DLW 207: Trip Planning with ConciEAR Lyndsey

This week, day guests will be paying more for a day of magic at Disneyland, a Magic Key has “sold out,” trams are coming back, the holidays are spreading throughout the resort, some construction updates, we talk to Lyndsey about park planning, and more! Please support the show if you can by going to https://www.dlweekly.net/support/. If you want some DLWeekly Swag, you can pick some up at https://www.dlweekly.net/store/. Book your travel through ConciEARS at no extra cost to you! Be sure to mention that you heard about ConciEARS from DLWeekly at booking! If you want some awesome headwear or one of a kind items, be sure to visit our friends over at All Enchanting Ears! You can use the promo code DLWEEKLY10 to get 10% off your order!

News:

Well, it happened again. The prices to enter Disneyland have increased. The only ticket that has not gone up was the 1 Day, 1 Park tier 1 ticket, which remains at $104. All the other tickets have gone up $5 for the 1 day, 1 park tier 2 ticket to $25 for the park hopper tickets. Parking has also increased from $25 to $30 for theme park standard parking and $15 increases for hotel self park, oversized, and valet parking. Also of note, the Dream Key, which is the highest level Magic Key has also halted sales for now. – https://www.ocregister.com/2021/10/25/disneyland-raises-ticket-prices-for-most-types-of-admission/and https://www.micechat.com/305977-disneyland-ticket-price-increase-2021/ Early 2022. That is when Disneyland says that the trams from Mickey and Friends and Pixar Pals parking structures are returning. Disneyland has said that they will begin to conduct maintenance on the trams as well as rehire and train staff for the trams in the next few months. – https://www.ocregister.com/2021/10/25/disneyland-parking-trams-returning-in-early-2022/ The Disney Parks TikTok account teased the return of an old favorite likely coming back to Disneyland sometime in the future. The Main Street Electrical Parade has been taken out, once again, from storage and looks to be making a return. – https://dlnewstoday.com/2021/10/confirmed-the-main-street-electrical-parade-is-returning-to-disneyland-resort/ In just a couple of weeks the Holiday season will arrive at the resort, and along with it, the Christmas Fantasy Parade. There was some concern that the parade would be preformed for Christmas Party guests only, but that is not the case. The parade will run daily at 3:00 and 5:30 beginning on November 12th. – https://dlnewstoday.com/2021/10/showtimes-announced-for-a-christmas-fantasy-parade-at-disneyland-park/ The Plaza Point Holiday Shoppe on Main Street has opened to guests. The new shop, which took the place of the Kodak Photo Supply store at the end of Main Street, by the Plaza Inn, opened last week. The new store will feature different holiday merchandise throughout the year including Halloween, Easter, Lunar New Year, and more. A unique service at this location is the ornament personalization, where cast members can hand paint the ornaments. There is a backtory of the proprietor of the shop as well. It is based on the real mother of Disneyland Resort Enhancement Manaher Dawn Pipal-Keehne. Evelyn Toro is the character, and she traveled around the world to collect the different holiday items. – https://www.disneyfoodblog.com/2021/10/21/shop-for-the-holidays-all-year-at-disneylands-new-store/and https://www.disneyfoodblog.com/2021/10/22/photos-come-with-us-inside-the-new-year-round-holiday-store-in-disneyland/ and https://www.ocregister.com/2021/10/21/disneyland-places-woman-of-color-at-center-of-new-holiday-shops-backstory/ Halloween is just a few days away from when we are recording this episode, so there still might be time to make some Disney Halloween magic at your house. The Disney Parks Blog has posted some templates to carve some pumpkins with step-by-step instructions, make a Madame Leota crystal ball, learn to draw the Haunted Mansion, and more. Head on over to the link in our show notes for all the spooky details and templates! – https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2021/10/hauntingly-good-diys-to-add-a-dose-of-disney-parks-magic-to-your-halloween/ A new experience has come to the Lego store in Downtown Disney. Guests can now build their own custom Lego minifigures. To participate in the experience, guests must make an appointment, then use screens to customize the figure by choosing features such as head, pants, and torso details. Once the design is complete, it will be 3D printed on site. The experience is $12 and can be booked at the link in our show notes. – https://dlnewstoday.com/2021/10/photos-new-custom-lego-minifigure-factory-opens-at-downtown-disney-district/ and https://storebooking.lego.com/ The holidays are already starting to show up in the parks with Halloween still a few days away. The snow has started to fall on Sleeping Beauty Castle as of the end of last week, lights have started appearing in the trees around the resort, World of Disney has hung some garland and lights, as well as installed some holiday decorations for the displays. – https://www.micechat.com/305746-big-disneyland-news-trams-prices-construction/ Some construction updates from around the resort include the work coming to a close on Big Thunder, which is expected to return on November 4th. Pelican’s Landing, which is the new seating area for the Harbor Galley by the Haunted Mansion and Splash Mountain is slowly moving along. The ToonTown walkway is still moving towards completion with the new brickwork. The Fantasyland Theater’s entrance marquee is being refurbished, and work continues on the steelwork needed for Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway facade that will hold the moutains of ToonTown once the new attraction opens. – https://www.micechat.com/305746-big-disneyland-news-trams-prices-construction/ Fans of the Muppet Haunted Mansion special on Disney+ may want to check out one of the folks Instagram page that brought the show to life. Jasper Anderson has worked for Jim Henson’s Creature Shop for the last several years, and worked on bringing the Muppets to the Haunted Mansion. Jasper shares some behind the scenes looks about how it came together. – https://dlnewstoday.com/2021/10/horror-effects-sculptor-jasper-j-anderson-gives-behind-the-scenes-look-at-muppets-haunted-mansion/ With some of the negative press that Disney has been getting recently from the reservation system, to rising ticket prices, to sold out Magic Keys, to moving Imagineering to Florida, and more, some former Imagineers have been passing around a petition to fire Disney CEO Bob Chapek. As of the time of this recording, the petition had _____ signatures. A reminder to our listeners that a petition is not enough to actually fire Chapek, but it does show how unhappy people are with his performance. For those interested, the link to the petition is in the show notes. – https://dlnewstoday.com/2021/10/retired-imagineers-passing-around-petition-to-fire-disney-ceo-bob-chapek/ and https://www.change.org/p/the-walt-disney-company-fire-disney-ceo-bob-chapek-5feb6077-21d0-41aa-9eaf-9959501b210e?redirect=false The Disney Conservation Fund, which is committed to saving wildlife and building a global community to protect nature, awarded grats to projects and celebrated some cast members last week. 60 non-profit organizations received the grants. A few of the cast members that have offered their time and talents to support the fund were highlighted on the Disney Parks Blog post. To hear about their experiences and to learn more about the fund and the recipients, check out the link in our show notes. – https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2021/10/disney-conservation-fund-awards-grants-to-global-conservation-projects-and-celebrates-cast-members-who-help-make-it-possible/