Hello Everyone!

Friday was the opening day of the Lunar New Year Celebration at Disney California Adventure. The crowds were high for the event and everything associated with it. The rest of the park and Disneyland felt average in terms of crowds. Wait times seemed to vary which seems the norm right now with the Genie system. The weather was in mid to upper 60s the entire time with a warm breeze that would come and go.

Thoughts and Observations:

• No problems parking, but it always seems odd to me that people tend to line up behind other the lines with the most cars vs seeking out ones with fewer or no cars. I really think the green arrows indicating the open lanes need a second set further out to help people. I lucked out with the spot I was guided into as it was one right up against a section joint in the garage and kind of off by itself, so no car was parked close to me on any side. Would have been perfect if I had a car load of people with kids.
• Took a walk through the Disneyland Hotel to start my day. With the limited viewing angles available of the project (without having a room overlooking the area) it is really hard to see any progress. Since my last walk through in December a tower crane has been erected on site and a mound of dirt was taller than the wall. Has anyone seen a picture from a room recently? Has the basement taken shape or is it still just a big hole?
• I also walked by the area that will soon be blocked off for the Downtown Disney construction, not sure if you want to call this a modernization or project or what. I do not think it is an expansion since that space already had Downtown Disney buildings on it. No signs of work yet but fences should be going up in the near future. The remaining businesses should be closed by the end of the month.
• A Monorail pulled in as I was walking by and I saw no one at the station so I decided to enter the park that way. Two trains were running so it was efficient and plenty of space, my car only had two other guests in it. Of course we sat on the same bench since I wanted to take pictures that direction through an open window, and not sure why they choose to sit nearby.
• It had been a while since I had time to walk the park. This visit I had no one accompanying me so I started off with a grand circle walk of the park checking out all the lands. The walkways bottled up in places as usual but overall wait times did not see too bad for early afternoon on Friday in Feb. Some were a tad on the long side but I am guessing some of that has to do with the Lightning Lane.
• Almost all signs of Christmas are gone from the park. Small World Mall area and the attraction are decorated through this weekend then next week will be transformed back to the regular show. New Orleans Square has some decorations out for Mardi Gras. In DCA the buoys in the Wharf and poles in Cars Land are about all that jumped out to me. It was nice to take a final cruise on small world holiday and even better with a 5 minute wait only.
• In the evening I made it back to Toontown right before it closed and went for a spin on Car Toon Spin. I had not been on since Jessica Rabbit took on her new private eye roll. If you blink or do not pay that close of attention its very easy to miss and I would venture to guess a percentage of people may not even make the Jessica connection.
• Friday was the first day of the Lunar New Year Celebration at Disney California Adventure. Most of the elements from prior years returned including character greetings, marketplaces, merchandise, arts & crafts, Wishing Wall, and the Mulan procession. The Lunar New Year area spanned from the Obelisk to Paradise Gardens plus Redwood Creek. It was busy every time I passed through during the afternoon and evening. Adding to the congestion were several media outlets there to cover the kickoff.
  • Mulan's Lunar New Year Procession returned again this year but with some modifications. The Procession no longer has a performance stop, instead a float has been added the procession travels from the parade gate to the obelisk where it turns around and returns on the path it just traveled. I thought the float was a nice addition and procession itself was good. But I prefer the old version where there was a show stop and a short performance. The parade doubling back on itself was also an odd choice vs just traveling the entire parade route. This led to more congestion in the area. Mickey and Minnie are not part of the procession this year nor the Three Little Pigs. Tigger joins it to mark the Year of the Tiger.
  • Raya from Raya and the Last Dragon makes her Disneyland debut in the Redwood Creek Challenge trail as part of the celebration. this extension seemed a bit awkward with nothing else really connecting that area to the Lunar New Year area. Everything was along the performance corridor except his one meet and greet that was off by itself. Raya's area is nicely done and she drew a good size queue well into the evening. My other complaint with this area is if you do not wait in the queue you do not really have a good view to see the character. It would have been nice to see her out where more guests could see her and maybe closer to the event. For example in Paradise Gardens Park.
  • The character meet and greet location in Paradise Gardens returned this year with a rotation of characters throughout the day. I saw Mulan, Mushu, Mickey, Minnie and Tigger there the couple times I passed by.
  • The only entertainment I saw was Melody of China performing on the Paradise Gardens Bandstand. There were no community groups or other performers this year.
  • The Marketplaces had extremely long lines throughout the afternoon and evening. The appeared to be moving slow too but I did not time them so unsure. At one point I counted over 70 guests in line to order at one and over 30 waiting on the pick up side. The line at Paradise Garden Grille was also long. Keep in mind that location has mobile order. When I looked the line stretched to Boardwalk Pizza and the mobile order window was 20 minutes away. Guessing mobile would have been faster and involved no standing in line.
  • Magic Key Passholders can stop by the area under the Silly Symphony Swings to pick up a button and for a photo spot. The line was fairly constant and relatively short the handful of times I took a look.
• It was about 8:30 and the wind was inconsistent so I decided I would stick around till 9pm to see if the fireworks would go. They had closed down it's a small world at 8pm so they were preparing as if there was a shot of fireworks. Prior to show time they played an announcement a couple of times saying pyrotechnics may be cancelled then right at showtime they announced the cancellation and ran Mickey's Mix Magic without them. This evening the wind messed with the snow effect which in term made the lasers less interesting. The one good thing was with less than 10 minutes to show time it was easy to find a spot on Main Street USA. I did find it odd the large number of guests further down the street in Town Square. Seems a number wanted to sit and others just to be closer to the exit I guess.
• Walk back this evening was crowded and a bit slower due to California Adventure closing at 9pm. The scrims were not on the construction fence which offered a view of the tram area. Most of the work looks done. I have not seen any sort of official date for the return of the trams, but hopefully it is sooner rather than later.
  

