LPWire: Santa's Beach Blast New Holiday Feature at DCA

photo: LaughingPlace.com

‘Santa's Beach Blast' is New Holiday Feature at Disney's California Adventure™

Every day now through January 4, Sunshine Plaza in Disney’s California Adventure park is transformed into “Santa’s Beach Blast,” a continuous party where classic holiday images and Disney characters collide with contemporary California beach culture in a merry celebration of the season.

Blending surf- and holiday-inspired images, a colorful beach atmosphere fills the plaza. Two lifeguard towers form an entry portal, and the reindeer Dasher and Dancer are the “lifeguards on duty” by way of lifelike sculptures manning the towers.

The plaza’s planters are filled with beach sand, seashells, palm trees and personalized surfboards for Santa’s reindeer, and a central performance area features a giant palm tree and thatched hut surrounded by sand-like sculptures. Santa Claus, dressed for surfin’, greets guests and poses for photos near a sleigh styled after a Woody wagon.

Lilo and Stitch occasionally appear with Surf’s Up, a rock band that performs on a stage decorated for the season with bamboo, tikis, thatch and seashell garland. Guests can join Lilo and her pal in dancing to the music and challenge themselves in a limbo contest under a garland-decked bamboo pole.

Other Disney characters have also hit the beach. Goofy and Max teach “surfing techniques;” Mickey and Minnie spread holiday cheer; and Pluto appears near a “sand snowman” that guests can decorate. Disney Channel’s Playhouse Disney stars Olie, Zowie and Stanley also join in the fun.

At a “sandcastle wreath toss,” kids can win candy canes by “decorating” a giant sandcastle with wreaths that they toss onto pegs. And for some upbeat music, the performing groups Groove ’66 and Road Trip entertain throughout the day.

“Santa’s Beach Blast” takes on a beautiful look after dark, with lights and starfish ornaments strung in canopy fashion toward the central palm tree. Nighttime entertainment includes performances by the band Road Trip, along with Santa and the Disney characters continuing to greet guests.

The entire Disneyland® Resort is transformed into “The Merriest Place on Earth” through January 4. In addition to “Santa’s Beach Blast,” Disney’s California Adventure also features “The Magic of Brother Bear,” a new show and play area themed to Brother Bear, Disney’s new animated feature; hundreds of decorations throughout the park; “Playhouse Disney – Live on Stage!;” the twinkling lights of “Disney’s Electrical Parade;” and a host of kid-sized attractions in “a bug’s land.”

Disneyland showcases the spooky but silly “Haunted Mansion Holiday” attraction; “Believe… In Holiday Magic” nightly fireworks capped by an amazing snowfall; the “it’s a small world holiday” attraction; scores of colorful decorations and lights; and “A Christmas Fantasy” parade that begins daily performances on November 21.

It’s a whole new world of magic at the Disneyland Resort, for general information call (714) 781-4565 or www.disneyland.com.

--Posted November 14, 2003
Source: Disneyland Resort
Images: LaughingPlace.com