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Park News - (11/17/09) A good construction update from the park showing off some new features of the World of Color show can be found at Westcoaster.
    (11/9/09) New construction photos from Cars Land, Little Mermaid and World of Color can be found at DisneyGeek this week.  Also take a look at CoasterRealm to see a picture of an interesting metal structure in the lagoon for the World of Color show. Almost looks like a big steel Octopus, doesn’t it?
    (10/30/09) A good construction update from California Adventure showing off the lagoon being filled and more has been posted to DLRToday. This may be your last look at the World of Color platform before it gets sunk below the waves.
    (10/27/09) They have begun the process of refilling the lagoon at California Adventure this week. You can see some pictures of it posted to Westcoaster.
    (10/16/09) Sounds like they had to wait a little longer, but according to Disney’s blog the water will begin flowing back into the lagoon in a matter of days. It will take about 3 days before it gets halfway full.
    (10/13/09) A good construction update from Disney’s California Adventure can be found at WestCoaster this week.
    (10/6/09) Sources tell us that the water may begin to flow back into the Paradise Pier lagoon starting on October 10th. They believe that they may only half-fill it at first while they continue to do work. I’m also not sure how good this info is, but one reader tells us that the Maliboomer may now be staying for the immediate future. (Fine with me...)
    (10/1/09) Westcoaster has added a construction update from California Adventure this week.
    (9/21/09) The other day Disney indicated that they would be bringing the Muppet Whatnot Workshops to both California and Florida resorts, though at the time I wasn’t quite sure what the Whatnot Workshop was.  After getting some feedback and doing some research, the Muppet Whatnot Workshops were a special “build a muppet” style experience set up a select FAO Schwarz stores (who were just bought by Toy R’ Us back in May 2009). Guests are able to build their own Muppet from a collection of different body parts. You can see a bit more info and photos over at the Muppet Wiki, but I can see this easily becoming a huge hit at the Disney parks.
    (9/17/09) During the D23 Expo’s Muppet presentation it was announced that MuppetVision 3D in California and Florida will be upgraded to be shown in digital 3D in the near future. A new pre-show is also being planned along with new modern movie spoof posters, such as Pirates of the Amphibian (with Kermit dressed up as Capt. Jack). The Muppet movement wont stop there however, as another Mobile character experience will soon be roaming the parks. Keep your eyes open for the Mobile Electric Mayhem Band. I’ve also heard something about a Muppet Whatnot Workshop experience that will be added to both Florida and California parks, but I’m not quite certain what that will be.

Ride Rehabs - The following information is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate.
Orange Stinger – NOW CLOSED through Early 2010

2010 - Silly Symphony Swings - In Development - (7/4/08) We’ve got a little more information to share today about the new Silly Symphony Swings restoration plans. According to our sources the remodeled attraction will have a Band Conductor Mickey on top of the tower who will move around to the music. The center pole will be remodeled to allow for the painting of scenes from the Silly Symphonies.
    (6/17/08) According to the LA Times, The Orange Stinger will be rethemed to better match the new Victorian themeing that is now set to take over Paradise Pier, as seen on the new Toy Story Mania buildings. The giant orange peel will be removed along with the bumble bees, and if the rumors are true, it will be given a Silly Symponies theme tied to the short film, The Band Concert, complete with a tornado theme applied to the central shaft, smoke effects and a “Conductor Mickey” standing on top.

