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1/17/14 - 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.

1/17/14 - My thoughts and observations from Fridays visit to the Disneyland Resort.

Hello all,

Thanks to the holiday weekend, perfect weather, and the Tinker Bell Half Marathon weekend the parks were busy Friday. Not holiday busy, but I would say approaching summerish in terms of feel. Adding to this were several attractions and areas closed for renovation work. The wait times were in the 45-60 minute range for the longer waits, so not too bad. As usual the parks became more crowded as the day went on but still park hopping was not a challenge. The weather helped with this summer feeling. The car was reading the mid to upper 80s as I made my way to the Mickey and Friends Structure today. This is unseasonable hot for mid January. The temps did cool down to the 60s as the sun set and by the time reached home it was in the 50s. It made for a very pleasant afternoon, but it did mean having to lug around a sweatshirt/jacket since I did not want to spend the time to go back to the car or money on a locker.

Jason

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

Thoughts and Observations:

  • This weekend the Disneyland Resort is hosting the Tinker Bell Half Marathon. The events kicked off early Friday morning with a family 5K race then Saturday a 10K and the big event the half marathon on Sunday. I stopped by the runDisney Health and Fitness Expo that accompanies the race weekend. This is held at the Disneyland Hotel. It is where runners go to pick up their race packets and there are official merchandise booths as well as exhibits from sponsors. The Expo is open to anyone who wants to walk through. The format this year followed the same basic one as events past and the booths and exhibits seemed about the same. I did a fairly quick walk through and took a look through the store as well as the runDisney booth, the other areas I just past by.

  • First stop today Disney California Adventure. The last hints of Christmas all seem to be gone from the park as it returns to normal. I attempted to get a Fastpass for World of Color but failed due to them being out already. It was approaching 2pm. I thought it was kind of odd with the holiday weekend and crowd that there was only one scheduled World of Color and that was at 9:45pm. Also add in the fact that there is no Fantasmic at Disneyland and it seemed even an odder schedule to me. Plus for selfish reasons I like earlier showings, namely starting the drive home earlier and reaching home before midnight (after working early then Disneyland all afternoon/evening the extra hour is good). I did luck out and find a Fastpass on the ground, in the most unlikely place.. near the construction walls for the sub lagoon by the Matterhorn. So in the end I did get into the Yellow section but it was by dumb luck.

  • It was great to see that that the Instant Concert... Just Add Water has returned. I only caught one concert and it seemed more or less the same as it always has been, no noticeable changes.

  • Over at Disneyland the Haunted Mansion returned a day early. The line seemed to be about 30-40 minutes most of the afternoon. In the early evening I spotted a 15 minute wait and decided to give it a try. Of course there was a problem and the 15 minute wait turned out to be 25 thanks to a 10-15 min delay where the line stopped. On a first pass through the Mansion nothing new/different jumped out to me. I was curious if they were going to try to use the projection effect in the stretching room or any other minor tweaks and I did not spot any. Did anyone else ride? Did you notice anything different?

  • I stopped by the Big Thunder Ranch Jamboree to see how week two of the Frontierland Troupe was going and there seemed to be more guests around the characters this week, but still really short waits, maybe 5-10 minutes. The characters were the same sets I saw last week, with the exception of no Pinocchio. They were still taking time to interact/dance with guests which was great to see. It was depressing to see the large part of the Jamboree with the main stage nearly a ghost town. The Performing Arts groups were done by the time I stopped by and all the tables and benches were just sitting there empty. Hopefully they decide to put on a new show or something to draw more guests.

  • Soundsational returned this week too. No substantial changes that I could see. The Tinker Bell drum and Tink were not in either parade today, guessing there was a problem and this was not a cut. Or maybe Tink was just preparing for her big race this weekend?

  • I went to World of Color to see if they were going to incorporate any of the Winter Dreams lighting. The lights are still all installed, but none were used on Friday. I also read they upgraded/replaced the main projectors, but with the poor angle I had from the yellow section I could not really tell any difference. They had several hiccups with the start of the show. A set of projectors was not cooperating, it was showing a Brave title card. I found it odd that they let the show proceed as long as they did before stopping it. The projector problems were obvious at the very beginning but they did not stop the show until after the Nemo segment. Then when it restarted it was at Wall-E. Also I still find it odd that when the show stops it takes so long for an announcement to be played. Guests do not understand what is happening. Several around me thought that was the entire show and a couple actually left. The largest complaint I have about World of Color still is the limited areas that have great views of the show. This is because of the projection screens and how much of the show is on them. The fountains, lights, etc.. are visible everywhere but if you want to see the screens, especially the smaller front screen there just are not that many places.

  • After World of Color I joined the masses exiting the park. DCA closed at 10pm and it was nearing 10:30 by the time I exited. They were funneling everyone through two gates at the far left which led to some backup. Also the trams were boarding really slow this evening. I should have opted to walk but since I was going to make it on the next tram at the second load station I decided to ride. Which in the end took more time than walking.

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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