|
DISNEYLAND
Anaheim, California (Abbreviation: DL)
Walt Disney Theme Parks
---- THE LATEST BUZZ ----
(7/14/2024) Disneyland - Construction Updates on Tiana, Haunted Mansion and More
(7/11/2024) Disneyland May Be Preparing For Big 70th Birthday Bash in 2025
(7/6/2024) Space Mountain To Closed In August And Random Thoughts About What This Could Mean
(6/22/2024) Haunted Mansion Will Reopen With Virtual Queue As Only Way To Ride
(6/15/2024) Disneyland's Matterhorn Bobsleds Turns 65
(5/31/2024) More Closures To Affect Park Traffic In Peak Summer
Ride Rehabs - These dates are not guaranteed to be 100% accurate as refurbishments are subject to change.
Haunted Mansion - NOW CLOSED through Early Summer (May Open Aug. 23)
Splash Mountain - NOW CLOSED through Late 2024 to become Tiana’s Bayou Adventure
Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh - NOW CLOSED through TBD
Great Moments w/ Mr. Lincoln - NOW CLOSED through TBD
Davy Crockett’s Explorer Canoes - NOW CLOSED through TBD
Space Mountain - Aug. 5 through Early September 2024
Disneyland Railroad - Aug. 5, through TBD
Monorail - Aug 12 through TBD
 General Park News - (7/14/2024) A few new construction pictures showing off the status of the Haunted Mansion and nearby Tiana’s Bayou Adventure attractions have been posted to DisneyGeek this week, along with other renovations taking place in Critter Country area.
(7/11/2024) Disneyland fans should start preparing themselves because the early word from insiders is that the original Disney park is planning to put in a big 70th Anniversary celebration in 2025. While there really isn’t time to build a new ride of course, this has never stopped Disneyland from trying to pull out of the stops with a large entertainment line-up features new shows, parades and nighttime spectaculars.
According to insiders, Cast Members will partake in a “Road to the 70th” special backstage event on July 17th as part of Disneyland’s 69th Birthday where more will be revealed about what they are planning.
(7/6/2024) A word of warning to Disneyland guests who were planning on visiting in August, apparently Space Mountain will be shutting down for about a month starting on August 5, 2024. They say that refurbishment work will be performed to the lighting in the lift hills and throughout the attraction, as well as some work on the “flooring”.
Given the timing however, I also have to wonder if Disneyland may be ready to bring back the spooky seasonal version of the ride, known as Ghost Galaxy. The seasonal overlay was added annually to Space Mountain since it was first introduced in 2009 through to 2018. In 2019 the extra ticket Halloween Party event was moved from Disneyland to California Adventure and renamed Oogie Boogie Bash, so they opted to not bring back Ghost Galaxy that year so as not to compete with move and rebranding of the Halloween special event. By 2020, the Pandemic had hit, the park’s were closed entirely during the fall, and Ghost Galaxy has never returned.
In comparison to the Hyperspace Mountain overlay which is Star Wars themed, Ghost Galaxy was never quite as popular, so rumor has it that Ghost Galaxy was simply retired. However, I still think it would be fun to see some kind of new / creepy overlay added for the fall season, especially now that Disney bought Fox and gained control of that studio's massive film library. When you think of creepy space villains from the FOX film vault, two easily come to mind… Alien and Predator, and conveniently those two apex predators of the galaxy also come from a shared universe in terms of IP.
Now this is in no way a rumor at all, but I think I’d be down for a little “Alien vs Predator” enhancement on Space Mountain for the hell of it. On a related side note… there was an Alien vs Predator dark coaster attraction under construction at the Genting SkyWorlds Theme Park, back when it was known as 20th Century Fox World. Disney’s purchase of 20th Century Fox resulted in a big overhaul to the IP licensing agreement Genting had with 20th Century Fox, and one of Disney’s mandates for allowing the renamed Malaysian park to continue to use certain Fox properties, was that others were to be removed entirely.
The short list of IPs Genting was no longer allowed to use in any way explicitly included the Alien and Predator franchises, which was sort of a tip of the hat that Disney would likely be using those IP for something else in the future. As a result, the SkyWorlds Theme Park now has a very large and almost fully built SFX coaster attraction that has never opened. While there are mechanical issues that still needed to be worked out from the vendor, any and all theming that was completed or in the works, also had to be scrapped in order to come up with something new that could fit the already built attraction space.
