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12/04/15 - Thoughts and observations from Friday at the Disneyland Resort.
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12/04/15 - Thoughts and observations from Friday at the Disneyland Resort.

Hello everyone,

Friday was a relaxing day at the Disneyland Resort for me. I had a very small picture list and just roamed around the parks, Grand Californian and Downtown Disney enjoying the holiday festivities. Crowds were normal with this time of year with moderate waits for most attractions except for the holiday and Star Wars ones which grew to be long in the evening as expected.

Jason

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

Thoughts and Observations:

  • Parking was a slow experience on Friday for me. No problems getting to the toll booths or to the ramp in the Mickey and Friends Structure but then things stopped. It took over 10 minutes to get from the ramp to a parking spot. First hold up was merging into one lane on the ramp. Then they were parking guests in the last row on Goofy. This process is extremely slow for some reason. It seems the concept of pulling into the space next to the car in front of you escapes many drivers. Cast Members were also a bit slow moving cones and the process as a whole was just slow. I ended up a dozen or so cars from the far corner of the garage.. always fun to hike the quarter mile to the tram stop from there after sitting and waiting for the bad parking spot so long.

  • First stop today was Disney California Adventure since I did not make it over there at all last trip. Always pleasant to enter the park as the Buena Vista Street Community Bell Ringers are performing. So stopped to enjoy their set and then moved on to pick up a Buena Vista Bugle in Carthay Circle. The Holiday edition is out and as always is a fun read. They did not have a news stand near the front entrance Red Car stop. So you could pick them up in the Cafe or by the wait time board. Also assuming in guest relations, but I did not stop by there.

  • Walked through Grizzly Peak Recreation Area and took some pictures of the new Christmas decorations throughout. This year there are some in the new Airfield area as well as the main walkway through the area. Overall they are a nice addition and fit well.

  • As of a little after 1pm you could still get a FastPass for the Blue section of World of Color - Winter Dreams. So it seems with the choice of shows tickets are available until later in the day for the early show. Wonder if that is because guests are choosing to see the later show or because they do not want to see Winter Dreams? I did not see what section Celebrate was distributing.

  • Out on Paradise Pier the Cover Bar expansion is inching along. This week there is steel up for the cover to match it to the existing building. Curious how this final structure will change the sight lines as you enter the Pier. It will hide Screamin for a bit longer if nothing else.

  • Over at Disneyland Town Square is being taken over by Candlelight preparations. I am disappointed I will miss it this year due to scheduling conflicts. The stage/set up looked the same as years past. Based on reports from the Saturday shows they tweaked the performance a bit. I have not seen a video yet but from what I saw on twitter the procession audio was new/updated and Away in a Manager replaced Candlelight Carol and the readings around it were modified slightly.

  • Walked through the crowd waiting for a Christmas Fantasy and stopped by Tomorrowland to pick up a FastPass for Star Tours. I choose unwisely and the machine I tried to use was not working properly. Found the cast member and explained what happened along with several other guests who had the same experience. After several minutes she disappeared to get the key to open the machine and returned and issued us everyone waiting FastPasses. Why is a cast member assigned to work the area and not provided the access? Seems poor to make guests have to wait 5 minutes for them to go get it and return. Also while she was gone no other cast member was there. So it was up to guests to inform other guests not to use the broken machine.

  • It is interesting this year they have characters out in their Christmas outfits along the Big Thunder trail. These characters would normally be in the Big Thunder Ranch but this year that is closed. Times were not listed on the park guide (I did not check the app), but when I walked by Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Pluto were all out. So if you are looking for the characters you may want to try the trail or ask a cast member.

  • As I made my way back to DCA found it funny that I managed to catch the last song of several performances.. this started with the Dapper Dans near the Market House, then the Firehouse Band in Town Square, then the Disneyland Band at the park entrance and finally the Buena Vista Street Community Bell Ringers over at DCA.

  • Caught the full Red Car News Boys show and just like last year they added a couple Christmas songs to the show and exit ride. Great to see. I would like to see more in their show and in Five and Dime too.

  • Ate dinner at White Water Snacks. It had been a while since I was last there. As usual it took a while for the food to show up, but when it did everything was fresh and hot so its a fair trade off.

  • Spent some time at the Grand Californian. This year there are several gingerbread houses. A traditional one in White Water Snacks, a village in Storytellers, and then the large one in the lobby. Also enjoyed a performance by a trio in the lobby. I wish they would publish the entertainment schedule somewhere.

  • Walked through Downtown Disney and the Winter Village. It was fairly calm with some guests enjoying the performance on the main stage. A fair number were ice skating this evening, many more than last time I was there. There are also horse drawn carriage rides. They pickup/drop off location was in an awkward spot and I did not see any signage really. I did not walk down to see pricing either.

  • My plan was to take the Monorail back to the park. Something was going on and Monorail Blue was sitting in the station, fully loaded, for well over 5 minutes. It pulled up when I was walking toward the security line and when I reached the platform it was still there. The line was backed up for the next one the entire platform. I opted to turn around and walk since I figured it would be at least a two train wait and nothing was moving.

  • Walked through Tomorrowland to see if anything different was happening this evening for Season of the Force. The lights, music, projections all looked the same as last week. Still disappointed they did not do more. Maybe in the new year or when the film opens?? On the whole Tomorrowland seemed quiet to me without a band performing at Tomorrowland Terrace. It was missing some energy.

  • Spent a few minutes walking through the Star Wars Launch Bay. Overall not very crowded this evening. Wait times were posted at 20-30 minutes for the characters.

  • Another element I miss this Christmas season is the Wintertime Enchantment, snow moments, on Main Street. I talked to a guest relations cast member and they confirmed they are not being performed this year. I did see they had one during the Annual Passholder Party a few weeks ago so I thought maybe they would. Hopefully this returns next year. I always found it to be a nice plus for those who were on Main Street when it occurred.

  • Stopped by the Mad T Party. They are sticking with the Diamond show so no Christmas music or snow. Disappointed they did not work that into the sets.

  • Do you visit our pictorial updates using a mobile device? If so we would like your feedback. I have created a more mobile version of our Disneyland Picture sets at https://disneygeek.com/mobile Please give it a try and share your thoughts.

Interesting Web Finds/Notes:

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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