Jackson Family Plans Public Viewing at Neverland Ranch

UPDATE: Never(land) mind.

The transformation of Neverland Ranch to the West Coast Graceland has begun:

Michael Jackson's body will be taken to his Neverland Ranch in Santa Barbara County for a public viewing to be held Friday, CNN reported Tuesday.

The body will be taken to the ranch on Thursday, the cable news station reported, but no further details on the viewing have been released yet. A private memorial service will held Sunday.

The Associated Press reports that Santa Barbara County officials are in a meeting about Michael Jackson plans, and E! Online is reporting they are discussing a possible memorial service at Neverland Ranch.

Lt. Butch Arnoldi tells E!: “Our guys are meeting as we speak with the California Highway Patrol to discuss the security issues.”

Santa Barbara County Fire spokesman Capt. David Sadecki confirmed to The Associated Press that fire officials, California Highway Patrol and county sheriffs officials were meeting Tuesday morning to discuss “the whole Michael Jackson thing.”

“The Santa Barbara County Fire Department is willing to accommodate the Jackson family with whatever request they have regarding a funeral procession should they have one,” Sadecki told The Associated Press.

Hwy 101 is going to be such a mess. If you live in Santa Barbara - GET OUT!

I'm really surprised they're not going to do a big mass event in Los Angeles, such as the Lakers did at the Coliseum. The highway up to the Neverland area will never be able to hold the traffic that's likely to head there, and should they do a funeral procession to move the body up prior to Friday, it'll be the OJ Simpson chase writ HUGE. What a spectacle that'll be.

UPDATE: Word is there will be some sort of procession up to Neverland on Thursday, and the public viewing will continue on both Friday and Saturday. That basically means that Highway 101 and the connecting roads around Neverland will be out of commission for days.