(6/15/2024) Disneyland celebrated the 65th birthday of the Matterhorn Bobsleds yesterday, which first opened on June 14, 1959. The faux mountain attraction stands approximately 147 feet in height as a 1/100th scale recreation of the Matterhorn mountain in Switzerland. According to the story posted on the Disney Parks Blog, Walt Disney on vacation in Switzerland was inspired by the majestic peak, and sent back a postcard to the Imagineers with the message, ‘BUILD THIS” on the back.
More than just a beautiful landmark, Disneyland’s Matterhorn also has the distinction of being the first roller coaster ever built with “tubular steel track”, which has now become a mainstay of modern roller coaster engineering.
The Matterhorn also had quite an influence on my own personal life. As a child who grew up in Southern California who loved to visit Disneyland, my family always played the game to see who could spot the Matterhorn first in the car from the I-5 traveling north to Disneyland from San Diego. This was the sure sign that the long car ride was almost over. I can also say that I do remember riding the Matterhorn with my parents back in the days before the monster took up residence inside.
The addition of that frightening Abominable Snowman in 1978 sent shivers up my spine, as I could hear the angry howls all the way over in Tomorrowland, when I decided I just didn’t have it in me to ride the Matterhorn anymore to face him, especially after being terrified by a ride on the new Space Mountain that had just opened the year before in 1977. I believe it was during a visit on my birthday in 1978 that I started to take a keen interest in exactly what went on inside the attractions at Disneyland… which did result in some irrational fears that what I was seeing was actually happening and not just an optical illusion.
While I did come to love Space Mountain and the Matterhorn, I did spend a few years being afraid of both, as well as the ghosts inside the Haunted Mansion (especially when I swore Little Leota called my name as we exited), and a crazy fear of the Adventures Thru Inner Space dark ride, because I was already small enough and I absolutely did not want to risk being shrunk down any smaller than I already was. Through the fear and anxiety of it all, my young mind became obsessed with finding out exactly how it all really worked and learned to appreciate the magic that took place within the realm of the Imagineers who created it all. Clearl, it was those experiences and that obsession that really stuck with me my entire life.
As for Big Thunder Mountain that opened in 1979… and how I didn’t get to ride it until my trip for Grad Night in 1988… that’s a whole story for another day.
(5/31/2024) Guests can expect a little more chaos in Disneyland over peak summer season due to the ongoing construction of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. According to the OC Register the expanding construction site will also cause the closure of a few nearby locations starting on July 8th. The list includes the closure of the Davy Crockett’s Explorer Canoes and the Hungry Bear Restaurant, along with the nearby restrooms on the lower level. This also includes the closure of the Winnie the Pooh dark ride of course, which has already closed down along with the nearby gift shops as part of the area’s renovations.
In fact the entire ‘bridge’ on the main pathway that passes by the former Splash Mountain attraction will also be closed off starting on that same day, which will effectively cut off all access to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge from this side of the park. All access in and out of Galaxy’s Edge will now have to use the Frontierland side entrance path. Add in the already closed Haunted Mansion and New Orlean’s railroad station, and you’ve got a very large section of the park that will be closed off for quite some time. While an opening date has not been posted for the Haunted Mansion, Disney expects to have it up and running again by the end of the summer season, likely just in time for the seasonal conversion to the Nightmare Before Christmas version.
(5/25/2024) Fantasmic finally returned to Disneyland last night, following a long forced closure after the show’s famous dragon animatronic (Murphy) caught itself on fire during a performance. The park vowed that the show would return, but changed going forward and feature an all new finale sequence.
A video of the new full show can be seen below, which appears to have been shot on a tripod with a wide angle so you can see the whole spectacle of the performance space, but without close-ups. So really presented in the way you would see it yourself as if you were standing there.
So a quick spoiler alert for those who want to know what’s different about the finale? Nothing much, Maleficent still comes out and finishes the show with Mickey herself, never turning into the Dragon. I think this is similar to how the old version of Fantasmic would end on nights if there were known mechanical issues with the Dragon animatronic, used as a sort of B-Mode alternate ending. Oh, and the Pirates of the Caribbean sequence that was added in 2017 has been retired and the Peter Pan sequence is back on the Columbia sailing ship once again.
