** After you read this report you may want to check out the pictorial updates in our Disneyland Resort Pictorial Update section

Friday was a nice evening in the parks. The weather was brisk, but the crowds were fairly light. We were amazed at how light the crowds were, but I guess the cold weather kept alot of the locals away.

General (Common) Items:

• Both parks have a "new style" of guidebook. These are now good for two weeks at a time. We did not think anything of them really. Pretty much no feeling as to better or worse. So I guess that's good. One interesting note is on the front cover they have the park hours for both parks.
• Parking was actually quick today... we still hate having to drive around forever to get a spot. Seems like a lot of wasted time (and extra stress on the building to make cars circle).
• The exit situation is still a little strange too how they make lanes merge and move over in an attempt to get more people on the overcrossing to by pass the light. Seems like someone goofed on the initial design here. We like the overpass though. Surprised more people do not crash on exiting though because many tourists seem lost and confused and locals all just want to bypass that long light.
• Oh yeah... when we got off the free way the Ball Road bypass signs read lane closed, but the ramp was not blocked off. We decided not to risk it and obeyed the signs, but it seemed weird. No sign of CMs chaning the ramp either. The other side said road closed too. I could not tell if it was coned off or not.

Disneyland Items:

• The park had a fairly light crowd, which was nice for a change. We were able to get on quite a few attractions without much of a wait.
• We were a little disappointed that there appeared to be nothing going on around the park. Meaning either the live entertainment schedules were really cut back, or we just had really bad timing. But usually we encounter several groups throughout the park.
• All the rehab walls and work going on really cuts down on the number of available attractions add to that the early closing of several others and by 9:00 it felt like half the park was closed.
• We did like the fact that Lincoln was open. We went to a 9pm showing. We also really liked that the canoes were open until dusk too. Its nice to see the river with traffic on it. Too bad the Keel boats will probably never return.
• If you looked at the pictorial update you already saw this, but we heard a very interesting closing joke on the Jungle Cruise. Our skipper said something to the effect of "Don't do anything I wouldn't do... like the Skyway, Submarine Voyage, Rocket Rods, the Keel Boats, Disney's California Adventure... oops did I say that..

DCA Items:

• The crowd at DCA felt heavier than we expected, but the attraction wait times were less than 15 for most. Our guess is this is due to the new Annual Pass program and the fact that every AP can now park hop. So there were a lot more people just roaming the park making it look more crowded than it was.
• We were really surprised that they did not do anything to the Luminaria centerpiece to try to "hide it". Just a green tarp over it. Do not know what they could do, but something. Like I suggested in the pictorial update, maybe fake rocks like the "island" in the Cresent Lake by Yacht & Beach Clubs @ WDW.
• The one show that drew a large crowd was Blast. We went to the 7pm show and the lower two levels look pretty full. The crowd was really into the show and quite vocal too.
• We did not see any of the new entertainment groups in the park, Groove 66 or the improv guys in Condor Flats.
• Also the locker procedure by GRR has changed. Do not know when this happened. Now you cannot choose your locker. The system does it for you. Also the time was only 1hour free now. Wonder if the time is linked to the length of the line? Still a nice feature though.

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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