Disneyland Update – The Return to Abnormal

Ah, another long weekend. It’s a temperate winter day (though lately it’s been feeling pretty warm— not that I’m complaining!) and people will be headed to Disneyland to enjoy their extra day off. But unlike most holidays, both parks will close at 8pm tonight. 

Though Disneyland doesn’t necessarily feel busy these days, there’s always something going on. Today we’ll take a look around the resort to see the holidays melting away, the reason why Space Mountain had a 4-hour wait on an uncrowded day, check on construction projects, explore some big staffing issues, and much more. 

Out with the Holidays, In With the New Year

We’re halfway through the first month of the new year, which means it’s well-past time to pack up the Christmas decor— which stays longer at the Disneyland Resort than most anywhere else. Some of the more complex decorations had yet to come down this past weekend. Main Street still had a few up, but with the current pace, they could be down by the time you read this article.

They run the lights for the trees on Main Street from the rooftops and try to hide them by wrapping them in vines. Most had been removed this past week, but there were still a couple in place as late as Saturday night.  

The castle is often the last thing to lose its wintertime enchantment.

Most of the icicles have been removed, but a few strands remain to the sides. The icy finials and decorative pieces at the rooftops have all been removed to make it easier for the snowy toppers to be lifted off by crane (if that didn’t happen last night, it will within the next day or so). 

Haunted Mansion is down to de-wreck the halls. When we took these photos over the weekend, many decorations were still up, but it will all be removed quickly, as the ride is scheduled to reopen this Friday (Jan 21st). 

Other areas of the parks have lost their winter sheen as well. Santa packed up from Critter Country and went back to the North Pole.

Over in Cars Land, the decorations are in the midst of being packed away. This area is one of the most densely decorated places in the whole resort, so the team has their work cut out for them.

Park entrances similarly are back to normal. No more wintertime enchantment here.

Lunar New Year

Out with the holidays and in with the New Year… the Lunar New Year that is. The Festival of Holidays has been put away… but in its place, Lunar New Year has begun to set up. The celebration will commence January 21 and run through February 13th at Disney California Adventure. But expect some of the booths to open earlier (sometimes days early).  

The Disneyland app is advertising two Magic Key perks: a button and a discounted price for a Lunar New Year Sip and Savor Pass.

When we visited DCA this week, there were still several Festival of the Holidays booths along the parade route. Some will be converted over to Lunar New Year booths…

While we’re waiting for the food booths (and food guide!) to be put out, the first wave of Lunar New Year merch has already landed at the resort. 

For a first look at some of the Lunar New Year merchandise, check out the most recent Disneyland Merchandise Update from Natalie Kipper below: 

Disneyland Merchandise Update: Lunar New Year & Fun Finds

The old ESPN Zone building has gotten a new mural to commemorate Lunar New Year.

A New Orleans Mardi Gras

Some holiday decorations will stay up in New Orleans through March to celebrate Mardi Gras. Although the rest of the park will have Christmas done and packed away by the end of the week or so, it’s fun to see New Orleans Square looking festive.

it’s a small world Holiday

While Haunted Mansion is getting the de-holiday treatment, it’s a small world will continue in holiday mode through the 23rd. 

Since Small World was so late to open for the holiday season, the scheduled extra couple of weeks may help some folks experience that last bit of holiday magic. Disney always does this, but it’s extra nice because I hadn’t been able to ride it this past holiday season. 

Beware the Cast Crunch

If you’ve visited the Disneyland Resort in the last couple of weeks, you may have noticed some changes and service reductions. As a result of call-outs for illness and the resulting labor crush, some shops and restaurants may be operating at limited capacity or hours. And we’ve even seen limited menus pop up due to a lack of staff in the kitchens and/or supply chain issues.  

For example, over the last week there have been times when Trader Sam’s and Tangaroa Terrace haven’t had enough staff available to work the kitchen (and, at least one day, no staff), so items available were limited. On Saturday night, the only food guests could order was chips and salsa. Many, if not all, restaurants at the resort are severely short staffed in one or more roles… but they are all treading water to keep their operations as normal as possible for guests. So you might notice lines popping up in places that didn’t have them before, items out of stock, or the unexpected early closure of an establishment. Downtown Disney and the hotels are particularly impacted.  

This supply issue looks to be hitting retail locations as well. Dok-Ondar was low on Jedi holocrons, although there were plenty of Sith ones. 

