The Disneyland Paint the Night Parade

I'll be the first to admit that I was really hoping that the Main Street Electrical Parade would be brought back for the 60th Anniversary. When I heard that Disney was going to make a new parade for the 60th, called the Paint the Night Parade, I was a little disappointed. After seeing the Paint the Night Parade in June, my mind has been changed! The Parade is amazing! It has great new relevant

floats with great music, and even had just the right amount of subtle tribute to the Main Street Electrical Parade. In this blog, I'll detail the Paint the Night Parade, float by float and also give some advice on where to watch it. If you don't want to be spoiled as to what the parade looks like, scroll down past the pictures to see the best viewing spot. Also be warned that pictures never capture the true feeling and effect of nighttime parades, especially in the case of the Paint the Night Parade, but here it goes...



The first thing you see are pixie dancers, leading the way for Tinkerbell.

On the tip of Tinkerbell's wand is a light from the original Main Street Electrical Parade.

If you are familiar with the Main Street Electrical Parade, no doubt you'll recognize this drum! A nice tribute. Peter Pan sits on top.

The drum is followed by three characters: Tigger, Genie, and Lumiere. This picture doesn't do them justice - they looked great!

Next is the Monsters Inc float. Each of the doors is a TV and the images change constantly. There are load sounds by this float which my kids weren't crazy about.

After Monsters Inc float, Lightning McQueen makes his way down the parade route.

After Lightning were some really neat dancers. This was one of my favorite parts of the parade.

Mack Truck is next, and as you can see, it is very impressive. The whole interior of the truck is made up of lights which flash on and off in amazing patterns.

More dancers follow the Mack Truck. These dancers are dressed to look like coral and are an introduction of the Ariel float that follows.

The Little Mermaid float.

An illuminated Nemo and Marlin swim after the Little Mermaid float. Who knew they were friends with flounder?

Dancers dressed in Toy Story Country Western clothes lead the way for the Toy Story float.

The Toy Story float with Woody on top.

Cast Members dressed as candelabras set the mood for the Beauty and the Beast/princess
theme.

Belle's is the first of the princesses and gets her own float! 

Belle is followed by Rapunzel (behind the dancer) and Cinderella who were relegated to smaller floats.

Due to its sheer size, the Frozen Ice Castle float is a sight to be seen. Anna and Elsa are on front with Olaf on back.

Following the Ice Castle are cast members twirling circular discs that change colors. The effects are pretty cool!

Goofy, Donald, and Minnie are next riding on floats with dancing lights that change color.

Fittingly, Mickey finishes up the parade on a float that this picture doesn't do justice to.

Our viewing area:
In the summer time, The Paint the Night Parade runs two times each night. The 8:50pm parade starts to the East of It's a Small World and ends on Main Street near the entrance of Disneyland. The 10:45pm parade starts where the first parade ended and ends by Small World, where the 8:50 parade began. People had already begun saving spots on Main Street by 5:00pm - almost 4 hours before the parade. As much as we wanted to see the parade, 4 hours equals a lot of missed rides at Disneyland so we developed an alternative strategy. Right after the 8:50pm parade is the fireworks show which runs from about 9:30pm to 9:50pm. Main Street is flooded with people at this time so avoid it, if possible, by going on rides in Tomorrowland, Fantasyland, or Fronierland. The reason I mention these three lands is so that you are close to the parade route so that once the fireworks show ends, you can rush in and grab a spot to watch the 10:45pm parade. This way you only have to wait 1 hour instead of 4 hours for the 8:50pm parade. The spot we found was on a concrete bench just around the bend from the Astro Orbitor in Tomorrowland and just before reaching the Matterhorn. We got this spot both nights we watched the parade by getting there right at the tail end of the fireworks show, around 9:40. Here is a picture of what our viewing area looked like:

Our viewing area. The parade starts from the left side of the picture, and to the right down the parade route would be the Matterhorn.

UPDATE

The Paint the Night Parade has been discontinued as a nightly addition to Disney's entertainment schedule and will only be presented on certain nights during the 2016 Holiday Season before it is replaced in early 2017 by the Main Street Electrical Parade. The Main Street Electrical Parade will be returning to Disneyland for "a limited time run". It is widely believed (though not confirmed by Disney) that the Paint the Night Parade will return to Disneyland soon, perhaps even as early as summer 2017.

