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1/09/15 - Thoughts and observations from my first trip of the year including Frozen Fun first impressions
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1/09/15 - Thoughts and observations from my first trip of the year including Frozen Fun first impressions

Hello everyone,

Friday marked my first trip of the year to the Disneyland Resort after a several week break. Due to the unseasonably cold weather and Christmas time crowds I decided to avoid the parks for a couple of weeks. The Christmas decorations are rapidly coming down around the parks with most already gone by Friday. Haunted Mansion Holiday continues through the weekend and then goes down and when it returns the end of the month Small World goes down for the changeover. The crowds felt heavier than I was expecting. Not sure if some groups are still out of school or because there were no blockouts or what but the parks seemed to have a fair number of guests in them. I did not really pay attention to the wait times except for the couple pictures I took and those seemed moderate.

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

Thoughts and Observations:

  • Frozen is taking over the Disneyland Resort. If you have clicked through any of my pictorial updates you will have seen this trend. The signage and banners approaching the park as well as inside are all Frozen. Here is a quick run down of the offerings and my first impressions:
    • Photo op on Buena Vista Street -> This large ice prop that says Frozen Fun on it and has blue lighting is visually ok for pictures but it does not belong on Buena Vista Street. It should be back in the Frozen Fun area somewhere/somehow. It really seemed out of place on Buena Vista Street to me.

    • Animation Building - Frozen has taken over the Animation Academy, Character Close-up and the lobby. The additions inside the building all make sense to me and seems this should have been done from the start as a no brainer that the Animation Building promotes the current Disney Animation film. The new additions did draw a large crowd to the building. I thought the way FastPass returns were being handled was odd with signs and how the queue was set up but given the space I think that was probably the only option. It did make the area feel more crowded through. I did not catch any of the new clips in the rotation in the lobby.. it is on my list for a Future visit. I thought it was awkward having the FastPass distribution out on Hollywood Blvd. and just a small sign. Many guests did not seem to know what it was. Also having no signage of current times the system is distributing is a little frustrating. I ended up getting a time I could not use. If it would have been listed I would have waited a bit then tried back. I ended up giving my FastPass to someone else and asked that they take a couple pictures for me (which they did so I could include them in the update). So no first hand experience thoughts. I was surprised there were still FastPasses for relatively early in the day when I arrived. I picked mine up after 1pm for a 5:40pm return time.

    • Olaf's Snow Fest was closed in the afternoon for some reason so Olaf was meeting in the exit hallway with a 45 min wait and in the evening the line was 45 minutes for the snow and 90 for Olaf. So I did not visit this trip. The way the queue was set up was a bit hard to understand and it led to some confusion among guests. I understand more signage is on its way.

    • Wandering Oaken's Trading Post - The Muppets store is no more and Frozen has taken over. They re-arranged and modified the store. The large counter is gone opening the store to foot traffic and they have added more racks outside the footprint of the building to expand its size. All in all it is an upgrade to the space and drew many more guests and customers than the old space. The overlay on the building exterior feels very temporary, which it is. The inside with the props is a nice touch.

    • For the First Time in Forever: A Frozen Sing-Along Celebration takes place in the old Muppet theater. All traces of the Muppets are gone. The outside has received a new sign and the props have been removed or covered. Inside the lobby and walkway have been redone to fit the new theme. I did not have a lot of time to explore due to me opting for Standby and being rushed in since it was as a seat filler right before the doors closed. They offer two options for the show. FastPasses are distributed to the right of the entrance from two mobile carts and are your best option. I picked up one for the 4:00pm show around 1:30pm. Your second option is standby and I think that is iffy. They only let in about 30 or 40 guests from Standby for the show I attended. It appears they actually distribute FastPasses for every seat. The show itself features two narrators (historians) who fill in the narrative between the songs and share some jokes along the way. Kristoff, Anna, and Elsa all make appearances but are not a large part of the show. As the name suggests the majority of the time is the Sing-Along. The film is played and the lyrics are on the screen even though most who were singing did not need them! I thought the in theater lighting effects and stage were a better fit for this show than the version I saw in Orlando. But the historians and pacing of the show were better in the WDW version. Also the WDW audience seemed more into singing along.

    • Freeze the Night has taken over for the Mad T Party. The event consists of a DJ, two hosts, a dance crew, ice carving, interactive dance floor, Marshmallow meet and greet, and two bars. The event officially kicked off on January 7th and is running nightly from 6pm to park closing until April 30th. As seems to be the norm now a day there was no posted or generally available schedule for the entertainment. From what I observed they had something on the main stage at the top of the hour and around the 40 min mark. The ice carving started about the quarter hour (15 after). At 8pm they sang Let it Go. The demographic at this event skews much younger than the other night parties because of the theme and the entertainment does the same. The bars had healthy lines but did not seem as packed as Mad T Party and it did not seem like there were that many young adults hanging around as you saw during the previous events. This is based on a single nights observations... so could be way off. The crowd seemed to ebb and flow between the venues as events were happening. The ice carving and Let it Go performance seemed to be the highlight for most and drew the largest reactions from what I saw. Marshmallow had a constant line while I was there but not nearly as long as the Olaf one (which I saw posted at 90 minutes). I miss the live band and think that added a lot to the energy level of the Mad T Party. I would have liked to have seen more out of the two hosts. They popped up from time to time but outside of the Let it Go Performance did not add a lot in my opinion. The dance lesson and temperature checks seemed rather flat (but the dance lesson did have a good size crowd dancing at one point). The dance crew was entertaining and the crowd seemed to enjoy them.

