We finally made it into 2019! Disneyland’s holiday season wraps up in just a few days, and soon the resort will shift its focus to this year’s most anticipated event: the launch of Star Wars Land. 2018 ended fairly quietly at the resort, but the crowds definitely picked up and made for an out-of-control week between Christmas and New Year’s Day. Here’s a quick recap of December at the Disneyland Resort.
FINALLY TACKLING THE RESELLING NIGHTMARE
If you follow any Disney news, you may have seen some controversy around “reselling” and revoking passes in December. If you’re not familiar – the Disney Parks have a major re-sell problem. This comes from two issues. First, some annual passholders (frequently called APs) purchase as many limited edition items as possible, and then re-sell them on eBay for outrageous markups, since they quickly run out of stock in the parks. And second, some APs act as personal shoppers, grabbing this merch and selling it for a premium to individual customers.
To combat this problem, Disney has been revoking passes of guests they catch buying in bulk and re-selling. The annual passholder agreements explicitly prohibit using AP benefits and discounts for commercial use, and the language specificially calls out reselling as prohibited.
Personally, I’m thrilled Disney is taking steps to stop this. I’ve had the frustration of standing behind someone who bought 25 souvenir sippers, only to discover they were sold out when I got to the front of the line. The instant selling out and hyper-inflated re-sell prices have been spiraling out of control, and I just hope other parks follow with similar restrictions for the benefit of other guests.
TROPICAL HIDEAWAY OPENS
On a more cheerful note, the highly anticipated Tropical Hideaway opened this month!
Adventureland’s newest dining spot offers a small menu of appetizers and a whole bunch of new Dole Whip flavors. Rosita the cockatoo entertains diners, and the hideway’s south side opens up to the Jungle Cruise!
SANTA TAKES AN UNANTICIPATED FLIGHT
Santa almost had a crash landing during the holiday parade this month. During an afternoon parade, Santa’s sleigh pitched forward, launching him out and onto the lower part of the float.
Micaela Pettigrew shared this image of the incident on Instagram:
Thankfully, Santa was unhurt, and he spent the remainder of the parades in the mail room float instead.
OTHER UPDATES
Earlier this month, Downtown Disney’s Napolini reopened after a lengthy refurbishment. The restaurant still offers a great selection of pizzas – just with an updated & sleeker look.
Once again, World of Color shows no sign of reopening. Disney never released any official damage or overhaul requiring such a long refurbishment – but the attraction has been down since April. Fingers crossed whatever’s wrong can be fixed soon.
And finally – the Grand Californian will launch a brand new pool bar in spring 2019! Though Disney has yet to release too many details (including an opening date), we do have some concept art. Check it out below!
Oh my poor Santa! Glad he was okay. When we make it Disneyland in the future I hope to see the Tropical Hideaway!
I’m very excited to try the Tropical Hideout and the new dole whip flavors when we visit this year. Hope you’ll be posting some reviews to help me choose!
We’ve been to Disney World many times but never Disneyland, it’s really neat to read your blog and get exposure to something brand new to me!