2015 Disneyland Ride Stats

 Being the stats nerd that I am, every year I have every person in our family keep track of the rides they go on. I then total them for the family and also break them down into the time spent in each of the different Lands and Parks. I also asked each person for their top 10 favorite rides. I assign 10 points to each person's favorite ride all the way down to 1 point for their 10th favorite. I then total our favorite rides as well. On this year's trip to Disneyland, our family consisted of 8 people -  my wife and I, a 15 year old, 12 year old, 9 year old, 8 year old, 6 year old, and a 16 month old.

	Ride Breakdown
Rank	Attraction	Riders
1	Pirates of the Caribbean	34
2	Splash Mountain	31
3	Star Tours	27
T-4	Alice in Wonderland	22
T-4	It's a Small World	22
T-6	Jungle Cruise	20
T-6	Tea Cups	20
T-8	The Little Mermaid	17
T-8	Jumpin' Jellyfish	17
10	Grizzly River Run	16
11	Radiator Springs Racers	15
T-12	Story Book Land Canal Boats	12
T-12	Tarzan's Treehouse	12
T-14	Mater's Junkyard Jamboree	11
T-14	Matterhorn Bobsleds	11
16	Winnie the Pooh	10
T-17	Aladdin: A Musical Spectacular	8
T-17	Thunder Mountain Railroad	8
T-17	Games of the Boardwalk	8
T-17	Haunted Mansion	8
T-17	Pirate Lair on Tom Sawyer Island	8
T-17	The Enchanted Tiki Room	8
T-17	Golden Horseshoe Stage	8
T-17	Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage	8
T-25	Buzz Light Year Astroblasters	7
T-25	King Arthur's Carousel	7
T-27	Autopia	6
T-27	California Screamin'	6
T-27	Disney Junior: Live on Stage	6
T-27	Silly Symphony Swings	6
T-31	Mickey's Fun Wheel	5
T-31	Tower of Terror	5
T-31	Frances' Lady Bug Boogie	5
T-34	Casey Jr Circus Train	4
T-34	Heimlich's Chew Chew Train	4
T-34	Soarin' Over California	4
T-34	Space Mountain	4
T-34	Davey Crockett Explorer Canoes	4
T-39	Disneyland Railroad	3
T-39	Indiana Jones	3
T-39	Goofy's Sky School	3
	Flick's Fliers	closed
	Starcade	closed
	Peter Pan's Flight	closed
	Dumbo
	Main Street Vehicles
	Monorail
	Mr Toad's Wild Ride
	Pinoccio's Daring Journey
	Pixie Hollow
	Sleeping Beauty Castle Walk Through
	Snow White's Grotto
	Tuck and Roll's Drive Em' Buggies
	Total	443
	Here is the ride breakdown by Land Land Breakdown Rank Land  Total Riders % of Total 1 Fantasyland 98 22.12% 2 Paradise Pier 62 14.00% 3 Tomorrowland 52 11.74% T-4 New Orleans Square 45 10.16% T-4 Critter Country 45 10.16% 6 Adventureland 43 9.71% 7 Cars Land 26 5.87% 8 Frontierland 24 5.42% 9 Grizzly Peak Airfield 20 4.51% 10 Hollywood Land 19 4.29% 11 A Bugs Land 9 2.03% T-12 Main Street 0.00% T-12 Mickey's Toontown 0.00% T-12 Buena Vista Street 0.00%
	Here is a breakdown by Park: Park Breakdown Rank Park Total riders % of Total 1 Disneyland 307 69.30% 2 CA Adventure 136 30.70% And finally, here is a breakdown of our family's favorite rides/attractions: Rank Favorite Rides/Attractions 2015 1 Paint The Night Parade 53 2 Splash Mountain 39 3 Star Tours 35 4 World of Color 29 5 Aladdin: A Musical Spectacular 28 6 Radiator Springs Racers 27 7 Grizzly River Run 23 T-8 Pirates of the Caribbean 22 T-8 Tower of Terror 22 10 Thunder Mountain 20 11 It's a Small World 18 12 Autopia 15 13 Jungle Cruise 14 T-14 California Screamin' 8 T-14 Jumpin' Jellyfish 8 16 Matterhorn 7 T-17 Mater's Junkyard Jamboree 4 T-17 Goofy's Sky School 4 T-17 Storybook Land Canal Boats 4 20 Soarin' Over California 3 T-21 Tea Cups  2 T-21 Davey Crocket Explorer Canoes 2 T-21 Games of the Boardwalk 2

