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Welcome to the disneygeek.com Geek Speaks section. In this section I will post my comments on trips to the parks or other Disney related events.

4/19/24 - Disneyland Resort

Hello Everyone!

Friday was a relaxing day for me at the Disneyland Resort. I had a very small picture list and just roamed the parks for the afternoon. After sunset met up with some friends to visit and watch the fireworks. The crowds were moderate most of the day with wait times under an hour for almost everything most of the day. As normal as the sun began to set the crowds grew. The weather started off overcast cool. The temps never left the 60s but the mid afternoon sun made it feel warmer then it cooled down again in the evening.

Thoughts and Observations:

  • I had moderate luck in my parking adventure. Only had to wait for half a light cycle at Ball and then no wait at the tollbooth or on the floor. Was directed into the middle of the Cars Level in the Pixar Pals Structure so not a great location. No wait at security or for a tram so it was about 20 minutes from parking to the gate.
  • There were a handful of temporary lights in the Mickey and Friends Tram stop at Downtown Disney. They were up and running when I left. They looked to just be providing extra lighting for the roadways.
  • Pixar Fest continues to take over. The Esplanade has a large sculpture/photo op taking shape. Then in Disneyland another sculpture is installed where the Christmas Tree normally goes in Town Square. The Pixar Fest decorations seem very out of place on Main Street (and Buena Vista Street) but seem to go better in Downtown Disney and the Esplanade. The celebration kicks off next Friday with the new parade and other entertainment.
  • Star Wars: Season of the Force continues through June 2nd, so it will overlap with Pixar Fest for a month+. It really is a fairly low key celebration with no additional entertainment or decorations in Tomorrowland this time around. The Seek and Find game continues. There is a new trading card every two weeks. This week C-3PO was released. So I now have the first two. Unfortunately the game did not change. It is the same board, cylinders and decoders.. so the repeat of play is not great. If you really want to challenge yourself try it after dark. Most of the cylinders are not in areas with lights so it is extremely challenging. Even knowing where they are and pointing people to them they had a hard time seeing the inscriptions.. I pointed them to my blog post with pictures to help.
  • Over at Disney California Adventure this is the final weekend for the Food and Wine Festival. It seems to be limping to the finish line. Marketplaces did not have huge waits the few times I walked through the area but most had a steady flow of guests. Soarin' Over California was on my list to try and visit but was in the 35-45 min range which was outside my patience so I did not make it on this year.
  • The Little Mermaid queue project looks just about done. They have installed Lightning Lane scanners. I am assuming chains will go up to divide the walkway and both sets of guests will enter again through the regular entrance. I was expecting a railing to be installed the length of the queue forming the two lines.
  • Speaking of Lightning Lane returns the system seemed a little overwhelmed Friday with extended queues in use for Toy Story, Incredicoaster and Grizzly River Run. Surprisingly Soarin' was flowing nicely, usually it backs up.
  • As I walked around the parks and Downtown Disney a large number of lamp posts and speaker posts have been removed. Assuming this is due to the recent incidents with a couple falling over plus the regular renovation cycle.
  • The Paseo and Centrico project is wrapping up in Downtown Disney. The walls have been removed and Centrico had test diners there. The other locations were not open but looked ready to go. The grand opening is slated for May 2nd I believe.
  • Out on the West Side not a lot of visible progress. Incremental progress on the buildings. The concrete work looked the same. It was easier to see this week with the scrims rolled up for some reason.
  • Returned to Disneyland a few minutes before the 5:30pm Magic Happens Parade so found a spot in Town Square to watch the parade.
  • Stopped by Star Tours which had a 15 min wait posted but looked shorter. Of course one or two of the cabins went down when I was a couple groups from boarding. They announced that wait times would be longer. We saw groups go from the right to left in front of us. Oddly enough they kept taking guests from the right hand queue and those of us in the left had to stand there for several load cycles before we were sent to a gate on the right. The cast member at the merge point was letting guests choose which lane since there was not really a backup and I choose poorly.
  • After 6pm your entertainment choices were very limited tonight. The band in New Orleans Square and the projection show were not scheduled. There was nothing in Tomorrowland. From 6ish until fireworks there was nothing on the entertainment schedule. So the final 5+ hours of park operation had a fireworks show and that was it.
  • Rise of the Resistance seemed to be having a challenging day. It was down most of the afternoon and early evening, coming up a few time but then closing again according to the app. Runaway Railroad the Car Toon Spin were down as the sun was setting. I had not been to Toontown so I stopped by and managed to walk onto Railway when it reopened.
  • Fire of the Rising Moon takes place on nights when the park has fireworks. This is a new sound track that is played throughout Black Spire Outpost as the fireworks go off overhead. This started a few weeks ago with the Season of the Force event and is scheduled to continue as a regular occurance beyond the event. I had not made it out to see them yet so it was on my list this evening. I showed up about 10 minutes prior to show time and managed to get a spot in the back on the terrace overlooking the Millennium Falcon courtyard. It was not an ideal spot with lights, umbrellas and guests in the way, but it offered an overview of the area and was available. Also since I was in the back I could hold the camera above people's head. The distinctive Star Wars music was great to hear and the show worked ok. There were some long pauses with no fireworks that were a tad awkward and the show seemed to lag at times. It is a nice alternative and drew a healthy crowd with the viewing areas full. Cast members were directing guests out to the area by the speeder garage. Teh downside to watching fireworks from Batuu is the long hike to the park exit. I lucked out and it only added a little over 10 minutes to my exit.
  • The show was supposed to be Mickey's Mix Magic but it seemed grander than it should have been. Once I got back home and caught up on Twitter I learned they had previewed Together Forever the Pixar fireworks that premiere next Friday for Pixar Fest. So I got to see the newest version of the Fire of the Rising Moon, but missed the preview of the updates to the show.
  • As I drove down the ramp to exit the parking structure cars were stopped near the bottom and backed up all the way to the Ball Road light. They had not opened the open to use the overpass for the third and fourth levels. There was a CM working on setting up cones as I exited. Luckily he moved them and I was able to take the overpass saving several minutes.
  • A quick note for anyone who takes the 101 through Agoura Hills. They are installing the large beams that span the freeway for the mountain lion crossing. For the next week the 101 south bound lanes are closed over night then for two weeks the northbound will be closed overnight.


Here are some recent posts to the Geek's Blog:

Disney Related Press Releases

Be sure to check out the picture update that goes with this Geekspeak column, it can be found in our Disneyland Resort Pictorial Update section

Trip logs and mileage reports are in the Park Miles section.

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