Trip Disappointment #2 - Disneyland Sneaks In A Food Price Increase

This is probably more of an inevitability than a disappointment but as reported by MiceChat a week or two ago, Disneyland has increased the price of most of its food items in the park. The increase ranges from a coupe of dimes to a couple of bucks. This doesn't effect anything with planning our trip. We will still go to the same places regardless of the prices being charged. We'll just pay the increased prices and complain about it amongst ourselves. A trip to Disneyland and complaining about the prices often go hand in hand.

Maybe we outsmarted them this time. Instead of the deluxe annual pass we usually get, we have invested in premium annual passes which comes with a greater discount on food purchases in the park Wait a minute....we paid how much for those premium annual passes? Somehow the price of the food increases isn't going to equal the increase we paid for the premium annual passes over the deluxe annual passes. Disney wins again. They always. do.

Disneyland's Biggest Mistake (Of The Last Year)

Disneyland gets a lot of things right. Occasionally they do something wrong. (Sometimes they make a move that seems to go sideways.) The biggest mistake Disneyland made in the last year was the removal of the Billy Hill and the Hillbillies show from the Golden Horseshoe Saloon. Why remains a mystery but my own theory (and it is only speculation) is that a group of highly trained musicians and showmen, some who have played at Disneyland for two decades, probably was a pretty expensive act to produce. Disneyland retired the Hillbillies as part of a cost cutting measure. Nothing else makes sense since the Hillbillies performances were played before packed houses every day, rain or shine. Their popularity was extraordinary.

I bring all this up because we have extended our November trip by one day primarily to go over Knotts Berry Farm is see the Hillbillies perform. Knotts is the new home for the Hillbillies. For some reason, Mrs. DisneylandTraveler wouldn't feel a trip to Disneyland would be complete without seeing the Hillbillies only now a trip to Knotts is necessary to see them. She has a point.

Is Innoventions A Waste Of Time Again?

ASIMO - still Innoventions best attraction

A reader made the comment that on their recent trip to Disneyland the biggest disappointment was a visit to the Innoventions Building. I can understand. As we look forward our upcoming trip the question is out there - Innoventions - Yes or No? I think this trip we are going to take a pass on visiting the venerable old building.

When the Iron Man suits moved in, I had hopes. Either the suits represented the first footprint of a Marvel based attraction in Disneyland (rumored) or the beginnings of Marvel based universe within the old and underutilized building. Neither have materialized and for most people, the place is a waste of time after an initial visit.

Yes, Captain America and Thor meet and greets have moved in but regular readers of this blog know my opinion of the now overuse of meet and greets. While popular with young kids, they represent a cheap windfall for Disney. Instead of developing real imaginative attractions, people wait for incredible lengths of time to meet a character in a costume. It's an easy way out to put something new in the park and attract throngs of people with little effort or imagination on Disney's part.

The Iron Man suits a great but only need one visit - been there done that.

My rule of thumb regarding Innoventions is that a visit every 5 years or so is good enough or place to get out of the rain. The single best attraction in the building remains ASIMO - Honda's amazing little robot. The rest of the place is just a corporate shill for Yamaha, HP, Microsoft, along with Disney's feeble efforts to show off its Marvel franchise. 

I do have a feeling that better days are coming for Innoventions, I just I don't think its coming any time soon which is too bad.

Thor movie props - more of these types of displays would be a nice touch.

Disneyland Starts To Prepare For It's 60th Anniversary

Disneyland turns 60 years old next year. Now being planned as the first major kickoff event according to internet stories is the keeping of the parks open for 60 hours straight over an unspecified weekend. Yes, there are "people" who make it the whole 60 hours or at least try, but crowds, lines, and tired people do not necessarily make for the Happiest Place on Earth........ "Security!!!"

Triple Digit Disneyland

An nbclosangelas.com photo

Do you know where Disneyland beats Walt Disney World almost every single time? Low humidity and generally better weather. Well that comparison can fly out the window as for several days this past week, the temperatures in Disneyland sat at around 100 degrees, give or take a degree or two. Now I'm a Disneyland fan but when temperatures hit triple digits - No Thank You. Disneyland is one of the last places I would want to be.