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

• Disneyland Resort Posts from 1/21
  • 01/21/22 - Pictures: Raya at Redwood Creek Challenge Trail
  • 01/21/22 - Paradise Bay as the sun sets
  • 01/21/22 - Pictures: Lunar New Year Characters in Paradise Gardens
  • 01/21/22 - Pictures: Magic Key Button & Photo Op
  • 01/21/22 - Pictures & Video: Mulan’s Lunar New Year Procession (2022)
  • 01/21/22 - Pictures: Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway Construction (1/21/22)
  • 01/21/22 - Pictures: Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage Renovation (1/21/22)
  • 01/21/22 - Pictures: Lunar New Year Mural in Downtown Disney
  • 01/21/22 - Pictures: Disneyland Hotel DVC Tower Construction (1/21/22)
• 01/20/22 - EPCOT Harmonious Viewing Location Comparisons
• Walt Disney World Pictures - Dec 2021 Trip Summary

Disney Related Press Releases

• 01/18/22 - Disney+ Debuts Trailer And Key Art For "The Wonderful Winter Of Mickey Mouse"
• 01/18/22 - Disney+ Program Listing for February 2022
• 01/18/22 - Season Three Of Disney+ Original Series "High School Musical: The Musical: The Series" Heads Into Production And Sets Summer Musical As "Frozen"
• 01/17/22 - Disney+ Debuts New Trailer For Marvel Studios'
• 01/17/22 - Landmark 15th Year of Disney Dreamers Academy Program Awaits 2022 Class of Talented High School Students
• 01/14/22 - Disney+ Sets February 23 Premiere Date For "The Proud Family: Louder And Prouder" And Debuts Official Trailer
• 01/14/22 - Tim Allen Will Reprise His Fan-Favorite Role In "The Santa Clause," A Limited Series For Disney+
• 01/14/22 - To Celebrate The Wonder Of Our Planet, Disney+ Announces New Movies And Specials To Premiere On Earth Day
• 01/13/22 - Tickets For D23 Expo: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event Presented By Visa® Go On Sale January 20, 2022
• 01/12/22 - Disney+ Debuts New Tv Spot For Marvel Studios’ “Eternals”
• 01/10/22 - Disneyland Resort Celebrates the Year of the Tiger with the Return of Lunar New Year at Disney California Adventure Park, Jan. 21 to Feb. 13, 2022
• 01/10/22 - Shanghai Disney Resort Invites Guests to Celebrate the Year of the “Tigger” Together with New Spring Festival Surprises
• 01/07/22 - Disney And Pixar’s “Turning Red” To Premiere Exclusively On Disney+ On March 11

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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