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1/20/23 - Disneyland Resort - Lunar New Year & Disney100 Preparations
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1/20/23 - Disneyland Resort - Lunar New Year & Disney100 Preparations

Hello Everyone!

I paid a visit to the Disneyland Resort on Friday to see the Lunar New Year Festivities, check in on some projects and visit some friends. The parks both had a lot of guests moving around but wait times were moderate with most under an hour most of the visit. The weather was sunny but cool topping out in the low 60s and dropping to the low 50s once the sun set.

Thoughts and Observations:

  • I had not walked through the Disneyland Hotel in several visits so I started off heading that way. The ongoing project are not showing a lot of progress. The luggage storage area at the front entrance and the DVC tower. There is a Disney 100 prop added to the topiaries as a photo op. I did not see anything else for the celebration yet.
  • Disney100 decorations are going up around the resort. So far in Downtown Disney there were graphics up on the walls and the center section of World of Disney features merchandise for the celebration. The Esplanade Banners have been changed and there are some decorations up at both park entrances as well as Buena Vista Street. Over at Disneyland Sleeping Beauty Castle has some decorations, the new fountains are in and lights are strung. The installations are still a work in progress so we will see the final outcome but to me the colors are so similar to the previous celebrations it is not that impressive to me and the addition of Wonder into the slogan for the resort seems forced and a bit awkward.
  • Downtown Disney has several projects underway. The WonderGround Gallery has moved the old ESPN store for the time being. This is a very small and out of the way location but nice to see it find a location.
  • It was nice to enter the World of Disney using the doors nearest Starbucks. This has been a one way exit for quite a while and has always meant I was less likely to visit since I tend to walk from Downtown Disney to the parks and do not like backtracking. The center doors are still closed and not available though.
  • The Lunar New Year celebration kicked off today at Disney California Adventure. The offerings are on par with previous years with no substantial changes to the line up.
    • Mulan's Procession has been altered and now travels the full length of the parade route. This is much better than how it turned around on itself before. I think I still prefer the show in Paradise Gardens over a parade. One note we found Hollywood Land a great place to watch with no real crowd where as the area near the Marketplaces and beyond was really crowded.
    • Oswald and Ortensia celebrate the year of the rabbit and cat. This is the U.S. Parks debut for Ortensia. I found it interesting they were meeting separately. Where as the others were in pairs, Mickey and Minnie plus Mulan and Mushu.
    • Vocal Seoul at the Sonoma Terrace is a nice addition to the offerings the group was entertaining and talented. The last entertainment offering was the Melody of China trio at the Bandstand. There were no guest performances or other performances for the celebration. I would really like to see them return again it added more to the festivities.
    • Magic Key Holders can pick up a button under the swings from 1-5pm. We did not make it there this trip, hopefully they will still be in stock next visit.
  • We ate lunch around 1pm in Flo's and the dining room was nearly empty which felt really odd. It took a very long time for the food to come up once we said we were there too. There were a number of cast members just standing around waiting for food to come out. It appeared only one side of the kitchen was in use and it was slow going.
  • Cars Land overall was a little less crowded than usual with Radiator Springs Racers closed for renovation.
  • The Big Hero 6, San Fransokyo makeover to the Pacific Wharf is underway. At first glance I do not see the need for this when other areas of the park really could use some renovation/updating. The theme here works and seems pleasant to me. It will be interesting how this comes out.
  • Over at Disneyland off season renovation work is underway with Indiana Jones closed for an extended period. They are working on the pavement between Indiana Jones and Pirates and the walkway is closed meaning Adventureland is a dead end with walls up from the Jungle Cruise Entrance around Bengal BBQ. There were signs and cast members warning people but I still saw guests trying to find a way by the wall. Because of this closure Frontierland is busier than usual.
  • Since my last visit Disneyland announced the French Market will close in February and will reopen later this year as Tiana's Palace. I put this in the same boat as an unneeded change. The French Market seems to always be busy and not sure Tiana needs a restaurant right there. It will be interesting to see how much of a change it is and if you can even see much of it with the tight sight lines due to the shade structure and trees in the area.
  • The new entrance signs for Toontown were installed this past week. I stopped by to see them and they altered the sign so the letters are painted in character related patterns. I found this made the sign harder to read and just looked busy. Also I preferred the old public works signs flanking it vs the new ones.
  • I picked up a virtual queue spot for World of Color so I could see the Hurry Home preshow this evening. Again they called the group almost 90 minutes prior to show time. I did not show up until closer to 15 minutes before show time since. 90 minutes seems a very long time to stand and wait for a 30 minute standing show considering you have a reservation/boarding group. We had no problem finding a spot since we did not want to be close to the water. The lower terraces were very crowded but we had plenty of room and a nice panoramic view.

Here are some recent posts to the Geek's Blog:

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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