In the oppressive heat, tempers easily melt faster that your pineapple whip and enjoying yourself seems like a real effort as heat relief is the number one thing on your mind. But there's only so many times you can sit through the Tiki Birds singing in their beautifully air conditioned abode and eventually, you have to hit the Disneyland concrete jungle, absorbing heat like a sponge. If its a 100 degrees as the actual temperature, its probably more like a 110 inside the park as people still gather creating crowds and lines and generally sucking whatever air there is in the park right out.

And as you think about getting relief from somewhere, some place, you can think about the gem called Cars Land. Yep, Disney built a beautiful shade less replica of a desert town to enjoy sweltering weather.

The Disneyland Iron Man

Don't get me wrong, our trip to Disneyland in December was nice but still....something wasn't quite right. My friend Mike at work has been telling me about a trip he is planning with his wife in April to Zion National Park in Utah. Then it dawned on me. For Mrs. DisneylandTraveler and myself, every vacation we have taken since 1999 has been to Disneyland. I reckon it's probably somewhere between 15 and 20 weeks we have spent there over the last 15 years. 

Our December trip had a lot of the sense of "been here, done that" about it.  We start to compare one trip with another and begin to pick at things and criticize rather than really enjoy the experience. I am Disneyland Iron Man I suppose, constantly coming back to do battle with the park. There have been a lot of victories in our trips to Disneyland but also some battle weary soreness and scars. Maybe it's time for a break.

There are other places to go besides Disneyland. We live less than two hours from Lake Tahoe and it's probably been a dozen years since we have been there. I grew up in San Francisco and migrated to lovely Sonoma County in my teens, yet we never go there. We had a trip all planned to Monterey one year and for some reason, it got dropped. 

Maybe it's time to take some other Adventures besides going to Adventureland and riding the Jungle Cruise. There are plenty of zoos with real animals easily found.

Close The Subs: Save Some Bucks

So by now, the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage attraction is closed down and boarded up. "Closed for refurbishment" as the saying goes. Here we are in January and the ride is not scheduled to re-open until late September. But the speculation is that the Finding Nemo Submarine may never re-open even though there is Pixar Finding Nemo (Finding Dory) sequel movie somewhere in pre-production.

Now I have no doubts that the sub attraction is in need of some repair. It is by all accounts the most expensive attraction to operate and maintain in the park. So maybe it is just a "refurbishment". But everyday the ride doesn't operate, Disneyland is saving a boatload of money so to speak.

But it strikes be funny (and I'm just thinking out loud here) that Disney closes the expensive subs, eliminates an expensive act with Billy Hill and the Hillbillies, cuts down on the length of firework displays, well, all this seems to add up some belt tightening by Disney accountants and bean counters. Much cheaper to load up character meet and greets than having actual entertaining attractions for wider appeal of guest demographics. (Disney announced a new Captain America meet and greet coming soon earlier this week to go along with the more recent Thor and Frozen meet and greets).

But I'm willing to cut Disney a bit of slack here. If these cutbacks lead to a fully realized development of the Star Wars franchise (which is rumored but would be costly), then I'm all for Disney cutting back on some things temporally to put some park development money away to be used for a DCA type of makeover (except the Billy elimination, that was an outright mistake).

While I enjoyed taking pictures of the various vistas for the submarines and the surrounding lagoon, I was not a fan of ride itself. It the space utilized for Innoventions, the subs, and Autopia were allocated for Star Wars and a true Tomorrowland development, then I'm on board.

A "Thank You" To Billy Hill And The Hillbillies

Disneyland's Billy Hill and the Hillbillies show comes to an end tomorrow. It began in 1993 with the bulk of the shows taking place in Frontierland's Golden Horseshoe venue. The end comes through retirement. Oh, the Hillbillies didn't retire, as they loved to perform to adoring fans young and old. Disney retired the act somehow thinking it was time. As I have said before, I believe the reason was economic as the skilled musicians and performers of the Hillbillies were probably paid well - especially the original members. Yes, they could pack the Golden Horseshoe with fans, but there is only so much greasy food and ice cream that could be sold in such a small place to support the cost of the act. (I'm ignoring the outdoor festival arena performances of the Hillbillies - those don't count - the act belonged in the Golden Horseshoe - always).

