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Resort News - (5/6/08) Thanks to a Screamscape reader who was in the right place at the right time, we’ve actually got some pictures of that Tram Accident and their own witness report. (Note: I’ve cropped or blurred out people’s faces in the pictures since I’m sure this will become some kind of legal issue in the future.) Anyway here is our reader’s report on just what happened.
  “…we were sitting there waiting for the tram behind us to pass before we could move forward when we started hearing these loud noises. I turned to look at the back end of the passing tram and it looked like each car was going over a speed bump and coming down hard. As the last car got close to the sign, bits and pieces of the wiring and the lighting on the top of tram started coming down on the guests and there was dust everywhere. The railing that surrounds the cast member in the back was bent sideways (I have a picture of it) and the cast member jumped out, holding his arm. Everyone was screaming at the driver to stop. Thankfully it didn't look like anyone was hurt, except for maybe the cast member holding his arm. It makes me wonder, though. Why didn't that cast member notice the right side of the tram was running into the sign as it passed and stop the tram earlier?”
  It certainly sounds like something distracted the driver… but apparently this has nothing to do with the suicide dive by a Disneyland Hotel guest who jumped from his 14th story balcony. Time wise, the incidents did happened fairly close to each other with the news reports claiming that the police were called to the hotel for the suicide at about 11:04am and the Tram accident also said to have taken place sometime after 11am. However it was pointed out that the tram was facing in the opposite direction of the hotel and due to the distance and height of the nearby greenery it’s unlikely anyone could have seen the jump from the tram.
  (5/5/08) The big news from the Disneyland Resort this week had nothing to do with Toy Story Mania or the latest construction footage. Instead it seems a man staying at the Disneyland Hotel committed suicide by jumping from his 14th floor balcony. If that wasn’t enough apparently one of the Disneyland Trams also had a minor accident on Friday when the last car in the tram had a run-in with some kind of sign post that torn things up quite a bit. No major injuries have been reported yet, only minor cuts and scrapes.
  (4/29/08) In an article posted to the OC Register, the resort president teased about building a new 3rd park on their 88 acre site just down Harbor. As for that rumor about Disney possibly being involved with the two hotel projects at the GardenWalk, he did say that Disney is continuing to look into operating the two hotels in the GardenWalk but did not commit to it. Of course the fact that it wasn’t outright denied entirely means that it’s a fairly good chance that this will indeed happen.
  (2/5/08) While I said I think it unlikely that Disney would opt in to a plan to build a monorail style system from the Disneyland Resort over to the Anaheim Angles stadium area, we have heard that Disney may have other plans in the works. From what I’ve heard Disney may actually be in talks with the city to get involved with the building of a new transportation system that could connect the main resorts, possibly their hotels, the Anaheim Convention Center, the Gardenwalk project and the 3rd park site together. I have no idea what kind of transportation method may be in the short list of possibilities, but I guess right now the talk is mainly about the possible routes they could take and just what stops would be included. As I mentioned, one line option would connect the Disney Resort hotels and the nearby convention center to system, while the smaller and cheaper alternative would simply be a run from the bus lot down past a possible second parking structure, through the Gardenwalk (which could have Disney branded hotels…) and into the CM lot and 3rd park site. Anyone know more?
  (2/4/08) Somehow I’ve got major doubts we’ll see this happen, but according to the LA Times, Anaheim’s mayor is talking about a $250 million plan to extend the Disneyland Monorail system down to a proposed transportation hub at Angel Stadium. The concept is that Disney and other local businesses would pay most of the bill for the “public” monorail system while the city would file for federal/state transportation funding to pay the rest. As I said… I don’t see this happening myself. If Disney had any interest at all in paying to expand the monorail system to Angel Stadium, you think they would have done it back when they owned the Angels and Mighty Ducks and had incentive to do it, but right now they have none. Maybe we’ll see them eventually build some kind of new peoplemover concept towards that 3rd park site they’ve got down Harbor, but that’s in the opposite direction.
  (12/11/07) The OC Register reports that a “Prospera Hotels” group turned in proposals to build two 12-story tall hotels (400 rooms and 466 rooms) within the Anaheim GardenWalk development. However there is some speculation that these two hotels may actually be run by Disney due to a confidential agreement Prospera has with an unknown company to actually “run” the resorts for them. I’ve got to admit I heard a rumor along these lines last year but I wasn’t quite sure what do make of it at the time since I knew so little about the GardenWalk project since it evolved from the previous Pointe Anaheim project which was also rumored to have a connection with Disney at one point.
  Of course it also makes perfect sense that Disney would be VERY interested in this project since it fits perfectly in the middle of the large piece of land Disney owns off Disney Way that was once the site of the old Grand Hotel before they imploded it. On the south side of the Gardenwalk across Katella is Disney’s off-site CM parking lot which bumps up next to the big open land locked down for a future third theme park. Having a Disney presence within the Anaheim Gardenwalk would make it more like an expansion of Downtown Disney rather than a competitor and provide a nice access path from the current Resort down to where the 3rd park will eventually go.

2008 - Disney Cruise Line - (1/19/07) Disney has announced that the Disney Magic will return to the West Coast in summer of 2008 for a series of 7-Night Mexican Riviera cruises. The response to the Disney Cruise Line over the summer of 2005 was enormous and they’ve received countless inquiries from guests who wanted to see it return to the West Coast again. The Disney Magic will begin service starting May 25th for 12 consecutive seven-night cruise vacations from the Port of Los Angeles to the Mexican Riviera ports of Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlán and Puerto Vallarta. Departure dates: May 25; June 1; June 8; June 15; June 22; June 29; July 6; July 13; July 20; July 27; Aug. 3 and Aug. 10. In addition to this the Disney Magic will also offer two 15 night “repositioning cruises” through the Panama Canal: Departing Port Canaveral on May 10 and the return trip departing LA on Aug. 17, 2008. Disney will accept bookings for all of the above cruises starting Jan 31st.

Late 2009 - Grand Californian Expansion - (5/12/08) A new construction update showing off the Grand Californian expansion can be found at Westcoaster this week.
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