Still, better than Hollywood Studios, which ran out of sleeves for Savi’s lightsabers this past week. We didn’t see anyone walking around with a lightsaber in a plastic bag (what they’re giving out to replace the sleeve), so hopefully, Disneyland doesn’t run into a similar problem.

And there have been some changes on the staff safety front as well. Disneyland’s current policy is for all indoor positions to wear a mask at all times. However, vaccinated staff may optionally forgo the mask outdoors. But you’ll notice that many more cast are wearing masks outside this week, often with N95s and goggles or face shields as well. Locations with an outbreak of more than a few staff enter a secondary mitigation scenario where all staff must wear masks and eye protection indoors and out. So you might see everyone geared up at one attraction or establishment but not the next. 

A manager we spoke with said she expects the situation to get a little worse before it gets better. Disneyland had been keeping staff home for 10 days after their symptoms resolved, but a new policy based upon CDC guidance allows them to return to work five days after testing negative. That should allow more staff to return to work over the next couple of weeks. To help facilitate things, Disney opened an on-site testing center for cast members this week behind the Ball Rd. employee parking lot. 

In short, expect the unexpected over these next few weeks as Disneyland (and all businesses) struggle with severe staffing shortages. Be as nice as you can be to the cast you interact with, many are at their breaking point working the job of multiple people to make up for all those out sick.

Lightning Lane Woes

Lightning Lane continues to create wonky lines. With off-season traffic being relatively low, we’d expect wait times to be reflective of that. Roger Rabbit with a 50-minute wait is not what I’d consider low. And that’s just the start of it.

Lightning Lane lines at attractions like Big Thunder Mountain can look the same length as the actual standby lines at times. The Lightning Lane queue was all the way to the Thunder Mountain exit. 

Because Lightning Lane guests must be accommodated quickly, it can cause massive inflation of standby wait times as the Lightning Lane breezes onto the ride endlessly with very few standby guests accommodated. Earlier this week, Space Mountain had a 4-hour wait on an otherwise fairly uncrowded night as a result of an influx of returning Lightning Lane users (same day park reservations were still available day-of, so the park wasn’t busy).  We asked a Cast Member if the sign and the app were correct and we were told that standby was moving very slowly as they accommodated Lightning Lane guests. Obviously, we didn’t get in line, but that didn’t stop many other guests from still joining the standby. 

Are Genie and Lightning Lane ruining #Disneyland? It’s not a busy day in the park, reservations still available day of. But look at this epic 4 hour wait for Space Mountain! Why? Genie! More about #GenieFail https://t.co/1Zu9roT8lE pic.twitter.com/4qUMvNS0fQ

— MiceChat (@MiceChat) January 12, 2022

Even attractions that would usually be a walk-on or a short wait have recently gained long queues due to Genie suggestions and Lightning Lane overflow. Astro Orbitor now frequently has a 45+ minute wait. For something like a basic spinner ride, I personally wouldn’t wait more than 15 minutes but many other guests are being forced into these lines because the queues at the Lightning Lane attractions are now insane and they need somewhere else to go. Those Lightning Lane attractions are park staples, mind you, the very attractions people come to the resort to ride. So the question now is, has Genie made a day at Disneyland less enjoyable?

Disneyland Resort Construction

Around the resort, there is an abundance of construction projects. Between attraction refurbishments, updates to the tram route, and some TLC on exteriors, there are lots of construction walls and scaffolding right now…

Tram Route

Construction continues on the tram route’s park-side load/unload area. 

The tram may be returning very soon. Considering how much complaining there is on social media about the trek from the parking structure, this will be welcome news for guests and Disneyland alike. Though, staffing the trams might be a different issue altogether…

Submarine Lagoon

The Submarine lagoon is a colorful hub of activity. We’re hoping to see it open soon… especially since ToonTown is set to close this spring.

Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway

The El CapiTOON Theater is taking shape in ToonTown. The steelwork for the marquee is in place. 

Workers were consistently spotted welding throughout the week.

 

Fantasyland Theatre

The Fantasyland Theatre will be home to new acts soon. Major parts of the stage are being removed in preparation. Starting in February, the Fantasyland Theatre will be used as the stage for a Gospel Celebration. It will then host a Lion King show!

Take a look at new and returning entertainment headed to Disneyland in the article below:

Big Disneyland Entertainment Returns for 2022!

Tarzan’s Treehouse

Tarzan’s never-ending refurbishment continues. Some of the upper scaffolding was removed for potentially high winds last week, but there’s still not much to see yet.

The sweepers left a little surprise in front of the construction walls. 