But here's a stop to the rant against Disney to say Thank You to Kirk, Dennis, and the rest of the boys. Thank you for the countless hours of entertainment, the laughs, the music, and all the fun that went with it. The teeth, the fiddle bow up the nose, and the "Train Song" never got old or stale. Billy Hilly and the Hillbillies was a first-rate act by guys who loved to perform. 

Disneyland will not be the same without Billy Hill and the Hillbillies. Mrs. DisnelylandTraveler and myself have made an informal pledge to not set foot inside of the Golden Horseshoe as our form of protest and disapproval of Disney's decision to remove the act. Ultimately, the hope is that Disney will see the error of their ways and bring the act back.

Disney Toe Stubs of 2013

Did you ever stub your toe? Sometimes it hurts a little. Sometimes it hurts a lot. These were Disney toe stubs for 2013.

Disney just didn't stub a toe with The Lone Ranger. They dropped an anvil on their proverbial foot with a movie bomb that is right up there with the infamous John Carter debacle. The monetary loss on the film was close to $200 million and proof that throwing Johnny Depp in any half baked idea of a movie on the screen doesn't always guarantee money in the bank.

Thor might have been a fine movie from the Disney/Marvel gang - but it couldn't hold my interest for more than 15 minutes and I slept through most of the rest of it. I'll give it another chance when it comes to video, but sleeping through what's supposed to be an action superhero movie is never a good thing.

Planes was an enormous success for Disney's bank account. The only problem is that it was made on the cheap and was supposed to go directly to home video. After the Cars Land success, Disney quickly redid the film for a theatrical release complete with all the marketing hype which pointed to Disney Consumer Products. None of this is bad I suppose, but for a company that has always prided itself on quality, Planes smacked of cheap opportunism.

Over at Disneyland, Limited Time Magic was the year's ongoing promotion of itself and quite a silly idea. It came off as far-reaching and half-baked rather than a fully thought-out marketing concept. The Dapper Dans singing Boy Band music? The person who came up with that Limited Time Magic idea should be fired. And they did that one a couple of times during the year. P.S. Valentines Day and similar calendar events are not Limited Time Magic. They happen every year and Disney makes the most of them without wrapping them up with something called Limited Time Magic.

Billy Hill & the Hillbillies got the boot from Disney Productions after 21 years of performing (and delighting) people at the park. Why? People want to know. My guess is after this amount of time, the groups founding members are pretty well paid as highly trained performers and musicians with all their years of service. If Disney is looking to cut corners and increase their profit margins a bit, a cheaper Golden Horseshoe act would seem logical, except the knuckleheads that run the park are cutting out a piece of Disneyland's heart and soul. As Billy said in one of his final performances - maybe after 3000 - 4000 performances, if a Disney exec actually took the time to see the Hillbillies perform, maybe they would have a different way of thinking. 

Billy Hill (Kirk Wall) with a former friend

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad has been down since last January. Originally scheduled to return on Halloween, BTMRR stayed boarded up as Disney worked on Cal/OSHA safety improvements around the park. Worker safety is never a bad thing but with BTMRR, Disney never really got around to saying why the ride stayed closed and what was causing the delay. With Disney, the less you know about the inner workings of the park, the better off you are.

A year later and still waiting for re-opening of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

Slowly Working Our Way Towards Six Flags Over Anaheim

So I've been pretty cheesed off that Disneyland has decided to bring an end to the Billy Hill and the Hillbillies Show. The Billy Hill shows inside the Golden Horseshoe were performed before packed houses with a great time to be had by young and old alike. Let's get rid of it. Knuckleheaded decision if there ever was one that I'm sure was driven by financial reasons.

Now comes the story that the abandoned Skyway Station in Fantasyland is due to be demolished after the first of the year. Granted, the place hasn't been used for 20 years, but it's just such a rich piece of Disneyland history. A show of hands, how many people took a ride on the Fantasyland / Tomorrowland Skyway with their parents?  And how many took that ride with parents who may have passed on? Bam! Another memory blown away, just like the Market House, or the Court of Angels. Mrs. DisnsyelandTraveler and I have all but decided not to renew our annual passes when they expire next spring. Disneyland is making the decision quite easy.