Disneyland News and Rumors May 2015

With just a little over a week left until Disneyland's 60th Anniversary Celebration and only a month until my family's trip to the happiest place on earth(at the time of writing this) the work is about to wrap up as last minute touches are being made to rides and last minute wrinkles ironed out of performances and shows. Here's a look at a few of the projects:

Peter Pan
Originally Peter Pan was rumored to re-open May 7th from it's lengthy refurbishment to completely remake the opening nursery scene as well as to update and upgrade a few other issues in the ride. Now the new opening date is set for July 1st. I have a difficult time understanding why Disney didn't make sure this ride was open on May 22, the kick off date for the 60th Anniversary Celebration. Peter Pan is the most popular ride in Fantasyland with only the Matterhorn having consistently longer wait times. Disney missed the mark on this one.

Paint the Night Parade
As one who wanted the Main Street Electrical Parade brought back for the 60th Anniversary, I was extremely disappointed when I heard the parade was going to be something called "The Paint the Night Parade." After recently having the opportunity to see the new Paint the Night Parade, consider me a skeptic no longer. It is AMAZING! It has amazing new and relevant movie references, soundtrack, effects, and lights, while at the same time giving just enough of a nod to the original Main Street Electrical Parade. Disneyland hit this one out of the park! So if you count yourself as one of the traditionalists that wanted to see the Main Street Electrical Parade, be of good cheer! This new parade will have our children as in love with it as we were with the original.

Here is a video, courtesy of the Disney Parks Blog, about the making of the all new Frozen float in the parade!

Disneyland Forever Fireworks
Disneyland's goal with the new fireworks show is to surround the guests with the experience instead of just providing the guests with something to look at. Instead of "just fireworks," this show will feature projections on the Main Street Buildings, the Matterhorn, and Sleeping Beauty's Castle. The central message of the show is based on Walt Disney's famous quote: “Disneyland will never be completed. It will continue to grow as long as there is imagination left in the world.”

The show starts with the original fanfare and then the projections make it appear as if you are standing in the middle of orange groves (which is what was at Disneyland's current spot when Walt began building Disneyland). The oranges grow and then explode into pixie dust which leads to Tinkerbell flying around the castle. The song, "Kiss Goodnight" by Richard Sherman is then played to fireworks. Sherman named the song what he did because it is said that Walt Disney said that the Fireworks were a gift to his guests after a busy day - a kiss goodnight.

Next is a Mary Poppins sequence, complete with Dick Vandyke's "Step in Time" and kite projections around Main Street. It is followed by a Tangled sequence featuring floating glowing lanterns.

The final six featured cartoons/themes are, Winnie the Pooh, The Lion King (which will contain lots of Pyro according to MiceChat), the Jungle Book, The Little Mermaid, Nemo with the Matterhorn being transformed into Mt Wannahoukaloogie, and then Elsa's Ice Castle with Frozen. The thing to remember here is that there will be amazing projections that go along with all of these themes as well as the fireworks. You will see different things depending on what part of the Park you are watching the show from. It is intended to be a show that has to be seen over and over for someone to see it all.

The ending sounds perfect as well. We are taken back to the orange groves where it is again stated that Disneyland will never be complete. Tinkerbell reappears and "When You Wish Upon A Star" then plays, followed by the theme song for the show.

Disney Parks Blog has posted an interview with Richard Sherman about the making of the song "A Kiss Goodnight" for the new Fireworks show.

World of Color: Celebrate!
A few more specifics about the new World of Color show have been released as they relate to the story telling aspect of the show. There are 5 segments of the show which may or may not include the opening fanfare or conclusion. The four segments that have been released are (1) A section devoted to Mickey Mouse. (2) A look at the Golden Age of Disney Animation, including the Pixar/Disney partnership. (3) A look at Walt Disney's first ideas and dreams. (4) A Tribute to Walt Disney.

The show will first look at how Mickey Mouse has changed over the years. Steam Boat Willie starts it off and stirs up the waters of the lagoon. Next, Plane Crazy and the Band Concert will be featured followed by all new Mickey shorts. The Mickey Segment is concluded with a tribute to him in Fantasia.

The third segment which examines Walt's first ideas and dreams was referred to as "The Big Wish: Disneyland" by Steve Davison, Executive of Parades and Spectaculars. It apparently will feature opening day with Walt Disney.

The new World of Color is said to have lots of light and will be incorporating the Fun Wheel more than before. I am looking forward to seeing this in June!

