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Disneyland photo update: Fantasy Faire opens; Mickey's Magical Map set to debut in May

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Published: March 13, 2013 at 2:34 PM

Let's hit the road down to Anaheim and see what's new at Disneyland Park.

Tarp

First, I love how Disney makes the extra effort to camouflage its construction tarps and show an image of the building underneath. The Main Street Train Station is one of Disneyland's icons, and as much as it needs some maintenance TLC from time to time, it's nice that no one's photo op is totally ruined in that process.

The big news at Disneyland this week is the opening of the new Fantasy Faire section, which replaced the Carnation Plaza Gardens with a princess-themed meet and greet.

Fantasy Faire

The meet and greet is in the Royal Hall, which today (the day after the official opening of the new area) posted the longest wait in the park: 45 minutes.

Royal hall

The area's other new attraction stands on the replacement for the Carnation Gardens stage, which has transformed into the Royal Theatre.

Royal Theatre

You'll find two shows alternating on the stage three or four times a day, one based on "Beauty and the Beast" and the other on "Tangled."

Tangled show

The shows are relatively short, just a few minutes, charming and funny -- they can hold the attention of parents and older siblings just as well as that of their intended child audience. Do take a few moments to look up and around in the new area, too -- you'll find plenty of detail, such as Figaro from Pinocchio, who comes to life every few moments.

Figaro

Disney also announced today that Disneyland's other debut for the year, the Mickey and the Magical Map show, will open on May 25 in the Fantasyland Theater. (There's just a construction wall to be seen there today.)

Fantasyland Theater construction wall

Speaking of construction, work continues on the refurbishment of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, which will reopen this fall.

Big Thunder construction wall

Now that's a big crane!

Big Thunder construction crane

So with Thunder down, I went for a ride on the Matterhorn instead:

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Readers' Opinions

From 208.54.86.241 on March 13, 2013 at 5:19 PM
I like the new fantasy faire area, its charming and it'll free up the rest of fantasy land from the hordes of little girls and strollers who primarily want that experience. I do think that the cat from Cinderella (Bruno I think?) would've fit better than Figaro since Cinderella is one of main stories represented here, but its a nice touch nonetheless.
Ultimately I can let out a sigh of relief as I was terrified that an "enchanted tales " type storytelling might come to the royal theater but thank God it looks like its a real shows with real actors, and guest participation is not required!
From 71.129.47.228 on March 13, 2013 at 8:27 PM
For your Matterhorn video, did you use that hands-free camera that looks like a headphone set you used on Big Thunder Mountain last year?
From Robert Niles on March 13, 2013 at 11:39 PM
Yes. That was my second attempt (after the Thunder piece). I'll probably come back on an overcast day to avoid the glare contrast and wait for the front seat next time. Still getting the hang of them.
From Mark Kausch on March 14, 2013 at 11:05 AM
Gotta say the Matterhorn looked really slow from that video. How was your ride comfortwise?
From Robert Niles on March 14, 2013 at 11:26 PM
Comfort for me was fine, but I totally see how anyone bigger than I am might have problems. (I'm 5'9" and about 160.) And even for me, the grab bar's now pretty much inaccessible.
From James Rao on March 17, 2013 at 4:53 AM
Just getting caught up, Robert, but I loved this walk through Disneyland. Thank you. And the video at the end was a nice plus. Keep the updates coming!

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