P.S. I shared this link in a previous post when I first found out that Disney had decided to "retire" the Billy Hill and the Hillbillies show. It is a petition to Disney requesting they reconsider that decision. To date, it has already collected over 2,400 signatures. If you haven't done so already, please sign the petition (and be sure to ask everyone you know to do the same).

PETITION TO SAVE BILLY HILL & THE HILLBILLIES SHOW LINK:

https://www.change.org/petitions/disneyland-resort-anaheim-ca-continue-to-provide-billy-hill-the-hillbilly-shows

The Return Of The Tomorrowland Money Pit

Tomorrowland - Where the Future Is Now

So wherever MiceChat gets their information from (and its usually pretty good sources), their current report (rumor) now is that the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage attraction is closing for extended refurbishment after the first of the year.  And that refurbishment could possibly be indefinite.

The closure is not unexpected, as Al Lutz reported on its closure several months ago (even though the ride is still extremely popular).  The problem with the Nemo Subs is that it is also the most expensive attraction in the park to keep in running operation.  The decision a few years ago to convert the classic diesel propelled subs to environmentally friendly battery operated subs was met by green types with rousing appreciation. The only problem is that those expensive batteries have a notoriously short lifespan, and the batteries get very hot which causes them to occasionally, eh, - catch fire.  Yep, the photogenic subs are fraught with technical issues.

Al's bigger point is that the subs (most of which are in an underground show building) and Autopia running on top of it while residing next to the adjoining Innoventions building, occupies a massive amount of Disneyland Tomorrowland real estate.  The real estate was once thought to be the launching place of Marvel attractions, then Star Wars attractions, and finally, the no one really knows attractions.

The one thing that is known is whatever is done with Tomorrowland, (whether it be Marvel based, Star Wars based, or a combination of both franchises), the price tag will be very, very expensive. Expensive to the point that Disney seems content to continue to bring in Cars Land profits which is already paid for and turning a handsome profit.

The other thing that can cause Disney to wait things out is the construction of Shanghai Disneyland. This is one of those partnerships (similar to the Tokyo Disney Parks) where the Disney Company is only part owner. They license the rides, characters, and attractions (which they also build) but, the company is not on the hook for picking up the whole tab. Great arrangement here which is why people speak glowingly of Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo Disney SEA.  Most of the development costs are funded by the Japanese owners.

Tomorrowland is a Disney money pit waiting to happen, but I'm not sure during whose lifetime it will take place. It's also Disneyland's right armpit if you count the poorly conceived Frontierland as the left armpit. There's work to be done here people!

Pardon My Language - WTH??? Billy Hill Act To Retire Jan. 6

A Disneyland institution from the early 90's - the performance of Billy Hill and the Hillbillies at the Golden Horseshoe is set to retire January 6, 2014 following this holiday season (and the Billy Hill Holiday Spectacular). If this popular act gets replaced by something meant to generate a revenue stream, I'll be pissed.... My hope this is a Billy idea for graceful retirement and not Disney giving them the boot. Right now there are about 80 negative comments on Disney Parks Blog against this idea. 

Over the years, Mrs. DisneylandTraveler have seen Billy Hill and the Hillbillies perform more than two dozen times. We haven't haven't seen a performance that wasn't completely enjoyable yet.

Some Disneyland Questions To Ponder Over Lunch

So I just went down to the cafeteria and brought back some lunch to eat at my desk. While I was on my way down I had some Disneyland questions to ponder. I don't really have any answers. The one thing I do know is if I would spend less time spending money eating lunch in the cafeteria and squirrel that money way for my next trip to Disneyland, well, I'd have a lot more money in my pocket to enjoy the trip.

Those Davy Crockett Explorer Canoes. Is it just me or does it strike you odd that the attraction is listed for Critter Country? The only thing that connects the canoes to Critter Country is that is where the loading dock is located. BTW: Walt had a fascinating with Davy Crockett who was such an iconoclast the he pretty much left the United States out of political disagreements and moved to the Mexican territory of Texas where he met his untimely death. The Battle of the Alamo took less time than any movie or TV show made about it. The Alamo was lost in a little over an hour. Crockett and everyone else was massacred.

While were at it. The Harbor Galley is also in Critter Country. True, that's the place where they park the Rivers of America sailing vessels when they are not in use but the name Harbor Galley seems to fit better where the ships sail from not where they are sitting dormant. It could be just me.

