2018 Together Forever Nighttime Spectacular at Disneyland

The Together Forever show is a fireworks and projection mapping show that takes place at the Rivers of America, Sleeping Beauty Castle, Main Street, and It's a Small World. This video was filmed at the Rivers of America, on the Thunder Mountain (North) side. It was filmed on July 10, 2018.

Sometimes with the new shows at the Disney Resorts, I feel that they are just basically watching a cartoon projected on water. There isn't as much creativity as there was with, say, Fantasmic! when it first came out. While Together Forever was fun to watch, it was basically a miniature World of Color - just watching projections on the water. It was entertaining, but I hope that Disney's shows in the future won't just rely on video projections.

2018 Paint the Night Parade

The following video was taken across from Jumpin' Jellyfish in the Paradise Gardens Park area of California Adventure on July 11, 2018.

Where to Watch Paint the Night Parade in California Adventure

When the Paint the Night Parade was held in Disneyland Park, my family and I had a great spot picked out on a cement bench close to the Matterhorn. This allowed us to see the parade coming long before it was right in front of us.

With the Paint the Night Parade being moved over to California Adventure to help lessen the overcrowding Disneyland is experiencing and will be experiencing at an even greater level once Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge opens in early summer 2019, I had to go back to the drawing board to find a good viewing spot.

Here are a couple of good things to know: (1) Currently, there is only one nightly showing of the Paint the Night Parade at 8:50 pm (in summer 2018). And (2) The Parade starts at Paradise Gardens Park by the end of the Incredicoaster, and ends in Hollywood Land, between Guardians of the Galaxy and the Hyperion Theater.

I like to be able to see the Parade coming for a while, unobstructed, before it reaches me so that was an important factor in determining where to sit. Also, with a family of 8 including a 4 year old, I wanted to find a spot close to restrooms, just in case. We also like to head back over to Disneyland after the parade so an easy escape route is nice.

I decided on a spot across from Jumpin' Jellyfish, next to/in front of a sunglasses stand which provided a great place to see the parade coming. It was also reasonably close to restrooms which are located behind Goofy's Sky School. It also offered as easy of an escape route as you'll find right after the parade. It took us about 10-15 minutes to get out. We followed the parade for a little bit, then took a left past the Ariel attraction to head toward Grizzly Peak, and out that way. The walkways were still plenty full and difficult to navigate, but we were able to get out of California Adventure before the parade was over, meaning we were able to get into Disneyland before quite a few people at the end of the parade route.

Here's a look down the parade route from where we were sitting. I love to be able to see the parade coming before it gets to me. Restrooms are located just under and beyond the Pixar Pals sign on the right side of the picture.

We sat in this spot both nights we viewed the Paint the Night Parade and will do so again next time we go too!

Here's a look at our spot. You can see the sunglasses hut behind us as well as some enthusiastic and very friendly Cast Members! If you notice, there is a place to sit off the ground just behind and to the right of us. While it may be more comfortable to sit there, people are allowed to sit in front of you, up to the crack in the concrete you can see by the wheels of our stroller.

Here's a look at what the Paint the Night Parade looks like:

Sounds of Disneyland: The Enchanted Tiki Room (Audio)

The Tiki Room has become a tradition to attend (with Dole Whip in hand) every year during our family Disneyland trips.



The funny thing is, growing up I detested the Tiki Room. I can remember being at Disneyland with my best friend, Matthew Syphus, and my mom asking us if we would go to the Tiki Room. I threw a fit! My mom would quickly remind me that we had done all the rides that I wanted to do all day and that all she was asking was for me to go with her to this one attraction. So we would go.



Fortunately my kids don't protest visiting the Tiki Room like I did. In fact, they seem to enjoy it - probably due in part to the before mentioned Dole Whip! I'm glad that Disneyland has kept the Tiki Room very similar to how it existed when I went as a child with my mom.



Here's the audio from the Tiki Room as recorded in July of 2017:

Disneyland News and Rumors, January 2018

I thought we better start off the New Year right with a little Disney news! Although I've blogged about a couple of these items in the past, more details have emerged about them and, in some cases, some of the rumors have been confirmed by Disney through the Disney Parks Blog. Lets take a look at some of the news:

Pixar Pier

Paradise Pier will be closing down at the end of day on January 7th, 2018 to be remade into Pixar Pier. The entire area won't be affected, however. The attractions on the north end of Paradise Pier will remain the same and this area will be renamed Paradise Park. This includes Ariel's Undersea Adventure, the Silly Symphony Swings, the Golden Zephyr, Jumpin' Jellyfish and Goofy's Sky School. The affected attractions will be California Screamin', King Triton's Carousel, Games of the Boardwalk, Mickey's Fun Wheel, and the Ariel's Grotto and Cove Bar eateries.

