Disney Gallery is Closing - Visit Soon
 

The rumor mill has been hot on this one for a while, but the last Fantasmic! balcony seating is at the end of July. I would recommend braving the crowds to get in your last visits soon.

Is this a Club 33 expansion idea?

Possibly. No announcements have been made yet. It's possible that it will be divided among different departments.

How sad. They will be taking away one of my favorite quiet places in Disneyland.

Someone has rumored that they will make it into a "Dream Hotel Room" and that the Dreams promo has been extended. This seems unlikely to me, but you never know.

I think the Club 33 expansion and office space is the more likely senario. I have always wanted to take the unofficial tour of the apartment, I guess I'd better hurry! But now the back rooms are no longer even available as I heard club 33 already has those (but I've seen them anyway).

This loss kinda sucks!:(

the dreams promo is popular...even though I never can get anything on both coasts. (must smell my APs from a mille away)

(I'm going by the lattest rumor)
If they convert the area into a hotel room I will be saddened, but also confused why they are spending money for a new elevator for it.. unless they are going to mess with the stairs to not be used and have a entrance via elevator like Florida's suite.

However, why must Disneyland have a suite inside the park as the current rumor states. They have the Mickey Mouse Suite in DLH and Pirates suite there as well. Isn't that enough for a grand prize? I hope they don't take it away since it also provides some of the best views of that area (other than Tarzan's tree house)

As it was never meant for public use, I always found the ability to hang out in Walt's unused courtyard a special APer bonus. I'd miss it.

This will be a bummer. The little niches in New Orleans Square (and just about anywhere in Disneyland) are my favorite parts. There's just something special about a place where you can feel like you're hiding out in the middle of the insanity that Disneyland can sometimes become.

Hmmm one of the nicest places in Disneyland to visit gone the way of the mysterious bathroom that suddenly got boarded up on Main Street. (I think it still exists, behind a wall).

But the wierd thing with a Disney Gallery closure -- those stairs will just be... stairs to a locked door, forever? That seems strange for some reason. (Tho I guess it isn't the only "stairs to nowhere" in NOS, pretty soon that place'll be looking like the Winchester Mystery House)

If memory serves correctly, it won't be too difficult to remove the stairs.

They didn't bother with that in Tomorrowland...

OK, I'm blanking. To what are you referring? The only thing I can think of is the Speedramp in Starcade.

^^ And I am blanking on what you mean re: removing the NoS stairs.

The stairs leading up to the Gallery. There are two curved staircases leading up - one on either side of the PoTC entrance.

Oh I thought you meant that those stairs haven't always been there, not that it is easy to remove stairs since they do it all the time elsewhere. duh.

I meant the Stairs to Nowhere - next to the old Hatmosphere, at the back of Innoventions, by those bathrooms - there are stairs that used to go to the Skyway.

Will the gallery exhibits and merchandise move somewhere else? I haven't won the lottery yet and there's a lot of it I still "need".

So when's the meet?

I vow to never get another annual pass unless they promise never to close the gallery. (Of course, looking at my life situation now it is unlikely I would ever again have an annual pass anyway.)

They haven't.

Although I cannot pinpoint the date, I am pretty sure those stairs were added around the same time the PoTC entrance was rebuilt with the walkover (to accommodate Fantasmic! crowds)

Ah yes. I knew there was something I was missing.

You are correct. I've been trying, in vain, to find a picture of the entrance before they built the stairs.

In case the site doesn't allow hot linking, you can go here: http://davelandweb.com/potc/

Damn! How did you find that so fast?

I wanna say I can see it like it means anything - but as recent history has shown us, my computer doesn't count when it comes to seeing pictures.

So, when is Kevy gonna drop trou in the Gallery?

THANK you for finding a pic, Kevy. I was also looking and not finding.

Look at the size of those strollers! How did American children survive before we learned that they must be swaddled in SUV sized vehicles at all times?

Google Image Search: pirates entrance disneyland. This link came up on page 2, with this picture showing:



There are a LOT of cool vintage Disneyland photos at this guy's site: http://davelandweb.com/disneyland/

Actually, I would like to keep my AP.

Is that what they call it these days?

Awesome find, Kevy!