2010 - Disney’s World of Color - (8/14/09) A couple of weeks  back Disney uncovered some of the hardware facts about the new World of Color show that I had somehow missed. It was nice to see that most of the items I had previously heard about as rumors have come true, with the exception being the number of fountains in the show. All said and  done the show will feature 1,200 fountains, not the rumored 2,200… but that’s still a lot of fountains no matter how you slice it, each hooked up to an LED light ring able to create virtually any color in the spectrum. The fountains come in different sizes of course, able to shoot water anywhere from 30 to 200 feet in the air.
    The Water Whips are in… 187 of them to be exact, able to spin, tilt, point and shoot water virtually anywhere in any direction. The Fire Whips are also in the show… 12 of them mounted to the same kind of device as the Water Whips. There will also be 24 more non-moving flame throwers as well.
    An army of 29 digital HD video projectors will also be placed to cover the lake area as needed to allow for the creation of the world’s largest water/mist screen that will be 380 feet wide and 50 feet tall. With the projectors they will bring animated features like Alice in Wonderland, Lion Kingd, Toy Story, WALL-E and Pocahontas to life in all new ways. The show will also feature a good mix of other special effects such as lasers, fog machines, scenic elements up to 80 feet tall, and an impressive surround sound system to surround you for the entire 25 minute experience.
    (7/20/09) All new details, some video footage and concept art for the World of Color show can be found at Disney’s online version of the Sky Sky Cellar. .
    (6/30/09) A new construction update showing off the World of Color lagoon area has been posted to Westcoaster this week. Boy that platform out there is getting incredibly crowded with stuff. They also had one last look at at the big Dinosaur figure which is now coming down, with what’s left covered by a tarp.
    (6/16/09) A new construction update from the World of Color lagoon can be found at Westcoaster today.
    (4/17/09) Today we received a micro-burst transmission from one of our deep undercover spies which contained some juicy new information about Disney’s Wonderful World of Color show. All along we’ve heard the goal for this show was to make it the “Fantasmic Killer”… the much needed “Killer App” for DCA to lure in and keep the crowds after dark. Up front they knew that to do this, the show was going to need cutting edge technology, something that would “Wow” people today the same way that Fantasmic did in the ‘90s. They also knew, from past experience with Pyro on the lake, that the show simply couldn’t rely on adding more pyro to make it flashy due to all the smoke problems. Lets go over briefly some of the technology I’m told we’ll see put to use in the show.
    First up is a little something they called the Water Whip, which is a moving water fountain unit that is able to rotate and tilt up to 55º in any direction. I’m going to guess that this is the water equivalent of a theatrical “moving light” fixture. From what I understand the show will use somewhere near 2,200 water fountains total in the lake, with each hooked up to a “LED light ring” to create extremely bright vivid colors in the water. If that wasn’t cool enough, I understand that they have also created a little something called a Flame Whip, which will work in much the same fashion as the Water Whips, but with a flame thrower unit. I’ve also been led to believe that these flame units may also be able to create different color flames through the injection of specific chemicals into the mix.
    Now anyone who has seen the construction pictures lately has got to be wondering just what that huge stage-like structure is they are building in the middle of the lake. From my basic understanding, the various show elements will be mounted to this surface, which will be divided up into over 170 different “table” units, each able to rise to the surface and lower again as needed on an individual basis.
    Now while we’ve covered all the “next gen” technology to be used for the water and fire effects, lets talk a bit about the video side of things. Like Fantasmic this show will feature projections onto several large water screens, but that’s where the similarities end. The largest water screen in this show will shoot water an amazing 100 feet into the air, and fan out to form a surface approximately 280 feet wide. For a quick mental visual comparison, remember that Mickey’s Fun Wheel is approximately 150 feet tall and wide. If that wasn’t big enough, I’m told that this massive central screen will link up with two smaller water screens on either side, to increase the overall size of the screen space to 400 feet wide.
    To ensure the bright crisp images, I’m told that they will use a pair of video projectors for each section of the screen, with a total of 6 of the double-stacked rigs put to use at once to be housed inside some kind of lighthouse themed structure. In addition to these, though the use of some of the moving water fountains, they will be able to create a moving “screen” of water that will be projected upon by some separate projectors that will move in sync with the screen. I’ve also heard something about how they will use a 50 foot tall Chernabog figure, where the entire head area will be created with a mist screen. Overall, this show seems set to do just what they planned and become DCA’s much needed Killer App.

