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1/31/14 - My thoughts and observations from Fridays visit to the Disneyland Resort for Lunar New Year.
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1/31/14 - My thoughts and observations from Fridays visit to the Disneyland Resort for Lunar New Year.

Hello all,

I spent the afternoon and evening Friday roaming the Disneyland Resort. It was a cloudy and cool afternoon with the sun poking through occasionally. The high was in the low 60s and the low in the 50s. The crowds were on the mild side, the longest wait I saw was for the Racers at only 60 minutes. Soarin was around 30 minutes the couple times I walked by. Over at Disneyland the lines were about the same.

Jason

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

Thoughts and Observations:

  • The Disneyland Resort was celebrating Lunar New Year this weekend at California Adventure and Downtown Disney. At DCA the festivities were taking place in Paradise Gardens with guest performances, character meet and greets, special food items, and merchandise.
    • I thought the offerings were on par with previous years. There seemed to be more decorations up around the area which added to the feel of the event. I thought the way it was set up in Paradise Gardens was a bit awkward and made it feel very congested. A bulk of the activities were along the walkway right as you enter the Gardens area, parallel to the Sky School. This is a relatively small area and having everything there caused a bottleneck.
    • On the time schedule they advertised the event this way: Lunar New Year on the back of the DCA time guide, no real details just a listing from 11am to 5pm. It was good to see the event listed but I think it would be more helpful to list some of the event times. Or if they are not set that early why not list them somewhere near the event at least.
    • The Meet and Greet for the characters seemed to be very popular Friday with the line wrapping around the area and taking up a lot of space. The way they had it set up it was very hard to see the characters without waiting in the line due to the sight lines. Quiet a few guests clogged the exit area because of this.
    • I thought it was odd the special menu items were available only at Bayside Brews and an outdoor cart. The Paradise Grill is right where everything was going on but with no special offerings the couple times I walked by there were very few guests there.
    • Brining over a horse from the Ranch was a great touch for the Year of the Horse and this photo op drew a decent crowd.
    • I did not see anything for the event over at the Lucky Fortune Cookie, but I did not go up to the window there either, just walked by from a distance.
    • Downtown Disney was also celebrating the New Year with special food offerings at several of the dining locations and in the evening entertainment on the main stage. The first set I attended had a fairly large crowd.

  • The other interesting event this week was the work going on at Small World. They were making it look like it did at the 1964 Worlds Fair in preparation for filming a scene for the upcoming Brad Bird Tomorrowland film. The filming is scheduled for mid week, but due to the way it is set up do not expect to see much if you plan to visit the parks. They will be closing the area including the train.

  • The Disneyland time guide had two interesting events listed on it. I will not be able to make either but if you are in the park and attend and want to share your experience drop me a line:
    • Flag Retreat - Tuesday, February 4th @ 4:30pm a special Flag Retreat Ceremony to honor our nation's defenders, veterans,m first responders, their families, and those in need - all special guests of the Gary Sinese Foundation
    • Annual Passholder Sing Along Under the Stars every Wed & Thurs during February --There was no other real information about this event. I am assuming more will be coming on the AP website or Twitter.

  • The off season projects are moving along at various speeds. Most did not have much visible progress. This year there are a lot of projects slated to be going on in the parks and the schedules keep shifting so if you are planning a visit I would recommend checking disneyland.com for the most up to date information as close to your visit as possible.

  • FYI if you belong to the Earl of Sandwich EClub the birthday certificate for a free sandwich is valid at Downtown Disney.

  • Hard Days Night a Tribute to the Beatles were performing again at Tomorrowland Terrace Friday evening and I took in a couple of their sets. They once again drew very large crowds and put on an entertaining show.

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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