The Winnie the Pooh ride does fit in Critter Country. Too bad the ride itself is better suited to a Fantasyland ride.

Over in Tomorrowland, what's so "tomorrow" about Finding Nemo's Submarine Voyage. The old subs were cool. Nemo is a cartoon.  In fact what's so tomorrow about Buzz Lightyear? Sure he's a space guy, but ultimately, he's a child's toy.

And while we are at it, props to Disneyland for prominently displaying Blackbeard the Pirate - a throat slashing head lopping pirate if there ever was one.

There's still my issues with ToonTown, a children's play area about a movie that prominently contains, drinking, smoking, womanizing, and murder. Fun stuff.

Oh well.  It's still Disneyland and still a whole lot of fun.

The Small World Transformation

And so it is that time of year, that time of year in late October into early November when Mary Blair's charming it's a small world transforms from artful playfulness to Christmas magnificence. Few images in Disneyland are as powerful as it's a small world with the facade is lit up in all its Christmas color. And the new ability to project whimsical images off the facade at timed intervals only enhance the experience. It is an awe inspiring site.

In my years of going to Disneyland, I have learned a few valuable lessons. One is - I can't compete. At one time Mrs. DisneylandTraveler and I used to decorate and decorate and add lights and add more lights to the house during Christmas. But if you take a trip to Disneyland during Christmas, you will soon learn what decorating and lighting for the holidays is all about. Our house is small potatoes. So we decided gradually over the years to pull back on our decorations here at home and make our Christmases smaller and more intimate. We'll leave the big time decorating to the professionals and rather than spending money on gobs of Christmas lights and ornaments, save a little money and maybe apply it to a trip to Disneyland for the holidays. I've always said that as long is you are in the right frame of mind, a trip to Disneyland during the holidays only enhances your Christmas season. A trip to Disneyland is the best present you can give or get. No scrooges allowed.

And speaking of it's a small world, even with the ride now closed till November 7, Disney created a bit of controversy last week by selling a new T-Shirt. "I CONQUERED it's a small world" the shirt proudly proclaims. When I first saw it, I kind of chuckled to myself. Anyone who is familiar with the ride knows there is nothing to conquer - it's more a test of endurance because of the endless looping of a classic song on a 14 minute boat ride. But some in the Disney community have taken offense that Disney would mock a ride that was built by Walt Disney himself for the 1964 World's Fair (in New York City). Here's the deal. Disney knows the jokes made about the attraction as it has stood the test of time. If they can make a few bucks off some T-Shirts, then better Disney pocket the money instead of non-licensed T-Shirts that are put up for sale. With Disney, there are very few sacred cows when it comes to making a buck.

"But I Don't Want To Be A Pirate...."

The "Pirate Ship" Columbia
A MiceChat Dateline Disneyland Photo

There's a classic episode of Seinfeld where Jerry mistakenly agrees to wear a puffy pirate styled shirt on the Today Show because the person who asked him to wear the shirt spoke so softly that he couldn't hear what he was agreeing to do. When he found out that he really did agree to wear the puffy shirt on network TV has his classic response in a child like like voice was "...but I don't want to be a pirate....". No, not every boy wants to be a pirate.... thank goodness,

At the end of September, Disneyland had a Limited Time Magic promotion for Pirates week. At a cost, Disneyland would deck your kids out as swashbuckling buccaneers and spend a day leading the pirate life. Disney has made a lot of money on this pirate theme from the great Pirates of the Caribbean ride, to the subsequent blockbuster movies, to the pirate merchandise, to the special dress your kids up as a pirate customers set-ups that have popped up in different areas of the park.

Kids love to pretend. But even for Disney, a little lesson should be learned from history. The classic pirates of the 15th and 16th centuries were pretty much murderers, robbers, plunderers, rapists, and alcoholics. Most died very young primarily at the hand of another or ravaged by disease. It was a hard life, a dangerous life. Maybe someday, a real pirate movie will be made, a movie not based on tales of the high sea and romanticized fantasy but grim depressing story of the lowest scum of the earth who would kill someone else at the drop of a hat.

But I don't want to be a pirate.

Jerry Seinfeld and his puffy pirate shirt.

