2017 - August 24th - Disneyland - Re-Opening of Rivers of America and Disneyland Railroad

We visited Disneyland today to see the newly opened Rivers of America and Disneyland Railroad. Both have been closed for a year as they had to be re-figured for the addition of Star Wars Land construction going on for the planned opening in 2019. We wanted to see the new additions and upgrades that Disney is so good at performing. It's always nice to see an old standby have some new life breathed into it! From the top of of the Mickey and Friends parking structure we could see that there has been a lot of progress in the construction phase of Star Wars Land. Inside of the park we rode the train the full circle to see the views of the various lands from the railroad. Afterwards we rode the steamship Mark Twain around the Rivers of America. The pictures are from both. It was wonderful to see all of these areas once again ... almost like a new adventure! The train discovered new breathtaking views. Along the Banks of the Rivers of America, we see landscapes inspired by four of America’s majestic rivers: the Mississippi, the Columbia, the Missouri and the Rio Grande. Each are carefully recreated, complete with indigenous rock formations, natural forests and wildlife and five picturesque waterfalls. The train now traverses across several trestles elevated above the river and it makes a left-hand turn to continue around the park. This is the very first time the Disneyland Railroad is circling to the left around the park! All of the restored sites are wonderful! Included in the tour are Walt Disney’s legendary dioramas of the Grand Canyon and Primeval World. They’ve been carefully restored to their original splendor, with a bit of new magic added to both! The train makes four convenient stops: Main Street, U.S.A. (where we boarded for the full circle ride), Tomorrowland. New Orleans Square (where we departed the 2nd time) and Mickey's Toontown. To start the tour, here's the train and the famous Lilly Belle car that Walt designed and named for his wife Lillian.

From the train we could see The Rivers of America and the Mark Twain Steamboat ... Along the route there are lots of scenery, rock formations, the Indian Village, deer, elk, moose, eagle nest, beavers, mountain lions and much more. All of the pictures in the complete album are captioned, so just a few are shown here:

The train through the Grand Canyon and The Primeval World was fun too. Disney has added many details, projections and lighting effects that enhance the experience. The photos are not too good as the train is moving and a lot of what we are seeing is behind glass. Oh well, they give a sampling anyway! Seeing the backside of of some of the lands is always fun ... another perspective! Just a few examples:

And then just walking the new walkways through areas that have been partitioned off for construction and seeing the new landscape was great too. We even found two entrances at the end of the new paths that will be going into Star Wars when it is complete and open. We enjoyed seeing it all and walking around.

All of the day's pictures are in the album link here.