According to our friends over at Screamscape, Mark VII Monorail Orange should be arriving at the Pongo parking lot sometime between Wednesday & Thursday this week. From there it will be moved via a crane into the Monorail Roundhouse early Friday morning. However, various other reports have said that Monorail Orange won’t be arriving at the Disneyland Resort until 2009, so it’s really anyones guess on this one.

Stay tuned to Disneyland News Today for the latest on Monorail Orange!

Various sources around the internet, including Laughing Place, have said that new versions of Star Tours & Soarin’ Over California have been given the go-ahead internally by Disney, but of course not yet officially announced.

The movie for Star Tours 2.0 should be about complete, seeing as it has been said that the attraction should be announced in the fall, for a grand re-opening in Summer 2009. Disney has applied for permits to shoot the new Soarin’ film, which should be a world based theme, & work should begin this fall for a late 2009 premiere. Both new films will be going to both Disneyland & Walt Disney World.

Disney hopefully should make an official announcement on both of these projects soon, so stay tuned to Disneyland News Today for the latest!

UPDATED @ 11:00AM

We have a few more updates for you to the attractions refurbishment list. First up, over in Entertainment, for the week of August 25th, both Disney’s Electrical Parade & Fantasmic! will not be offered on the Monday through Thursday, due to a lot of kids being back at school. The following week, both will go on hiatus. Fantasmic! will return on November 7th, & Disney’s Electrical Parade will return in mid December.

August 17th will be the last day for the lovely Ariel’s Grotto meet ‘n greet. Work will then begin on changing over that area to Pixie Hollow for Tinker Bell & her fellow Fairies. So if you want your picture taken with Ariel in her Mermaid form, August 17th will be your last day to do it until 2010!

The New Orleans Square Railroad Station will close on September 2nd for repaving of the station & surrounding area (including the area in front of the Haunted Mansion). Trains will just go straight through that station, & continue on to Toontown. It’s due to re-open on October 17th.

Big Thunder Ranch will be closed from September 15th to the 25th (it originally was planned to be closed until the 27th) so they can add the Woody’s Halloween Round-up overlay. It will then be closed from November 3rd until the 20th for the Santa’s Reindeer Round-up overlay.

The previously planned Pirates of the Caribbean refurbishment that was to of gone from October 13th to November 14th seems to have been completely removed from the list.

A second Mark Twain Riverboat refurbishment will happen in November (the first is from August 25th-29th), from the 3rd to the 5th.

Finally for Disneyland Park, the new store, replacing New Century Timepieces will open September 30th, & the It’s a Small World Toy Shop will open before the attraction on September 28th. And over at It’s a Small World itself, the new flume has been painted.

One quick thing over at DCA, the Hyperion Theater refurbishment that starts on September 2nd, finally has an end date, that being December 18th.

Stay tuned to Disneyland News Today for updates on all attraction refurbishments. And for up-to-the-minute information on the various refurbishments, be sure to check our Attraction Refurbishments page!

Various reports are stating the planned repaving of Main Street USA this winter will now last only 2 weeks, as opposed to the originally planned 2 months. Instead of repaving the whole of the street, only areas in dire need of work will be fixed up. Also, Walt Disney’s Parade of Dreams may be getting new show stop music, as well as a few changes to the beginning of the parade to accommodate the new promotion for 2009.

Stay tuned to Disneyland News Today to find out what happens with Main Street’s pavement & Walt Disney’s Parade of Dreams!

Disney officials have confirmed 3 new “attractions” for the Disneyland Resort, according to the OC Register. Mickey’s Fun Wheel (the re-theme of the Sun Wheel), Silly Symphony Swings (the re-theme of the Orange Stinger), & Pixie Hollow (replacing the Ariel’s Grotto meet ‘n greet) are all now officially coming to the Resort!

MICKEY’S FUN WHEEL: A Disney Imagineering official confirmed tonight that the Sun Wheel will join the attractions being changed in the Paradise Pier area of Disney’s California Adventure. The main change expected will be removing the current sun face in the middle of the wheel and replacing it with a Mickey Mouse face. The Mickey Mouse face is planned to be a classic wide-eyed Mickey Mouse.

SILLY SYMPHONIES: The Orange Stinger will join in planned changes for the pier-area — expected to change from the current Orange Stinger theme to a Silly Symphonies theme. Currently, the attraction is a swing ride inside a giant orange sitting lakeside and plans show that the building’s foundation will remain the same, while the orange and even round building are planned to change. The attraction will be based on the classic “Silly Symphonies” animations done by Walt Disney’s animation studio in the 1930s. The band leader, Mickey Mouse, is expected to be part of the ride.

