Disneyland

In what is becoming Disneyland's least celebrated annual event, the park has once again raised the price on its benchmark one-day admission. Last month, the park boosted its adult single-day entry fee to $34. That's up $1, or 3%, over the 1995 entry price. Disney is also squeezing the kids for an extra buck this year, bumping their admission to $26. It's Disney's sixth gate increase of the 1990s, and it brings the tab for admission and parking for a family of four to a not-so-whimsical $126.

On a cold, gray winter's morning recently, the entrance to the Magic Kingdom was humming. Workers bundled in Snow White-like woolen capes were cheerily welcoming visitors with a bonjour and feeding plastic tickets into purring, clicking turnstiles. "When you're here, you have the impression that you're somewhere else. Not in France, but in another world," marveled Isabelle Lefloch, 32, of Paris, a regular visitor with two young children in tow. "It's wonderful for the kids, of course.

A recovering economy and record attendance at Disneyland helped attract 38.2 million visitors to Orange County last year, a 3.1% increase over 1994, according to the annual tourist count prepared by the Anaheim/Orange County Visitor & Convention Bureau. Tourism in the county pumped an estimated $5.1 billion into the Southland economy, up 4% from the previous year. The annual tourism figure is the highest since 1989, when a record 39.5 million people visited Orange County.

A bidding war looms for Anaheim's financially troubled Grand Hotel after a Bankruptcy Court judge ruled Thursday that all three plans to revive the Disneyland neighbor may be viable. Judge Alan Ahart in Los Angeles said he would approve one of the plans, including the high bid of $12.2 million from a Walt Disney Co. subsidiary, after a hearing in mid-April at the earliest. The date has not been set. Disney would not comment on its intended use for the 242-room hotel.

The Walt Disney Co. unveiled its new Disneyland administration building Thursday, although the screaming yellow, cartoon-like structure had little trouble announcing its own presence. "Must run on batteries," quipped Anaheim Mayor Tom Daly, squinting as much from the building's Dick Tracy yellow exterior as from the morning sun reflecting off its cockeyed, stucco walls with their undulating metal canopies.

Royal Radtke tightened his grip on a framed $50,000 check Thursday and shook his head. "This is going to make such a difference in so many children's lives," he said. "You don't even know." More children in Orange County who are in danger of being abused or turned away from their homes will be able to find help, he said, because of the money.

"Glowing, glowing . . . gone!" That's the slogan Disneyland is using to spread the news that, after a run of nearly a quarter of a century, the park is pulling the plug on its Main Street Electrical Parade in October. But many fans of the parade, which uses about 750,000 bulbs, aren't taking the news of a farewell season, well, lightly. "I just love this parade," Kimberly Wells, 20, said at the park earlier this week. "I don't know why they're getting rid of it."

Sleeping Beauty probably needed the rest after standing in lines all day at Disneyland. With the peak summer months coming and adult admission now at $34, Disney chat sites on the Internet have been buzzing with gripes about the long waits. Disneyland spokesman Tom Brocato said those concerns have reached the Mouse's ears. The park's operations group is working on ways to speed the lines at the most popular attractions. "We're expecting a very busy summer," Brocato said.

It's urban renewal time in Frontierland. Disneyland constructioneers are bulldozing the old Big Thunder Ranch to make way for the Festival of Fools, a live stage show to accompany Disney's upcoming animated feature, "The Hunchback of Notre Dame." It's just the latest in a string of tie-ins and cross promotions Disney has devised to plug its films and merchandise in its theme parks. Witness the Lion King parade and the Pocahontas and Toy Story live stage shows currently running at Disneyland.

When the Mike Fink Keelboats returned to the waters of Frontierland last month, it marked one of the rare times that Disneyland officials have brought a scuttled attraction out of retirement. Few park guests even noticed when the pokey boats and their crusty, wisecracking river pilots were hauled into dry-dock in mid-1994.