Hello all,

Friday was an overcast and cool day. It felt more like winter than spring at the Disneyland Resort. Highs were in the 60s and we never really had any sun shine. It was breezy and just before 9:30 it started to rain to cap off the night. The parks felt crowded as you walked around, but the wait times were not that bad with most under an hour. Even the Racers were in the 60-75 min range as the afternoon/evening went on.

Jason

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

Thoughts and Observations:

• Downtown Disney was hosting a Million Dollar Arm Pitching Contest to promote the upcoming film. The event was located in the area between Earl of Sandwich and ESPN Zone. When I walked by they were putting the finishing touches on the set up. There were four mounds to throw from and they were clocking your speed. Everyone who participated got 2 tickets to a screening of the film in the evening. Nine finalists would advance to Hollywood for the premiere on May 6th. The film opens May 16th. It looked like they were expecting a fairly good crowd judging by the number of Cast Members they had stationed around the area and working inside. I never did make it back later in the day once it got rolling. When I was there only a handful of guests were participating. Did any of you participate? What did you think of the event? The movie?
  
  
• Since I was in Downtown Disney hopped on the Monorail to the park. It appears that the original track layout for Alice is staying. You can see new supports as well as temporary markers testing clearances and distances. I posted a couple pictures. I think this is great that it is staying as it was. The internet rumor had been they were going to re-configure and remove much of the outdoor portion.
  
  
• Small World is closed once again after its brief couple weeks of up time to celebrate its 50th anniversary. My understanding is they are wrapping up the backstage/safety work. Judging by what I saw on my last visit nothing substantial had really been done to the guest areas.
  
  
• I stopped by the Big Thunder Ranch Jamboree and the Springtime Roundup has lost its Easter decorations, egg decorators, and entertainment but the area was still open for pictures with characters and the performing arts groups. When I stopped by only two characters were out (Thumper and Brer Rabbit). At the top of the hour they headed backstage. Baloo and Mickey came out then. The area was really empty. If not for the group watching the performing arts group it would have been nearly empty. They are advertising the ranch in the time guide as a place to meet characters. But seems it is not able to draw guests. The good news is if you are looking for some quality character time it seems to be a great spot most of the time still.
  
  
• While passing through Adventureland spotted some new merchandise (or at least new to me). The good news is it was Adventureland specific and featured plates, salt and pepper shakers, mugs. The bad news is it seemed to be from WDW and not Disneyland. The dishes looked to be straight out of the Polynesian Resort. This was confirmed later in my visit when I found more of the trash can salt and pepper shakers and the Frontierland one listed the Railroad Station (Disneyland does not have one there and WDW does).
  
  
• Stopped by the Disney Gallery and Disneyana to show the Mechanical Kingdoms exhibit to some friends who had not seen it. In Disneyana they have a check signed by Walt for sale.. the IRS quarterly tax check sold and they have another, this time for a senate race.
  
  
• At Disney California Adventure Maleficent has taken over the Bugs Theater for a sneak peek. The film opens in theaters May 30th and stars Angelina Jolie. The sneak peek was about 10 minutes and featured an extended scene (where the fairies are bestowing their gifts on Aurora) and then some clips that have been in the trailers/video releases. To play the movie the theater projection system was upgraded and the picture quality was incredible. Should be interesting to see how the Tough to Be a Bug film looks when it returns. This is still one of my least favorite theaters. The hard bench seats just are not comfortable. Note if you have small children or others who are easily frightened you may want to skip this preview. It is dark, loud, and could be scary to some. The showing I went to was somewhere between 1/2 and 2/3 full. There was some signage out front, but I did not notice anything inside for the film. They did remove the bug movie posters from the inside queue.
  
  
• As you saw in the pictures the Wharf area renovation project continues. Its looking good, but taking a long time. The other news out of the Wharf area is Ghirardelli is now passing out minis as the free sample instead of the regular squares. They are smaller, but still just as good. Was happy to see the return of caramel with milk chocolate as the sample.
  
  
• Redwood Creek has partially returned after its lengthy down time. It appeared to look about the same as it did last time I visited. No substantial changes jumped out to me. The rope bridges were still closed. It looks like they replaced some of the rope and supports and installed new pads. Guessing it will open any day.
  
  
• Across the path Grizzly River Run has closed for its annual work. Not sure why they pushed it to be late spring. Seems it should have been done in the winter months not as things are supposed to warm up. I am sure this upcoming week with temps forecasted to hit 90 guests will be looking for it.
  
  
• Remember Dreams Come true finishes its current run this week. Next weekend Magical takes over the skies for the summer. Unfortunately the show was cancelled due to winds on Friday evening so I did not get to see it one last time.
  
  
• It started to drizzle as I made my way down Main Street after the fireworks cancellation and the rain kept picking up. It was fairly steady by the time I reached Town Square. Of course my umbrella and rain jacket were in the car. Weather.com kept saying a slight chance after 10pm.. someone forgot to tell Mother Nature though and it arrived ahead of schedule. I always forget how this is close to no cover between the train station and tram. It became apparent Friday as I walked in the rain and then waited for the next tram. Luckily it was pulling in as I walked up. But still I managed to get fairly wet.
  
  

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Interesting Web Finds/Notes:

• Disney Related Press Releases
  • 4/22/14 - Dateline Disney: May/June 2014
    
  • 4/20/14 - Fit For Royalty! Happily-Ever-After Dreams Come True at Princess Fairytale Hall, Now Including Anna and Elsa From ‘Frozen’
    
  • 4/14/14 - Disneyland Resort Restaurants Win 12 Awards at Southern California Restaurant Writers Banquet
  • 4/08/14 -  Find out what is takes to be an animator at The Walt Disney Family Museum’s Animation Summer Camps! in the Presidio of San Francisco
    
  • 03/31/14 - The Force is Strong at Disney’s Hollywood Studios: Star Wars Weekends Adds Another Weekend and New Dining in 2014
    
    Note: I post home video releases and some other releases to the Geek's Blog
    
    
• Interesting Web Finds:
  • I have been posting my web finds to the Geek's Blog as I find them/have time to post them.
    
    

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

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