(4/21/2024) It is interesting to note that on nights when Disneyland puts on their new fireworks show, a different version of the experience can be found within Galaxy’s Edge. A post by DisneyGeek shows off what the more limited version of the fireworks show looks like when viewed from within Galaxy’s Edge, where an entirely different soundtrack is played featuring Star Wars music and entitled, ‘Fire of the Rising Moons”.
It’s kind of a unique situation where Disney can promote two different shows within the park, while blowing off the same set of fireworks into the night sky.
(4/6/2024) Star Wars fans visiting Disneyland’s Galaxy’s Edge area during the current “Season of the Force” event should keep an eye out for the land’s newest arrivals… the BDX Droids. You should be able to find these seemly sassy semi-autonomous creations making random appearances in Galaxy’s Edge now through June 2nd.
(3/16/2024) The Disneyland Resort has confirmed the return of Pixar Fest to the theme parks between April 26 and August 4, 2024.
Disneyland will bring back the “Together Forever - A Pixar Nighttime Spectacular” show at the castle a tonight and see the Pixar Pals Playtime Party show in the Fantasyland Theater.
Disney California Adventure will add the “Better Together: A Pixar Pals Celebration!” parade, and a nighttime party when “Club Pixar” takes over the Hollywood Backlot.
Plus new themed food, merchandise, special decor and character meet & greet opportunities will be added to both theme parks.
While all this is great news, the return of a nighttime dance party event to California Adventure instantly brings thoughts a former such event that was a huge hit with the guests a long time ago. I’m talking about ElecTRONica… and with Tron: Ares (aka: TR3N) now filming with a December 2025 release window, I can’t help but dream that the possible return of ElecTRONia may be just around the corner if Club Pixar does well.
(3/14/2024) Star Wars fans may want to prepare to return to Disneyland in the near future. Not only will we see new scenes added to Star Tours featuring locations and characters from Ahsoka, The Mandalorian and Andor, but we will also see the limited time return of Hyperspace Mountain once again as the park celebrates The Season of the Force from April 5th through June 2, 2024. During this time the regular Space Mountain ride experience is given a special Star Wars themed overlay that most guests really enjoy in addition to special food, beverages and other entertainment offerings added throughout the park.
(2/17/2024) According to a report on Blooloop the actors who work at Disneyland as characters in the various productions and parades have announced formal plans to unionise under the name “Magic United”, and are working with the Actors’ Equity Association that represents over 51,000 actors and stage managers across the US, including performers at Walt Disney World in Florida.
(2/8/2024) Just a reminder that the “Magic Happens” parade returned to Disneyland this month. With all the bad weather as of late in California, it’s easy to see that this bit of news sort of got pushed to the side. Check the daily entertainment calendar on the Disneyland website or app to see the time it will take place.
(11/27/2023) Sometimes theme park guests do the dumbest things. Sometimes they just aren’t thinking straight… and other times, they may be under the influence of something and really do something wild. Case in point… it looks like some dude climbed out of a boat on Disneyland’s “it’s a Small World” ride, stripped down to his underwear (and possibly went Full Monty later on according to reports) and went on a little bit of a walk-about throughout the dark ride attraction.
Meanwhile, if you take a look at the guy’s face, he just clearly seems to be under the influence of something, because he look’s like he’s seeing “a whole new world” that only he can see.
(11/21/2023) High winds caused a small incident at Disneyland on Monday when a lamp post on Main Street USA broke and fell just before 9am. According to reports, a couple of guests were struck by the falling lamppost, including an older woman who was taken out of the park by medical personnel on a stretcher for further care.
(11/12/2023) Theme Park Insider reports that performances of “Fantasmic!” at Disneyland will return to the park starting on May 24, 2024. Previously the show was shut down following the events that saw the park’s giant dragon figure catch fire and burn-down earlier this year. Since then Disneyland has only confirmed that while “Fantasmic!” would be returning in 2024, “Murphy” the dragon would not. Or at least not in the same way as shown in previous versions of the show.
