home > Columns > Geekspeaks >
1/16/15 - Thoughts and observations from Friday at the Disneyland Resort
 The Geek Speaks:

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.

1/16/15 - Thoughts and observations from Friday at the Disneyland Resort

Hello everyone,

To kick off the long weekend I paid a visit to the Disneyland Resort on Friday. Overall the crowd levels were less than I had anticipated. With the holiday weekend and the Star Wars half marathon events going on I was expecting the parks to be crowded. There were a fair number of guests around but even with so many attractions and areas closed the wait times were not that long the few times I checked.

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

Thoughts and Observations:

  • The runDisney Expo/registration was taking place at the Disneyland Hotel. I started my trip walking around. I was surprised by how calm it was. Maybe I was just lucky and it was the calm before the storm or after? I had no problem walking around the merchandise area or the expo booths, where as at the Marvel race there was a line to get into the merchandise area. Nothing too new or different jumped out at me. I took some pictures of the merchandise and did a quick walk through then headed for the parks.

  • As you saw in the pictorial update Paradise Bay has been partially drained and they are already working on the World of Color fountains. The rest of the water will be drained in the coming days/weeks. It appeared they are cleaning the fountains as they are draining. I always enjoy seeing what goes into putting on a show and this is a great example. I found it interesting to note that Disney has abandon the idea of trying to hide the work or the idea of good show. There are no barriers or other attempts to make the area look better. They put up some safety barriers but that is it. Everything else is exposed for all to see (and smell). Speaking of smell, overall the area was better than I was guessing it would smell. I remembered the last time and the odor seemed much stronger.

  • The other big Disney California Adventure project this off season is Condor Flats. You cannot see much progress from ground level but from the Monorail you get a great view. The rocket engine tower has been removed/destroyed and it looks like much of the concrete is going to be redone too. I am looking forward to seeing how this area is re-imagined.

  • I stopped by Olaf's Snow Fest to take a look around since I did not make it inside last week. I did not play in the snow nor visit Olaf since both of those waits were longer than my patience. I was impressed by the interior of the show building and it sure looks to be more than a couple month temporary installation. The selection of merchandise and food was larger than I had expected too. The snow area seemed to be a hit with kids and their parents. I did overhear an interesting conversation in one family where the father was questioning why they want to wait in line for snow when they left home for vacation to get away from the snow for a week.

  • I spent some time in the Animation Building and managed to catch one of the new Frozen segments, In Summer. I understand there are two but I left to meet some friends before I saw it. A follow-up to a comment last week I made on the Animation Academy. Noticed why they had the queue set up the way they did. They are now using the entrance for both the entrance and exit so there is no queue space for the next show. They queue up in the lobby. After the theater empties those guests are moved into the regular queue then inside.

  • The Royal Courtyard is back at Disneyland. On Friday only two merchandise cabinets were in the space so you could see the courtyard again. I would guess more merchandise racks and registers are will be returning at some point, but for now it was nice to be able to walk around the courtyard. The number of quiet Disneyland spaces keeps shrinking.

  • Noticed with the closure of Critter Country that means the dessert package for Fantasmic is unavailable. All the print pieces reflect this. So if you want to see the show you have traditional FastPass, standby, or three dining choices (Blue Bayou, River Belle Terrace and the On-the-go at the Oasis). I still have not tried any of the options.

  • I made a second pass at some of the Frozen Fun. On a second viewing the Royal Theatre Show at Disneyland was still funny and I would highly recommend it to anyone. I spent some time at Freeze the Night and was disappointed to see the ice carvings were not that different this week. Olaf and another sculpture were the two I saw. I did not circle back to see what was created in the 8pm or 9pm hours. It looked like they were sticking to more or less the same schedule as last week. Ice Breakers/main stage at the top of the hour and 40min after. The ice carving starts at the 15 or 20min after the hour and runs most of the hour. They sung Let it Go at 8pm. Anyone know if they do this at any other times?

  • They had FastPasses still available for Anna & Else after 7pm on Friday. Seems like the new /expanded location is handling the crowds nicely and more guests are having the opportunity to visit them.

  • 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

Send comments, questions, any other email to: disneygeek@disneygeek.com
Back to previous page

 

Quick Note

Check out the geek speaks archive for past updates.

 

Interested in Helping out?

If you are a fellow disneygeek and interested in sharing your insights, pictures, thoughts drop us an email here we are always looking for contributors.