The summer season is coming to a close - Sunday is the official final day – and it seems with it the last visible construction / refurbishment projects in the Disneyland Park. At the latest counting three sites were still covered behind construction fences: parts of the ground around the Orbitron in Discoveryland, the bridge leading from Pirates of the Caribbean to Skull Rock in Adventureland and the Last Chance Cafe in Adventureland. Well, this past weekend only one of these locations was left under construction … (more…)
Posts Tagged ‘refurbishment’
Summer ending – construction work ending?
Monday, August 24th, 2009Disney Blockbuster Café – the cool pirates hang-out
Monday, August 24th, 2009
The Disney Blockbuster Café officially opened its Pirates of the Caribbean themed area (to the left of the main serving area) the past week. To celebrate this occasion the printed entertainment guide for the two theme parks also got updated with a notice that the “newest, coolest place to eat” has replaced the former Backlot Express Restaurant (since the entertainment 
guide is printed weekly, while the main guide will only be re-printed in early November and will still list the old restaurant till then).
As the exterior of the building remained unchanged with the exception
of the new marquee featuring the new name above the main entrance the only indicator that there might be something related to the Pirates of the Caribbean movies to be found inside are the new large movie posters advertising the franchise behind the first outdoor seating area, which replaced current posters for the latest movies of Walt Disney Pictures. While 
a large window front facing toward Armageddon and the main road looks into the Pirates themed room it is hard to difficult to see any details from outside, as the windows are not only partially blocked by one of the major themeing elements, but also recieved a blue tinting to give the impression eternal moonlight inside…
But once a guest leaves the High School Musical themed entrance and (more…)
Fast Food Adventures & Frontiers
Friday, August 14th, 2009
Earlier this year the Café de la Brousse, a counter service location in African style huts offering only partialy covered outdoor seating along the shores of the lagoon in Adventureland, underwent an extensive rehab including a paint job and a new thatched roof – only to remain closed when the visible work was done. However, the past week saw the location finally open again!
Surprisingly the menu was kept pretty much unchanged even so the Café de la Brousse is now being presented by Dole (according to its own statement the world’s largest producer and marketer of fresh fruits and vegetables), i.e. mostly Hot Dogs, pre-packaged ice cream, soft drinks and some desserts. (more…)
Pirates – your ship is about to embark…
Monday, August 10th, 2009
… at the Disney Blockbuster Café in the Walt Disney Studios Park. Guests expected the restaurant to open its second themed area (after the High School Musical area has been open for several weeks already) as various official guides started referring to both themes as of last week. However, as of Saturday the Pirates of the Carribean themed seating area was still blocked off and work clearly not finished. But before we get to that just a short note, that the High School Musical themed main area has received some additional decoration elements as well, including another banner right above the main access to the counter area congratulating the Wildcats on their back-to-back championships.
The latest pictures show off the new backdrop added to the rear of the raised seating area, in front of the large windows looking out toward the Armaggedon attraction (as mentioned in our most recent report about the project progress). Note that there are three lamps attached to it, one on each side and one at the center top. Also the glass in the wooden frame-like structure is assembled out of rectangualr pieces in two different colors. In the meantime additional decoration elements have been added as well (more…)
Get ready to board the bridge
Wednesday, August 5th, 2009The former Backlot Express Restaurant in the Walt Disney Studios continues its transformation into the “Disney Blockbuster Café”, in particular the creation of the area with decorations based on the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie trilogy – however, different from the area based on the “High School Musical” franchise, the Pirates of the Caribbean area is closed off during the ongoing transformation and at least rudimentary measures are taken to prevent close-up views of the inside – however, word about the progress is getting out nevertheless… (more…)
Construction FINISHED
Sunday, August 2nd, 2009Three of the resort’s ongoing construction / rehab projects have finally been finished nearly half-way through the summer season in the past days. In the Disneyland Park the scaffolding has come down around the Plaza Gardens Restaurant, giving guests of the buffet restaurant once again the opportunity to look out on the gardens during the meal while guests walking around Central Plaza can see the sun reflecting in the shiny shingles of the once again all pretty facade. Also finished is the rehab of the columns along the facade of the Annual Passport office just a few meters further up at the border between Discoveryland and Fantasyland.
The third finished project can be found in the Walt Disney Studios Park, where the small structure added in front of the Disney Channel building has been revealed as another merchandise kiosk offeriing a small assortment of products, including High School Musical themed items, such as Mickey and Minnie plush in East High basketball respectively cheerleader outfits. The new kiosk seems to reflect the new color scheme that the current rehab is adding to the Disney Channel building. The yellowish color is still the main color, but in addition to the blue / green accents (in the cas eof th kiosk in the form of neon lights) also red art deco accents have been added.