The Main St. Time Machine

I played around with one of my photo editing software applications a week or so ago. You know... these pictures are recent.... but they also could have been from the mid 50's if you don't look too close at what people are wearing. The absolute wonder of Disneyland U.S.A's Main Street is it's timelessness. The new Starbucks location in the Market House on Main St. is about to put timelessness to the test as the intimacy of Main St. collides with a modern dining facility that has huge interior space and is basically "skinned".

Limited Time Friday the 13th Magic? Not Quite

So my friend texted me either last Friday evening or Saturday morning asking me if I knew if Disneyland published attendance figures. It was an odd question but I told him they do not publish any kind of attendance figures at all but a busy day usually puts between 40,000 and 70,000 people in Disneyland itself from what I've read. And then I read about last Friday evening at Disneyling in this morning's MiceChat Dateline Disneyland update (Link). Now my friend's odd question made complete sense.

I do not follow Limited Time Magic events at all. I had no interest in them from the beginning and even less interest in them now. I think they are silly promotions for the most part just meant to mostly get annual passholders back into the park again and again with something "new" with Limited Time Magic. By not following Limited Time Magic, I had no idea there was a special Friday the 13th LTM event to kick off the Halloween season. People came, and came, and came and soon packed Disneyland on a Friday night, in many cases overwhelming cast members, causing long lines, creating grid locked conditions, and leading to shortages in food and merchandise the event was promoting. And my friend was in the middle of it and apparently not really enjoying the chaos.

If I would have known, if I would have followed LTM events, I probably could have warned him. I did warn him that Friday the 13th would be crowded with local annual passholders,but the addition of LTM dance parties put the crowd over the top and sucked the fun right out of the place unless dealing with that kind of mess is your kind of fun. 

Limited Time Magic - I hate it.

The Disneyland Nutmeg Halloween Rant #1

This is strictly personal, a quirk in my own personality. Those who see differently are free to do so because you are probably right and I'm something of a nut. Speaking of nuts - I do not like the spice nutmeg. Just something about it that rubs me the wrong way. For many, the first thing you think of when you think of nutmeg is pumpkin pie. In general, I do not like pumpkin pie and you can blame that on the nutmeg. A few pumpkin pies are tolerable but these are the rare pumpkin pies where the nutmeg used is put well into the background for taste and the pies are more custardy than pumpkiny (I'm making words up here - spellcheck is complaining).

So nutmeg reminds me of pumpkins. This time of year, Disneyland loves pumpkins and puts them literally everywhere - big ones, little ones, funny ones, scary ones - pumpkins, pumpkins everywhere. The place is awash in a sea of pumpkins and the color orange. Yep, the return of the pumpkins marks the beginning of Disneyland's Halloween season that will formally begin in about 6 days. Just like nutmeg and pumpkins, I don't like Halloween. If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know I go through this every year. Again, it's personal. I don't remember going trick or treating past maybe the age of 6 or 7. My reasoning was simple. In my mind I equated trick or treating with begging for food. My family worked for a living - no begging - we earned everything put in our mouths. Silly reasoning? You bet. My parents had no problems passing out candy to little ones in the neighborhood. I just didn't want to be the person on the other side in a silly costume begging for candy.

Nutmeg, pumpkins, orange, Halloween.....they all kind of put an unsettling stamp on the year marking the end of spring and summer. Days grow shorter, the weather gets colder...blech... At Disneyland, they celebrate this time of year. Well, not really. It used to be one the slower times of year and a good time to make a trip if you liked your Disneyland activity on the quieter side. Then one day, some bean counters figured out that Disney could turn a pretty good profit on this Halloween nonsense. 

I know several families who are going to Disneyland this month eager to be bombarded by Halloween decorations from all angles. And you know what? Despite my whining and complaining, I am envious of each and every one of them who get to go.

Come on Thanksgiving and Christmas. I'm waiting.

Disneyland's Cheap Fix To A Bigger Problem

All Disneyland fans know that the section of the park known as Frontierland is "lacking". It's been that way for years having gone the way of westerns on TV and in the movies, a once thriving subject matter now virtually extinct. With Mrs. DisneylandTraveler's father now living with us and his failing mind now locked into past memories rather than the present, we have watched our fair share of Bonanza and Gunsmoke episodes recently which show up on obscure satellite channels fixated on a viewing market that focuses on the elderly. Those shows were really great (seeing them again after many, many years, I forgot how good they really were) and Disneyland's Frontierland once reflected the popularity of the western on TV and film.