    • Fantasy Faire - Royal Theatre - Mr. Smythe and Mr. Jones now perform the Story of Frozen all day long (Beauty and the Beast & Tangled are retired for the time being). I really enjoyed the show, just as I did the two originals. Out of all the Frozen offerings I have seen on both coasts I would rank this at the top for adults. For kids the sing along or character meet and greets are probably at the top (I still need to visit the Snow Fest though). I would highly recommend this show to anyone though. It has something for everyone. Ranging from the humor which is quick and they poke fun at the movie, fans, the park, and more. To Anna and Elsa being part of the show and the songs so young fans of the film will enjoy it. Note they offer FastPasses for this show from an unmarked cart in the hub. They were accommodating a fair number of stand by guests with seats as well as standing options. Once the line cleared they let anyone stand in the back. I picked up a FastPass for the 5:45pm show around 3:45pm. I showed up at 4:15 for the 4:30 and could have gotten a standby seat (instead opted to stand).

    • The other Frozen offerings right now are the Ice Rink at Downtown Disney through Feb and the Arendelle scene that has been added to Storybook Land at Disneyland. I discussed those in previous posts so will skip them this time around since I am already running long.

    • Also if you are a Frozen fan be sure to pick up a Buena Vista Bugle. The winter issue features Frozen Fun and would make a great FREE souvenir to take home as well as the DCA park maps.
       
  • One tip to keep in mind with all the Frozen Fun offerings is to take advantage of FastPass. They have several mobile carts offering tickets for the events and it will save you time and frustration. The downside is the carts are not clearly marked and you go in blind as to what time/show/etc.. you will get. Wonder if this is part of the early testing/conditioning of guests for FastPass+.. more shows, meet and greets, etc.. should be interesting to see how this develops.

  • As you saw in the pictorial update there are quite a few major renovation projects underway around the Disneyland Resort this winter with many more to come. The parks are gearing up for the big 60th anniversary celebration this summer plus normal routine projects. Keep this in mind if you are planning to visit the parks in the coming weeks/months. Be sure to check the Official Disneyland website for information for the day(s) you plan to go.

  • Disney Gallery has a new exhibit entitled Snow Queens - Art of Ice and it shows concept art from the never realized attraction the Enchanted Snow Palace as well as the Frozen animated film. I always enjoy the Disney Gallery exhibits and this one is no different. Spending time looking at the Marc Davis concept art from the 70s was interesting. As well as the inspiration and concept pieces for the film. Also there was one small display case in the center of the lobby that featured a couple pieces from the Disney Archives. I thought this was great! I wish they would update the larger display case with either new concept art or archives exhibits. Maybe something for the 60th??

  • I had some time before Fantasy in the Sky so I did a walk through of the Fantasmic viewing around about 5 minutes before show time. I was curious how the FastPass options have impacted the experience. From this single data point I was disappointed. Guests in most of the FastPass areas seemed to have room to spare and the premium area for the Blue Bayou dining guests was maybe 1/3 full with most still sitting on the ground 5 minutes before show time and spread out. There were some areas further back that I am guessing were stand by (I did not stop to ask) that were jammed with guests packed in as they normally are for the show. I am assuming throughout the show they keep the ropes up and you are not allowed to move around.. if this is not true would someone let me know. So the prime front and center area sat fairly empty for the first showing. I think this is disappointing because if you have guests who want to see the show they were forced into a crammed area with a poor view while portions of available viewing were left unused that seems a poor guest experience. Since the dining is prepaid seems they should know the numbers and can adjust the space as needed for that performance to allow more options for guests.

  • Fantasy in the Sky has returned. This classic show ran in a couple different forms from 1958 through 1999. The 2015 edition is a temporary placeholder until the new 60th Anniversary show premieres in May. This show does use some of the newer backstage launch positions and has a modified sound track from the last version we saw in 1999, but it still holds to the same feel. The show clocks in at just under 4 and a half minutes which feels like nothing after experiencing the longer Remember and Magical shows in recent years. Also there are no in park launch points, no castle projectors nor lighting effects. It is a straight fireworks show utilizing the backstage areas. I thought the show could have benefited from some sort of introduction. A lot of guests around me grumbled when it ended many speculating it was cut short and those who remember the old show looking at each other saying was it really that short before. It will be interesting to see if the show is tweaked at all in the coming weeks. Also with no World of Color that means for night time entertainment guests will be at Fantasmic and this short show. I would highly recommend going for Fantasmic if you want to see a night time show right now. I was kind of surprised they did not figure out a way to do a Frozen fireworks show to tie in with the Frozen Fun activities.

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

  • Video featuring my pictures:

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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