Quick Knotts and Disneyland Resort Update

First off, I apologize for the lack of updates. Been busy with plenty of stuff the past few weeks. While I didn't take construction pics, I did note observations from Knotts and Disneyland.

Knotts Berry Farm:

Windseeker is nearing completion as the mechanics are being rolled in and the queue is being built. Expect test runs to start soon. Below is a video of a Windseeker in operation at another Cedar Fair Theme Park.

http://youtu.be/Y-KV6I2YSZY

The summer show at Charles M Shultz Theater called Happiness is...., is a very good ice show that I recommend. Brought back memories of watching Snoopy when I was a kid.

Disneyland Resort:

The Indiana Jones Adventure got a new Single Rider pass design. Its 3x bigger than the standard design and its lamenated to prevent pocketing which has been a problem with groups using it to ride faster (after the film room, they would continue up the stairs and keep the passes in their pockets when they should be showing to the cm to use the elevator). Not a lot was made so the smaller passes are being used still.

Goofys Sky School is conducting Soft Openings and largley this is a cosmetic and thematic redo from Muholland Madness. Despite some flaws (namely the steel still exposed and no additional audio), this is a better overlay from Muholland and prevents another "park" from being added in its place. Foamers and haters of GSS should suck up and tolerate it for a couple of years because its sticking around for a while until something new can be brought in (please another dark ride!).

Like other new attractions, breakdowns can be expected in the first few months, but TLM got the worse of it yesterday as it was only open for 1-2 hours before breaking down and not reopening for the rest of the day.

Matterhorn will be going down for a 2 month refurb starting July 11th and ending in September. This will prep the attraction for the new bobsleds.

Carthay Circle Theater is gearing up as more tarps and steel supports go up. Expect the structure to be covered in tarp soon.

The new entrance for DCA is nearing completion and looks to be headed to an early opening in July.

Now for some random pics to wrap up this write-up update:

See You next time!

World of Color Part 2

Throughout early 2010, many have speculated how World of Color was going to be. Various videos throughout the months captured the show being put together after park hours.

In order to accomodate the sessions, the park would close as early as 6-8pm on weekdays. The sessions were held 6 days a week with Saturday being the day off. Each session lasted till about 7am in the morning.

Then in April, a video was posted of them running the show in an earlier form that was presented to Bob Iger and Tom Staggs.



There are plenty of differences shown in that video:

1. The Little Mermaid was different
2. Aladdin was vastly different and was tagged with Hercules
3. The Firebird was not present and they were using the Chernabog Tower, a metal structure that was cut by Steve Davison who deemed it not good enough.
4. So Close was sang by 2 female singers
5. Finale had flamethrowers activated in a different part. Chesire Cat was not present.

By Memorial Day Weekend, the show was finished with new things added:

1. Friend Like Me from Aladdin replaced Hercules
2. Little Mermaid changed
3. Firebird returns with Chernabog being modified to show without tower
4. So Close is changed to the soundtrack version.
5. Finale added Chesire Cat and Flamethrowers were moved to the final part before show fades to black.

Previews would soon begin the weekend before June 11th. On June 4th, the show was runned for WDI and their families while June 5th was for the other people that worked on it. On June 6th and 7th, Cast Member Previews were conducted, primarily to test out the crowd strategies. (I was lucky enough to attend one of these preview dates!) On June 8th, a party was held by 2 local radio stations and attended by the winners. On June 10th, the show had its big premiere!



The premiere was attended by celebrites and some Disney Legends (like the Sherman Bros the creators of the Wonderful World of Color theme song).

On June 11th, hundreds of people lined up outside as early as 2am to be one of the first to obtain Fastpasses (the main show ticket) to see World of Color! Opening night was a huge success and has become a major success to the park which was struggling without a nighttime spectacular.

World of Color: 1 Year of Color! Part 1

A Year of Color

In 2007, the Walt Disney Company announced that Steve Davison would bring to Disney California Adventure, a brand new nighttime spectacular called World of Color. This nighttime spectacular is not like any show that they have done. Disney is well known for showing fireworks, parades and stage shows. But this time, this would be a full-on water fountain show similar to the Bellagio. It would also incoporate several special effects like flamethrowers and lasers and projections similar to Fantasmic!.

In late 2007, preliminary testing began in order to see how to present the show on Paradise Bay:

Then in 2008, the real work would begin as the bay was drained to begin building the massive show platform. The platform, as big as a football field was designed to fit into the bay and the extra things were installed. It ranged from the 2 light towers on the sides of the bay and the lighthouse/pagdoa equipment boxes, each equipped with a searchlight, lasers and projectors.

                                                              

The biggest crane in LA, accoriding to Steve Davison was brought out to help install the platform. It was a huge effort from installing the show equipment to making the new viewing area: Paradise Park which replaced the Golden State Ampitheater after it was concluded that the ampitheater would not be able to hold the massive crowds that would sure come to see this show.

The fountains in the platform are way different than their Fantasmic! counterparts. Every fountain has a LED light ring on it so that each fountain had its own color. Some where different like the Grid fountains which don't move but can shoot up to 150 feet with the geysers not moving too but go up to 200 feet. Moving fountains were also made from the single water whips to the multi-head fountains. Flamethrowers were also brought in, both moving and non-moving. Lasers would be brought in and would be brought to life by a group that is said to be the best laser team on the planet. Mist screens that was pioneered by Disney with Fantasmic!, was brought in and is roughly 4 times as big as Fantasmic!s screens. There are 4 mist screens on the platform with one in the front and the big 3 in the back.

By the end of 2009, the platform was done and water was brought back into the bay. Disney had the water when it was drained, sent to the city for storage and brought back when ready to use again, a green effort.

It was also at this time, that Steve Davison began doing presentations at the first D23 expo about World of Color.



Then in 2010 from January to May, testing began to put the show itself together. And as soon as that began, a series of show testing videos surfaced showing what World of Color is capable of.