2010 - Toy Story: The Musical - Rumor - (8/6/09) It’s been awhile since I’ve heard any rumors about replacing Aladdin in the Hyperion Theater with something new but according to one source, WDI had a sort of “open house” event for Cast Members where they brought the subject of a Toy Story Musical up again, along with some concept artwork apparently. They expect that it may open by Summer 2010.

2011- Goofy’s Sky School - In Development - (10/20/08) The LA Times has posted an article about the transformation of Mulholland Madness into Goofy’s Sky Skool along with a new piece of artwork I’ve never seen before.  I’m a bit confused however, as they mention as how this transformation is supposed to add new themeing and remove the current tacky theme, but looking at the artwork, I still an even more unthemed coaster with a couple of red flags on towers here and there. Unless part of Goofy’s training is to blindfold the riders before the test flight, I’m not sure how this minimalist concept will be any different than what is there now. I’m thinking that the money may be better spent elsewhere until they are ready to just replace the entire ride with something better.
    (7/7/08) According to another source Disney will use the Goofy’s Sky School name and not “Flite School” as we had heard last week.
    (7/4/08) We’ve heard that plans for Goofy’s Flite School are moving forward, and yes that is the correct spelling. From the sound of things it may take on a similar look to Goofy’s Barnstormer in Florida as it will now look like an old giant barn has been converted by Goofy into a make-shift airplane hanger… while apparently leaving all the old chicken coops intact.

2011 - The Little Mermaid – Ariel’s Undersea Adventure - Confirmed - (2/12/08) According to the latest entry at Blue Sky Disney, they have confirmed that not only with the SF area bathrooms be move across the street to give Little Mermaid more room to grow, but that once the new dark ride is finished, there wont be a trace of the San Francisco theme in this area at all. Instead there may be long term plans set aside for a future project to turn the Wharf area into a new San Francisco themed zone, but don’t look for that to happen anytime soon. They also mention that the new ride likely wont open until 2011 now, a year later than I had previously thought.
    (2/6/08) We’ve heard a bit of good news about the new Little Mermaid ride on the way. It seems the scope of the attraction has grown to the point that not only will it take up all of the old Golden Dreams theater area but the entire connected San Fransisco themed restroom building and possibly even borrow a bit of the forest from the Redwood Creek play area. Apparently Disney will be building a replacement restroom facility in another nearby building area that is currently unused.
    (10/29/07) If you want to sneak a peek at what the new Little Mermaid dark ride may be like, take a look at this animated run-through Disney made for a previous proposal that would feature an inverted Peter Pan style ride system that was posted to YouTube. From the description, this was captured from Disc 2 of the Special Edition Little Mermaid DVD released back in 2006. While we’re on the subject, I’ve also heard that just because the concept art released so far features an Omni-Mover style ride system, the final decision has not yet been made between that and a ride system possibly more like what we see in the video here.

    (10/17/07) Disney has confirmed the new Little Mermaid dark ride that will be added to Paradise Pier. Guests will enter various scenes and hear the songs from the hit film in the dark ride, which looks like it will use an Omnimover style ride system in the artwork. A new Mermaid Grotto play area with a fountain and sand castle will also be added for children to play in.