As the reveal of the massive Dragon figure who would light the waters on fire was always the key kick off moment of the show’s big finale, Disney has yet to reveal just how they will craft a new finale without it.
(11/11/2023) The Holiday version of “it’s a small world” has opened at Disneyland for the 2023 season. Check out a POV video of this year’s version of the holiday overlay below.
(10/16/2023) Would you believe that a brawl between several guests broke out at Disneyland on Sunday? According to the OC Register the fight involved at least five adult-aged park guests, with the melee taking place between the Tea Cups and the Storybook Canal Boats ride. Apparently no arrests were made, but the fight was broken up quickly and those involved were said to have been kicked out of the park.
(10/13/2023) Want to see something really spectacular? A trio of self-walking mini droids strolled out into Galaxy’s Edge this week, adding some incredible atmosphere to the Star Wars themed land. Honestly, when Galaxy’s Edge was first announced, it was ideas like this that really made me excited to see how this land would evolve. After all, it isn’t a living example of the Star Wars universe unless there are droids wandering around, doing very Droid like things. Even better, based on the video footage posted by Disney, is these Droids don’t just walk around, but they are able to convey their own digital emotions, shaking their heads when angry and even performing a dance with happy tweet noises when they are happy.
One other fun thing to keep in mind is this… while these are themed as Star Wars droids… think a bit into the future where a trio of droids like this could be designed to look like actual Disney characters. For example, what would you think if you saw Donald’s nephews, Huey, Dewey and Louie wandering around Toontown?
The future may be coming to life a lot faster than anticipated.
Spring 2024 - Star Tours - New Adventures - (3/7/2024) It seems like forever ago that Disney promised that more new destinations would be coming to Star Tours, but now that time has finally come. Disney has confirmed that all new destinations and ride-sequences featuring characters and locations from Ahsoka, Andor and The Mandalorian” will be added into the mix starting on April 5, 2024 at Disneyland, Walt Disney World and Disneyland Paris. (Sorry Japan…)
They even released a little preview of one of the segments that you can see below featuring a pod of Purrgil space whales. According to the release from Disney one addition will feature a visit to the planet Peridea (from Ahsoka) and you may receive in-flight transmissions from Cassian Andor, Din Djarin & Grogu, or Ahsoka Tano herself. With the new additions added to the attractions randomizer, there are now more than 250 possible variations of Star Tours that you can experience.
(9/9/2023) We’ve been waiting on an update about the expanded experiences that were previously announced to be coming to the Star Tours attraction at Disneyland, Walt Disney World and Disneyland Paris. According to an update from DestinationD23, these new adventures will be coming in Spring 2024, and will include the addition of the Ahsoka character.
(4/12/2023) Disney has confirmed that new adventures will be coming to Star Tours in 2024 at Walt Disney World, Disneyland and Disneyland Paris. No solid details were given as to what locations will be added to the randomizing adventure machine, but ever since the second generation Star Tours attraction opened, new adventures in all new locations have been added on a regular basis. Past additions were timed to go along with adventures and locations from the new films as they were released, so if I had to guess I wouldn’t be surprised if we encounter some of the new people, places and ships from the various Disney+ series in one form or another. This could mean appearances by Mando and Grogu, Ahsoka Tano, Admiral Thrawn, Andor and more, so stay tuned!
(6/13/22) According to news released at the Star Wars Celebration event in California, Disney Imagineer Scott Trowbridge, who has overseen the creation of Galaxy’s Edge confirmed that more new sequences / scenes will continue to be added to Star Tours going forward. No further details were given as to what new locations might be added to the attraction, though the last few sequences added to the attraction involved locations from the final trilogy in the series. Since then, with the launch of Disney+, the Star Wars universe has been expanded again through shows like The Mandorlian, The Boot of Boba Fett and the new Obi-Wan Kenobi mini-series. With more Star Wars projects on deck like Andor, Ahsoka, The Acolyte and Skeleton Crew, it would seem to be a good bet that any of these could serve as the inspiration for new Star Tours segment locations.
Without a timeline as to when the next addition could appear, it’s hard to even guess what it could be, as Disney will likely tie the launch of the new segment(s) into whatever new programming is about to air on Disney+ at that time.
