Unofficial Guide to Disneyland 2020 (The Unofficial Guides) - Softcover

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Seth Kubersky is nationally recognized as an authority on theme parks and amusement attractions. He has worked for more than 20 years as a theatrical artist, culture critic, and travel journalist. In addition to writing “The Unofficial Guide to Universal Orlando” and coauthoring “The Unofficial Guide to Disneyland,” Seth also contributes to the Unofficial Guides to Walt Disney World and Las Vegas. A resident of Orlando since 1996, Seth is a former employee of Universal Orlando’s entertainment department. Named Best Arts Writer in The Daily City’s 2013 readers’ poll, Seth covers arts and attractions for the “Orlando Weekly” newspaper, “Attractions Magazine,” AAA’s “Via Magazine,” and other publications. You can find Seth online at sethkubersky.com or on Twitter @skubersky. Bob Sehlinger, a Lowell Thomas Award–winning journalist, is best known as the creator and producer of The Unofficial Guide series. A contributor to several top-selling guidebooks, Len Testa leads the team at TouringPlans.com, a research arm of The Unofficial Guides. Guy Selga Jr. is a passionate Disney fan, a blogger, and a researcher at TouringPlans.com.

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What’s NEW in The Unofficial Guide to Disneyland 2020

• Up-to-the-minute details on the upcoming Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge land at Disneyland park
• Details about the new Mickey Mouse-themed fireworks, dubbed Mickey’s Mix Magic, at Disneyland park
• Continuous coverage of the reimagined Pixar Pier at Disney California Adventure
• All we know about the Super Hero Marvel Universe to open in 2020

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Part 3: Disneyland with Kids – Disney Characters

Meeting characters

For years the costumed, walking versions of Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, and others have been a colorful supporting cast at Disneyland and Walt Disney World. Known unpretentiously as the Disney characters, these large and friendly figures help provide a link between Disney animated films and the Disney theme parks.

About 250 of the Disney animated-film characters have been brought to life in costume. Of these, a relatively small number (about 50) are greeters (the Disney term for characters who mix with the patrons). The remaining characters are relegated exclusively to performing in shows, usually in holiday parades or Disney anniversary celebrations.

Character encounters

Character watching has developed into a pastime. Where families were once content to stumble across a character occasionally, they now pursue them armed with autograph books and cameras. For those who pay attention, some characters are more frequently encountered than others. Mickey, Minnie, and Goofy, for example, are seemingly everywhere, while Thumper rarely appears. Other characters are seen regularly but limit themselves to a specific location. The fact that some characters are seldom seen has turned character watching into character collecting. Mickey Mouse may be the best known and most-loved character, but from a collector’s perspective, he is also the most common. To get an autograph from Mickey is no big deal, but Daisy Duck’s signature is a real coup. Commercially tapping into the character-collecting movement, Disney sells autograph books throughout the parks. One Unofficial Guide reader offers this suggestion regarding character autographs:

Young children learn very quickly! If they see another child get an autograph, then they will want an autograph book as well. I recommend buying an autograph book right away. My 4-year-old daughter saw a child get Goofy’s autograph, and right away she wanted to join the fun.

Preparing your children to meet the characters

Because most small children are not expecting Minnie Mouse to be the size of a forklift, it’s best to discuss the characters with your kids before you go. Almost all of the characters are quite large, and several, such as Br’er Bear, are huge! All of them can be extremely intimidating to a preschooler.

On first encounter, it is important not to thrust your child upon the character. Allow the little one to come to terms with this big thing from whatever distance the child feels safe. If two adults are present, one should stay close to the youngster while the other approaches the character and demonstrates that the character is safe and friendly. Some kids warm to the characters immediately, while some never do. Most take a little time and often require several different encounters.

