Johnny Depp's Mad Disneyland Surprise

As Disney is set to open it's new film Alice Through the Looking Glass, Disney Park's Blog posted a rather surprising visit of Johnny Depp to Disneyland in full Mad Hatter costume. Very surprising indeed. Check out Disney's video of Mr. Depp's rather sudden appearance.

Again, the Alice Movies aren't exactly my cup of tea but you have to admit this is a pretty fun video.

Return of the Mad Hatter

Oh no!.  Just in time for Memorial Day Weekend, Johnny Depp returns as the Mad Hatter in Alice Through the Looking Glass.  And here come my nightmares.  And there go my hopes of giving DCA's Mad T Party the boot. It's not going anywhere.

Let The Madness Begin! Mad T Party Soft Opens in DCA

Entrance to Mad T Party - USA Today Travel

Though Disney California Adventure's Mad T Party street party isn't officially scheduled to open until June 15th with the rest of the DCA relaunch, last night the audio visual assault on ones senses soft opened to an enthusiastic crowd of mostly a younger demographic than the ol' Disneyland Traveler here. Colorful? You bet. Upbeat? C'mon, it's a party after all. Weird? Well, there's that too.

Anyway, my favorite Disneyland (and all things Southern California) YouTube videographer - Asianjma123 - has already uploaded the Walk Thru of last night's premiere of Mad T Party. Enjoy the sights and sounds in his video.

I was pretty hard on ElecTRONica in some of my posting over the last year until it closed up for good. The street party concept in DCA, now in it's 3rd generation, is just something that seems foreign to my vision of a Disney experience. But they are very popular with a certain age group and Disney parks are supposed to be for people of all ages. I'm not going to be as hard on Mad T Party as I was with ElecTRONica. Mad T Party already has a big plus for me by confining the rigging, sets, and equipment to the plaza area outside Monsters Inc and Stage 17 rather than having it sprawl all over the Backlots (now Hollywoodland) area like the obtrusive ElecTRONica. (My other issue with ElecTRONica was that at just under 2 years, it just lasted far longer than it should have)

Anyway, if Mad T Pary is still playing when Mrs. DisneylandTraveler and I make our next trip, we'll make it a point to stop by and take pictures and shoot video to check the box and prove that we were there. I'll stand around scratch my head and wear a look of bemused puzzlement. I'll need one of those $11.50 cocktails to reel in my sanity. And once we've spent about a half hour taking in the sights and sounds, we'll move on probably never to return to the Mad T Party, just like our ElecTRONica experience. 

House of Cards - Mad T Party - USA Today Travel

End of Line Club

I posted the following to MousePlanet Forum a little while ago.  It bears repeating here I suppose.  ElecTRONica is over, my life can now move on.

______________________

OK... I may be in the minority, or maybe the majority (but in the end my vote doesn't count) but tonight brings a merciful end to ElecTRONica, a spectacle that should have had a shelf life of 6 months tops but somehow managed to live close to a year and a half. I guess there are some dance-off finals going on but in my world, I'm just doing a quiet happy dance because the production is being shown the exit door, don't let it hit you in the rear on the way out. Imagine, no more tweets from Disney to my cell phone announcing who tonight's DJ is going to be. I can't hit the DELETE button fast enough for these.

And so ElecTRONica is gone only to be replaced by something that seems to be even more savagely attacked by bloggers and forum posters - this Mad T Party, which only saving grace may be that it promises to be less obtrusive and occupy a smaller footprint in the new Hollywood Land than its predecessor. Disney missed the boat. This would have been the perfect time to bring in an Avengers audio-visual spectacle with the anticipated blockbuster hitting the movie screens in a few weeks. Kids would have ate it up as would their parents unless they are part of the "KEEP MARVEL OUT" contingent. Then again, with all thats going on with DCA this summer, did Disney really need to bring in something that would have brought even more people into a park that may present opportunities for grid-lock?

The Madness Starts June 15

Mad T Party logo - Artwork from Disney Parks Blog

Nothing like having a party and inviting the world - Disney Parks Blog (link) announced this past week that along with Cars Land and Buena Vista Street, June 15th will also be the date for the premier of Mad T Party, the DCA street party replacement for ElecTRONica (and before that - Glowfest). The blog entry features some artwork for the Mad T Party costuming which can be described as interesting to say the least.

When did they start make male Bratz dolls?

Mad T Party costuming artwork - Disney Parks Blog

Mad T Party costuming artwork - Disney Parks Blog 

The Good, the Bad, and the Return of the Mad Hatter

Artwork for Mad T Party - Disney Parks Blog

Disney Parks Blog announced this past week the long rumored replacement for the ElecTRONica street party in Disney California Adventure. Al Lutz first reported about an Alice in Wonderland / Mad Hatter themed street party coming to DCA in his MiceAge.com column several months back but now its official that a Mad T Party will make its debut in DCA this summer. Of course, this isn't based on Walt Disney's Alice in Wonderland characters, it's the Tim Burton / Johnny Depp version the proved to be such a major hit for Disney in the theaters last year. 

So here we go again.... Mrs. DisneylandTraveler and I managed one evening gawking at ElecTRONica and that was enough. Laserman - interesting, the rest of it was pretty much an assault on your eyes and ears. It can't go away soon enough for me. And now we bring on a Mad T Party another garish assault on our senses based on another movie we really didn't care for. I think we are showing our age and demographic here as the street parties, beginning with the original GlowFest, have proved to very popular especially with the local Southern California passholders. The freak show will also continue to provide Disney an excuse to sell exorbitantly priced adult beverages to an assembled mass of party goers. There is profit in that spectacle. Where is the Electrical Parade when you need it?

So the Good - farewell ElecTRONica (more like good riddance). The Bad - the continuation of street parties - good Disney family entertainment? Not so much. And the eerie specter of Depp's Mad Hatter doesn't seem like its going to fade away to memory any time soon. 

You can read more about the Mad T Party in Disney Parks Blog - here.