2024 - Haunted Mansion Experience Expansion - (6/22/2024) Blooloop reports that Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion will miss main summer season, but will instead reopen just in time for the spooky fall season, reopening with the popular The Nightmare Before Christmas themed overlay once again. A word of warning however… the Haunted Mansion will reopen but you’ll be able to gain access ONLY through the use of Disney’s virtual queue system, as the new physical queue will still be under construction and wont be completed until a later date.
As for the date itself… well… while a fall opening is expected, Disneyland’s Halloween celebrate actually starts on August 23rd this year, so there is always a chance that the Mansion might be ready by then.
(4/21/2024) New pictures showing off the progress, or lack thereof, over at the Haunted Mansion, have been posted by DisneyGeek this week. Disney has still not given any kind of timeframe as to when we can expect this popular classic attraction to reopen, so it isn’t known if it will be available to guests visiting this summer or not.
(3/3/2024) DisneyGeek has posted new construction pictures of the progress on Tiana’s Bayou Adventure as well as the renovations of the queue of the Haunted Mansion as well as adding that shop to the exit. Unfortunately for the later, the Mansion site is still very much a complete mess, which doesn’t bode well for a reopening anytime soon.
(8/31/2023) Disneyland announced a bit of a surprise coming to the Haunted Mansion in 2024. According to the tweet, the grounds of the Haunted Mansion will be expanded next year by adding some new themed sections to the queue as well as a new official retail shop next to the exit of the attraction.
The new queue expansion will feature a trip through new garden areas inspired by Master Gracey, Madame Leota and the one-eyed cat. Each of the themed gardens will include unique elements such as statues, a gazebo or water fountain and even a greenhouse. Disney was quick to note that existing features such as the Pet Cemetery or Horse-Drawn Hearse will remain on the grounds.
Meanwhile the carriage house of the mansion’s exit will become a new standalone shop belonging to Leota, but more details about this will be released in the future. For those who have never been to Walt Disney World, it is worth mentioning that a similar stand-alone shop was opened a few years ago called Memento Mori, described as “the former abode of Madame Leota”.
Nearby, some further enhancements will be made next to Tiana’s Palace to create a relaxing park-like setting. Disney also mentioned adding a new elevator exit from the Haunted Mansion to help improve the accessibility to the attraction for guests with disabilities. Look for construction to begin on all of this at the start of 2024.
Late 2024 - Tiana’s Bayou Adventure - (4/21/2024) A new construction update showing off the progress of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure at Disneyland has been posted by DisneyGeek this week. The focus seems to be on the placement of new greenery around the formerly semi-barren mountain.
(3/23/2024) New construction pictures from DisneyGeek this week show off the status of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure and the slow progress over at the Haunted Mansion.
(3/3/2024) DisneyGeek has posted new construction pictures of the progress on Tiana’s Bayou Adventure as well as the renovations of the queue of the Haunted Mansion as well as adding that shop to the exit. Unfortunately for the later, the Mansion site is still very much a complete mess, which doesn’t bode well for a reopening anytime soon.
(1/29/2024) Today we get a look at the progress on the transformation of the former Splash Mountain into Tiana’s Bayou Adventure in the latest update at DisneyGeek this week.Essentially the mountain is covered in scaffolding with workers crawling all over it, working to remodel the look of the structure. The Disneyland mountain is a bit behind the Walt Disney World project, which started work a few months prior to the California attraction, and already the east coast mountain is starting to take on it’s more lush green Bayou appearance, so we’ve got an idea of how we can expect the Disneyland version to look by this Spring.
(10/29/2023) Several pictures of the construction to transform Splash Mountain into Tiana’s Bayou Adventure can be found at DisneyGeek this week, along with some others showing off refurbishment work taking place at the nearby Mark Twain Riverboat.
(9/9/2023) Disneyland has opened the new Tiana’s Palace restaurant, inspired by the characters and theming from The Princess and the Frog in the New Orleans Square section of the park. The menu features an assortment of Southern Creole and Cajun cuisine.
(8/14/2023) A few new pictures showing off the progress of things for the transformation of Splash Mountain into Tiana’s Bayou Adventure can be found at DisneyGeek this week. This includes the interesting addition of a large flume chute down the center which we can only assume is to aid with debris removal from workers on the scaffolding covering the upper part of the mountain.
