Random Thoughts on World of Color Opening Weekend at Disneyland

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I spent the better part of three days at Disneyland last week…just thought I’d share some random observations and thoughts on various things.

World of Color – I like this show more every time I see it – I see new things in it every time! Some of that is because of seeing it from different angles – you see different things depending on which projection screen you have the best view of.

The projection screens are VERY affected by wind – the first two times I saw the show the projections seemed a bit unclear to me as compared to images Disney released before the show open. But on Saturday night the wind was down and the images were VERY clear for the first 2/3 of the show, and really looked great.

I am disappointed in the viewing area, though – just about any where you are in the viewing area your view is going to be blocked by one of the light towers that’s down by the water. When we watched it on Saturday we had a tower that was right in the middle of our view of the main projection screen.

We watched the show from the side (in front of California Screamin’) one night. It was a great spot to watch the fountains from. And they present a different look when viewed from the side – we thought that you can better see just what they are doing. There were very few people back there – we could’ve walked up right before the show started and had our choice of spots. Of course it was the third show…so it’s probably not that empty for the first two.

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World of Color Picnic: We did this Saturday night. I still think it’s a terrific value! For Annual Passholders it’s $12.99, and for that you get a bottled drink (worth $3), a reusable tote bag (and they were giving one per meal rather than just one per order), which is worth another $3-$4, and then you also get a nice snack PLUS a Fastpass for World of Color that you didn’t have to wait in line for 30-90 minutes to get! I had the Mediterranean Vegetarian meal this time, and it seemed to be quite a bit more food than you get with the other meals – the vegetable wrap was a pretty normal size. So that picnic meal really was a meal for me. One thing we learned at the Round Robin session about the picnic meals: they will pre-sell up to 425 on the web site for each night, and up to 400 for same-day picnic sales at the park.

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Landscaping: Disney always does a great job with their landscaping, but I thought these World of Color-inspired plantings were especially colorful.

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Toy Story Midway Mania – the new game and Toy Story 3 characters have been added. Dino Darts, hosted by Rex and Trixie, replaces Bo-Peep’s Baa-loon Pop. The game itself is the same, but the background and elements have been changed to reflect the new hosts. I saw Buttercup the Unicorn in one of the other games, but did not see Lotso, who is also in the ride somewhere.

Crowds: Disney California Adventure was really not crowded at all on Friday or Saturday – we rode Toy Story Mania Saturday afternoon with only a 25 minute wait! On Friday night Disneyland was not too crowded, either – it was the fewest people I’ve ever seen at the first showing of Fantasmic!. But we thought (hoped) that might be the case because most of the die-hard fans would be trying to catch the first night of World of Color.

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The California Letters: The letters in front of DCA that spell out “CALIFORNIA” have been changed again – World of Color colors.

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Silly Symphony Swings: This attraction is re-theming of the Orange Stinger attraction, so riders still sit in swings that are lifted into the air and then the ride spins around. The old attraction had an “orange peel” around it, so it was somewhat enclosed. The newer one doesn’t have that. I think it’s taller and spins faster than the old one, but other people tell me it just seems that way because it’s all open now. In any case, it’s still a lot of fun, though I come of it slightly dizzy. Some tandem swings have been added to the new version, so that an adult and a child can ride together. Those seemed to be quite popular – and they also had a shorter line!

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Minnie & Friends Breakfast in the Park: Deb, Lee and I went to this character breakfast at the Plaza Inn in Disneyland on Saturday morning. We were there just after the park opened, so it was not too busy yet. The characters were really full of it, and were great fun. Deb commented that they interacted with each other a lot more than she sees in Florida. For example, Captain Hook locked Max, Chip, Dale and Rafiki out on the patio – until Minnie came along and scolded him. Later I suggested to Dale that if he was looking for some mischief, that he should go steal the Mad Hatter’s hat – and he went over to try to do it. There were quite a few characters there, too – in addition to the aforementioned there were also Alice and the Mad Hatter, Gepetto, (who had a mustache-twirling contest with Captain Hook), Eeyore, and Rabbit (from Winnie-the-Pooh). The food was pretty good, too – it was not as huge a selection as they have at Storytellers, but they had made-to-order omelets that I think we all enjoyed.

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Glow Fest: We saw this on Saturday night, the first night they had the drummers and dancers performing. It’s very colorful and different – and also quite loud.

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The Bollywood Step Dance group (all the way from Yorba Linda!) was fascinating to watch – modern dance meets India? I don’t know how to describe it. Here’s the description from their web page: “The Bollywood dance style incorporates the fusion of Hip Hop, Jazz, Salsa, East Indian Classical, Folk, and Bhangra dancing.” Really elaborate and beautiful costumes, and they were very energetic – I don’t know how they will keep up that pace all night!

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Everything starts on the stage in Sunshine Plaza, then later in the evening moves back into the Hollywood Backlot, where it becomes more of a street party, with the focus more on the guests dancing and enjoying themselves rather than watching entertainers perform. Lots of glowing things – glowing tables, glowing beverages, glowing bracelets (red, green, and blue – blue seemed to be the popular color!), glowing balloons, glowing light swords, and even glowing cotton candy.

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Looks like it’s going to be a great summer!

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Laura Gilbreath is a native of San Diego, CA. She has been making the trek up Interstate 5 to Disneyland since she was a small child and terrified of talking tikis and hitchhiking ghosts. She and her husband Lee enjoy trips to Disneyland and Walt Disney World, as well as sailings on the Disney Cruise Line.

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