'd have to tear down a portion of Toad, and I don't think that's going to happen. In fact, I know it's not. Capacity issues definitely need to be dealt with.

For Snow White, I could see them adding digital scenes and new animatronics. I'm all for keeping the dark forest scene in its original form... It's still VERY effective, personally speaking.

 

[Californian Elitist]

Since the mention of that others have been brought up, I'll just talk about what I would want to see for them as well. Since digital mapping and new animatronics are givens, I won't even mention them.

Snow White's Scary Adventures

- Although the mural at the end of Snow White is beautiful, I'd like to see a more proper ending. When I worked at the park and operated that attraction, the amount of "That's its?" coming from guests was irritating.

- Snow White should appear somewhere else in the attraction.

- Tony Baxter did a little upgrading for Snow's ending a couple of years ago, and I'd like to see it expanded even more.

- Fix the squeaky wheels on the carts, for Pete's sake!

Pinocchio's Daring Journey

- The carts need a cleaning, as well as Snow's.

- I'd like the placement of the insanely creepy Pinocchio puppet to change. The way it just sits there in a corner in the dark in the Stromboli section is scary.

- I think the Imagineers could go crazy with the 'Pleasure Island' portion. So much potential there.

- Lampwick's transformation could be improved.

- The pepper's ghost effect for the Blue Fairy needs a serious improvement and upgrade. She disappears too early.

- The revelation of Monstro could be more effective, even though I had a lot of kids tell me how scary he was.

Mr. Toad's Wild Ride

- Although I said I wouldn't mention getting new animatronics, I feel like I should bring it up for Toad, given the fact that there isn't a single animatronic in the entire ride. No, I don't count the bouncing devils/demons at the end to be animatronics.

- While still a great attraction, Toad relies too much on painted wooded platforms and surfaces, in my opinion. This should have been corrected back in 1983.

- I don't know how I feel about the fountain, yet.

- I'd like to see Toad in the ride, somewhere.

- Like the Pleasure Island scene, I believe the Imagineers could go wild with the 'Hell' section
-

 

[Mike S]

Since the mention of that others have been brought up, I'll just talk about what I would want to see for them as well. Since digital mapping and new animatronics are givens, I won't even mention them.

Snow White's Scary Adventures

- Although the mural at the end of Snow White is beautiful, I'd like to see a more proper ending. When I worked at the park and operated that attraction, the amount of "That's its?" coming from guests was irritating.

- Snow White should appear somewhere else in the attraction.

- Tony Baxter did a little upgrading for Snow's ending a couple of years ago, and I'd like to see it expanded even more.

- Fix the squeaky wheels on the carts, for Pete's sake!

Pinocchio's Daring Journey

- The carts need a cleaning, as well as Snow's.

- I'd like the placement of the insanely creepy Pinocchio puppet to change. The way it just sits there in a corner in the dark in the Stromboli section is scary.

- I think the Imagineers could go crazy with the 'Pleasure Island' portion. So much potential there.

- Lampwick's transformation could be improved.

- The pepper's ghost effect for the Blue Fairy needs a serious improvement and upgrade. She disappears too early.

- The revelation of Monstro could be more effective, even though I had a lot of kids tell me how scary he was.

Mr. Toad's Wild Ride

- Although I said I wouldn't mention getting new animatronics, I feel like I should bring it up for Toad, given the fact that there isn't a single animatronic in the entire ride. No, I don't count the bouncing devils/demons at the end to be animatronics.

- While still a great attraction, Toad relies too much on painted wooded platforms and surfaces, in my opinion. This should have been corrected back in 1983.

- I don't know how I feel about the fountain, yet.

- I'd like to see Toad in the ride, somewhere.

- Like the Pleasure Island scene, I believe the Imagineers could go wild with the 'Hell' section
-

Maybe they should take the props from Magic Kingdom's old Snow White ride to pluss the ending of Disneyland's. This is one reason it sucks that they got rid of it, we easily had the best ending.