What a ride: top moments of past year
Some major leadership changes in the theme park industry will send 2022 out on a far more chaotic note than how the year began. But as we celebrate Christmas, let’s not forget that 2022 delivered more than its share of gifts for theme park fans.
My favorite moment of the year came in Orlando, Florida, where Walt Disney World opened Epcot’s first-ever roller coaster, Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind. This indoor coaster features Disney’s first-ever reverse launch, but as is the case with almost all Disney coasters, the ride specs take a back seat to the story.
Epcot’s attraction ride offers the same delightful chaos, starring the original film cast, as the “Guardians” drop ride in Disney California Adventure, Mission: Breakout! A relatively intense helix near Cosmic Rewind’s end has divided fans, but I loved every moment in this attraction, from the queue through the preshow and onto the ride itself. For what it’s worth, this makes two years in a row that my favorite new attraction has starred Chris Pratt, following last year’s Jurassic World VelociCoaster at Universal Orlando’s Islands of Adventure.
The Halloween season provided two more notable moments. Dead Man’s Pier: Winter’s Wake at Universal Studios Florida’s Halloween Horror Nights offered the most stunning artistic design I’ve seen in a Halloween house. The Grimoire at Knott’s Scary Farm delivered one engaging moment after another, building a thought-provoking narrative. Each house showed how top Halloween events have become a showcase for great themed entertainment design.
I also will remember getting to walk through the partly completed Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway ride at Disneyland with then-Disney CEO Bob Chapek. The delightfully themed queue far exceeds what Disney offered with the initial installation of this trackless dark ride at Walt Disney World. Fans will love this addition to the revamped Mickey’s Toontown when it opens next month, but I will always remember the ride for the candid talk that I and a handful of other reporters had there with Chapek, just weeks before the Disney board of directors sacked him to bring back Bob Iger.
That was the most stunning moment of 2022 — the Sunday in November when Disney pulled off one of the more shocking plot twists in its corporate history. Stunning, too, was the news this month that Universal Creative was losing top leaders Mike Hightower and Thierry Coup in an early retirement offer, shocking many of us who follow the industry.
Still, theme park fans have much to look forward to in 2023. Super Nintendo World will begin its passholder previews at Universal Studios Hollywood in January. Disneyland will celebrate The Walt Disney Co.’s 100th anniversary with two new nighttime spectaculars as well as the return of the Magic Happens parade. Knott’s Berry Farm will open its revamped Fiesta Village with a refurbished coaster, MonteZOOMa: The Forbidden Fortress. SeaWorld San Diego will open its new Intamin terrain coaster, Arctic Rescue.
So as much as I enjoyed 2022, its best gift to us was hope for an even better 2023.
Disney100 is the name for the company’s celebration of a century of animation. Of course, new merch is part of it.
Get ready for a platinum and purple overload as Disneyland prepares to celebrate 100 years of Disney animation during 2023 and beyond.
Disneyland is going to look like a sparkling disco ball with plenty of periwinkle accents as the silver and purple color scheme takes over everything from Sleeping Beauty Castle to Minnie ears.
The Disney100 celebration officially kicks off at the Anaheim theme parks Jan. 27, but the first signs of what’s to come are already starting to flow into Disneyland, Disney California Adventure and Downtown Disney. The initial wave of Disney100 merchandise is already hitting store shelves before Christmas, and there’s plenty more to come.
The mirror ball platinum color is everywhere in the new merchandise line. There are silver-studded sipper cups and Minnie ears tied to the anniversary celebration. Shiny material drips off of Disney100 backpacks, Mickey hats and Christmas ornaments.
The Disney100 purple is strikingly close to Very Peri periwinkle purple, which was the Pantone Color of the Year for 2022. The Disney100 purple hoodies and sweatpants are proving very popular — with the items already sold out on shopDisney.
An iridescent silver with purple and blue reflective highlights combines the two primary Disney100 colors in a cross between a 1960s tiedye T-shirt and a retro 1950s car bumper. The iridescent Platinum Celebration Minnie doll looks like the “Metropolis” robot from the landmark 1927 film, while the iridescent Mickey plush looks like the Tin Man from the “Wizard of Oz.”
Fans who caught the brief run of the Magic Happens parade before the pandemic shutdown of Disneyland already got a glimpse of the iridescent purple and blue scheme. The parade costumes will fit right in on Main Street, U.S.A. when Magic Happens returns for a Disney100 run starting Feb. 24.
Naturally, Sleeping Beauty Castle will be the focal point of the celebration at Disneyland. The castle will get purple banners, iridescent silver bunting and moat fountains.
If Disney100 is like other Disneyland anniversaries — and all signs point to the Happiest Place on Earth leaning heavily into the company’s centennial celebration — you can expect to see the platinum and periwinkle color scheme stick around Main Street, U.S.A. and beyond for the next 1218 months.