It’s the odd week in-between Disney Halloween Time and the Disney Holidays but that doesn’t mean it’s quiet at the Happiest Place on Earth. In fact, quite the opposite. As Disney prepares for the Christmas trees and gingerbread, the Resort itself remains a beehive of activity with construction on Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway Toontown attraction and Avengers Campus Marvel-themed land. Plus, we continue to see updates all around the parks on other projects including Project Stardust.
We have another MASSIVE merch run for you this week with even more Christmas merch and a bunch of other items ready to drain your bank accounts.
All Charged Up
After FuelRod announced that it was going to start charging $3 per swap of its backup power kits, it caused an enormous uproar in the Disney community. Angered fans who’d come to rely heavily on the power swapping service were very vocal about the change, taking to social media to vent frustrations and reportedly even filing a class action lawsuit. Last week, we shared photos of the updated FuelRod kiosks at the Disneyland Resort which advertised the policy changes to come on November 1.
This week, however, it seems the outcry has led to FuelRod changing course. For now, they will continue to offer unlimited swaps of the kits without charge at the kiosks inside of Disney Parks. FuelRod is not a Disney service and other places that carry the kiosks (such as airports and convention centers) have already started charging for swaps but Disney Park locations will remain free to swap… for now.
Unless FuelRod comes up with other means of their business model, it seems their best bet at this point is to simply remove the kiosks at Disney Parks all together. What the future holds should be interesting.
Wish to go to the Festival?
Next year is shaping up to be another year full of food and festivals at the Disneyland Resort as Disney California Adventure welcomes back the popular Lunar New Year celebration as well as Disney California Adventure Food & Wine Festival.
MORE INFO: 2020 promises return of favorite eats, treats, festivals, and surprises at DCA
Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway
MORE INFO: News and information about Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway
Avengers Campus
MORE INFO: News and information about AVENGERS CAMPUS Marvel themed land
We’re finally starting to see all the metal and rebar take actual shape at the new Spider-Man attraction!
Around Disneyland
Christmas decorations are starting to appear around the park. Less than a week now before the entire Resort is festooned for the season.
Main Street Opera House remains behind scaffolding as final touch-ups are completed.
A little bit of a contradiction with the signage.
Some of the walls have come down in front of Plaza Inn restaurant and are revealing wider walkways leading up to Tomorrowland. Project Stardust continues on!
As far as everything has come along, to quote Johnny Appleseed, there’s a lot of work to do!
Still some rockwork remains, awaiting demolition.
Wind advisories are down so scrims are back up all around the Resort obstructing our views of progress at the Tomorrowland entrance.
Autopia closes after this weekend for a short refurbishment.
Meanwhile, work continues on what appears to be stairs inbetween Space Mountain and the Starcade.
Surprised that Pixie Hollow wasn’t transformed into the moors from the Maleficent movies. It wouldn’t take much plus it seems Maleficent might be a more popular meet and greet than Tinker Bell?
We noticed Sleeping Beauty Castle was easier to see from the Matterhorn Way walkway and that’s because a tree has been removed, opening up the vistas. We hope the trees continue to be revisited here as there are many “offenders” that have outgrown the area and dwarf the tiny castle and views around it. With Disney’s reliance on projection shows of late, making the central icon to the park more visible is certainly not a bad thing.
There’s just one small patch of brick-work left stamped instead of using actual pavers.
Never noticed this little vent on the side of the churro cart by Sleeping Beauty Castle until I was assaulted full force by it this weekend. A powerful fan just behind it pumps the smells of the churros directly into the Matterhorn Way walkway. Cheeky devils.
You can see just how much the trees in and around the castle have grown, they even dwarf the Matterhorn. We’ve seen some trees already disappear around the crag. Should be interesting to see Disney’s master plan take shape.
A tree just about as tall as the one on the right formerly stood at about center of this photo a few years ago.
The Matterhorn reopened once again this weekend but it seems the expected completion of the repair work on the mountainside has still not yet been done. Perhaps the remainder of the work can be done overnight in-between operating hours. It had been closed during the week for most of October, reopening weekends.
We all have that one friend, right?
“it’s a small world” Holiday continues on with its seasonal transformation. The areas in and around the attraction are also getting some TLC.
Holiday decorations have gone up in Mickey’s Toontown. We’re unfortunately stuck once again with these plastic trees. It’s not horrible but also not better than what it replaced.
