Disneyland UPDATE! Critter Country CONSTRUCTION, Pixar Fest Marketplaces Ready, New Characters

This week at Disneyland, work continues on major projects for Disneyland Park, and a big Pixar Fest offering is about to debut as the celebration continues.

There is a lot of construction currently happening on the west side of the park in New Orleans Square and Critter Country as reimaginings are underway. See our update from last week for a look at the Tiana's Bayou Adventure and Haunted Mansion construction. For a full list of ride closures, be sure to see our Disneyland ride refurbishment guide as you are planning your visit this summer.

Today, we have a new look at the construction in Critter Country, some new character experiences at the parks, and the Pixar Fest Marketplaces that are ready for their debut tomorrow. We will take you through everything new at Disneyland this week! Our Mickey Visit team is at Disneyland weekly to bring you the latest from the parks.

Pixar Fest Marketplaces Ready!

We were starting to see some of the Pixar Fest Marketplaces pop up last week in preparation for their opening tomorrow, May 10. Now, the remainder of the Marketplaces have appeared! They are super cute, and we love the signs for each of them. See the Marketplace booth, The Spark, inspired by Soul below with a treble clef symbol in place of the “S.”

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Here's the adorable 4*Town Fav*4*ites Marketplace booth with Panda Mei peeking out from behind the sign.

Here is the Portorosso Pasta Marketplace inspired by Luca which will be serving summertime dishes inspired by the Italian coast.

You can see everything you need to know about the Pixar Fest foods that are being offered during the celebration in our full guide! These marketplaces have some fun offerings, and guests may find some new favorites here during the celebration's multi-month run.

The Pixar Fest map for Disney California is also up now showing the locations of the Marketplaces around the park, the parade route, and Club Pixar. We recommend saving this to refer to if you're planning on enjoying the Marketplace offerings so that you can plan ahead and navigate your route more easily.

New Character Meet and Greet Backdrop at Disney California Adventure

Another new interesting addition as Pixar Fest continues at the Disneyland Resort is the addition of a character meet-and-greet backdrop near the Eureka water wheel in Disney California Adventure. Given that this is the same backdrop that we saw for Meilin and Ming Lee during Lunar New Year, we can assume that this is where a Turning Red meet-and-greet will take place.

Turning Red has been featured in other Pixar Fest festivities including the new daytime parade at Disney California Adventure and “Together Forever – A Pixar Nighttime Spectacular” at Disneyland Park.

Bruno Meeting Guests at Paradise Gardens Park

During a recent visit, we spotted Bruno from Encanto at Paradise Gardens Park! We have previously only ever seen Bruno during the Oogie Boogie Bash parties at Disney California Adventure and he was quite a popular character experience, so it's nice to see that he is greeting guests here. Looking at character appearances on the Disneyland app, it appears that Bruno may be alternating with Mirabel in this space.

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Little Mermaid Line Entrance Moved Back to Original Spot

A relatively recent addition is that the entrance has moved back to its original spot for The Little Mermaid – Ariel's Undersea Adventure attraction. You can see the new queue signs for the attraction as well as the Lightning Lane touch points with starfish on top where guests can scan for entry. The Little Mermaid – Ariel's Undersea Adventure was added to the list of rides offering Genie+ Lightning Lane entry late last year.

Critter Country Construction

Over at Disneyland Park, the majority of Critter Country is currently closed as construction takes place to introduce two new Princess and the Frog retail shops to the area, Ray's Berets and Louis' Critter Club. This is currently in the early stages of construction as you can see above, and Disneyland has not yet shared an opening date for the shops or the area as a whole. These pictures are of the view of Critter Country from the train.

It looks like the hardscape in the land is being completely redone. At Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World, where the Tiana's Bayou Adventure attraction is further ahead for construction we have started to see new hardscape rockwork. I bet we see some of that here.

This area of the park is under heavy construction in general as work on the Haunted Mansion grounds expansion is also underway. Tiana's Bayou Adventure is opening later in 2024, though we don't have an exact time frame yet.

Scaffolding Removed at City Hall

The scaffolding which has been up at City Hall at Disneyland has finally been removed. The building is looking great after refurbishment!

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