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1/19/24 - 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.

1/19/24 - Disneyland Resort

Hello Everyone!

Friday was a relaxing day in the parks. I had no set agenda and we just roamed the parks and took advantage of some opportunities to visit a few attractions. The crowds followed a typical Friday pattern of building throughout the afternoon. Overall wait times were moderate most of my visit but creeping upwards as we left. The weather on the cool side in the low 60s to high 50s.

Thoughts and Observations:

  • I started my visit with my normal parking luck. The lanes where I entered were all about the same length.. but of course mine had a conversation with every one of the handful of cars in front of me so other lanes moved through twice as many cars in the same time. I also drew a long walk to the escalators in the far side of the 1st aisle on the Goofy level. Only good thing was no real delay to get up the ramp and into a space and I was able to pull forward and leave saving some driving. At security there were only a handful of gates open so line were longer than they have been when I arrived but still better than the evening or morning. It was about half an hour from Ball road to the park today.
  • The parks are in an off season period. There are a number of season renovation and other projects underway. Almost all signs of Christmas are gone. There is some snow on one small portion of the castle and Downtown Disney still had its decorations up, both seemed odd given the rest of the resort is back to normal. Disney100 merchandise was 50% off in most stores as they work to clear that too. Valentine's day decorations have not appeared but a pink popcorn bucket has. The projects were being prepared for the rain forcasted for the weekend. Crews had removed scrims and were installing plastic on some of the projects before they left for the weekend.
  • Entertainment choices are more limited this time of year. For example no parade, not a lot of live entertainment in the evening at Disneyland, no stage show in Fantasyland, nothing going on in Tomorrowland, etc.. Fireworks and World of Color were both scheduled for the evening and many groups like the Dapper Dans, Disneyland Band, Jambalya Jazz, and Pearly Band were performing.
  • Main Street transportation was busy most of the afternoon and several vehicles were running after dark too. Always great to see them making the circuit.
  • Haunted Mansion Holiday is down to its final days. The attraction will close Sunday and not reopen until later this year, early indications are possibly not until Halloween season, due to queue work, renovation projects and a new gift shop. The queue is already being torn up. The park area, former FastPass and switchback area are all behind walls and be demolished.
  • it's a small world has returned to its regular show, Friday was its first day back. I wanted to go for a cruise but the wait time was at 30 minutes the two times I walked by so maybe next time.
  • Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway had a 20 min posted wait that turned out closer to 10. Some effects/doors that were not working my last few visits were back in operation today so that was great to see.
  • Took the Monorail to Downtown Disney to check out the projects there. It is still hard to tell what is going on with the area between the new building adjacent to the Monorail and the Monorail station. Looked like some footers going in as well as curbs/concrete work preparations. The concept art is rather vague for that area too. The other projects in the area seem to inching along. Not a lot of big visible progress, but little things are moving. The fences were still up around the concrete work near the Trading Post, but were down from the front of the new temporary Earl of Sandwich location. No signage yet or indication of when it may open.
  • Disney California Adventure is preparing for the annual Lunar New Year Celebration that starts Tuesday and runs through Feb 18th. Most of the decorations and marketplaces are in place including menus. This year the announced offerings look on par with the last several years. There is one new meet and gree featuring Turning Red characters.
  • Stopped by the Golden Horseshoe to catch the last set of the piano player. The crowd did not quiet down at all for his performance. We watched about half then left because you could not hear it was so loud with guest talking. I thought that was rather poor not to give the performer some common courtesy and disruptive for those who wanted to enjoy the show.
  • I left just before 8pm and the trams coming and going were both full. The security line at the parking structure was backed up to the tent for the few open lanes.

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Disney Related Press Releases

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

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

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