(7/30/2023) More construction photos from Disneyland this week as we see the new steamboat theming and lights have been added to Tiana’s Palace eatery space in New Orleans Square and over at the former Splash Mountain attraction, the giant tree stunt themed top of the former structure has now been removed to make way for the new theming elements.
(7/2/2023) With Splash Mountain now closed, scaffolding has sprung up all across the front of the attraction structure as workers begin the lengthy transformation process into Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. Meanwhile in New Orleans Square the transformation of the former French Market Resaturant (and Mint Julep Bar) into Tiana’s Palace restaurant is moving very quickly. Follow both links for new pictures from DisneyGeek.
(6/3/2023) Disneyland epic Splash Mountain is now closed for good, so if you missed it, a great POV video of it can be found below. That said, the days of the ride did not go without some kind of drama, but not the kind you might have expected. Instead a rider captured an odd sight on video of a young woman (claiming to be having a panic attack) who had made the unwise decision that it was safe to try and leap from her log onto the pathway next to it while the ride was in motion.
Seriously dangerous… and she could have been killed had things gone wrong by taking this course of action. The riders who were shooting the footage pass by and ask her what she is doing as she takes the pathways down a flight of nearby stairs and into the mountain itself saying “I can’t!” with hands visibly shaking.
Take it from first hand experience, as I was once evacuated from Splash Mountain many many years ago, and our group somehow ended up going unescorted (don’t ask…) through the various tunnels and stairways in an attempt to find a way out. It’s a bit of a maze in there, so hopefully she was found and escorted out the right way.
(4/13/2023) Disneyland fans… the time has come. Disneyland has finally confirmed that Splash Mountain will be closed forever starting on May 31st, 2023.
(1/12/2023) While we still don’t have a closing date for the Disneyland version of Splash Mountain, the Imagineering IG site posted a new picture confirming that the French Marker in New Orleans Square will be transformed into Tiana’s Palace later this year. The existing French Market Restaurant (and Mint Julep Bar) will close starting Feb. 17, 2023.
(9/10/22) D23 is already teasing details for some upcoming attractions coming to the Disney theme park. A model of how Disneyland’s Splash Mountain will be transformed into Tiana’s Bayou Adventure has been seen, which essentially still looks very much like the old Splash Mountain at least, but with the addition of more green trees and shrubs everywhere along with some splashes of color from various blooms, along with the addition of a water tower near the top of the first lift out of the station that says “Employee Owned Tiana’s Foods Est. 1927”
In another nod to the Disneyland conversion, they have also revealed concept art for a new retail store opening in the park’s New Orleans Square area called “Eudora’s Chic Boutique Featuring Tiana’s Gourmet Secrets”. Look for the new store to open on Sept. 20th, where it will also feature the “Blue Skies & Sunshine Guaranteed!” on the outside in reference to the song, “Dig a Little Deeper” from the film.
(7/22/22) Disney has finally come forward with more details about the planned transformation of the current Splash Mountain attractions in Disneyland and Florida’s Magic Kingdom parks into what they are now calling Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. The plan is to convert and open both new attractions in late 2024.
The announcements actually came from Disney reps attending the “ESSENCE Fest” in New Orleans this week, which you can see more of at the Disney Parks Blog post. As far as the attraction itself goes, they say it will serve as “a love letter to New Orleans” and be full of the music and culture of the city.
“Tiana’s Bayou Adventure will take guests on a musical adventure inspired by the beloved story and characters from the fan-favorite film. Picking up where the film left off, guests will join Princess Tiana, Naveen and jazz-loving alligator Louis on an adventure through the bayou as they prepare to host a one-of-a-kind Mardi Gras celebration where everyone is welcome. Along the way, guests will encounter familiar faces, make new friends and travel through the bayou to original music inspired by songs from the film as they are brought into the next chapter of Tiana’s story.”
I didn’t see any mention of when they planned to actually close the existing Splash Mountain rides however to begin the conversion, but I’m guessing they’re probably going to give these projects an 18-24 month timetable, so to make that late 2024 opening means each Splash Mountain will likely have to close sometime between December 2022 to May 2023. So get your last rides in while you can.