2012 - Walt Disney Plaza / Red Car Trolleys - Confirmed - (1/27/09) This week Jim Hill Media takes a look at the changes we can expect to see unfold at the entrance area to California Adventure over the next few years. This includes a few interesting items about how the pencil pushes are really hoping that the changes will drive up business at the gift shops. For example… there is a good reason for those bright red new trolley cars that will run up and down the street, and it’s not just because they are nostalgic. Much like on Main Street at Disneyland, the concept is that the ever present trolleys running down the middle of the street will force guests up onto the sidewalks and the into the shops.
    (7/8/08) We’ve heard a bit more about the Walt Disney Plaza area, confirming that the Carthay Theater building will simply be an empty shell for the time being. However we have heard that the upstairs section may be used as another exclusive Club 33 style VIP Room. It was also mentioned that there may be some kind of Disneyland fireworks viewing area from here as well. We’ve also got a little more information about Hollywood Land, the new name likely to be used for the Hollywood Pictures Backlot. When the renovations are complete this area of the park is supposed to hold the majority of the track for the new Red Car Line trolley system, running guests from here to the new main gate area. The cars are said to hold only about 20 people each.
    (6/22/08) I haven’t heard too much about this yet, but according to an email sent my way, Disney may have canned The Walt Disney Story attraction planned for the Carthay Theater building. The building is still going in as part of the remodeling of the main entrance pathways, but it will instead be used for something else. In other redevelopment news, our same source claims that they may eventually rename the Hollywood Pictures Backlot into something more simple… like Hollywoodland.
    While we’re talking about all this new construction work set to tear apart the current main gate area, it also sounds like the old plan of building a temporary entrance through the old Who Wants To Be A Millionaire building may be scraped. Instead they may shift the flow of traffic in and out of the park to run through a service entrance pathway that runs between Soarin’ and the Grand Californian Resort. I’m really not sure why they would want to do this unless there is a good reason they need to keep all that foot traffic out of the Hollywood area.
    (11/2/07) To clear things up a bit about the construction of the Walt Disney Plaza, we’ve heard that the final time frame has yet to be determined and much about the length of time it will take may depend on if they try to do it all at once, of if they build it up in phases over the next three years.
    (11/1/07) It sounds like the construction of Walt Disney Plaza and the entire new entrance area of the park may take more time that I had thought, because they may not be ready to open this new area until February 8th, 2011 as part of the park’s 10th Anniversary celebration. Of course this three year long timeline just seems abnormally long to me since you could build an entirely new theme park in three years.
    (10/18/07) Some of you have been wondering how California Adventure is going to build the Walt Disney Plaza as the new main entrance area while still leaving the park open the guests. It seems sometimes the best solutions are the simple ones… and in this case I’ve been told in early 2008 it seems that they will just close the entire current entrance of the park and route everyone through a new temporary entrance next to the closed Who Wants To Be a Millionaire soundstage building, which will be used to house the other typical front gate necessities like Stroller and Wheelchair rentals and the customer service desk. From the sound of things, nothing will be left of the old entrance by the time it reopens… not even the Golden Gate Bridge set for the monorail track, which is kind of a shame since I liked that myself, but I understand how it wont fit the new “Hollywood” look they are trying to create.
    Any major rehab work and new projects that have been rumored for the Hollywood Backlot section of the park (like Philharmagic) will obviously be put on hold until the new entrance area is complete. I don’t have a timeline for this of course, but if they begin work in January 2008, I would hope they could have it finished by Summer 2009 at the latest. Don’t hold me to that of course, that’s just a normal person’s thinking that 18 months should be more than enough time… but sometimes things move a little more slowly in the house of the mouse.
    (10/17/07) Earlier this morning Disneyland made a huge announcement about the future of the Disneyland Resort, with a heavy focus on how they will improve California Adventure. For starters guests will enter Walt Disney Plaza,  a new gateway experience that will introduce them to a world of historic California streets just as Walt experienced as a young artist. This area will include a new visual icon in the form of a traditional LA style theater inspired by the design of the Carthay Circle Theater building where Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs premiered back in 1937. Inside the theater will be a n all new version of the Walt Disney Story attraction. Outside in the streets, Red Car trolleys looking much like the old Pacific Electric Railway, will travel up and down the main street. A bevy of new restaurants and shopping opportunities will also be added to Walt Disney Plaza.

