Contributing photographer Jason of disneygeek.com sends us these photos from his trip to the parks on Friday, April 24, 2015.
It has been nearly a month since my last visit to the Disneyland Resort. I paid a visit to Hong Kong Disneyland and the Tokyo Disney Resort for two weeks. During my absence a couple projects wrapped up, some new ones began, and others moving toward the finish line. Most of the work is set to be completed for the kickoff of the 60th Anniversary and the Summer Season on May 22.
Thispicture set takes a look at some of the ongoing and recently completed projects around the resort. I have separate posts on the Tomorrowland film sneak peek as well as Sleeping Beauty Castle or you can view my full picture set on my site. Arriving on the Mickey and Friends tram, the back side of Naples is under wraps for some refurbishment.
The Friday closures at the parks.
The Downtown Disney sign is still under wraps.
The porch area on Main Street is behind walls for some work.
In Tomorrowland the facade for Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters is under wraps. The attraction remains open.
A temporary wait time sign on the wall. The attraction was just reopening when I walked by.
Innoventions is currently closed.
The entrance sign on Harbor Blvd is under wraps and being repainted.
The Mad T Party is being reinstalled as Freeze the Night has ended its run in the Hollywood Land area.
The rest of the Frozen Fun continues for a couple more weeks.
Most of the concrete in front of Soarin’ and the planters are in. A large watch tower has replaced the steel structure that used to be there.
Several trees in the area now too look great. Looks like they are ready to pour the concrete for the primary walkway.
A couple of large steel beams backstage near Indy (which is closed for renovation).
A new cooling tower has been installed backstage in Tomorrowland replacing the several older ones.
Out by Small World two of the towers are under wraps for some renovation work.
Most of the Small World facade work is complete.
The area where the small fire was several weeks ago is still being worked on.
Heading into Toontown, the gazebo in the middle of Toontown is being worked on.
The facade of Pinocchio is being worked on.
Mickey was out for pictures in the Springtime Roundup at the Big Thunder Ranch Jamboree
For the Bunny Hop only one rabbit showed up. Pluto and Minnie joined in mid song.
Critter Country has reopened since my last visit.
The Hungry Bear Restaurant had cast members with menus at the entrance.
Looks like the safety railing on this bridge was redone during the renovation work.
The Briar Patch received a new roof.
Some work going on outside Mlle Antoniettes Parfumerie
The facade for Le Bat en Rouge is being worked on, but the store is open.
Indiana Jones is currently closed for renovation.
The roof of Tropical Imports has been cleared. The extended queue, props, and signage are all gone. Wonder what is coming… more queue space? Level queue space? A return of the band stage?
Some filming going on in front of the Castle now.
Tom Bergeron was taping a segment. I could not tell which of his shows it was for.
No signs of 60th decorations on the Carthay yet.
Work continues on the rock work at the entrance to the Grizzly Peak Airfield area.
Frozen Fun is coming to an end soon. Freeze the Night is closed and the area is walled off as they transition back to the Mad T Party.
Mad T Party props are up.
No visible progress in Cars Land.
The Bay Area is under wraps for some facade renovation.
At the Grand Californian the one pool that was closed looks about ready to reopen.
The Downtown Disney entrance arch near ESPN is now blue.
Wood paneled trashcans at the Disneyland Hotel.
The fall protection work at the Disneyland Hotel seems to have stalled…that looks about the same as it did on my last visit.
A new Disney Vacation Club store front/office has opened in Downtown Disney.
Back to Disneyland. On Main Street plenty of snow machines are visible. So looks like year round snow is coming for the new offerings.
Spotted a projector on the roof for the new fireworks show.
Spotted some scaffolding up on the side of City Hall on the way out.
Hope you enjoyed this highlight tour of the Disneyland Resort. For additional photos and details from this trip you can check out the full Disneyland Update I posted on my site, http://disneygeek.com Also be sure to follow me on twitter @disneygeekcom for pictures from the parks.
I was there Monday through Wednesday of last week. Some of the construction in these shots is new even since then, surprisingly. The Indiana Jones closure is supposed to be temporary/technical (and was very recently announced), rather than a big refurb the way Peter Pan and Soarin’ are closed for, and should be re-opened sooner than the May 22 celebration.
Other construction notes: The Matterhorn has no water running its waterfalls right now, and Small World’s clock is confined to just the hour-minute box opening. The rest of the doll work is still closed for internal mechanics work and changes (and they don’t always remember to turn the bells back on after the 4pm parade is over…oops 😉 ).
The lighting in Pirates is very poor (or at least, it was that Monday). Lots of upper lighting was off (you couldn’t see the top of the fort, which made it look more like Disney World’s version where the top actually doesn’t exist because the ceiling is too low). At least 2 pairs of characters in the town “chase” scenes were removed.
This post gives a bit of a negative impression of the state of things. There really is a lot more that is open and/or looking well than under construction.
********** Jason Reply ***************
Joe – Thank you for visiting and the comments. This posting was intended to take a look at the projects that are going on around the Disneyland Resort, hopefully it is not viewed as negative.. many are very positive and it is only a fraction of the resort. I have other posts that look at other aspects such as the Tomorrowland Sneak Peek or the Castle 60th Decorations. Or over on my site a large picture set that includes other pics from around the parks.
We had planned to visit Disneyland during our spring break trip but instead we spend 4 day in Palm Desert due to all the closures. Our family is now heading to Disneyland July 20-24 for our first visit since 2008. We are staying at the Grand Californian.
Also looking forward to heading offsite for some Joe’s Italian Ice! Thanks for the pictures. I hope it is sunnier during our visit!
——- Jason Reply ——–
Thanks for visiting. Have a great trip!