TINKERBELL: A change is also planned for Disneyland, the Imagineering official said tonight. The current Little Mermaid meet and greet next to the Tomorrowland entrance is planned to be replaced by a fairy and Tinkerbell meet and greet. The area, as currently planned, will make guests feel like they’ve shrunk down to fairy-size and the path will be filled with pixie dust.

Disney did not give any official dates on when these refurbishments/additions are planned to take place. However rumors going around show that the Sun Wheel will close on September 11th, to be re-opened by the end of the year as Mickey’s Fun Wheel. Ariel’s Grotto should also close in September, & be re-opened as Pixie Hollow by mid-October, in time for the Tinker Bell DVD release. No strong rumors have surfaced yet on when the Orange Stinger re-theme will take place, but it should be sometime next year.

Stay tuned to Disneyland News Today for the latest up-to-the-minute information on these & all new refurbishments & attractions!

The latest Dateline Disneyland article on MiceAge reveals that work has begun to move the old crystal shop from Sleeping Beauty Castle into the old Geppetto’s Holiday Workshop store:

There was an event held today in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle for the 2008 series of Disney US postage stamps. Just my luck that I missed the event by a day, but David “Darkbeer” Michael did however attend, so here are a few of his pictures:

So this is what the tent I saw in the Esplanade yesterday is for

This year’s stamps are of Steamboat Willie, 101 Dalmatians, the Jungle Book, & Sleeping Beauty… Marty Sklar was in attendance for the event (like he his for most events that the Disney company hold)

And now a few non-event related pictures from outside the parks:

It might just be me, or is this a new stand in Downtown Disney

Some construction going on in the Disneyland Hotel

Be sure to check out Darkbeer’s SmugMug page for plenty more pictures from around the Disneyland Resort today!

Mr. Al Lutz of MiceAge.com has put up another of his fabulous Disneyland Updates. Here’s a run-down of the juiciest things he talked about:

• As previously reported here on DLNT, McDonalds will be leaving the Disneyland Resort on September 2nd. The refurbishments of Harbor Galley & the Conostoga Wagon will entail the entire replacing of the kitchens inside the mini-restaurants, as the current ones in there are owned by McDonalds, & leased to Disney. The same will happen with Burger Invasion, & once it re-opens, it will only remain for about 6 months, for in the fall of 2009, work will begin on the Beer Garden. Also, all McDonalds references will be removed from the SS Rustworthy, which should also be bulldozed in fall ‘09.
• One of Disneyland’s age old sponsors, Stouffers (owned by Nestle) have pulled out of their 45 year long sponsorship of the French Market. This is just part of Nestle slowly leaving Disneyland.
• It seems written complaints are no longer accepted at Guest Relations in either Disneyland or DCA. It’s a long & complicated reason as to why, so I suggest you check the update for more info.
• The Indiana Jones Adventure has long been due for a rehab, & unfortunately it still wont be getting one. However, many of the technical issues with the vehicles themselves have been fixed, so the attraction is operating slightly better. However a refurbishment really should happen.
• This September, the slurry pavement out by the Haunted Mansion will be replaced with new, themed, concrete pavement.
• The new DCA Preview Center in the old Seasons of the Vine building is currently planned to open up the second week of September, but as seen before, the date could change. It will open up with mainly concept, models, etc. for the Paradise Pier & Walt Disney Plaza re-dos. About every 8 to 10 months, the displays in there will be switched around to have anything from the Little Mermaid, to World of Color, & Cars Land.
• Fantasmic! will be getting new HD projectors during its refurbishment this fall, that will vastly improve the clarity of the videos projected on the mist screens. Apparently these new projectors will be used on a much grander scale with World of Color when it debuts late 2009/early 2010. Also coming to Fantasmic! will be Flotsam & Jetsam from the Little Mermaid jetting around on jet skis during the Ursula section of the show. They will be 7ft tall, & 33ft long. Also, this January & February, Fantasmic! will be performed 7 nights a week due to Walt Disney’s Parade of Dreams not showing due to the re-paving of Main Street.
• Disneyland’s planned new parade, World of Wonder, has been pushed back from a 2009 debut, to a 2010 debut for the 55th anniversary. This is due mainly to the designs of the parade, which have similar, but grander scale, acrobats as used in the Pixar Play Parade. Because of this, Disneyland will be keeping Walt Disney’s Parade of Dreams for one more year once it returns in March 2009, & Walt Disney World will also be keeping Disney Dreams Come True for one, maybe 2 more years.
• As previously rumored, Tinker Bell should be a new addition to Disney’s Electrical Parade, as she’s due to replace the Blue Fairy as the opening float. Also scheduled to come to the parade is return of the Dwarfs Mine in the Snow White section, & potentially the whole Pinocchio section.
• Finally, construction should begin this September on the replacement for Ariel’s Grotto, Pixie Hollow, this fall. 5ft tall blades of grass will shoot up in that area, & along the path you’ll get to meet each of the 5 Disney Fairies.

