Disneyland Resort Update: The Tropical Hideaway Found

Disneyland Resort, Anaheim, CA

We’re almost to the end of the year, which means this is going to be your last look at the Disneyland Resort parks before 2019 arrives. Actually, you probably don’t want to look at the parks this week. With winter break fully in session, they have been absolutely swamped, with wait times stretching into the three hour range for some of the most popular attractions. That’s Tokyo Disney territory!

However, over the past month, we’ve seen some developments that warrant some updating. So without further ado, we present the final Disney parks update of 2018!

The Tropical Hideaway Opens

The biggest news item comes from Adventureland, where after multiple months of renovation and construction work, the Tropical Hideaway finally opened last Friday to great fanfare. Well, maybe not open fanfare, but public reception thusfar has been quite favorable, as this little watering hole in the jungle represents the most significant completed new construction inside Disneyland Park in the past couple of years. It also expands the dining options in the area. Along with the removal of the stroller parking in the middle of the Adventureland walkway and its relocation to the retail space of Tropical Imports, which promptly moved across the way to the Adventureland Bazaar, plus the expansion of indoor seating for the Bengal Barbecue, the Tropical Hideaway completes Adventureland’s little two year efficiency project in preparation for the massive influx of crowds expected next year for Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.

The Tropical Hideaway occupies the spot formerly used by Aladdin’s Oasis, which was originally the Tahitian Terrace way back in the day of early Disneyland. For those unfamiliar, this places it between the backside of the Enchanted Tiki Room and the exit of the Jungle Cruise.

The area is composed of two food stands: Dole Whip, I Presume, which offers a selection of Dole Whip soft serve and dessert dishes, plus chips and snacks, plus a bao place next door that serves three different types of stuffed steamed buns (beef, chicken, and vegetable), a fried dessert lumpia, and a chilled noodle to-go item. The atmosphere is laden with exotic furnishings and strikes a lovely balance between the Pacific Island Tiki Room aesthetic and the more wilderness Jungle Cruise atmosphere. And to further tie into its neighbor, Tiki Room bird, Rosita, has moved outside and set up stand as a stand-up bird, offering jokes and commentary to diners and passers by.

It all adds up to a great new addition to the park, and one that I think will remain pretty popular for a while.

There’s something new in Adventureland…

The Tropical Hideaway is open!

Two bridges span across a little waterway into this watering hole.

And a lovely little waterfall marks the entrance.

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The Enchanted Tiki Room flanks one side of the Tropical Hideaway.

The Jungle Cruise flanks the other.

Heading into the food queue, guests are greeted by some signage promising delectable bites to be had.

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Some fabric structures overhead provide shade during the daytime.

The colorful patchwork definitely feels fitting.

There are a good amount of tables, but the popularity of opening night had them pretty much all filled throughout the evening.

There’s a large variety of hanging light fixtures too.

A few examples…

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The integration of details with the Tropical Hideaway’s neighbors is pretty great.

There’s also an exotic lamp section.

If these look familiar, they were reclaimed from the area’s former use in Aladdin’s Oasis.

I love the color and detail!

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This little nook has a few other fun details. Ice skates would certainly seem lost in the jungle.

Some magic carpets.

This is the type of delightful Disney detailing that we’ve come to love.

Dole Whip, I Presume is the monicker of the Dole Whip stand opened within the Tropical Hideaway.

A look at the menu reveals new Dole Whip flavors!

There are also chips for sale for snackers.

The display is quite nice.

More fun details along the back wall. If people were wondering what was taking so long, it was fun bits of theming such as this!

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This gong is rung every time someone orders a Loaded Whip. More on that in a moment.

The Chilled Ramen Shaker (not really ramen?) is a refreshing and delicious portable meal with a tangy onion dressing.

There’s also a bao place that serves three different types of steamed buns.

These are the Lime Chicken Baos, with butternut squash and fresh herbs, characterized by their yellow exterior. The beef is red on top, and the vegetable buns are not colored.

I tried the Bulgogi Beef Bao with Sweet Chilies, Potatoes and the Spiced Vegetable Bao with Chickpeas, Braised Vegetables.

I also got the spicy skipper’s sauce for an extra $0.59. It actually had a nice kick and enhanced the bao’s greatly. They’re not Tokyo Disney quality, to be honest, but they’re still pretty good and worth trying!

From the Dole Whip stand, order the Loaded Whip: pineapple and orange (or raspberry) swirl, exotic fruit (pineapples, mango, lychee, and tangerine in this case), crystallized hibiscus, and Pocky Sticks. A fantastic, summer-y dessert that is really good!

There are also some cool details by the utensils stand.

Look closely at the oars, and there might be some familiar names.

Like Dr. Albert Falls, after whom Sweitzer Falls is famously named.

