Disneyland News and Rumors, including breaking news from the D23 Expo, July 2017

With two of the three days of the D23 Expo in the books, we learned some interesting news about what is coming to the Disneyland Resort in the next couple of years. Surprisingly, most of the announcements at the Expo were contained to the Florida Parks. But before the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts panel rapped wrap up at 4:30 pm west coast time, a couple of big announcements for the Disneyland Resort were made.

Star Wars Galaxy's Edge

The first major announcement was the name for the new Star Wars Land being built as we speak. The name of the new land will be Star Wars Galaxy's Edge. No further information was given on the exact opening date, though it will open before Star Wars Galaxy's Edge in Florida in 2019. We were told that we will be experiencing BB-8, Chewbacca, Kylo Ren, and many other characters that we both know and have yet to meet in the Star Wars universe. Galaxy's Edge will be made up of two attractions - one where guests will be able to pilot the Millennium Falcon, and a Battle Escape attraction where it appears that we will be loaded into a First Order vehicle on board a Star Destroyer inside a hangar bay and try to escape while being shot a by troopers and AT-ATs, among other things.

Imagineer Scott Trowbridge giving details of the new Millenium Falcon attraction.

Here's an artist's rendering of the Battle Escape attraction.

Although the details were not exactly clear to me, it was also stated that how we do in the Battle Escape attraction will stay with us through our visit; Here is the exact quote: "But how you perform on the mission holds even bigger stakes: perform with skill and you may earn extra galactic credits, while bringing the ship back banged up could put you on the list of a bounty hunter. End up on Harko's list and you may face a problem if you show up at the local Cantina!"  And yes, the Cantina will serve Blue Milk! The Orange County Register has a great article that outlines where everything will be in Galaxy's Edge.

Paint the Night/Pixar Play Parades

What drew perhaps the largest reaction from those in attendance at the Parks and Resorts Panel was the announcement that in 2018 the Paint the Night Parade will be returning. Instead of returning back to Disneyland, the Paint the Night Parade will move over to California Adventure and the Pixar Play Parade will move over to Disneyland. No mention was made as to what will happen to Disneyland's current Soundsational Parade. Also of note was the announcement that there will be a new float added to the Paint the Night Parade and that the parade route will be slightly longer than it was at Disneyland.

Pixar Pier

Here's a look at the concept art for Pixar Pier from Disney Parks Blog.

One announcement that came out of the blue for me was the renaming and retheming of the Paradise Pier area of California Adventure to Pixar Pier. New characters that haven't been used before will be infused into the area, such as the superheros from "The Incredibles" and the emotions from "Inside Out." Nowhere online had I seen any mention of this as even a slight possibility so when it was announced it caught me completely off guard and left me scratching my head a little. It seems an odd time to move the Pixar Parade to Disneyland (as mentioned above) if you are going to retheme and rename an entire land after Pixar. Also, what does that mean for all the current attractions there? Most distressing for me is Mickey's Fun Wheel. It has become the icon of California Adventure. It will now become Pixar's Fun Wheel, but who or what will be featured on it? What will become of Ariel's Undersea Adventure? Will it be replaced with the Monsters Inc Ride so that area can be used for the rumored Marvel Land? What about Goofy's Sky School? It was recently rethemed with Goofy. Same with the Silly Symphony Swings. I would hate to lose the classic Disney Cartoons from California Adventure but leaving them wouldn't fit with the new theme. King Triton's Carousel would also have to go...and be replaced possibly with one of the Bug's Land attractions since Bug's Land is rumored to be scheduled for demolition to make room for Marvel Land. Will California Screamin' be rethemed to a Pixar Movie? What about the Paradise Pier Hotel? So many questions left to be answered. The biggest question to me though is why does Disney continue to rework attractions and areas of California Adventure that are already successful (such as the Tower of Terror and Paradise Pier) instead of using the underutilized sections such as the sound stages in Hollywood Land. There are 2 empty buildings and another just showing movie previews that could be completely removed or reworked to make Marvel or Pixar attractions. Why mess around with already successful attractions?
The official Disney Parks Blog has an article on the changes here:

Pixar Fest

Bob Chapek, Chairman of the Disney Parks Division announced that "...in 2018 the resort will come alive with Pixar Fest. This celebration features a new fireworks spectacular as well as special characters and entertainment moments through out both parks."