Be sure to check the update for many more news, rumors, & other interesting details from through-out the Disneyland Resort, & even the Anaheim GardenWalk!

I’m back from a lovely 2 day trip to the Disneyland Resort for my birthday & guess what that means… A photo report! There’s lots of images today, so let’s get to it:

The theme park information sign is back out by all bag search booths

When DCA opens, there’s 2 paths to go, Midway Mania’s line & the Princess Breakfast at Ariel’s Grotto

Guess this sign will have to be changed soon

My score this time wasn’t as good as my last trip

Now let’s take a tour of the Sun Wheel, as it is now (as it will be made into Mickey’s Fun Wheel this fall)

Non-swinging gondolas

Swinging gondolas

I’m Missing It… NOT!

There was some kind of convention in the Grand Californian Hotel

Department 56 in Downtown Disney is having some work done

There will be a Mardi Gras “extravaganza” at Ralph Brennan’s Jazz Kitchen on September 6th

I ate at Rainforest Cafe for my birthday

The Build Your Own Lightsaber stand in Star Traders

A couple of shots here of Walt Disney’s Parade of Dreams… Plenty will be available in the Image Gallery tomorrow

The It’s a Small World Top Shop is out from behind tarps… Notice the missing dolls in the boat?

New colors on the Small World attraction sign I believe

New Century Timepieces is a thing of the past

A nice new painting available, with a hefty price tag of $1,500!

Some nice Tiki Room merchandise that was released for the attraction’s 45th anniversary… You’ll be able to see all of it in the Image Gallery tomorrow

I want to get this lovely poster of Sleeping Beauty’s Winter Castle

Surprised they’re still selling this one… I still want it!

Saw the tribute band Tomasina at the Tomorrowland Terrace Tuesday night

WOOOO!

Here are a few (blurry) shots of Fantasmic!

Moving on to Wednesday, a little look at the Midway Games, which should be changed this fall

ANGELS IN THE OUTFIELD!?

The Midway Stores, which I presume will be changed too

Mr. Potato Head was covered up this morning

Construction on the soon to re-open Sleeping Beauty Castle Walk-through

An ad for The Little Mermaid III on Main Street

And the Sleeping Beauty Platinum Edition DVD

Classic Ariel picture in Disneyland: The First 50 Magical Years

Space chick & astronaut

Characters from Captain EO

Watch makers in the Art of Disneyland on Main Street

An awesome Small World poster

A product release & signing with Robet Olszewski on Saturday August 28th at the Disneyana Shop from 9am to 11am

Now I know this tent wasn’t in the Esplanade on the 5th

Another ad for The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Beginning

And to end off this photo report, me with Ariel… My favorite character picture ever!

Be sure to keep an eye on all of our Image Galleries tomorrow for full size versions of these pictures & many more (over 400 in total)!

Screamscape have posted a few interesting rumors from through-out the Resort, some of which we have already reported, but they give extra backing to what we have already said:

Some improvements are slated to be made to the Electrical Parade for Summer 2009. First off it seems that the California parade will import a couple of floats from the old Paris parade, namely a new Pinnochio float and the Diamond Mine float. Meanwhile we’ve heard that the Blue Fairy float is likely to be on the way out and will be replaced with a brand spankin’ new Tinker Bell float that will serve as the new lead float for the parade. Apparently the float itself will still use the old-school style lights like the rest of the parade, but Tink herself will be covered in new LED lights instead. Speaking of LEDs… apparently the plan is to install a few new LED effects in all the floats so that Tink can create some kind of magic effect at the start that will travel back through the rest of the floats in the parade.

While the improvements to the parade are likely to happen, the only question is if it will be in DCA or Disneyland.

In a disappointing twist, it seems that the real world Wall-E may not be coming to California Adventure after all. If the rumors are true something may have gone amiss with the first robot that we’ve all seen clips of already, that may be caused them to drop or delay plans to bring one to the park. Also due to construction on the Little Mermaid ride, there will not be another Golden Screams show held this fall. They may come up with some kind of replacement Villains concept in the Hollywood Backlot instead. And the fun news is that the new DCA Preview Center that will show off all the proposed changed coming to the park may be ready to open sometime this fall.

