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01/08/10 - My thoughts and observations from Fridays Disneyland Resort visit.
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01/08/10 - My thoughts and observations from Fridays Disneyland Resort visit.

Hello all,

Friday marked my first trip of the New Year to the Disneyland Resort and it was a picture perfect afternoon/evening with the temps in the mid to upper 70s. As you saw in the pictorial update the off season has arrived and so have construction walls around several areas of the park. The crowds seemed about average with mild waits throughout most of the afternoon. @Toy Story seemed to be its normal 45 min the couple times I was in the area, the Fun Wheel about a cycle, Screamin 15-20.. Tower of Terror was long, an hour wait in the evening.

Jason

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

Disneyland & DCA Thoughts and Observations:

  • I lucked out with parking, exited the freeway, took the overpass right into the garage, no wait at the toll plaza, then directed up to a spot in the far corner of the garage on the 4th floor. The other two cars that met me a little later in the afternoon had worse luck. The Lazygeek headed for the garage and was directed out toward the Buzz Lightyear lot which was all backed up so he circled around again and found the garage was open with no wait at all.. the third car got stuck in the Buzz Lightyear lot and said it looked like they just opened it as it was empty but there was still a line for the bus so they decided to walk. They encountered a locked gate and had to walk back and then a CM came and unlocked it for them. They complained at City Hall because of the waiting, the bus situation, then the locked gate.. the CM basically apologized and that was it.. no notes made or other action.

  • Most of the evidence of the Christmas decorations has been removed from around the resort with just a few areas remaining (Small World, Bugsland, and the Grand Californian come to mind).

  • The park seemed to be in an off season mode with less operating and those attractions that were seemed reduced. For example the Monorail only had one train (Blue) running. So waits were a bit on the long side.

  • The new Disneys Honorary Voluntears Cavalcade premiered Friday (I posted pictures in the update and below are links to two videos of it). Overall I thought this was a nice pre parade and definitely a bit more than your average pre parade. The Muppet Characters really worked well on the float and those around me definitely enjoyed it. I do not know if the message/purpose of the float is really sinking in (sure they are asking questions in the surveys to see this but on a first take and listening to people it did not seem to stick). Also it is a bit awkward out a the last parade stop since the pre-parade comes through way before the Street Party makes it out there. I overheard several guests say is that it? What a short parade.. I think to help some of this they should list the pre-parade in the guidemap so people know what it is.

  • Speaking of guidemaps the new ones are out. Not much interesting in the Disneyland one. Honey I Shrunk the Audience is still listed and the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique is still listed as new. It still seems weird to list this store/salon as an attraction.. It was nice to see Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln and the Gallery both get top billing in the fold out. Over on the DCA one its interesting to note the Golden State header is still not on the attraction list but it is printed on the map portion. The Little Mermaid - Ariels Undersea Adventure is listed as coming soon (no building shown, just a number on the map where the building will be). Also the Silly Symphony Swings say opens spring 2010 (no coming soon), this actually has a graphic on the map. The new temporary walkway from Tower to Bugs is also on the map.

  • Over on the time schedule Great Moments has top billing as it returns to Disneyland. Great to see the Flag Retreat listed again. On the DCA side Blue Sky Cellar has the top spot.

  • I stopped to see Great Moments for the 8:40 showing and was surprised to see the theater quite full.. I would say at least 3/4ths it seemed.. maybe 4/5ths. I sat close to the stage to see if there was a difference and it was great to see the details on Lincoln but I still like the presentation from further back, the film seems to work better.


  • Interesting Web Finds/Notes:
    In this section of the Geekspeaks column I will include links, notes, and rumors I find/stumble across/or have been informed of.

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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