What Were They Thinking? - Disney's 2004 Rose Parade Float

You can file this post under the heading of, "What Were They Thinking?"   Or maybe put it in a file marked, "Too Soon???"

California Adventure's Tower of Terror attraction opened in May of 2004.  Just four months earlier, Disney featured this very unattractive float, in the New Year's Day Tournament of Roses Parade.

Even the author of this Los Angeles Times article, asked the question, "What was Disney thinking?"  She felt that Disney's decision to feature this float in the parade, less than 28 months after the tragic events of September 11, 2001, was a bit "too soon."

Here's a close-up shot of the float, by Eric Warren on Flickr:

As stated in the Los Angeles Times advertisement at the top of this post, the float was on display in the park, from January 2nd through January 19th.

The Tower of Terror attraction opened at the park, four months later.  The exterior design of the building was scaled back drastically, from the original version of the attraction at Walt Disney Studios, in Florida.  Personally, I have always thought this version looked very cheap and ugly (just like the float), especially when compared to Walt Disney World's, and Tokyo Disneyland's Tower of Terror attractions.  I was also not a fan of the color choice for the building's exterior.  It reminded me of Disneyland's ugly "brown and gold" Tomorrowland, of 1998.

This artwork of the building was located on a wall in the gift shop, at the exit of the ride.  It was removed in 2017, when the attraction was re-themed to Marvel Studio's Guardians of the Galaxy franchise.

We will wrap up this post with footage of the Tower of Terror parade float, moving down Pasadena's Colorado Boulevard, on New Year's Day.

Here's wishing a very happy New Year, to all!

 

Theme Park Update: Disneyland, Knott's Berry Farm & Universal Studios

Well, it's time for another Disneyland Resort update, but today I will be including a brief Knott's Berry Farm and Universal Studios update as well.

The latest news from Disneyland is the big celebration that has been planned in honor of the 75th Anniversary of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs." During the celebration, a special "Snow White Sandwich" (served on white bread, and with apple slices instead of fries) will be available at select restaurants throughout the park. To promote the special menu item, Snow White can be found in a new "meet 'n greet" over at Carnation Gardens along with Dopey and Grumpy, who will be wearing special costumes created just for the promotion.



And speaking of Snow White and food, Disney fans have been demanding that the new Carthay Circle Theater in Disney's California Adventure be a restaurant, but Disney said "No, we insist on making this recreation of the Carthay Circle Theater a tribute to our first feature-length animated film and the man behind it's creation, Walt Disney!"



So now, the latest plans are for an "E" ticket-quality dark ride to go into that space. Here's a sneak peek at the Audio-Animatronic figures currently being installed in the attraction.



Meanwhile, across the esplanade at Disneyland, Peter Pan's Flight recently had it's official last day of operation and is now being converted into "The Many Adventures of the Absent-Minded Professor."



The overhead track will stay in place, but brand new sets will be installed as a part of the attraction's re-theming. Replica's of Professor Brainard's Model-T will also be replacing the old pirate ship ride vehicles.



Instead of flying over London, the new vehicles will now fly over a miniature version of Washington D.C.



The Audio-Animatronic figures of Fred MacMurray and his faithful canine companion are going to be state-of-the-art.



Let's jump back over to Disney's California Adventure. I forgot to mention the new exhibit in the Blue Sky Cellar. Exit surveys have been showing that guests are not very excited about the "Lush New Park Planned Just For YOU!" that was going to replace the Maliboomer.



So management has decided to rebuild the Maliboomer in it's former Paradise Pier location. This time however, it will have just one tower instead of three, but that single tower is going to be five times taller than it's predecessor. The new attraction will be called, "Fun Mickey's Fun Tower of Fun." A model of the reworked attraction is currently on display in the Blue Sky Cellar exhibit.



Now we will venture up north to Universal Studios Hollywood. Based on their exit surveys, which were showing just how much the old King Kong Audio-Animatronic has been missed by guests, they have decided to replace the newer 3-D projection of Kong with another giant-sized Audio-Animatronic figure. This new A.A. figure will also be state-of-the-art and is currently being constructed off-site. Work is expected to be completed soon and they are hoping for a mid-summer opening date.



And last but not least, over in Buena Park....Knott's Berry Farm has just announced the closing of their recently reopened "Sky Cabin," but the good news is, they are bringing back the old "Sky Jump" parachute attraction. This time around, instead of standing up in open-air baskets, riders will be seated in enclosed gingerbread houses that hold up to four people. This is part of a plan to give the Boardwalk section at Knott's a new "Nursery Rhyme" theme. The new name for the area has not yet been announced, but it will include a brand new dark ride, "Knott's Fair-y Tales" which will go into the old Kingdom of the Dinosaurs space. The area will also feature new versions of old favorites such as, "Jack and Jill's Perilous Plunge" and "The Boy Who Cried Wolf's Supreme Scream."



Well, that concludes this special "April 1st" theme park update. Happy April Fool's Day, everyone!

New Stuff! - Little Mermaid Sneak Preview

Sorry, this post might seem a little "thrown together", but it's late and I'm tired....and it's my second post in one day! I don't think I've ever done THAT before! To see my post from earlier today about the opening of Space Mountain, the New Matterhorn and Montezooma's Revenge, keep scrolling down at the end of this post or click on "Older Post" at the bottom of the page.

After several attempts this past week to get on The Little Mermaid attraction and the new Star Tours, I was finally able to experience both of them today! (Both were having Sneak Previews/Soft Openings for the general public today.) This first photo was taken in the morning, before The Little Mermaid opened. It did not open until early afternoon.



This tile is located on the ground just inside the entrance. Note the pieces of shell embedded into the concrete just below the tile.



The clam shell-shaped vehicles enter the attraction through the hull of a wrecked ship.




Panning from left to right, here are sections of the attraction mural located behind the loading area.







***Spoiler Alert!*** Since the wait time was never more than 30 minutes, I was able to ride the attraction several times. I filmed it twice and I've posted both complete ride-thru videos below. To view each video in full widescreen format, click on the word "YouTube" in the bottom right corner of the frame.








I'll post a few Star Tours pics within the next day or two, plus some other surprise pics!

Happy St. Patrick's Day From Flick's Fun Fair!

Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone! Here's just a little bit of green for you today from Flik's Fun Fair and A Bug's Land.

Disney's Construction Wall Adventure!

In my last post, "California Adventure's 10th Anniversary....Who Cares?", we saw just a couple of the construction walls over at DCA, but I had a few requests to see more of the character artwork that I had only mentioned. These first six photos show the walls located at the entrance of the park.

The concept art below is also from the entrance area.

These next four photos are of the walls in the Paradise Pier area of the park. The first one shows an announcement of a new park that is going into the spot previously occupied by the Maliboomer. Just what I've always wanted to see added to DCA, a lush new park! A park will be so much more enjoyable than something like an actual ride!

I do have to say that I like the use of the "pie-eyed" versions of the Fab Five.

Next, are some close-ups of the construction walls around Carsland.

The Little Mermaid attraction.......

These last five photos aren't of construction walls, but they show a new map that is on display in the Blue Sky Cellar. It is "rear-lit" and features animation of the Monorail, Red Cars, and Carsland Road Racer vehicles moving around on their tracks as well as other animation such as the water for the Wonderful World of Color show and klieg lights in front of the Carthay Circle Theater.