 All things Star Wars
In an call with analysts Disney CEO, Bob Iger, reported that the second teaser for the upcoming Star Wars Film, "The Force Awakens" has already received over 200 million views in less than a month. It had received 88 million views in the first 24 hours of being released! If Disney wasn't completely aware of the magnitude of the impact the Star Wars franchise would have on their brand when they spent $4.5 Billion to acquire it, they are now! In one of the most frustrating, but yet prudent displays of constraint on Disney's part, the decision to delay construction and even the announcement of Star Wars additions to its Anaheim Parks is proving to be one of the best decisions they have made since the Star Wars acquisition. Like most Star Wars fans, I was ready for an announcement on how Star Wars was going to be added into Disneyland with new rides, restaurants, etc. But as I have always been told, slow and steady wins the race, and that is precisely what Disney is doing when it comes to its planning process in regards to the presence of the Force in it's Disney Parks. By waiting, they are now able to add elements from the next 3 movie sequels and the stand alone Anthology films in addition to the staples from the first 6 Star Wars movies into the place making, rides, and dining areas. Unfortunately that means more waiting when it comes to Disneyland ride announcements, but not for too much longer. Bob Iger stated to both Wall Street annalists and to Bloomberg Television beck in February that specific plans would be announced later in 2015. Piecing this bit of information together with a press release from the D23 Expo to be held August 14-16th which in part says, "...on Saturday afternoon, fans will get a preview of what’s in store at Walt Disney Parks and Resorts during a presentation hosted by Parks Chairman Bob Chapek" what we are looking for might be given to us on Saturday afternoon, August 15th!

Check out my latest post on the latest Disneyland news and rumors here

Disneyland News and Rumors, February 2015

While the Disney rumor mill has remained fairly silent over the past 3 months, a few of the previous rumors have finally been confirmed by Disney, including a few of this years 60th Anniversary plans.

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

Disneyland News and Rumors November 2014

Disneyland News

Nemo Submarine Ride
After a lengthy 9 month refurbishment process (5 months of which nothing substantial was done), the subs are back open! The kelp and some of the coral pieces have been repainted in very nice vibrant colors, and the projectors have been replaced which has given the video portion of the ride a much needed cleaner look. But the rest of the ride has, for the most part, remained unchanged.

Dark Rides
Although Alice in Wonderland has already been fantastically updated, the refurbishments to the remaining Fantasyland dark rides (Peter Pan, Snow White, Mr. Toad, and Pinocchio), which were widely believed to be getting underway this fall, still have not started which is making me wonder if they will happen at all before the 60th Anniversary celebration.

Main Street Corridor
As for other enhancements for the 60th Anniversary Celebration, the walk ways behind the Main Street are finished and ready to be tested out this winter in preparation for the busy summer time. The alleyways will make travelling from the entrance to Disneyland to the surrounding lands much easier and enjoyable during parades! What remains to be seen is if once they are completely finished they are opened throughout the day, or just during the parade/special event times. I would imagine that they will be closed during the day because there won't be access to the shops from the alley ways and Disney would want to make sure from a business standpoint that as many tourists as possible are walking past the entrance to their stores.

Star Wars
The news I look forward most to hearing about is if the future of Star Wars in Disneyland. There have been a few running ideas, most notably the revamping of Tomorrowland  by taking out Autopia and the Submarine Ride and completely re-theming the rest of the area. That idea has been all but scrapped thanks to the lack of budget Anaheim was given due to the failing of the MyMagic+ program in Walt Disney World Florida. The lack of funding for the original idea, however, will ultimately turn out to be a blessing for both Disney and Disney fans alike. The hope was to have some minor re-theming done to Tomorrowland in time for the 60th Anniversary with the more major remodeling and rides coming later that fall. But as time for the official decision drew closer and passed, it was clear to some executives that a far better idea would be to incorporate some of the new Disney Star Wars movies - including Episode VII "The Force Awakens" due out in theaters December 2015 - into the new mini-land that was to be created. With the funding in question, as just discussed earlier, it was too easy of a decision not to make a decision on the project. Fast-forward to now, when once again, Disney is starting to play with some more ideas for the new Star Wars themed mini-land. The current working idea, according to Micechat.com, is to create a new land that spans the northern flank of the park from Mickey's Toon Town through Thunder Ranch. This idea would upset far fewer "Disney Traditionalists" since the subs and Autopia are far more universally enjoyed than the relatively new, in comparison, Mickey's Toon Town. The Character meet and greets from Toon Town would likely be re-located elsewhere in the park, such as maybe the Opera House, while Roger Rabbit's Cartoon Spin, and Gadget's Go Coaster would sail away into Yesterland.

