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01/07/11 - My thoughts and observations from Fridays visit to 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.

01/07/11 - My thoughts and observations from Fridays visit to the Disneyland Resort

Hello all,

I was expecting Friday to be a quiet day at the parks, maybe boarding on a light off season crowd. Instead what I found was a regular Friday afternoon/evening crowd. Wait times were mostly manageable, but I was still hoping for some minimal waits. For example Toy Story was in the 45 min range all afternoon/evening, I was hoping for under 30 minutes.

Jason

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

Disneyland & DCA Thoughts and Observations:

  • As you saw in the pictures the theme of day at DCA was construction. The walls have been pushed out in several places and new walls up in others, with more to come in the near future as work kicks into high gear around the park. I really enjoyed the new signs up on the walls around the old Sunshine Plaza area advertising the upcoming Buena Vista street entities.

  • Overall I thought the new entrance procedure for DCA was moving fairly smoothly. I thought the CMs were a little over the top trying to get you to go to the end turn styles. If there is no one there and no one really behind you seems they could quickly scan your pass and let you through vs making you walk all the way down and yelling toward you to keep going down. It would not be a good first contact at the park to have several people talking loudly at you telling you to keep moving. Maybe some more directions as you were walking through the queue. I did like how the CMs were asking people to have their tickets ready, etc.. that seemed to keep things moving too.

  • Over at the Disneyland Hotel the renovation work is moving along at a good pace now but from ground level it is hard to judge the progress on the pool area. Anyone have shots from a room overlooking the courtyard recently??

  • It was odd to roam around both parks with no parades scheduled for the day. Disneyland still managed to march four bands down Main Street though. Too bad they did not slow them down to make more of an event out of it. Since there was no parade coming behind them seems they could have. My understanding is the paving project on Main Street will continue this off season so soon more walls will be up and the street will be partially blocked. This will go until the new parade starts in a few months. Over at DCA the parade route is blocked due to the Buena Vista Street, Little Mermaid, and dining area work. The Play Parade is going to be dark until later this year.

  • Grabbed dinner at Taste Pilots, mostly because I was at DCA already and there was no line and some empty tables. It still surprises me that for the same burger it is cheaper at Disneyland. I noticed on the receipt they have the Let the Memories Begin logo now. Wonder if the software on the point of sale system will ever be updated to properly scan the Premiere passes or to not print out ads for annual passes when you apply an AP discount to the order.

  • Not much to report on the guide map/time guide front. The time guides are back to their traditional format and content. Laser Man is not listed anymore, but the Flag Retreat and ASIMO still are. On the maps as you saw in the pictures the DCA map is starting to look a little bare as they keep removing items. Soon new things should start showing up, only a few more months till Mermaid, the dining area, and new park.

Interesting Web Finds/Notes:
Below are some interesting links, notes, and rumors I found/stumble across/or have been informed of since the last Geekspeaks column.

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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