June 27, 2010 - Mansion Upgrades, Paradise Pier Construction, and More!

[dlfreak]

Some new sights along the Mickey and Friends tram route. As part of the Summer Nightastic! promotion, Honda is giving away a 2011 Honda CR-Z Sport Hybrid. You can enter to win at the lengthy: www.SummerFunWithHondaCRZ.com/DLR World of Color is being celebrated at the security tents in the Esplanade. DCA's new logo is on the Times Guide along with the re-re-re-adjusted hours for Aladdin. Times are also noted for Fantasy Fair and a very tiny note is also made about sign language interpretation being available. Condor Flats restrooms were a welcomed stop in a line that pushed 30 minutes for World of Color Fastpasses. The line went from the FP machines, back along the Grizzly Trail all the way up to the bathrooms near Mermaid, looped back around through Condor Flats, and continued up through the rim of Sunshine Plaza up to the Grizzly waterfall photo-op near the grapevines. Innoventions is sporting a new exhibit featuring the Honda CR-Z Sport Hybrid. Just so happens it ties in directly to the promotion we mentioned above! You can go up and into the cars to feel them out. There are Honda reps on site to answer questions—It's in the $18,000 ballpark, if you're wondering. There are some kiosks at the exhibit that allow you to enter to win a 2011 Honda CR-Z. You have to answer some Summer Nightastic questions before you enter, though! I've compiled a cheat sheet with the answers... just in case. They also have a cross-sectional Honda CR-Z that illustrates the power of the vehicle and how it uses hybrid technology. The water play area was on in Paradise Park. It cycles through a few different types of fountains to play in. Hi, Mister! Looks like guests are making sure the folliage does not block views for the show. Notice how plucked the show-facing branches on the trellis are compared to these bushier ones that are closer to the camera. Right here! Right now!

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Ariel's UnderSea Adventure is getting more shape.

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The center platform was raised through-out the day. Daytime water shows coming soon, I wonder? Three cranes now poke out of the former Timon lot. Still no railings here. Maliboomer will eventually be going away... Burger Invasion is going away. Mulholland Madness will soon be going away.For posterity, I took pictures of the full mural. Check out the mural images here. Really? That's the full remodel? Tell me there will be more. A better look at those three cranes. Mesh is starting to go up on the steel structure. The back-side of test vehicle. Boat is back. No "Apostrophe S" please! Alice World of Color merch featuring the old DCA logo. Glow pens. Glow cups, glow bangles, color color color. Glow Mickeys. More merchandise. Pinks and blues. Part of your Woooorld--COLOR! All the tees lined up.

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Santa's Seaside Pavilion was brought out for Mickey Mouse photo-ops. Neat and pretty! No special costume? Disney Princess Flea Market is still out on the sidewalk. Not much movement near Tower. Classic. Mono-color. Red Car track is coming along. Track is being laid. Looks like plenty of seating to wait for your Red-Car. Rock and root work start the transition into bugs land. Magical is back. Bursts of patriotic colors abound on Main Street. Red with white and a bright blue sky. Celebrate who? Celebrate more fireworks viewing without clunky balloons and envelope! Ready for the Fourth of July. Central Plaza is sporting beautiful pinks and purples. First Aid is still under wraps. Tom Morrow is also getting patriotic, with a Fourth of July note in his pocket. ...and some patriotic flag shoe laces! Never noticed that his name actually lights up on his name-badge! Jennette McCurdy who plays "Sam" in iCarly was playing in the parks today. The picture is mostly horrible but you can see her blonde hair through the darkness. Mine! Mine! Mine! Wait, what? Getting ready for the Dance Club... No dancing on the dance floor please.

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Tomorrowland Terrace reopened with an uglier color scheme than it had before. The refresh includes a new menu and, of course, higher prices! As we showed back in January, the kitchens and serving area (which so desperately needed refurbishment) were the main cause for the refurbishment. Gone are the vintage Coca-Cola product logos and in are sparkly new lighting fixtures and updated equipment. Glow glow glow. A practically perfect afternoon. Discovered today that the long-ago refurbishment to these bathrooms took away a small little detail that I appreciated... yes in a bathroom! The placement of this bathroom is not coincidence. It's thematically correct for its period in that the toilets are located at the end of a small dock OVER the water... I'll let you use your imagination there. Previously, small vents near the commodes let you see that your toilet was actually right above the water lending to the very detailed notion that the restroom was thematically correct. Found out today that the little vents were covered over with bland tiles. And another little detail bites the dust! Liked this shot. Loved this shot! Another fun artsy shot. Tiana makes her way down the street. New logo reflects the lack of princy and the gator. All that Mardi Gras celebrating gets you in the mood for some Southern comforts by way of the Disneyland Mint Julep. Flash misfired on this on (d'oh) but the point of the shot was to show the new Madam Leota which appears to now be done via internal projection. Her face is much more vivid than it has ever been before and notice the lack of a projector hood at the bottom near the railings! She's quite snazzy. I swear its not the original footage (didn't get quite a good look as I fumbled for my camera) but others in my party say it is. She also now has a green tint to her face more similar to Leota in the Haunted Mansion film. Madam Tangerine blows out her birthday candles. As we went through the graveyard we noticed that the busts also appear to have been upgraded with internal projection... it's hard to tell however because their faces were blank. Whether traditional or internal projection, the busts had no faces! The vocal tracks were still going, though. D'oh! Loved this shot. Fun with shadows. Confirmed what MI member Prince Phillip noted, that Phillip's name is mis-spelled at one point in the castle walk-through! Make it pink! No, let's do it the way its meant to be. MAKE IT BLUE! THE END! ____________________ Please use the COMMENT feature to discuss this article! For corrections, please e-mail dlfreak, @mouseinfo.com ____________________ Photographs were taken with a Kodak Z1015 camera.

[donald1k]

Nice pics of what looks to have been a beautiful day. Just wondering, do you think they covered up the openings in the restrooms because some people were taking it too literally?

[dlfreak]

Nah, I think it was just an oversight and nobody knew what they were for when it came time to rennovate those bathrooms. It was a tiny rectangular square vent that let you see the water.

[donald1k]

That's good, I was worried for the duckies.

[HSM fans]

I think they are supposed to be adding artwork to the three towers to identify which one is Adventure, Frontier, and Fantasy. I do hope that's not all they do. One question. Did they remove the elevator you could use that overlooked Downtown Disney on the Adventure (Dream) tower? If so, why?

[dlfreak]

Yes they did. More rooms, I believe.

[Disneymomof4]

Great update. Absolutely love those Glow Mickey Keychains and the Light up World of color rings...so much fun to have. Also love the basket pics..you always seem to capture them quite well. The Mickey Floral will be getting rid of it's celebration hat and balloons tomorrow...there will only be grass surrounding Mickey's face and then the scroll will be coming back.