Halloween at California Adventure

It is rumored that in a couple of years, Mickey's Halloween Party will be held once again in California Adventure rather than in Disneyland. Today it was announced that this year Cars Land will have a Halloween overlay which can be seen as the first step in this transformation.

Marvel Land?

Although no official announcement was made to confirm the long held rumors of a Marvel Land to be build around the new Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Break Out attraction, it was announced that Spider-Man and the Avengers are coming to California Adventure in a completely immersive super hero universe. While that is a pretty vague announcement, I think it can be assumed that after spending $4 billion to acquire the Marvel franchise, Disney is going to put more than just one Marvel attraction into it's parks. The question is where will the new land be located. There are three rumored possibilities. First, Bug's Land will be demolished and Marvel will expand into that area. The draw back to this is that if you take out Bug's Land, the options for younger children in California Adventure become very slim in a park already targeting teenagers. Second, Hollywood Land. This would seem to me to be the best location since there is so much wasted space in the back-lot section of this land. The only attraction back there is Monsters Inc which could be relocated to Ariel's Undersea Adventures as part of the Pixar Pier transformation. The third option is actually an area not currently inside California Adventure right now. In 2016, Disney acquired the Carousel Inn, just across the street from Disneyland so that they could build what was called the "Eastern Gateway" - a new parking structure and security hub for guests on the East side of Disneyland. The Anaheim City Council has recently started playing hard ball with Disneyland over the project because Disney's plans call for limited access to the businesses on Harbor Boulevard from Disneyland. Guests staying in one of the Hotels on Harbor Boulevard across the street would have to back track to a newly built parking garage to pass through security only then to proceed back over Harbor Boulevard on a raised pedestrian walk way. There would be no way for guests coming from or going to Disneyland to cross the street on a crosswalk because entrance into the esplanade would be blocked by the new raised walkway, thus cutting off foot traffic to restaurants and other local businesses. The City Counsel rightfully sees Disney's plans as a hardship on the local businesses and is waiting for Disney to go back to the drawing board to solve the problem. If the project is eventually approved, there would be room for California Adventure to expand to the north where the bus loading and unloading areas are. This would be another area where a Marvel Land could be located.  

Fantasmic!

With the soft opening of the New Fantasmic! just concluding at Disneyland, the first reviews are positive. Many of the die hard Disney fans were dismayed to learn that a Jack Sparrow version of Pirates of the Caribbean was replacing the Peter Pan portion of Fantasmic! Only time will tell if this new addition will be as popular as the first. Although Fantasmic! officially reopens on July 17th, those people attending the Parks and Resorts Panel tonight received Fast Passes to a showing of Fantasmic! for either tonight or tomorrow night.

Pirates of the Caribbean

The most controversial announcement at the D23 Expo happened on Friday the 14th. During a panel of Imagineers celebrating Pirates of the Caribbean's 50th anniversary, it was officially announced that changes will be made to the "Wench Auction" scene. The announcement was immediately met with boos from the audience, prompting moderator Michael Singer to quickly interject Walt Disney's famous "Disneyland will never be completed..." quote, the typical response when Disney decides to make unpopular changes. The new scene will still feature the "Redhead" but instead of being auctioned herself, she will now be the head pirate who will be auctioning off plundered loot, all in the name of political correctness.

I'm sure this will be the first of many politically correct changes we'll see to many of the attractions at Disneyland to fit in with today's current trends. I just hope I'm around years from now when Disneyland realizes how silly these changes are and restores the attractions back to their original state.
  

That concludes this update! Check back again soon for the next batch of Disneyland news! Thanks for reading! To view my newest News and Rumors update, click HERE: