Training the trains
While visiting Disneyland on Saturday afternoon, I was genuinely pleased to see that “Big Thunder Mountain Railway” was back up and running again.
Photo by Nancy Stalder
Mind you, no Disneyland guests were actually ever allowed to ride these trains. They were repeatedly just being sent out empty, as the park’s staff gets this Frontierland favorite ready for its eventual re-opening. Which — as of right now — is tentatively scheduled to occur over the 10 days to two weeks.
Photo by Nancy Stalder
Given how Disneyland’s once-vaunted reputation for safety has been so severely hammered in the wake of “Big Thunder” ‘s three recent accidents, it was actually nice to see the park putting its old quality-control standards. Which — in this case — involved having any recently refurbished ride vehicles spend at least 100 hours cycling around the track before any Disneyland guests are actually allowed to ride the thing.
FYI: Disneyland has supposedly taken advantage of “Big Thunder” ‘s downtime to plus some of the show elements of the attraction. So — the next time you ride “The Wildest Ride in the Wilderness” — keep a sharp eye out for a brand new goat. Which has reportedly been stashed somewhere along the BTMR ride track.
Abe exits in January, Disneyland Museum to open in May
You “Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln” fans might want to start making plans to get out to Disneyland. For the crew that works at the Main Street Opera house is already putting the word that this show is scheduled to close during the 1st week of January 2005 to make way for a brand new attraction which will help celebrate the theme park’s 50th anniversary.
Mind you, the Disneyland Museum (which is tentatively slated to open on May 5th) is supposed to be just a temporary exhibit. Something that will be showcased at the Main Street Opera House ’til December 2006. Then — come January 2007 — the “Great Moments” show is supposedly scheduled to return.
But clearly the Main Street Opera house staff doesn’t entirely trust Disneyland management when they say that “Abe is definitely coming.” Which is why they begun this unique promotion for the attraction. Which is walk up to guests who are sitting in the general vicinity and offer them a paper ticket to the show.
That’s right, folks. An actual ticket. Similiar to the old complimentary “Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln” ticket that used to be offered with Disneyland’s ticket books.
Photo by Nancy Stalder
For Disneyland nostalgia buffs (like yours truly), this is obviously was a neat little curio. Not to mention a future collectible for all your Disneyland paper buffs out there.
The downside of the story is … I sat outside the Main Street Opera House and watched these dedicated Disneyland cast members hand out literally dozens of tickets to the “Lincoln” show. But only a handful of folks were actually spurred by this ticket to go through the turnstiles & see this show.
Which is why I fear that “Mr. Lincoln” ‘s days at Disneyland may truly be numbered, people. That the ops staff may eventually take advantage of this Main Street attraction’s 2006 closure to permanently remove Abe. And then put in a show in the Opera House that actuallly appeals to modern theme park goers.
Mind you, I should stress here that there are no definite plans within the company to pull the Lincoln AA figure. The current battle plan is to leave Abe standing … sitting … whatever … behind the screen at the Opera House during all those months when the “Disneyland 50th anniversary” film is being screened. So that — in theory — it will be that much easier to re-open the “Great Moments” show when 2007 rolls around.
But — given that the Imagineers have been longing for years to emancipate the Great Emancipator (Remember the “Muppetvision 3D” debacle of the early 1990s) — it just stands to reason that, while Abe’s out of sight, WDI may make another move to revamp / replace this show. Particularly given the public’s poor response to the most recent redo of “Great Moments,” when the 3D sound feature was folded into this show.
So — if you’re a big Abraham Lincoln fan — my advice is to get out to Anaheim ASAP. For the moments that “Great Moments” will actually remain open may soon be dwindling down to a precious few.
Sign of the times
I don’t know about you guys. But I’m a big fan of those usually humorous signs that the Disney Company puts up to notify guests that this attraction or that attraction is currently down for rehab.
Though I didn’t actually get pictures of these two Adventureland signs (That said, if some nice JHM fan DOES get pictures of these two particular signs, I’d be happy to post them here. Hint, hint … ), I wanted to share this clever notice with our readers:
A proclamation
By order of the Sultan
Disney’s Aladdin’s Oasis is now undergoing improvements
We invite you to visit other
“in-Genie-us” attractions here in Adventureland.
As well as this gem:
Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room by Dole
Tiki Birds regret to say
Tiki Room is close today
Spring ’05 is the next time when
The (Tiki) birds will sing again
In other news … Yesterday was actually the 35th anniversary of the opening of Disneyland’s “Haunted Mansion” attraction. In recognition of this significant event, the Disney Gallery was offering a small selection of merchandise tied to the anniversary. These included coffee mugs, t-shirts, refridgerator magnets … All of which are sure to end up on eBay shortly at grossly inflated prices.
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Photo by Nancy Stalder
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And — finally … I know that a lot of Disneyana websites have already posted pictures of Sleeping Beauty Castle under wraps. But am I the only reminded of the artist Christo? Who used to wrap whole buildings in cloth as some kind of artistic statement?
Photo by Nancy Stalder
Okay. That’s enough for today, folks. I hope you enjoyed this somewhat clumsy attempt of a Disneyland update. Of course — if you’d prefer a more professional, truly comprehensive take on this same material — my advise is to head on over to www.mouseplanet.com. Which — each & every Monday morning — you’ll find a thorough report on what’s really been doing down in Anaheim. Check it out!
Your thoughts?