(6/3/22) It seems that the voice actress (Anika Noni Rose) who plays Tiana in Disney’s The Princess and the Frog was on a talk show on Thursday and the subject about visiting Disney theme parks came up. Without getting too specific, the topic of conversation turned to new attractions, when the actress mentioned that the new Princess and the Frog attraction was coming in 2024. Little else was said after this, as she implied she wasn’t supposed to talk about it, but this seems to at least be our first mention of a timeline for the conversion of Splash Mountain into Princess and the Frog.
As most of the conversation seems to be about experiences at the Disneyland Resort, we can assume this is also the timeline for the Disneyland conversion, as the Walt Disney World conversion would likely take place under an entirely different timeline. Our only other hint has been a mention on Twitter that more details may be released this July.
(12/13/21) According to this report, Splash Mountain will close for winter rehab on January 10 and is expected to remain closed for 30-60 days. The article confirms that this is simply just a standard winter rehab for the ride, and not part of the future makeover into a Princess and the Frog theme. There still is no timeline for that project.
(8/25/21) Another piece of concept art and a round-table discussion by Disney Imagineers about the plans to transform Splash Mountain into a new ride themed to The Princess and the Frog has been released. According to the talk, Tiana will invite guests to go along on an adventure with her in the bayou, so the new experience will be one where the guests are included in the action, instead of just watching the action unfold in front of them.
(6/27/20) I’m not quite sure where to begin with this post, but Disney dropped a bombshell of an announcement this week that I was not really expecting. Disney announced that they are planning to retheme the Splash Mountain attractions at Disneyland and The Magic Kingdom parks to The Princess and The Frog animated film.
I’ll let that sink in for a moment… Brer Rabbit and the whole Zippey-Do-Da-Gang are being removed, and the ride will be rethemed around the world of Princess Tiana and friends. According to the Disney Parks Blog this new story will begin just after ‘the final kiss’ from the film where riders will “join Princess Tiana and Louis on a musical adventure - featuring some of the powerful music from the film - as they prepare for their first-ever Mardi Gras performance.”
As someone who grew up and was a huge Disney park fan throughout my early years, this kind of shocked me. I’m not the biggest fan of changing some of the Disney attractions, just for the sake of change. The older the attraction is, the more of an attachment I think I might have had to it from my childhood. Case in point, I wasn’t a fan of the idea of changing the classic auction scene in Pirates to the current version where “Redd” is now a pirate.
I do not hate the new scene, as it is well done, but like any major change, I think it just takes some getting used to the idea and seeing the new version in the end to appreciate it. After all, like many of you, I grew up for decades chanting ‘We wants the red head’, which is now only part of the Disney history books.
I was a teenager when Splash Mountain was first built… in fact I had no idea it was even going to be a thing at all until visiting Disneyland during my Grad Nite event in 1988. I could see the huge steel structure rising into the night sky, surrounded by construction walls promoting the new ride to open in 1989. While I was already a fan of Disney parks, it was this moment that made me interested in the process of how Disney designed and built massive new attractions like these. My curiosity was sparked that night, which obviously had an effect on me for years to come.
So understand me when I say that upon first seeing the announcement this week, I probably dropped an F-bomb in disbelief. It didn’t help that a few weeks ago some news outlets were reporting that there was an online petition of activists asking Disney to do this very thing, but according to Disney this is actually a project that the Imagineers “have been working on since last year”.
I’m still surprised… but not entirely. Splash Mountain always had a rather interesting choice of IP in using the characters and theme from the film, The Song of the South. This is the one film that Disney has chosen to lock away in their vaults forever, with no plans to ever release it again, not even on Disney+. The 1946 film is a mix of live action and animated segments set in the old South following the end of the American Cival War and the abolishment of slavery. The film became criticized over the years since then due to the depiction of the Southern African-American characters and their animated counterparts as being potentially racist or offensive.
