I figured that people might like to see what's happening with the old submarine lagoon in the transition to the Finding Nemo submarine ride at Disneyland. Part of my recent trip included a couple of days at Disneyland as I had not been in nearly 16 years. Naturally, the time that I'm there (the week before Easter) is super crowded with many of the queues being listed at 75-90 minute waits. Also, and this is a big bummer, the Pirates of the Carribean was shut-down for the "rehab" in which they're adding figures from the movie (I really hope they don't screw it up too badly!)

I was able to take the photos through several holes in the construction wall near the monorail in Tormorroland. I put the 12X optical zoom of my new Canon S2 IS to use

You can see a submarine ride vehicle being worked-on inside one of the lagoon caves, which I've not seen in the other construction photos on other sites yet.

After seeing the cheap and lame 'conversion' of the Swiss Family Treehouse into the Tarzan Treehouse with it's phoney looking fiberglass movie characters scattered about the classic, realistic Swiss Family props, I can only hope that Disney treats the old sub lagoon with some respect. Overall, IMO, Tomorrowland was looking pretty sad at Disneyland with the missing Peoplemovers, the huge construction wall around the PM loading station, the closed sub lagoon, and one-way monorail. Tomorrowland used to be one of my favorite areas, but for this trip at least, it was disappointing and very overcrowded for the number of attractions it hosts.

EDIT 4/17/2006: Added some new photos that I missed in the first go-around (below). These are from Tuesday, April 11th.

Here's a couple of pics to show you why

Unfortunately, as expected, I won nothing in Las Vegas on the first pass-through, but will be giving it another try when I go back through on my way home.

I attended a friend's wedding in Laguna Beach on Saturday and figured I'd take a few extra days to catch-up on some personal interest stuff, which includes Las Vegas and Disneyland.

So, I'm in Anaheim, CA right now preparing for a long-overdue visit to Disneyland and the newer Disney California Adventure. I spent about 6 hours pre-cruising DL this afternoon to see what's changed in the 15 years since I was last here. Some of the attractions are as I remembered and others are horribly disappointing (the People Movers for one). The Pirates of the Carribean is closed right now also, so I'll be missing the superior California version of that classic ride.

I'll be posting lots more pics and write-ups when I get back, but for now, it's bed time.

This photo gallery has some interesting photos of a recreation of Disneyland's Main Street which was built using Lego pieces. It appears to be some kind of Lego building contest judging by the backgrounds in the photos. There is also a pretty good build of It's a Small World complete with the loading platform and other details.

I stumbled across a very interesting blog today. So interesting, at least to me as a Disney theme park nut, that could not take the time to post it sooner because I was reading it in all of my free time throughout the afternoon!

In a semi-blog, semi-forum format, Disney, Pixar, and other professional theme park workers comment on how the Disney parks have taken a turn for for the worse, especially Disneyland. For example, they discuss the "cancer" known as (Winnie the) Pooh and how it replaced several rides (20,000 Leagues and Mr. Toad's Wild Ride among them) with thinly guised rides which really just parade patrons past merchandising displays. I especially enjoyed this line:

If slogging past wobbly wooden flats while sitting inside a giant carved out turd is your idea of fun then you will be delighted.

There is plenty of discussion and commenting on other things such as the poor maintenance caused by departmental in-fighting and (of course) beancounters, archiving classic art, and plenty more. Sadly, I think that much of what they discuss is actually true. The current crop of MBAs running Disney seem to value their media, TV stations, and web content more than the parks, which is very unfortunate for the millions to plan family vacations there every year.

If you're at all interested in the Disney parks, the behind-the-scenes "magic" at the parks, or just what it can be like to work there, this site is a must-read (don't forget the comments!) Even after reading all of this, though, I'd still love to work in WDW!

P.S. If you like the "secrets" of Disney parks, I very highly recommend these books.