‘Edgy’ Entertainment for New Disney Park

Walt Disney Co. is curbing Mickey Mouse and his buddies in favor of hip-hop music and streetwise scenes for live entertainment at its new California Adventure park, employees said Wednesday.

Disney gave its park employees a sneak preview Wednesday of an elaborate stage show based on well-known Disney music and a parade that includes seven huge floats. But the Mouse and his cronies will be noticeably absent.

The planned entertainment, which employees said was described as “edgy,” underlines Disney’s efforts to create a distinct, hipper image for the new park, which opens in February as part of a $1.4-billion expansion of Disneyland.

The parade will be called “Disney’s Eureka Parade,” subtitled “Come Away With Me,” and will be presented once or twice a day in the afternoon.

At a morning briefing for park workers, executives said the exaggerated, peppy dance steps used in Disneyland parades will be avoided in the new parade celebrating California.

Instead, viewers will see an urban street-themed Los Angeles float with bungee jumping from two miniature Watts Towers, BMX riders and in-line skaters sailing on and off a beach-themed float, a Hispanic-themed float and a float with stilt walkers costumed as Chinese food takeout boxes perched on chopsticks, a tribute of sorts to San Francisco’s Chinatown.

“There were three different presenters, and they used the word ‘edgy’ about 30 times,” one Disneyland worker said.

The 25-minute stage show will be presented from five to 10 times daily at the 2,000-seat Hyperion Theater in California Adventure’s Hollywood Backlot section.

Described as polished and contemporary, it includes snippets of music from popular Disney park attractions and movies, including the last full-length animated feature that creator Walt Disney worked on, “The Jungle Book,” as well as his first, “Snow White.”

The latter segment ends with a singer playing Snow White lifted into the air as images from the movie are projected onto a screen formed by her huge “gown” trailing under her.

“Parts of it are like a Las Vegas floor show,” the employee said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “They made a big deal out of bringing Broadway to Anaheim.”

The new park also will be heavy on what Disney calls “streetmosphere,” entertainment themed to specific areas and attractions. For example, in the park’s Condor Flats area, which simulates a high-desert aerospace facility, a group of a cappella singers will wear pilot, baggage handler and mechanic costumes.

In its expansion, Disney is putting finishing touches on the $186-million Grand Californian luxury hotel and the $159-million Downtown Disney entertainment mall as complements to the $1.1-billion park.

Its intent is to lengthen the stays of tourists who now spend only a day or two at Disneyland.