Storybook Land Canal Boats
The Storybook Land Canal Boats are currently being refurbished and when they reopen towards the end of December, Frozen will appear in the spot where the Old Mill used to be. Some of the Frozen places of interest that will be included in the ride will be the village of Arendelle, Wandering Oaken's Trading Post, and Elsa's Ice Palace.


Fantasmic!
One more bit of interesting Disneyland news is that a Disneyland team has been tasked with figuring out how to make a fast pass system for Fantasmic! work. Typically guests can be observed saving seats for hours before the Fantasmic! performance which can create congestion for people trying to navigate by the Rivers of America area and has led to a few unfortunate guest confrontations. But putting in a fast pass system would be more complicated than it might seem. The primary obstacle would be figuring out the number of different sections there would be and how to handle the logistics of each one.


California Adventure News

Frozen
Meanwhile over in CA Adventure, a lot will be getting underway shortly as well. If you have any daughters in your family in the 3-12 age range as I do, chances are they will love this next part. Micechat.com reports that Frozen will be making an appearance in CA Adventure this winter! Yes, this winter as in next month! The MuppetVision 3-D theater has been closed and is undergoing a remodeling for a new Frozen show which is to premiere December 20th. It's no secret that MuppetVision has struggled for a while now and given the current popularity of Frozen, Disney is hoping for a much better use of the 575 seat theater that is now typically only a quarter full during shows. Should the Frozen show be a success, there is a slight chance that it may become a permanent fixture in CA Adventure, whereas now it is slated to close on May 3rd next year. The Frozen characters will also be moving from Fantasyland over to the Hollywood Backlot area for their new meet and greet location at the Disney Animation building. Disney wouldn't want to miss out on any merchandising opportunities either, so as you can imagine there will be all sorts of Frozen themed merchandise and food and beverage options in the area as well. One such merchandising shop will be themed after the Wandering Oaken's Trading Post from the movie.

Luigi's Flying Tires
Luigi's Flying Tires is slated for permanent closure on January 11th and Micechat.com reports that it will be re-themed into Luigi's Festival of the Dance which will be opening sometime in December just in time for the busy winter rush. The reasoning that I have heard is that the tires were too awkward for many guests to get in and out of, some guests even injuring themselves in the process. The idea of the new Festival of the Dance ride sounds to me a lot like Mater's Junkyard Jamboree in it's operation, so I'm not sure I understand Disney's logic here.

Soarin' Over California
Soarin' Over California will finally be getting it's HD makeover. Like Luigi, it is scheduled to go down January 11th and be closed until late May. In addition to the film being transitioned into HD, the Soarin' Building and all of Condor Flats will be receiving a minor re-theming to accentuate the theme of the area.

Marvel
Finally, with Star Wars taking over parts of Disneyland, it is rumored that Marvel will be taking over parts of CA Adventure - specifically, the same area that Frozen will temporarily be in, in the Hollywood Backlot area. Micechat.com also reports that A new E-ticket attraction modeled after the Rockin' Roller Coaster in Orlando, would be created with a Marvel theme in the parking area between the Tower of Terror and Luigi's. It would be taking the place of the old Monsters Inc door coaster idea and would be much more of an intense roller coaster to appeal more to the teenage demographic. The character meet and greets which are currently in the innovations building in Tomorrowland would also be moved over to Hollywood Backlot. Having the Marvel characters in Hollywood Backlot makes much more sense to me than having them in Disneyland so I hope this rumor has some traction.

Final thoughts...
One last thing to consider is theoretically what this means for Tomorrowland. If "Star Wars Land" ends up being created, it would make sense for Star Tours to have a new home there. And if the Innovations building is freed of the Marvel presence, there is a lot of potential for Disney's Imagineers to create a few new attractions in Tomorrowland, almost to the point of re-theming a whole corner of the park. Recently it seems that Disney has lost much of it's creativity when it comes to designing all new rides that are not based on Movies. Some of Disney's best rides were uniquely created on their own merits and not because of a prior movie, such as Thunder Mountain, Space Mountain, Matterhorn, Country Bear Jamboree, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Haunted Mansion. The latter 3 rides were so loved by guests that movies were actually created from them! In my opinion, it is time for Disney's Imagineers to once again wipe the dust off of their creative thinking and create attractions to replace the purported relocating attractions.

Thanks for reading! My latest update can be found here