Despite this, the IP was tapped as the theme to build not just one, but three Splash Mountain attractions at Disney parks across the world. The original Splash Mountain opened in Summer 1989 in California followed by another in Walt Disney World in 1992 and a third at Tokyo Disneyland, also in 1992. There is no reference to the film at all, and the ride seeks to tell its story through the various animated characters from the film mixed with some new friends, that were actually retired Animatronic figures from Disneyland’s America Sings attraction. It is safe to say that the attraction has been a smash hit for Disney parks ever since, and as the ride system itself is staying, it will continue to do so, even with a new theme. The attraction was designed to carry riders through the various scenes accompanied by a fantastic musical soundtrack, so I can easily see how it can be rethemed and ‘plussed’ by Imagineering in this endeavor. If you take a look at the concept art you can see the classic look of Splash Mountain will be altered to look more green and lush, especially at the top of the drop where the old tree stump will now become Mama Odie’s House, featuring a full tree holding the broken boat high in the branches above where the logs emerge and take their plunge.
As a concept, I can easily see how many aspects of the current Splash Mountain layout and scenes can be changed to The Princess and The Frog. The report that this all takes place after the “last kiss” does make me hope that they can somehow include the return of Dr. Facilier (aka: The Shadow Man) as I’d love to see the scenes in the belly of Splash Mountain’s from the mid-drop up to the approach to the big drop be given over to create a scene with the voodoo man and the forces from “the other side”. Of course we all know the ending scene of Splash Mountain with the River Boat will probably be kept and updated to be a Mardi Gras celebration with Tiana and Louis, which is only fitting.
So with all this in mind, I can see how the overall ride experience may actually be improved here by going forward with a new theme. I know how tempting it is to say you wont like it just because it isn’t the ride you grew up with, but look at just how many people seem to enjoy the Guardians of the Galaxy version of the former Twilight Zone attraction at Disney California Adventure now. Many say that the Guardians version was a dramatic improvement over California’s Twilight Zone version, so we really will just need to wait and see what happens.
My only final thoughts here have more to do with the overall theming of the lands and such involved. Clearly changing Splash Mountain to now have a New Orleans theme in Disneyland is a no brainer, as the modified look of the new attraction will fit right like a glove positioned next to The Haunted Mansion there, creating an extension of the existing New Orleans Square theming, and leaving Pooh at the solitary inhabitant of Critter Country. In Walt Disney World however, the change is going to be a bit more disturbing to the current theming of that park where Splash Mountain is set smack in the middle of Frontierland, positioned between Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and the Frontierland buildings that are home to The Country Bears attraction and the Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn & Cafe. I don’t have a solution or answer to this particular issue, so I’m curious to see how WDI will address it.
It is also interesting to note that, for now at least, Splash Mountain will live on in Japan, as there has been no plans posted to update or change the version at Tokyo DIsneyland at this time. At this point in time, Disney has given no time-table as to when we may expect to see this transformation process begin at either park, but hopefully there will be time to have a few more final rides on Splash Mountain before the old version is gone for good. (Now if maybe Disneyland can work in a plan to modify their trough system to use the same double-wide boats that WDW uses, that would be great as well...)
By 2026 - Electric Autopia - Confirmed - (4/21/2024) Disneyland has now confirmed earlier comments that indicated a plan to convert the Autopia to feature an all electric vehicle fleet. The park has confirmed that these will be all electric vehicles and not hybrids, and you can expect it to be converted within the next 30 months (Fall 2026).
It isn’t known if the attraction will close entirely to convert over to a new electric fleet all at once, or if this will be something of a phased conversion where cars are just replaced at few at a time as they arrive. Of course a full closure would represent a more lengthy process that could also indicate some possible thematic changes within the attraction itself, which might also be welcomed as very little has changed with the Autopia over the years, other than the sponsorship era from Chevron that started in 1998 that saw the Fantasyland station closed and the Tomorrowland side reformatted to serve as the solitary load-unload point for all four tracks.
Yes, I’m showing my age, for those not aware, in the old days there were two Autopia attraction stations. Two of the roads would load in Tomorrowland and the other two would load in a second station located in ‘Fantasyland’ right across from the Matterhorn. On slow days, back when there was such a thing, the Fantasyland side would often remain closed, leaving just the Tomorrowland tracks open.
(4/4/2024) The Autopia at Disneyland is now set to receive a makeover, as all the cars on the attraction will soon be replaced by a new fleet of electric cars, replacing the old gas engine vehicles for good. The details are very light at this time, as there is no timeline for the project to be completed, nor a confirmation if the new vehicles will be all electric or some kind of hybrid power system.
 |