And there’s also some representation for the Society of Explorers and Adventurers! S.E.A. originated in Tokyo Disney Sea as a backstory for its Tower of Terror and also has a presence at Hong Kong Disneyland’s Mystic Manor. It’s great to see an Easter egg for it here again, after one was added earlier this year at the Bengal BBQ indoor dining area.

Finally, Rosita the Tiki Room bird has relocated out here.

She’s starting her solo career in showbiz.

It mainly consists of telling corny jokes, fitting for the ride beside her.

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But she’s a great feature to a wonderful addition to Adventureland!

Marvel Land Construction

In other news, Marvel Land is continuing to get built. There’s dirt and stuff.

If you glimpse closely, you can see a dirt mound growing. It’s right in front of Guardians of the Galaxy from this angle.

At this point, there’s not much to see anyway.

Pixar Pier Construction

Hey, remember Pixar Pier? It’s still not done yet! Jessie’s Critter Carousel and Inside Out: Emotional Whirlwind have yet to be completed. The former has been going… steadily? …for a while now. It’s tough to imagine that it would take 18 months to retheme a carousel, but hey… Pixar Pier.

Meanwhile, a small bit of activity seems to be emerging from the Inside Out site. A stick! Or pole. Or something. I dunno… I didn’t ride the Incredicoaster or get myself to any other elevated vantagepoint that might afford more detail. In any case, if you didn’t hear, this will be the relocated and rethemed Flik’s Flyers ride. Hopefully, it turns out nicely.

Jessie’s Critter Carousel continues along.

Slowly, it would seem. Though the roof structure has been repainted.

It’s due to open in the spring, so we’ll see how it comes along!

Over at the Inside Out ride site…

Not much from ground level.

But there appears to be a construction trailer and a single pole?

Bing Bong Unveiled

In the past month, one Pixar Pier feature that has been completed is the Bing Bong non-animatronic at Bing Bong’s Sweet Stuff. it’s a static version of the cute character from Inside Out, and just like in the movie, he’s a cotton candy elephant beast that cries candy and rides rainbows. It’s actually kind of cute, though an actual animatronic would have been cooler. Given the retail nature of the setting, this is fine.

The work walls came down a couple of weeks ago at Bing Bong’s central display.

Finally.

Here’s what he looks like!

I actually do think it looks great.

Bing Bong is static, but .he tosses out a few lines every couple of minutes.

He adds well to the ambiance.

Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge

Finally, we come to next year’s highly anticipated hotness. Our views from the parking structure pretty much show the same they’ve been showing for a while… the backside of rock. It’s beginning to look like anything outside of park view is not going to be covered, which is resulting in some very peculiar looking structures from along Disneyland Drive. It’s a shame that Disney keeps on doing this, although at least the illusion is fully preserved on stage (looking at you, Hollywood Hogwarts!). But It seems to me that the parking structure is still part of the Resort and thus should have a show presence there too, and seeing straight into the rooftop HVAC kind of ruins the illusion before it can even be set. That’s me being nitpicky, but it does kind of bother me, especially once you get over to the rock tower “trees” that are arising.

Now, Disney could still be planning on covering these items in a manner similar to the backside of Cars Land’s Cadillac Range. It just does not appear to be the case at all based on current progress.

On the plus side, the interwebs has provided a look inside Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge over the past month or two. NearMap, for example, has provided aerial images of parts of “Star Wars” Land. Disney also tweeted out a gorgeous photo of the Millennium Falcon docked at the Black Spire Outpost of Batuu as the sun was setting. And there have also been some cool teaser videos announcing the two E-Tickets of Galaxy’s Edge…

And also a behind-the scenes of the development and progress that features exciting on-ride footage and in-land visualizations.

All fantastic things to get excited about! Just don’t think about the crowds that will be pouring into Disneyland next summer.

Panning around from Mickey and Friends one last time this year…

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The rocks keep progressing from this angle.

And they’re starting to look a little funny from the outside.

The plastering of the rockwork is slowly progressing but looks wonky at this incomplete phase.

Fortunately, these guys at least look like they’ll have rockwork completed to the base.

The rockwork looks largely complete here, though.

And it looks like there will be obvious visibility into the guts of the petrified trees.

Kind of a bummer.

They look great from within the park.

Just not so much on this side.

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They’ve walled up the old opening that used to be here.

Plenty of visible rooftop equipment, though.

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They do appear to be doing more concealing at this end.

The rockwork curls over the top and down the back over here.

This opening is also being walled up.

And they’re cleaning up the utility yard.

Hmm… not enough Porgs.

“Star Wars” Land from the distance of Mickey and Friends.

And here’s a super special nighttime look at Batuu!!

And that does it for this Friday Disney update from the parks. If you are actually headed to the parks this weekend or next week, bring your patience. There will be throngs upon throngs of other guests, long waits for pretty much everything, and plenty of activity. It’s the busiest time of the entire year!

Noo bah!