2012 - Cars Land - (11/5/09) If your looking for those pictures I had previously posted showing off the Cars Land slot car “track” system being fabricated, I have removed them for the time being after being requested by a Disney company representative to do so.
    (11/2/09) DisneyGeek has posted a new photo update from the Disneyland parks this weeks, and sent a nice picture showing off the progress of Cars Land our way. Hit their site to see even more. Meanwhile, you’ll also want to take a peek at the three new photos sent by way by an anonymous source. I’ve been told that these pictures are of the new track system being built for the Radiator Springs Racers ride system which will use the same “slot car” style track system used on Test Track at Epcot.
    (9/15/09) A trip photo report from the D23 Expo has been posted to Westcoaster this week. They’ve got some great pictures especially of the Cars Land models.
    (7/20/09) A great video showing off some models and artwork of Cars Land can be found at the online Blue Sky Cellar. Quite a bit of the scale model is shown for brief clips, hinting at just how large this ride is going to be.
    (5/26/09) A silent video playing in the Blue Sky Cellar that shows off a lot of artwork dealing with Cars Land has been found on YouTube and embedded below. Of interest is a bit of footage that comes in at about 1:48 mark that shows off what seems to be a prototype vehicle for Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree.

    (5/19/09) It’s amazing how much confusion and fuss has come up about the Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree ride. Several of you have pointed out that it can’t be that simple Figure-8 style kiddie flat because Disney has already used it at the nearby Ladybug Boogie ride.  By contrast, I’ve also heard that the Mater version may be a bigger and more complex version, where the cars will move in the same figure-8 style pattern, but around 4 large circle platforms instead of just two.
    Adding to the mystery of that Whip style concept ride is semi-blurry photo floating around showing off what is said to be John Lassiter being pulled around a parking lot somewhere by a tractor, riding in what looks like a two-seater mock-up ride car that appears to be built to slide around corners Whip style. Meanwhile another source also backs up that story, claiming that the ride experience will be almost ‘Whip’ like. I’ve got to admit, I’m leaning towards the Whip style ride myself, especially after going back to take another look at the old article on the LA Times. You’ll see artwork that fits the basic concept I described… a two-seat car being pulled by a tractor.
    (5/18/09) If your curious what to expect from Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree, then take a look at this video from Walt Disney Studios Paris, where they already have a smaller version of the same basic ride in place. In essence, it’s just a series of turntables where the “cars” will make a figure-8 path through a pair of the turntables. Nothing too spectacular I’m afraid, and unfortunately it wont be that MegaWhip ride concept we saw earlier this month.
    (5/3/09) One of our readers made a very interesting observation that I failed to make myself. Upon seeing the new concept artwork posted in Saturday’s update of the new MegaWhip ride, it’s amazing what a similarity there is to it and the concept artwork posted for the Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree ride for CarsLand. While it would work as a great ride concept for it, I have to wonder how it will work, as Whip rides (and eve this new concept, from the look of things) don’t have independently powered cars, but rather all of the cars move at the same time to maintain their proper distance from each other. The Cars’ themed ride looks more like a dark ride experience, but built outside, where each car would be loaded and unloaded one at a time, instead of all of them at once.
    (1/14/09) While I still don’t know too many details, Screamscape sources have indicated that Disney may be working with AMEC, the same company who did the awesome job of rebuilding Space Mountain a few years ago, to build the custom ride hardware needed for the Radiator Springs Racers attraction.
    (10/16/08) It’s been months since we’ve heard any kind of update about Cars Land, but the latest rumor sent in this week is a doozy. One of the big assumptions about the Radiator Springs Racers ride, based on the concept artwork, is that the ride was assumed to be using a new version of the same ride system Disney first put to use on Test Track in Epcot years ago. That alone was enough to make some people cringe because the Test Track ride system was far from perfect and caused the opening of the ride to be delayed for many months. Even when it did open, the system was flawed and the ride was well known for frequent and prolonged breakdowns. California natives also introduced to a stripped down even more troublesome branch-off of the same general concept that was used to great Disneyland’s biggest attraction failure, Rocket Rods. To be fair Disney Imagineers did use the Test Track ride system again, and fixed the problem, to create the Journey To The Center of the Earth attraction at Tokyo DisneySea. However if the latest rumors for the Radiator Springs Racers are true, we may be seeing an entirely new ride system being created, one based more on the concept of using a tried and true roller coaster track system that Disney will attempt to hide from view. Apparently Disney is said to be working with one of the major coaster design companies on this concept right now. Anyone know more?
    (7/8/08) We’ve got some new rumored details about the whole Cars Land area of the park, though keep in mind that as the last of the big projects set to go in, lots of changes can still be made before it opens. From what info is being leaked right now, there is a plan to make Flo’s V8 Café a functional quick service restaurant for the land and Fillmore’s Organic Fuels will likely end up being a drink and smoothie stand. While not much else has come to the front about the main Radiator Springs Racers ride, we did hear that Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree may be themed to fit the whole tractor tipping theme, so I’ve got to wonder if Frank will be involved somehow. I’m also not certain exactly what kind of ride this will be as some believe it will be another spinning flat ride while others thing it could be some kind of custom track ride.
    (6/23/08) An overview of all the changes taking place at the Disneyland Resort parks at About.com adds in a few new details about DCAs future project timeline. It mentions that ground would break soon for Cars Land (2012) the ride experience will feature a race between two cars where the riders wont know until the very end which car will win.
    (11/20/07) The LA Times Travel & Deal Blog has been running a series of articles looking into the new attractions that will be part of Cars Land when it opens. You can read about Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree, Luigi’s Roamin’ Tires and the big one… Radiator Springs Racers.
    (11/2/07) If you’ve been wondering about how Cars Land will fit into the park, we can tell you that the current plan is that pathway in front of Tower of Terror will continue on into Cars Land on that side, filling up most of the parking lot in that area and eventually lead you back into the existing section of the park though a gate next to the Mission Tortilla Factory building. Sources are not sure if there will be a way to access Cars Land from A Bug’s Land or not.
    (10/17/07) Cars Land is now official and will be realized in the form of a huge 12 acre expansion of the park as they bring Radiator Springs to life, complete with three new Cars themed attractions. This will include a major E-Ticket attraction where guests will receive a quick briefing from Doc and Lightning before heading off into their own race around hairpin turns and steep banks. The other two rides were described as family rides, one themed to Mater and the other to Luigi.