The games in Games of the board walk will now feature characters from such Pixar movies as A Bug's Life, Wall-E and the Pixar short film, "La Luna."

The 24 gondolas on Mickey's Fun Wheel will feature different pairs of Pixar characters on them, although Mickey's face will still appear on the center of the Fun Wheel.

California Screamin' will be re-themed into the Incredicoaster, featuring the characters from the Inclredibles movies. The loading area will be enhanced to include a new mid-century-modern-style building based on the Parr family home that will be seen in the Incredibles 2 which opens in theaters June 14th, 2018. You can view a video on the creation of the new Incredicoaster by clicking this link.

There will be a new spinner ride on the western end of Pixar Pier that will be based on the Inside Out characters. It looks as though this ride might just be Flicks Fliers moved and re-themed. Although the rest of Pixar Pier will be opening Summer 2018, this attraction will be opening later in the year.

Toy Story Midway Mania will remain unchanged.

Parades

Beginning April 13, 2018, the Pixar Play Parade will move to Disneyland and the Paint the Night Parade will return to California Adventure. The Pixar Play Parade will feature three new floats which can be seen in the pictures taken from the Disney Parks Blog below:

This is expected to be the opening float in the parade - the iconic Pixar lamp and ball.

Also newly added will be a float from the movie "UP."

Inside Out will also join the fun!

The Paint the Night Parade is also rumored to be getting a new float to replace the Elsa Ice Castle float which is said to be getting the ax due to it's size and the low hanging cables in California Adventure. I hope this isn't the case, as the Ice Castle is truly an amazing float, and one of my kid's favorites!

New Hotel

Construction on the yet-to-be-named hotel starts in the summer of 2018 and the hotel will open in 2021. The location of the new hotel is an odd one. It will be jammed in between the Disneyland Hotel and the Monorail platform on the west end of Downtown Disney on the current location of the AMC Theater and the ESPN Zone. The four star hotel will add an additional 700 rooms to the Disneyland Resort. The hotel will make use of the existing Monorail platform, which will now be located inside the hotel and will transport guests directly to Tomorrowland.
I found it interesting that the Disney Parks blog also mentions that it will bring in $25 Million in taxes to Anaheim's general fund - a fact that most casual readers interested in Disney news wouldn't care about. In my estimation, this is an obvious play to publish, for the Anaheim City Council, the monetary benefit that Disney brings to Anaheim. As reported in my previous blog posts, Disney needs the council's approval for the Eastern Gateway project which the City Council has refused to give thus far, citing an unneeded hardship on the local businesses on Harbor blvd. So Disney is trying to play a typical political game by posting the monetary benefit in a blog targeting Disney fans that don't know the whole story of the project.

Below is a look at the concept art of the new hotel as published by the Disney Parks Blog:

The new hotel will act as a sort of funnel to funnel guests staying on the West side of the resort into the new security checkpoint. 

A link to the Disney Parks Blog article about the new Hotel can be found by clicking on this link:

Parking Garage

Construction on a new parking garage is set to get underway in February 2018 and should be finished within a year, in time for the opening of Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge. The new structure will contain 6500 parking spaces and will be located just south of the Mickey & Friends parking structure on the west side of Disneyland.

That about wraps up the major news from the Disneyland Universe. With Pixar Pier opening in 2018 and Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge opening in 2019, this is a busy time for Disneyland!

Pin Trading at Disneyland

Pin collecting has become the latest craze at Disneyland! As a child I remember my Mother purchasing an occasional pin here or there but we never traded them. Then as I started taking my children to Disneyland every year to continue the tradition my Mother started, we each purchased a year pin and a favorite ride pin. But it wasn't until 2013 when my daughters started trading pins that pin trading hit my radar. At that point, I saw it more as something that should be done in the middle of the day when the lines to the attractions were long. The following year I got more into it and now I'm hooked. In this post I'll attempt to help the aspiring Disney pin trader get started.

Getting Started

The first thing to do is to acquire some pins to trade. An easy way to do this is to purchase a "starter set" at one of the many pin trading shops inside Disneyland, Downtown Disney, or from the Disney Store. Here's an example of what a starter set might look like:

As you can see, this starter set also includes a lanyard, which is helpful to have to keep all your pins in one spot. Starter sets are generally cheaper per pin than most other options, thus a good way to get started. This starter set contains many of the prominent Disney Characters. Other starter sets might include a cats collection (Cheshire Cat, Marie from Aristocats, Figaro from Pinocchio, etc), princess collection, a hat collection (hats that the different characters wear), etc.  

