I can’t believe how quickly July came and went this year. Compared to recent months, Disneyland’s July turned out fairly uneventful, minus one day of total insanity. Otherwise, July brought celebrations, minor updates, and the debut of a new confectionary. Let’s jump right in!
4TH OF JULY
Happy Independence Day! Disneyland marked the occasion with pomp and circumstance. Park visitors enjoyed performances from the 1st Marine Division Band in the Fantasyland Theatre, and crowds gathered for the flag retreat ceremony on Main Street USA.
The evening closed with specialty fireworks and a corresponding projection show on the castle.
Source: Disneyland Over Everything
THE GREAT DISNEYLAND CRASH
On July 6, Disneyland encountered a perfect storm: record breaking heat (over 110°F), summer Saturday crowds, and a brutal power outage. The outage completely wiped out MaxPass and fast pass, closed all of Cars Land’s attractions, and sent visitors packing. In fact, by the evening, still above 90°F, look at the wait times:
Unbelievable for a Saturday…especially in the middle of the summer. With no fast pass whatsoever and a whole land wiped out, it was certainly not the happiest place on earth. Thankfully, the next day restored normal operations of both the fast pass/MaxPass systems and Cars Land.
DISNEYLAND TURNS 63
July 17 marked a much happier occasion for Disneyland. The Resort celebrated its 63rd birthday, with 63 characters joining the parade in celebration. This included fan favorite princesses, Mickey and the gang, and some rarer characters, like John Smith and Meeko.
The Omnibus transformed into the birthday bus, carting Mickey around Main Street under a shower of confetti!
OTHER UPDATES
Disney updated the Pixar short film collection playing in Hollywood Land. Now visitors can enjoy new favorites, like Bao and Sanjay’s Super Team.
Space Mountain opened a new indoor queue this month. Instead of sweating on the brutally hot rooftop before wandering through the space port, riders now weave on what was once the upper level of the Starcade.
To compensate for the multiple closed restaurants in Downtown Disney, visitors can now enjoy specialty food trucks on the hotel side of the district. The trucks, featuring options from local restaurants, appear to be changing regularly to keep offering new treats.
And finally, Bing Bong’s Sweet Treats officially opened in Pixar Pier at the end of the month…though it remains unfinished. The shop now sells a full collection of sugary creations, but Bing Bong himself remains hidden behind a tarp, with no official debut date just yet.
