MickeyBlog News for January 30th, 2023
The Disney100 celebration has started, and Disney kindly invited MickeyBlog along for the private events.
We’ll discuss the Disney100 celebration, Disneyland Park’s new ride, and more in MickeyBlog News!
Disneyland
The Walt Disney Company Is Older Than Dick Van Dyke!
On October 16th, Disney fans will celebrate the date when two brothers, Roy and Walt, went into business for themselves.
The duo faced early ownership issues with a character, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.
Photo: Disney
Discouraged, Walt Disney had no choice but to invent another character on the train ride home that day. It was Mickey Mouse, who has sustained Disney for the body of a century.
Disney is throwing itself the world’s greatest birthday party, and it thoughtfully invited some MickeyBlog folks to the grand opening.
If you’ve read the site this week – and shame on you if you haven’t! – you’ve read our many updates on the events, merchandise, and decorations.
Seriously, our marvelous staff posted roughly 100 updates in just two days! Scroll through the site if you missed anything.
The New Nighttime Presentations
Photo: Disney
The most significant updates are the new nighttime presentations. At Disney California Adventure, guests marveled at the latest iteration of a familiar show.
Here’s World of Color – One:
I love the new introductory narration and theming connected to the new song, Start a Wave.
While the show ostensibly highlights a century of Disney magic, most of it centers on the past 40 years.
The movies start with Pocahontas and end with that beloved piece of Marvel music.
World of Color -One
Disney has leaned into Avengers Campus with some of its selections, which I think is clever.
The other new show is Wondrous Journeys at Disneyland Park, which includes projections on Sleeping Beauty Castle and Main Street, U.S.A.
Warning: you WILL get an earworm of the new song, It’s Wondrous, by watching this!
This presentation fittingly starts with early animation of Mickey Mouse before it highlights memorable moments from all Walt Disney Animation Studios films to date.
Early reviews are divided on the latest World of Color offering, but there’s universal love for Wondrous Journeys.
Photo: Disney
Disney’s show creators deserve tons of credit for Wondrous Journeys. It’s reverential to Disney’s illustrious cinematic history in the best possible way.
Meanwhile, World of Color is on iteration six or seven by this point. So, it’s competing with itself, which isn’t easy.
World of Color
I love the new show and emphasize that Disney must always make these shows under the assumption that it’s the viewer’s first time.
Which Disney newbie wouldn’t adore those visuals and that music?!
The New Disneyland Ride
Photo: Richard Harbaugh
Since 2010, here are the only new rides at Disneyland Park:
- Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run
- Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance
That’s it. That’s the list. We could technically include Snow White’s Enchanted Wish, but it’s really just a rehash of an existing ride.
Photo: Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG
Due to spatial limits, every new ride at the Happiest Place on Earth comes at the expense of another entertainment option.
So, when Disneyland opens a new ride, it’s a very big deal. That’s doubly true for the first Mickey Mouse ride ever!
Runaway Railway
On Friday, January 27th, Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway opened its West Coast version at Disneyland.
As an ardent supporter of the Disney’s Hollywood Studios version, I cannot believe I’m about to say this, but…the Disneyland one is better!
Carnival scene
At a minimum, the exterior and early portion of the line queue surpass what’s visible in the old The Great Movie Ride building.
Look at this gorgeous facility!
To the surprise of no one, Disneyland started with a virtual queue. Otherwise, the standby line at the attraction would have been a bottleneck.
Also, I have strong memories of a friend unsuccessfully waiting more than 12 hours on opening day at Frozen Ever After. They never got to ride due to technical difficulties.
Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway in Toontown
So, yeah. Disney should always use virtual queues for new E-ticket attractions like this.
Also, to the surprise of no one, the opening day virtual queue sold out in about a minute.
Disneyland offered a Lightning Lane option for the attraction. Disney charged $20 on opening, and prices will likely hover in that range indefinitely.
As for the ride, here’s how it looks at Disneyland:
MickeyBlog’s Jess Landers posted a comparison of the East Coast and West Coast versions. Yes, Disney has built another masterpiece!
One Remaining Reminder of Splash Mountain
Splash Mountain closed as promised last Sunday. However, we did discover one surprise the other day.
Disney seemed intent on removing all reminders of the now-extinct ride. The attraction left the Tip Board on My Disney Experience while people were standing in line for it.
Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is already on the Magic Kingdom map!
Within 24 hours of its closure, Magic Kingdom had a new map that showed Tiana’s Bayou Adventure on it.
Similarly, the Splash Mountain Pressed Penny Machine disappeared, which confused fans.
After all, they’d maintain a constant line for these souvenirs throughout Splash Mountain’s final week. So, we presumed they were gone forever.
I’m happy to report that’s not the case. I guess Disney just needed to restock the machines due to heavy use.
Splash Mountain
By Friday, the Pressed Penny Machine was back at Frontierland! You could still use it this weekend!
Disney Miscellany
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences revealed its nominations for the 95th Oscars.
Photo: Disney
Disney led all studios with 22 nods across its various entities, including two for Best Picture: Banshees of Inisherin and Avatar: The Way of Water.
Banshees of Inisherin, Martin McDonagh’s In Bruges reunion, earned nine nods overall, the second-most in this year’s competition.
Photo: Searchlight Pictures
Meanwhile, Avatar 2 and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever gained four and five nominations, respectively.
The other Disney nominees this year are Turning Red (Best Animated Feature Film), Empire of Light (Best Cinematography), Fire of Love (Best Documentary Feature Film), and Le Pupille (Best Live Action Short).
In park news, Disneyland Resort has added another first. The proto-Minnie Mouse, Ortensia, is appearing at Disney California Adventure through February 15th.
Photo: Disney
We’re in Lunar New Year for the Year of the Cat, and Walt Disney himself created Ortensia the Cat in 1927.
The character could have become what Minnie Mouse is if not for several strange events in the 1920s. And you can meet her for the first time at Disneyland Resort!
Also, the Encanto digital projection at Disneyland Park will return to It’s a Small World in February!
Disneyland Magic Key
Magic Key sales remain for two annual passes. The Imagine Key has sold out again, though.
At Disney’s Hollywood Studios, we finally know when Roundup Rodeo BBQ will debut! Its grand opening will take place on March 23rd, 2023. You can read the menu here.
Also, the Disney Skyliner is undergoing its usual January refurbishment. It’ll reopen tomorrow, January 30th.
Photo: Disney
Finally, Disney confirmed the same thing about Tron Lightcycle Power Run at Magic Kingdom as Runaway Railway at Disneyland.
When the Tron roller coaster opens, it’ll use only a virtual queue and Lightning Lane. Disney won’t operate a standby queue initially.
Photo: MickeyBlog