I actually decided to upgrade my lanyard to a wider model to be able to fit more pins on it. It also has a pouch at the bottom for my park tickets.

Another good way to acquire pins is by purchasing the collectible pin packs. Collectible pin packs are packs of 5 pins that are randomly packed into the package. The collection generally includes about 16 pins so if you buy a couple of packs and get doubles, you have to try to find the ones you don't have by trading for them. Here's some examples of the collectible pin packs:

Pictured here are the Nesting Doll collection, Disney Mascots Collection, and the Couples Collection.

The back side of the package shows all the pins that are in the collection. At $27.99 for a pack of 5, the pins are roughly $6 a piece which is cheaper than trading individually purchased pins, for the most part. There are many collections to choose from besides the 3 pictured in the pictures above. There is a donut collection where the frosting of the donuts is colored with a certain character's colors, a best friends collection, and many different Tsum Tsum collections, to name a few. 

There are also boxed mystery collections. The boxed mystery collections contain 2 randomly packed pins in each box and typically the total number of pins in the collection is much smaller.

Here's a look at the 2017 year boxed mystery collection. As you can see from the back of the box, there are only 8 pins in this collection as opposed to usually twice that in the collectible pin packs. The cost of these 2-pin boxes is around $15 per box.

As I mentioned at the beginning of my post, you can also purchase pins to commemorate special occasions, such as a year pin, favorite ride, etc. These pins are generally not part of any collection but are still fun to have. Here are some examples of some individual pins that have made there way into my family's collection:

Here's a look at the year pin I bought in 2011. The characters actually spin around the 2011. We buy a year pin every year when we go to Disneyland. These generally cost about $13 each. 

Here's a look at one of my Daughter's ride pins. The year she got it, Splash Mountain was her favorite ride. These cost anywhere from $10 to $14 each.

I was given this pin as a gift from my daughter, Alley. I'm not sure if I should take it as a complement or an insult... haha!

You can also get pins online from sites such as Ebay. I don't recommend this as there is no way to verify the authenticity of the pins and all pins sold in "lots" of 25, 50, 100, etc are fake pins, made in China. Unfortunately they have also been able to fake the Disney stamp on the back of the pins so many have made their way into the Disney Parks. They are tradable as the sites that sell them claim, but they are fake/counterfeit nonetheless.

Rules and Etiquette

Before you start trading pins, it's a good idea to understand pin trading rules and etiquette. These rules apply for trading pins with Disneyland Cast Members. For starters, you may only trade 2 pins at a time with the same person. This is helpful when there is a long line of people waiting to trade pins. Another rule is that if the cast member already has a pin that you have, you cannot trade them that pin (to give them 2 of the same pin). Otherwise, the cast members are happy to trade what ever pin you want, as long as it has the official stamp on the back of the pin, as all pins you buy at Disneyland will have.
 

Trading

Once you've got pins to trade, it's time to trade them! First you have to find someone with pins to trade. Many vendors have a display of pins on the counter by the cash register to trade. Our favorite stores to trade at are those located in Frontierland. We also like The World of Disney Store in Downtown Disney, where the cast members that are located by the doors typically will have pins to trade. Every now and then you will also see a cast member roaming Disneyland and California Adventure with a lanyard on. You can also trade with other guests, but remember, they are not obligated to trade with you as the cast members are!

Disneyland will also occasionally run fun scavenger hunts involving pins. They did this in 2000 for the 45th Anniversary and again in 2016 in a fun hunt called PinQuest.

Whether you try to collect all the pins in a certain collection, try to collect as many pins as you can of a favorite Disney character, or just collect pins you like, pin collecting is a fun way to spend time in Disneyland, especially when lines are long or the temperature is hot. Trading pins has become one of my family's favorite things to do at Disneyland.
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Turning Back the Clock: The 1987 State Fair at Disneyland

It's not often that something obstructs the view of the Disneyland Railroad from the entrance!

In 1987, Disneyland hosted a celebration they called, The State Fair. Main Street was filled with Ferris Wheels and other carnival attractions (ironically, the exact opposite of what Walt Disney himself wanted to create when he built Disneyland).  I was only 12 years old at the time and only vaguely remember it. But thankfully my mom took the following pictures - enjoy!

It's an odd look to see production cameras out in the open preparing to film something on Main Street.

Here's a look looking back toward Town Square from farther north down Main Street.

...and another...

This was one of three Ferris Wheels - the first in front of the Disneyland Railroad, as seen in my first picture, this one, and one that was in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle. 

This was one of the floats for the parade.

Here's a look at the parade as it makes it's way from Town Square, further down Main Street USA.

And here's one final look at some signage, bunting, and filming surrounding the event.