Frontierland in Disneyland has been neglected to the point of embarrassment, even more so now that it's one signature ride attraction - Big Thunder Mountain Railroad - has now had its scheduled 10 month refurbishment extended to perhaps early next year. What's left? The Shooting Gallery? The Mark Twain? Not much. Then there's the Golden Horseshoe Saloon, which has provided great entertainment for countless people through the years. Since it is a building in which presence of Walt Disney is still felt, its historical significance to the park is great. 

Walt had his hand in producing the original Golden Horseshoe Revue which ran through thousands of performances. I saw the revue as a kid with my parents. For the last dozen years or so since Mrs. DLT and I have been making extended trips to Disneyland frequently, we have always made it a point to Billy Hill and the Hillbillies at least once a trip. It's a great act and if you catch the boys on a good day with the right amount of audience participation, their show can easily be a trip highlight. Since Mrs. DLT and I tend to make our trips to Disneyland during low attendance parts of the year, we haven't seen the Billies do their act in the outdoor Festival Arena venue where Disneyland has banished them at times in a continuing effort to turn their intimate act into some kind of carnival. Billy Hill and the Hillbillies belong in the Golden Horseshoe. That's it - nowhere else in the park.

So during the past few weeks, with the Hillbillies still out in the Festival Arena, Disneyland has been doing a test within the confines of the Golden Horseshoe. Instead of a live performance, they have been working on an interactive game with real life cast members acting out parts of the game in various old west characters. The people that have posted about it in various Disneyland forums have said the game is a lot of fun and I believe them but here's the problem.

The people that generally have written about the game are generally local annual passholders who are always looking for something new and different in the park because they show up in Disneyland on a regular basis and need something new to keep their interest moving ahead.

I posted in MiceChat that the interactive game is pointed directly at the local annual passholder and probably holds little interest to the Disneyland guest who is a vacationer or only get to the park once every year or two. For the occasional visitor, Disneyland is about rides and major attractions not interactive games which take time away from the typical park attractions. One guy posted that my feelings toward annual passholders was contemptible. My reply was easy enough - I am an annual passholder, just not one who shows up at the front gates every week. For Disney, an interactive game is the "perfect" attraction because it has little in the way of development cost, little in the way of construction cost, no cost for maintenance and upkeep, no cost for liability, and when people get tired of it, the game is pretty much disposable. It provides Disney with a cheap fix for the bigger problem of a neglected Frontierland. Using the beautiful Golden Horseshoe for a "game" seems work against the beautiful historic venue. Frontierland needs the Golden Horseshoe because it has so little going form it. To use it for game playing seems a waste.

Another (Sad) Visit To Disneyland's Court Of Angels

What If This Was Just....Gone?

A few weeks ago I was worried about whether Disneyland was going to turn their lovely Court of Angels in New Orleans Square into another hideous shopping bizarre during the upcoming Halloween and Christmas seasons as they have been known do - (link). Boy, was I off the mark.

Reported by MousePlanet's David Koenig, a very reliable Disneyland insider, the Court of Angels is slated to be shut down for good next month in preparation for a Club 33 expansion next year. Here is a link to David's article - Clubbed.

I posted about this bit of sad news this morning in thread that was lamenting the Court of Angels closure in the MiceChat Disneyland forum this morning. Here is what I wrote....

If this is a permanent closure of the Court of Angels then the news is incredibly sad. Think of the countless numbers of people who have had their photographs taken in that lovely area - couples on their honeymoon, celebrating anniversaries, family reunions (perhaps with loved ones no longer among the living). It's easy to say, when looking at a photograph, that we have the memory of that special place and time. Here is the point that Disney misses. Each and every time you return to Disneyland, the opportunity is there to relive that memory in the moment, to see it as it was all over again. When places like the Court of Angels are removed then they take a little bit of Disneyland's heart and soul with it. They are killing the memories for the sake of profits. Yes, slowly but surely corporate Disney is making the place a soulless shell of its former self. Its not about guests at all. Its about a massive money making machine.

And still the people keep coming.