*****

Part 5 – Disneyland Park

Star Tours―The Adventures Continue

Description and Comments

Star Tours is a flight simulator that features crystal-clear digital 3-D screens and in-cabin Audio-Animatronic figures of C-3PO, your golden droid pilot. During your inevitably turbulent travels, you’ll bump, twist, and dive into a Who’s Who of Star Wars icons, with heroes Master Yoda and Admiral “It’s A Trap!” Ackbar on your side, and villains Darth Vader and Boba Fett on your back. You’ll either be visiting planets from both the classic trilogy―such as icy Hoth and arid Tatooine―and the not-so-classic prequels, including Geonosis (home of the dreaded Death Star) and Naboo (home of the equally dreaded Jar Jar Binks), or taking a perilous tour of Jakku’s starship graveyard and the mineral planet Crait from the recent sequels, with cameos from BB-8 and Maz Kanata; another new scene should be added for Episode IX’s debut. The big twist is that the various possible cosmic destinations and multiple celebrity cameos (look for Han Solo and Chewbacca in the background) are randomly combined into hundreds of different story variations, giving the attraction unprecedented reridability. A wealth of references to the original Star Tours ride (along with hidden Disney characters and Star Wars inside jokes) can be found inside the detailed queue, and the ride is quite smooth and well synchronized.

Touring Tips

Star Tours sees hour-plus waits on busy days, so ride as early in the day as possible or grab a FastPass. The ride’s long-term future is uncertain now that Galaxy’s Edge has arrived. A single-rider queue has been tested here, but it involves a confusing trek up the exit ramp inside Star Traders.

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PARADES
Disney Theme Parks are famous the world over for their parades. Typically, there is a parade every day in late afternoon or early evening. On days when the park closes late (10 p.m.–midnight), the parade may run twice. The parades are full-blown productions with some combination of floats, huge balloons of the characters, marching bands, old-time vehicles, dancers, and costumed Disney characters. Themes for the parades vary from time to time, and a special holiday parade is always produced for Christmas. Disneyland retired its long-running daytime processional Mickey’s Soundsational Parade shortly before press time, with an all-new parade scheduled to debut in 2020. The vintage Main Street Electrical Parade also made a brief encore appearance in summer 2019.

Parades always draw thousands of guests from the attraction lines. We recommend, therefore, watching from the departure point. With this strategy you can enjoy the parade and then, while the parade is continuing on its route, take advantage of the diminished lines at the attractions. Watching a parade that begins in Fantasyland from Small World Mall affords the greatest mobility in terms of accessing other areas of the park when the parade has passed. On days with two scheduled parades, the first performance will start at It’s a Small World, travel past the west side of Matterhorn Bobsleds, go around the Tomorrowland side of Central Plaza, head down Main Street, and then circle Town Square counterclockwise. The second performance will begin at Town Square and run the route in the opposite direction.

The upper platform of the Main Street Station affords the best viewing perspective along the route. The best time to get a position on the platform is when the parade begins in Fantasyland. When this happens, good spots on the platform are available right up to the time the parade begins. When you are at the end of the parade route, you can assume that it will take the parade 15–18 minutes to get to you.

Most guests watch from Central Plaza or Main Street, and on busy days people begin camping out on the curbs there an hour or more before step-off time. The viewing area in front of It’s a Small World will fill up last, so we recommend checking there if you need a spot.

Any spot along the parade route will offer the same experience, so you shouldn’t worry if you can’t see the parade on Main Street. Once the parade has started, count on gridlock all along the route, especially on Main Street. Due to aggressive crowd-control restrictions on the sidewalks, you’re best off entering or exiting the park via the backstage breezeways (if open) or Emporium shops.

Keep an eye on your children during parades and give them explicit instructions for regrouping in the event that you get separated. Children constantly jockey for better viewing positions. A few wiggles this way and a few wiggles the other, and presto, they are lost in the crowd. Finally, be especially vigilant when the crowd starts dispersing after the parade. Thousands of people suddenly strike out in different directions, creating a perfect situation for losing a child or two.