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02/10/12 - My thoughts and observations from Fridays visit to the Disneyland Resort including the Bayou Bash in New Orleans Square.
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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.

02/10/12 - My thoughts and observations from Fridays visit to the Disneyland Resort including the Bayou Bash in New Orleans Square.

Hello all,

Friday was another picture perfect day in Southern California (I am really enjoying this winter... I know come summer when we have had no rain it will hurt, but it has been nice) with temps hitting the mid 70s again and not a hint of a cloud. The crowds at the parks were regular off season, maybe even a bit on the light side with minimal waits throughout the day. For example on my first pass by Screamin was a walk on, Toy Story 25 minutes, Soarin the standby line was not even out the door and I managed to get a Fastpass for the first World of Color showing, even with the reduced viewing area due to the construction.

Jason

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

Thoughts and Observations:

  • I made a quick run through California Adventure to take in the construction progress. As I mentioned last week and wanted to reiterate things are moving quickly at both projects and big visible changes are happening daily, and sometimes even within the day. For example on my first pass by Cars Land noticed the motel portion of the Cozy Cone sign was up. Later in the day at sunset I walked by again and the entire sign was up.

  • The new stage for the new show in Condor Flats that will feature Minnie Mouse looks great. Only challenge I see is right now with the temporary entrance it may be a bit of a traffic bottleneck when the show is going on. But by summer when Buena Vista Street opens and traffic patterns around the park normalize more it should not be an issue. Speaking of which has anyone seen a time frame of when we may be able to start walking down Buena Vista Street (guessing they may open the center walkway before the stores in an effort to ease traffic flow in and out of the park).

  • Why is it Screamin was a walk on, Toy Story had a 25 min. wait, which is almost half the usual wait, but the Fun Wheel still had a normal length wait! My answer is because that was the attraction I wanted to go for a spin on.

  • Stopped by the Disneyana store on Main Street to check it out. They had the store closed for several weeks. Looks like the bulks of the work was wallpaper, flooring, and touch up no other changes jumped out at me on a walk through.

  • While taking pictures of the work on Main Street noticed Tony Baxter walking someone around and pointing out some of the work. They were heading up Main Street toward the hub. They made a quick turn around and went back to the Jolly Holiday Bakery. Always fun to see Imagineers (and others your recognize in the parks).

  • The big new happening this week was the kick off of the Bayou Bash out in New Orleans Square at Disneyland. The celebration runs for five weeks this year, I believe last year the Mardi Gras celebration ran for three. It consists of the same basic elements we saw last time around, some special food offerings, Meet and Greets, a Tiana Show, and a Jazz Band/Character show. I did find it helpful that they posted show times for both the Jazz Band and Tiana shows.

    • I thought this year there were more food offerings. I took pictures of most of the signs/offerings but they ranged from flavored popcorn to full meals at the Blue Bayou this time around.
    • The Meet and Greets were all taking place in the Angels courtyard which is a tight space and hard to get pictures, unless you waited in line or liked the back of them. Last year they did some out along the River which I thought was nice. I did not see that this time around.
    • The Princess Tiana Mardi Gras Celebration is identical to the show from last year. I was hoping they would have the budget to bring back a version of the larger show they staged when the movie came out that included the Mark Twain. I thought that was a great show!



    • There was also a Jazz Band from New Orleans that procession and set included Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, and some dancers. I thought this was great too. It allowed for some character interaction and allowed everyone a chance to see the characters decked out for the Bash.


  • Watched World of Color from the Blue Section, slightly closer to center than I usually do and down a terrace thanks to the shifts due to the construction. The show looked great, but the pop up projection screens were not used, as has become the norm. There seemed to be a couple tweaks to the lasers (or maybe it was just my viewing angle) but nothing else jumped out at me as being different, was curious if they tweaked anything when they were working on the show recently (it was not performed for several week nights to allow for maintenance work).

  • Exiting after World of Color was a mess. The cast members seemed disorganized and we were directed in a round about way. At first toward the Little Mermaid then around the planter and then almost down to the Wharf area, but they switched and allowed some up the stairs. Not sure what was going on.. but seemed to some confusion and it took a while to get out and I was near the back and exit side of the show. Wonder how it was for those further down in the Yellow section.

  • Remember ran as scheduled Friday evening and the show looked the same as it has been in recent years. Nothing jumped out at me as being tweaked.

  • Looking at the park time guides two things I wanted to note. First the Bayou Bash made the cut and is at the top of the Disneyland side, but they just list Fri. to Sun 10am to 5pm no show times. Also noticed a typo.. they have the Disneyland Band performing at the castle at 12:00am... would be an interesting way to close the park at midnight with them playing but I am 99% sure this was at noon...

  • Has anyone else been experiencing cell phone data issues in the park? Seems the last three or four visits I have had a miserable time inside Disneyland getting my tweets/images to send. It would not hold a data connection. Over at DCA there have been some random issues but for the most part it worked. My carrier is Verizon, so was curious if it was the carrier, me, or just the way it is right now.



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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