Toontown City Hall used to have a huge decoration-packed tree every year with a star so heavy it caused the whole tree to bend over. It was a fun and colorful expression of the holiday. Now we’re stuck with a tree that looks like it should be one of the filler trees in the back of a parade float. Never understood the changeover to this tree which I believe came over from Walt Disney World.
I love the location specific decorations on each of the facades. Check out the red and yellow tinsel on Pluto’s Dog House. So good.
Mickey and Minnie also sport the ugly plastic trees instead of the formerly decorated trees they had before. Can’t wait for these to go to Yesterland. Maybe John Stamos wants them?
The burnt wreath at the Fireworks building is one of my favs.
Still wish this would become a walkway to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. A nice tunnel blaring “Smile Darn Ya Smile”
Goofy’s House still has two bizarre placements of the popsicle stick benches from the now-defunct “A Bug’s Land.” They should just move them over to Gadget’s Go Coaster area where they would be thematically appropriate.
Walls remain up near Toonown Park.
Hungry for a Beast’s Breakfast Burger?
Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge continues to grow rather nicely into its environment.
Bright suns, travelers!
Looks like Rey was doing some scavenging in the morning.
No changes made at Ronto Roasters. The menus continue to see tweaks and updates and should see more in the coming months as Disney expands its plant-based meals into 2020.
MORE INFO: STAR WARS: GALAXY’S EDGE at Disneyland expanding menu options, 60-day reservation windows
Around Disney California Adventure
The Festival of Holidays marketplace kiosks are returning.
This weekend is the final one for the oddly-timed after-6pm-only extended previews of MALEFICENT: MISTRESS OF EVIL.
Holiday windsocks at the landing strip are such a fun detail.
Still wish they’d put a “fresh-cut” tree on the roof here for the Disney Holidays.
Redwood Creek is closed for the removal of the Oogie Boogie Bash decorations.
Around the Resort
Looks like Asian Street Eats will be popping up in front of Rainforest Cafe.
Sprinkles Sampler includes Pumpkin, Chocolate, and Red Velvet minis.
No sign of change at the former POP-UP DISNEY location.
They paved over the grass on this emergency egress.
Seems like the $40 preferred parking isn’t really selling.
New elevator coming along.
Looks like the stairwell on the left is getting metal scrims similar to the ones on the new stairs in the photo on the right.
You can see scrims are also going up at Mickey and Friends walkway.
Mickey sculpture should be arriving soon.
Merch Run
Starbucks Holiday
New ceramic cups have debuted at Disney Parks Starbucks locations. The red Resort version is available at all Disney Starbucks locations. The blue Disneyland cups are only available at Disneyland and the purple Disney California Adventure ones are only available in that park.
There are ornament versions of the cups available, too.
Even More Holiday Merch
“it’s a small world” music box is absolutely adorable.
Pajamas
Leggings
More in Store
Hello, beastie.
Oh and Thanksgiving, something, something.
Star Wars X TOMS
If you’re at Curl Surf in Downtown Disney, you can pick yourself up one of several different kinds of STAR WARS X TOMS shoes. The kind folks at TOMS sent us some shoes in return for sharing it with our readers here on MouseInfo. After we got them in the mail, we couldn’t help but to take them with us straight to Batuu!
MORE INFO: The Force is strong with the new #StarWarsxTOMS collaboration
FastPass of Tomorrow, Today
Tomorrowland has officially begun a change in operations for FastPass distribution in the land. A single new centralized FastPass distribution center is available for acquiring FastPass reservations for Space Mountain, Star Tours, and Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters. We showcased the new process and the new paperless kiosks in a previous update which you can access below.
Magical Savings on Admission
It’s one of the questions we get asked the most, how can you save a little money on Disneyland tickets? Below is what’s available now.
- 2019 US Military discounts for tickets and hotels; Disneyland, Walt Disney World. Through 2019. (MORE INFO)
- 2020 US Military discounts for tickets and hotels; Disneyland, Walt Disney World. Through 2020. (MORE INFO)
- Canadian Resident discount for multi-day tickets: Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World. Through 2/7/20. (MORE INFO)
Tee Time!
If you are looking for a way to help support the site so we can continue to bring you more info about the mouse, feel free to browse our TeePublic Store! Aside from tees and apparel, you can also find stickers, phone laptop cases, mugs, and more!
SHOP NOW: Find more designs and products at our store: mouseinfo.com/tees.
THE END!