Daveland is a pretty amazing source for Disneyland photos. Still, it's also an object lesson in just how much the show lighting adds to the atmosphere of the figures and sets in the rides. Most of his pictures appear to have been taken with a VERY bright flash, and make everything look kind of tawdry. Fun to browse through for sure, but I'm glad I wasn't in the same boat-doom buggy-catepillar etc.

I'll consider this rumor until I see a press release - somebody got all foamed at the mouth on another board claiming that a "manager in plaid" CONFIRMED that the Disney Gallery is becoming Cinderella Suite West. Those "managers in plaid" are wonderful fonts of misinformation...

Manager... plaid... riiiiiiiiiight.

I can't speak to the yes/no of the Gallery closing but I do know that I have concierge level ressies for the end of July and got a call saying they can't offer seats on the balcony any more and did I want riverside instead. When I asked why all I got was the tap dance that "they" were told the balcony was unavailable for the dates I asked for and I totally did the timeline so that lends a bit of hmmm to the story for me.

That site you linked is awesome, Kevy!

I want the green and blue shirt that guy is wearing.

Which one? There is one in the foreground with a more randomized pattern or the person a couple of rows in with a more geometric pattern.

And when is the bouffant hairdo gonna make a comeback? The chick in yelloe is hot!

The one in the foreground. I think the geometric one is a woman.

I wasn't (and still am not) sure - this photo looks like the sixties and it could be either male or female.

I think it's a woman. And it's amazing that the only way to date these pictures on Main Street is to look at the hair and clothing styles. Shows how little that part of the park changes (on the out side).

Same on the outside but nothing like I remember from childhood. Back when the Penny Arcade was a place spending time in - and the candy shop - oh the candy shop. The way to make more shopping money is not always the best way ya know.

Not to derail the thread - and I suppose this could have gone in the things people used to wear thread but oh my - what an outfit this must have been!

Not a press release but I called to see if I could get balcony seating for Fantasmic and the girl I said they were told no more balcony seating after July. I asked her about the rumor (I called it a rumor) and she said that they were told it was closed for refurbishment with no reopen date and there was no more balcony seating after July. Take it for what you will.

And no, we did not get seats. 1 seat here and there. Bummer - we wanted to take a Fantasmic virgin to see it from up there. And we've never seen it from up there. Oh well.

I agree, the insides have changed a lot. Mostly, all the stores look the same, they have lost their indivedual personalities.

As far as the seating for Fantasmic!, I still mantain that front and center on the ground is still the best viewing. Up close and personal, you can feel the heat from the fire, the mist from the water screens, and the fog rolls over you if the wind is right. The balcony is great because you get reserved seats and desert, but it's too far away to be emmersive. But that's just me.

I really, really really hope this is not true. We were there a few weeks back and it's just a great vantage point during anytime of the day and, yes, a nice quiet place to be. If it's removed, there goes just another bit of Vintage Waltness. :rolleyes:

I'll miss it, but I'm not horribly broken up about it if it's true. I just hope they find somewhere else to house the collections they have up there, they've always got something interesting.

It IS a great vantage point at any time, and a nice quiet spot. But it has nothing to do with vintage Waltness. Walt never saw the place, and did not envision it as a public part of Disneyland. Losing it as a public space does nothing to compromise Walt's vision of the Park.

If anything - - though I think the current Pirates entrance is an improvement - - the double staircases, the bridge, and the entire "sunken" queue in front of Pirates are contrary to the way Walt designed this corner of Disneyland.

I agree with you 100% on this. A balcony visit should NOT be a person's first experience with F! It is a wonderful and decadent viewing opportuntiy, but it is not the immersive experience that I feel F! is when viewed down on the river's edge.

This change may be contrary to the original design, but I feel that it is one improvement that should stay - regardless of what becomes of the apartment/balcony and F!

Oh, I completely agree. I dare someone to tell me I want Disneyland frozen at Nineteen Sixty Walt Seven when I clearly view many post-WD changes (e.g., the Pirates entrance) as improvements.

Some other things to do with F! are, imo, dastardly detriments, such as the new cobblestone and separate-from-NOS waterfront. Bah.


But it's nothing to do with what was pure Walt, and everything to do with what sux and what don't.

I have nothing to add, I just like this statement.

:D