* After you read this report you may want to check out the pictorial updates in our updates section

Hello all,

Friday was a catch-up day for me at the Disneyland Resort. It had been three weeks since my last visit and I had quite a few things on my to-see list, as you saw in the extended pictorial update. Overall I thought the crowd seemed about average for a summer day, but with large sections of the park closed off and traffic flow restricted it felt more crowded than it really was. As you saw from the pictures I had of the line board wait times were about right for the summer too. I really enjoy the extended daylight hours (it was still daylight around 8pm and for Southern California that's late).. too bad days are already getting shorter.

Jason

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

DCA & Disneyland Notes:

• One of the big reasons I wanted to go to the park Friday was to see the set-up for the Pirates Premier that happened Saturday afternoon/evening. I was unable to get tickets or an invite so I stayed clear of the park on Saturday. I was not able to make it down to the park a few years ago when the first movie premiered so I had no first hand knowledge of the setup and the impact on the park. This time around I hear it was about the same. I was really impressed with how they shoe-horned the bleachers into the park and around the Rivers of America. The traffic disruption was quite large but they had signs and Cast Members everywhere to keep things moving and that seemed to work. The most heavily impacted area seemed to be Adventureland. This is a traffic bottleneck even on the best of days but with everyone having to go through there to reach NOS and Critter Country it really added to the congestion and basically turned the land into a two lane walkway. The other interesting traffic point was to get back you had to circle through NOS, you couldn't just make a u-turn near Haunted Mansion like you can during normal Fantasmic crowd control measures. So did anyone go on Saturday? Do you have any thoughts, pictures, or experiences to share? If so drop us an email or stop by the Forum.

• I visited the new Pieces of Eight store (the gift shop at the Pirates exit) and it does seem a bit larger with the new configuration but still really cramped and I am guessing it will be jammed with the attraction re-opening and the movie driving more people to Pirates Merchandise. Wonder how long the other Pirates store will remain open, the one that replaced the Christmas store on the other side of the Club 33 door. I also took a peak into the new Cafe Orleans (the pictures did not come out too well so I did not use them in the update) and it looks incredible.

• Since its summer the 2006 All American College Band is back and this year they have a new director, Stan Frees (sorry if that is spelled incorrectly). Also nice to see their show times listed in the park guide again. 2:30 Plaza Gardens, 4:00 Castle Forecourt, 5:00 Club Buzz, 6:00 Flag Retreat, 6:25 Pre-parade on Main Street. I managed to catch all the sets and I have to say the quality is great but the selection of music this year seems much more limited and the new director was great the first time, a much lighter personality than Art, but he used the same jokes at each set and that wore a bit thin. I did like the addition of the Johnny Cash song Walk the Line. But I would say 2/3's of the play list was the same between the sets. Not like the olden days where each set had its own play list more or less. Also I found it interesting that the Incredible's chart is still in the Castle Forecourt se t.. I would have thought Cars or Pirates would be included instead. Also I still miss the trumpet fanfare solo before the National Anthem that used to be in the arrangement several years ago. The current arrangement is good but that was just a great addition.

• I failed in getting a good shot of the new effect in the Haunted Mansion.. there is now a projection of a ghost on the wall in Madam Leota's room. This is where the moving light used to be (right above where you enter the room). Next time I will try to get a picture. I did not notice anything else new, but we keep hearing more changes are on their way. So far the visible changes have really turned the attraction toward the "scary" side and away from the original humorous balance. The bride with the Ax, the grooms disappearing heads, and the ghost projection. Hopefully some more humor is coming..

• Not much to report from DCA. I spent about 30 minutes in the park only, just enough time to make the loop and see if anything new was going on. The crowd was much more mild than Disneyland's with Monsters only having a 10 minute wait (even though it looked a bit longer) and Tower having a 13 minute wait (even though it looked like a walk on). As I noted in the pictorial update I thought the new banners by Golden Dreams were a bit out of place, awkward, or just plain sad depending on how you looked at it. It seemed awkward to me because instead of advertising the show or the character it was advertising the narrator.. Whoopi Goldberg. If that is what they are down to in efforts to get people to watch the film that's a series problem in my book, which is too bad because its not that bad of a film. Should be interesting to see what happens next, if anything...
  
  
• One additional comment. We received an email from Doug (which I posted in the forum) letting me know that the kids play area in Toontown was probably closed because of the heat. He said during his trip there a few weeks ago it closed down in the middle of the afternoon due to the equipment and ground being too hot for young children.

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