2013-2017 - Future Attraction Concepts - Rumor - (2/12/08) Blue Sky Disney talks quite a bit about many future attractions that have been talked about for the next round of changes and improvements for DCA. In addition to a possible San Francisco theme being added to the Wharf area, they mention the Golden State will be modified to replace the current “Extreme Sports” concept near the Grizzly River Rapids into a more classic Yosemite national park look. The concept would also include a new E-Ticket attraction to replace the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail. No one proposal has been locked into place yet, but ideas range from a “natural adventure” style attraction to a locomotive ride concept. The later of which sounds familiar to the idea we had previously heard about adding a train ride to Grizzly Mountain along with an assortment of animatronic animal figures that would be interwoven with the rapids ride. They also mention some possible reworking of the Hollywood area of the park that may focus more on the 1930’s era of Hollywood and at least one unknown new E-Ticket attraction for the area. From there they mention that even Carsland, which will open with three attractions, is being designed to accommodate two additional attractions (a D and C-Ticket) to be added in a future expansion. As for the pier… more new attractions are being talked about as well. One ride may go near the entrance of California Screamin, inside the final helix while room will be made for another at the other end of the ride sometime after the Maliboomer has been removed. Apparently there is also talk of an eventual replacement for Goofy’s Sky School, the new theme in the works for Mulholland Madness. Of course all of this is long term planning and approval will be based on how well received the current set of changes are over the next five years. By then there may be all new ideas for all new project concepts competing for approval, but it’s nice to know the general direction that Disney is thinking about for the future.