Splash Mountain

Splash Mountain is down for its yearly refurbishment. It won’t be going down the bayou for its Princess and the Frog makeover quite yet, though. The major transformation schedule has slipped a bit. We hope to hear more about the plans soon. 

We saw work lights on in the drop tunnel this past weekend. And is that a hidden Mickey we see on the ceiling? 

Mr. Toad

Some of the roofs above Mr. Toad are getting a little work done. 

Downtown Disney West Side

The monorail will be closing soon to facilitate the demolition of a major portion of the west side of Downtown Disney. The building housing the old AMC Theater, Earl of Sandwich, Sugarboo, and Starbucks will be replaced with a new small-store concept. 

Even though the whole west end of Downtown Disney is essentially closing up shop, there’s one tenant that’s making a surprising return: Starbucks. This location suffered an extended closure over the holidays due to staffing issues. Be we noticed that the signage had been swapped out for their recent specials and a hand-written sign on the door alerted potential guests that they’d be serving coffee again starting today.

 

 

We’re not entirely sure why Starbucks would want to reopen shortly before having to shut down again, but they probably want to squeeze every last dime out of their lease agreement.

Next door at Sugarboo, the odds and ends dealer has closed up shop for good. The store’s final day was January 15. We were there earlier last week to see them packing away some of their goods to ship off to other stores.

For more about the closure of the Monorail and Downtown Disney’s west-end remodel, be sure to take a look at our coverage below!

Disneyland News: Monorail & Downtown Disney Shops Prepare to Close in Advance Renovation

This and That

ToonTown will be closing entirely in March for a refurbishment and re-theme in advance of the opening of Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway. For now, you can spot the characters outside of their houses. Lots of them have been out, including rare ones like Clarice. 

Of course, even after ToonTown closes, you’ll still be able to see friends all around the park.

I appreciate that the Pearly Band includes the characters with their set. They’ll bring up someone like Moana and then play “We Know the Way.”

New Orleans could use some more live music, the Pirate Band is carrying the whole land right now.

Chewie in Red

Over in Galaxy’s Edge, there are interesting developments when it comes to merchandise. Life Day merchandise is still on display, including this adorable Life Day Chewbacca. If you’ve never seen the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special, it’s awful, so much so that it’s legendary. So the reference in the land is both funny and welcome.

Chewie also adorns some Life Day shirts.

If they’re having trouble selling Life Day merchandise it’s likely because they aren’t doing enough to actually celebrate it. Just putting a few merchandise on the shelves doesn’t make guests automatically want to buy it. Where was the music? Where was the processional? Why weren’t characters out in Life Day wardrobe? They have the perfect excuse to try out some of those never used stages and empty pathways. They’ve got a whole year to plan a proper Life Day celebration for this land.  

If anyone wants to turn their Astromech into an abomination ferry droid from the Mandalorian, look no further than this accessory kit. 

Droid Depot also had these interesting blind-box droid figures.

Across from Oga’s Cantina, you can learn how to gamble play Sabaac. 

Merlin’s Marvelous Miscellany

Ye Holiday Shoppe is still changing over to its new owner, Merlin. A sign outside directs guests to Plaza Point on Main Street.

Pizza Planet

Outside of Alien Pizza Planet, the Coca-Cola sign that was damaged during a storm last year has been partly repaired. The galaxy swirl around the Coke bottle rocket isn’t back yet, but the letters below seem to be fixed. 

I’ll finish up this update with a nice surprise. The Mint Julep Bar has a seasonal beignet right now, the Butter Cookie Beignet. Along with it, you can order some Brown Butter dipping sauce. 

The butter cookie sugar they use cakes on perfectly, creating a thick, sweet butter flavor. Paired with the brown butter dipping sauce, this is a real theme park treat. My favorite, the strawberry mint julep is also sticking around.

For my next trip, I think I’ll have to stop by the Royal Street Veranda and try the seasonal Bacon Cheddar Jalapeño Fritters…

Let’s Hear From You

Has Genie made you rethink your plans for visiting the parks? Have you run into any staffing or product/service shortages in the parks? What mix of new shopping/dining/entertainment would you like to see on the west end of Downtown Disney? Let us know in the comments below! 

 
More Disneyland Reading 

We had a couple of amazing Disneyland history articles this past week. Don’t miss them! 

Once Upon a Time in Tomorrowland: A Rocket Rods Story

Disney’s Haunted Mansion and the Invention of Halloween as You Know It

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