Disneygeek - Geek Speaks - 6/15/18 - Thoughts and observations from Friday at the Disneyland Resort

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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.

6/15/18 - Thoughts and observations from Friday at the Disneyland Resort

I spent a full day at the Disneyland Resort on Friday. Crowds in the parks felt summer busy with healthy waits at many attractions.. The weather was moderate topping out in the low 80s and cooling down to the 60s after sunset.

Trip Updates: This past week I posted two more days from my May Walt Disney World trip. So now 6 of 8 full picture sets are posted plus thoughts & observations and videos from all days. Asia - I have videos, thoughts & observations from all days posted. Full pictures sets from all but one Tokyo day are posted. More coming to all three trips in the coming days/weeks.

Thoughts and Observations:

Arriving at the Disneyland Resort has become a challenge in recent years with it not uncommon to find large parking and/or backups at security, transportation or turnstiles. We arrived in Anaheim early in an effort to minimize traffic on the freeway. It was 7:30am and I was unsure if parking was open or if I would have to sit and wait till 8am so we opted to grab a bite to eat then head to the structure to park. That turned out to be a wrong call as it took about a half hour to get through the backup and into a spot. A friend showed up later in the morning and it took slightly longer for them to make it through security on the Harbor Blvd side. More parking and more parking lanes cannot come soon enough. Also it may have been helpful to have more cast members. Most booths only had one person working two lanes. It saves some time if there is one CM per lane.
Speaking of parking relief there were a large number of support columns rising for the new structure. It is great to see so much visible progress in such a compressed time frame.
Just as with previous visits the visible progress across Disneyland Drive at the Star Wars site is minimal at best. The buildings and trees are blocking views of all the ongoing unfortunately.
Incredibles 2 buttons were being passed out as you entered the parks this morning. I think these giveaways are a nice extra and guests really seem to appreciate them. I also saw some activity books but I did not find out where they were passing those out.
We found it funny how throughout the morning it seemed no matter where we went the Disneyland Band was there.. we exited the Monorail and they were in Tomorrowland. Disembarked the Mark Twain and they were in Frontierland. Waited for a friend in the hub and they were performing in front of the Castle. As we made our way over to DCA they were performing in Town Square. Returned to Tomorrowland later in the day to see the preview for Ant-Man and they were back in Tomorrowland performing.
It seemed there were staffing cutbacks around the park. For example we stopped by the Jungle Cruise and looked in the queue and saw almost no guests. The sign said 20 minutes though. Figured someone was playing with it potentially so got in line. We made it onto the second boat that showed up. But it took over 10 minutes due to the small number of boats that were running. Another example, later in the day we were in Cars Land. Mater pulled out of the Cozy Cone and no one replaced him. We were in the area for a good half hour and no sign of another car.
On our cruise aboard the Mark Twain the top deck was roped off again and this time they left it that way the entire cruise. Later in the day the deck was open.
While in line for Pirates of the Caribbean spotted Redd. First time seeing her in the park. She was walking along the Rivers of America and talking with guests. I was too far away to hear what she was saying though.
Speaking of Pirates of the Caribbean.. the wait times seemed to be between 30-45 minutes most of the day after the initial morning slowness. FastPass is still not being used so the lines move quickly.
I used Mobile Order for both lunch and dinner. I ran into my first hiccup with the system. You cannot order a plain hamburger. You can say no sauce and no cheese. But there is no option to say no to lettuce, tomato or other toppings that may be included. Why not offer a plain button? Or option to say no to each individual topping offered? Smokejumpers Grill was extremely slow in filling the mobile order, just like they are with the regular lines. Tomorrowland Terrace (or Galactic Grill) was much more efficient. Also interesting to note there they tell you which counter to go to pick up your order there..
Over at Disney California Adventure Pixar Pier had more crews working than I had seen before. In one picture I took I counted over 30 people visible. Teams were working full speed to finish exterior facades, do landscaping, and other details throughout the project as they make the final push ahead of opening next week. Festivities begin Thursday & Friday then the official opening on Saturday.
The 2018 Disneyland All-American College Band has started their summer. Friday was their second day in the park. I went to four out of five sets. I am not a fan of the later set times. They now have sets going until after 10pm which is later than I typical stay at the park since I have a long drive home. The sets this year at least are stationary so you do not have to chase them down the parade route and several new pieces of music are included so that is fun. Ron is not leading the band this year. Friday all sets had the TA leading. For it being only their second day in the park the group seemed fairly polished and appeared to be having fun.
On Main Street Friday I spotted Up! Balloons for sale and they seemed to be quite popular with guests. I thought they were well done and a great option for Pixar Fest. The detail of the house below the below was great to see. It also lit up at night.