CONFIRMED:
New "Disneyland Forever" fireworks show. I like fireworks just as much as the next person, but I would much prefer Disney to focus more on rides than on night-time entertainment, especially for big events like the 60th Anniversary. I remember the 40th Anniversary's biggest draw was the new (at the time) Indiana Jones ride. That was truly something to get excited about. With that said, having seen pictures of the proposed new projection mapping technology that Disney is using in conjunction with their new fireworks show, my family and I will definitely be lining up on Main Street to see the show. All the buildings on main street, Sleeping Beauty's Castle, and even the Matterhorn will be used in the projection process and, as I said, the concept art looks amazing. Hopefully Steve Davison, the creator of the fireworks show, can figure out a way to keep all of the Fantasyland rides open during the fireworks show this time since, in the past, a handful of them have to close down during the fireworks, as does all of Mickey's Toontown. Disneyland Forever will premiere on May 22nd.
The Paint the Night Parade. From everything I have seen and read, the Paint the Night Parade is amazing! I was one of the hopeless traditionalists that was hoping the Main Street Electrical Parade would be brought back as I have a lot of very fond memories of watching that parade as a child with my mother. But this new parade (new to Anaheim - it has been in Hong Kong Disneyland for a while now) looks like it could be very similar to the Electrical Parade. The Paint the Night Parade is a huge draw in Hong Kong and Disney Anaheim is hoping it has that kind of success here and is able to get the traditionalists, like me, to quit calling for the return of the Main Street Electrical Parade. Hopefully it will be the next generation of Main Street Electrical Parade! Like the new fireworks show, the Paint the Night Parade will premiere on May 22nd.
World of Color - Celebrate! The Paradise Pier pond is currently drained and work is underway on the new World of Color - Celebrate! show that will premiere on May 22nd, along with all the other nighttime events for the 60th Anniversary. Unlike Spectacle, the previous World of Color show that was sometimes criticized for not having much of a story, The new World of Color is said to contain all new animation while telling Walt Disney's story.
Luigi's Flying Tires. Just shy of it's 3 year anniversary, Luigi's Flying Tires will be shut down for good at the end of the day on February 16th according to the Disneyparks blog (the official blog of Disneyland). Although I actually enjoyed the ride, I would think that it will go down as one of the biggest and most costly mistakes in Disneyland history. The ride itself cost nearly $100 million to build and has been at the center of a handful of lawsuits resulting from injuries from the beach balls that used to be found on the attraction during it's first summer of operation, to injuries from getting off the ride. Even if most of the lawsuits are meritless, they still have become a thorn in the side of Disneyland and so the ride will be shut down and another will be built right in it's stead. The new one will be another spinning car ride (yes, for those of you keeping score at home, that would make the third ride of it's kind in CA Adventure after Francis' Lady Bug Boogie and Mater's Junkyard Jamboree), this time a WiFi controlled, trackless one. (concept pictured below) I don't quite get the allure of another spinning car ride, WiFi controlled or not. To me, this is yet another example of the imagineers' imaginations growing stagnant.
Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty's Castle. The entrance to the Castle is currently blocked off by a wooden gate and the Castle it's self is hidden behind a tarp as work is being done for the May 22nd unveiling of the new diamond enhanced look for the 60th Anniversary.
Star Wars to have a "significant presence" in Disneyland in the future. Disney's Chief, Bob Iger told Wall Street analysts that there is currently a "fair amount of design and development to greatly increase Star Wars presence in multiple locations around the world," speaking of his Disney parks. It was hoped that some announcement would be made regarding exactly what we could expect at Disneyland when the 60th Anniversary plans were announced, but now it looks like we will have to wait until at least August when the D23 expo is held in Anaheim. Either way, Iger specifically stated that specific plans would be announced "later in 2015." In a separate interview with Bloomberg Television, Iger said,“Fairly soon, I’m sure we’ll be ready to go public with some specifics. But it’s safe to say that you’ll see a lot more ‘Star Wars’ at Disney and at Disney parks in the near future.” According to Micechat, while on their way to work, some Disney cast members reportedly recently saw height-test balloons in the areas of the park (near the Thunder Ranch area and in the northern most part of the park), which would seem to indicate some sort of planning is underway.
Re-theming of Condor Flats to mesh more with Grizzly Peak. Currently the concrete has been torn out around Soarin' Over California, as it is closed anyway for the film being transferred to an HD Digital format. The big rocket engine misters have been removed and the whole area is said to be getting a face lift to look more in-line with Grizzly Peak. I'm a fan of the idea as I have always felt that both Condor Flats and Grizzly Peak were too small to be considered "lands" by themselves. Combining the two into a bigger land make total sense to me. I'm excited to see what the finished product looks like when I'm there in June.
UNCONFIRMED
Dark ride renovation. Alice in Wonderland has already been renovated and is awesome! Peter Pan is scheduled to be closing for a lengthy 3 month refurbishment shortly which would indicate to me that some major work, similar to what was done on Alice, will be done on Peter Pan as well. What is strange to me is that Disney didn't announce an "updating" of the dark rides for the 60th Anniversary celebration which makes me wonder if it's just an Alice thing. I would think that if they were going to be updating all the dark rides, which was previously thought to happen for the 60th Anniversary, they would have announced it.
That's all the new news and rumors for now. Hopefully in 3 months we'll know more specifics about the Star Wars presence in Disneyland and what is going on with the rest of the dark rides! My newest update (November 2016) can be found by clicking here
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