I have been hearing that they will actually close Golden Dreams as Golden Screams as soon as Halloween is over & then they will start work on the Little Mermaid. Although if you look at Disneyland’s official page for Halloween Time 2008, Golden Screams doesn’t appear to be listed. Time will have to tell on this one.

Early 2010 - Toy Story: The Musical - Rumor - (8/3/08) While I don’t know what the short-term plan is for the Aladdin show, we’ve heard that Toy Story: The Musical is now scheduled to open in early 2010 as a replacement. So I guess the question remains as to when exactly the current Aladdin show will close down.

2010 - Wonderful World of Color - Confirmed - (8/2/08) Sometime in very early 2009 I’ve heard that we may see the park drain the lagoon to do some of the extensive work needed for the upcoming World of Color night show.

And moving quickly over to Disneyland…

For the Holiday season we’ve heard that the park may add the “light up” snow effect to cover the front and back of the castle this year as well as expand it into the trees and garland in the hub and main street areas as well as the Town Square Christmas Tree. I’ve also been told that a new Toy Factory float will be added to the Christmas Parade to replace the old float.

I did once hear that what Screamscape is talking about might even be expanded to the Matterhorn, but I highly doubt that would happen. However, if the lighting effects do expand to the back of the Castle, that will make the whole thing look even nicer, & more complete!

The next few years at the Resort are going to be really exciting, & if even one of these rumors come true, I’ll be happy!

We have a couple more updates to the attractions refurbishments list. First up, it looks like the Harbor Galley, Conostoga Wagon, & Burger Invasion refurbishments wont last as long as we originally thought. The refurbishments will start on September 2nd & end on September 26th. It looks like they’ll all just get new menus, & have all McDonalds references removed. So it seems we’ll have to wait a little while longer for a Burger Invasion re-theme.

Also, last week it had looked like Disney moved back the refurbishment of the Hyperion Theater to start on September 29th, but that is no longer true, & will start as originally planned on September 2nd.

Finally a little update on It’s a Small World… The new flume apparently has apparently been installed, & the attraction will be going through a 10 week test & adjust phase, & if all goes according to plan, it will re-open on November 29th.

Stay tuned to Disneyland News Today for updates on all attraction refurbishments. And for up-to-the-minute information on the various refurbishments, be sure to check our Attraction Refurbishments page!

Let’s take a look at some of the various things going on through-out the Disneyland Resort from the latest DLR Update on DisneyGeek:

The sign, minus the logo, is out from behind tarps, which brings me to something interesting…

On the left is the sign as it was before the refurb, on the right the sign as it was yesterday… Notice a new color scheme?

The “mini dolls” appear to be missing from the boat

Apparently the tarps on the train track, blocking the view of Small World, are down… So here are a few of DisneyGeek’s shots of the Small World construction progress

And on an unrelated note, the water playground at the Bountiful Valley Farm seemed to be either not working, or just turned off

Rumors are floating around saying that Honey, I Shrunk the Audience could possibly be closing after Labor Day, & there are 2 possible reasons as to why:

1. Disneyland is seriously looking at cutting down on the money spent, by closing shows during the slow season, & this seems to be stretching to Honey now, as it may join Fantasmic & Aladdin in the shuttered department this fall.
2. And then there’s the reason everyone is hoping for, & need I say more than, a New Film?

Stay tuned to Disneyland News Today to find out the ultimate fate of Honey, I Shrunk the Audience!

For those of you who are fans of the Three Fairies Crystal Shop in Sleeping Beauty Castle, that closed this past Saturday for conversion into the disabled room for the Sleeping Beauty Castle Walk-through, don’t dread. For the store will be moving in some form or another to the shuttered Gepetto Holiday Shop next to the Village Haus.

While this isn’t confirmed yet, I see no reason for it not to happen. Stay tuned to Disneyland News Today to find out the “final verdict”.

We’ve heard from various sources that the Court of Angels in New Orleans Square (which is located near the exit of Pirates of the Caribbean) will soon be home to New Orleans Square’s Christmas Shop. The current Christmas store is located right next door to the Court of Angels, & this would be an expansion of that store. A canopy will be put up, with Christmas merchandise hanging everywhere, & of course cash registers will be added.

There’s no word one if this will be seasonal or year round just yet, & if this even will be happening, but be sure to stay tuned to Disneyland News Today for the latest updates!