Hello Everyone!

I spent a relaxing day at the Disneyland Resort on Friday visiting with friends and enjoying the parks. I had a fairly light to do list taking a second look at the Disney100 celebration and then a final look at the Lunar New Year Celebration before it ends in a few days. The parks felt busy with a lot of people walking around. Wait times stayed under an hour for most attractions most of the day with a couple of the usual suspects jumping over that but still not horrible. Weather was perfect in the 70s most of the visit and cooling down to the 60s by the time I left.

On the news front, Disneyland has announced that the Toontown reopening is delayed until March 19th. They said it was related to the weather impact on the construction schedule over the past couple months. The Haunted Mansion reopened today, I did not visit since the wait was more than my patience. It was a quick transition back so expecting no substantial changes.

Thoughts and Observations:

• To celebrate Disney100 the Disneyland Hotel lobby has an Alice Comedies display/photo opportunity as you enter. I thought this was a very nice display and a great piece of history. I found it a little odd to be front and center as you enter the hotel and I am curious the average guests reaction to it vs something more familiar. If you are a Disney history nerd it is worth taking a walk out to the hotel to take alook if you are in Anaheim and have some time.
• There are quite a few pavement/walkway projects going on around the Disneyland Resort. The Disneyland Hotel has a couple of areas blocked off near the Fantasy and Adventure towers, so moving around requires some detours depending on where you are heading. The pavement project in Downtown Disney has shifted to the West, just down from the Monorail station now. The area in front of the Monorail station has reopened. It looks rather plain and lacking any sort of character, especially compared to the original pavement throughout Downtown Disney.
• Throughout the Disneyland Resort there are Celebrate Soulfully events going on. In Downtown Disney there are musical groups, arts & crafts, some history signage and chalk art. When I walked by in the afternoon we were able to watch the artist working on the chalk art. I always find it interesting to watch these talented people work.
• Since my last visit a new pre-show video has been added in the Opera House Lobby before Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln. This video features Frederick Douglas and his relationship with President Lincoln. This National Geographic video runs about 10 minutes and is played before the Walt Disney introduction to Great Moments on the same screen in the lobby area. The video is a well presented history lesson and it fits into the show nicely. The cast members were also talking it up since it was new so a number of guests did make there way over and watch it when we were there.
• I do want to note that the air conditioning in the Opera House Lobby area was having problems. It seemed to be stuck on blowing at a high rate and extremely cold, to the point several people left and the cast member said they had a call in to have it looked at. Others were breaking out their sweatshirts and jackets.
• Took a walk through Adventureland to check out the renovation work. The pavement work is done and the new pavement is fairly plain as you would expect now a days. Indiana Jones Adventure is closed for renovation and there were a number of signs out front telling you this, interesting no cast members in the area when I walked by. Further along the tree house scrims were pulled back so you could see what was going on. There were a number of workers visible but really hard to tell any sort of progress with the limited view.
• I had mixed success with the two virtual queues. I succeeded with no problem in picking up a World of Color - ONE group for the 9pm show. For the 1:00pm Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway I had partial success. I clicked refresh and the app hesitated at 1:00:00... then I hit it a second time and it let me join but I was assigned a backup boarding group, 276. This seemed to have a good chance of being called considering they were on group 134 at 1pm, so just under 27 groups an hour so if the attraction kept that pace I would be called in the 6pm hour. Of course it turns out it did not and there were at least two extended down times I saw and by the fireworks closure they were still short of my group. They did reach my group just before 10:30pm, but I was well on my way home by that point unfortunately.
• The lobby of Disney's Grand California Hotel has a confectionery display featuring the Fab 5 in their platinum and purple outfits. It also contains a handful of hidden Mickeys for those that love to search for them. I thought this was a great addition for the celebration and nice to see something besides a medallion, which seems to be the go to everywhere else for the event.
• I took a walk over to check out the front of the Pixar Place Hotel. The repainting project is moving along, but still has a ways to go. The front entrance, lobby and restaurants are still all closed. Guests staying at the hotel have to use an alternative entrance and check in is in a ballroom.
• I closed out my evening with World of Color - ONE at Disney California Adventure. I showed up about 20 minutes before the show and the area I usually stand in was more crowded than usual but I was still able to find a spot. I thought this new show was great from a technical perspective. They really took advantage of the platform and did some unique things with it that worked well in the show. The projections looked great too, thanks to no wind and a good viewing angle. I thought the selection of films and music from within those films was interesting. In several cases they did not go with the obvious or over used music and choose a different song or a different arrangement. I found the introduction and conclusion with Walt not that strong and a tad akward. The oldest Disney film in the show was Lion King (1994) I believe and the oldest over all was Star Wars (1977). It really centered on films of the last couple of decades. This worked as a stand alone show but trying to put it into a larger Disney100 retrospective seemed a little off to me. Also I thought there were some pacing issues with several segments seeming slow/long to me. If someone had one night and asked me which to choose this or Wondrous I would go with Wondrous I thought it was a stronger show.
• A friend gave me a MagicBand+ to try out. I decided to wear it for World of Color this evening. The band worked as expected changing colors and vibrating throughout the show. It was not continuous, it would come on during select segments. On the plus side compared to Glow with the Show Ears you can actually see this if you buy one. On the negative side I found it a little distracting from the show. I was looking at my wrist vs the show, where as with the ears they are more naturally in your line of sight for the shows. I looked around and did not spot any other bands, so either everyone's long sleeves hid them or they are as sparsely used as the Glow with the Show items were. I plan to try the band out at a few more shows/events and get some pictures/video of it in action. Since this was my first time seeing this World of Color show that was my focus.
  

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

• Disneyland Resort Posts from 2/10
  • Pictures: Disney100 Alice Comedies Photo Op at Disneyland Hotel
  • Pictures: Disneyland Hotel DVC Tower Construction (2/10/23)
  • Pictures: A Walk Through Downtown Disney Checking Out Several Projects (2/10/23)
  • Pictures: Indiana Jones Adventure Renovation Continues @ Disneyland – Signs & Wall
  • Pictures: Pacific Wharf to San Fansokyo Construction (2/10/23)
  • Pictures: Disney100 Confectionery Display in Grand Californian Lobby
  • Pictures: Pixar Place Hotel Construction (2/10/23)
  • Pictures: Celebrate Soulfully Chalk Art in Downtown Disney
  • Pictures: Disney100 Photo Backdrop in Downtown Disney
  • Video: Dapper Dans of Disneyland
  • Pictures: Mulan’s Lunar New Year Procession at Disney California Adventure
  • Pictures: Hurry Home – Lunar New Year Celebration
  • Pictures & Video: World of Color – ONE
  • Pictures: Parking Structure Tram Stop Billboards
• 02/07/23 - Review: Mickey & Minnie 10 Classic Shorts Volume 1
• 02/06/23 - Review: The Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Home Video Release
• 02/05/23 - Daynah’s Japan Adventure: Tokyo Disneyland Band
• 02/04/23 - Daynah’s Japan Adventures: Tokyo Disneyland It’s a Small World
• 02/02/23 - Disney Twenty-Three Magazine – Spring 2023 Preview
• 01/30/23 - Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway at Disneyland – My Opening Day Experience

Disney Related Press Releases

• 02/09/23 - Disney+ And Disney Junior Announce Release Date, Additional Key Cast, And New Images For “Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures”
• 02/06/23 - In Celebration Of Valentine’s Day, Disney+ To Offer U.S. Subscribers The Romantic Comedy “Rosaline” To Stream For A Limited Time Only From February 10-15
• 02/06/23 - Marvel Studios’ “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” Is The Most-Watched Marvel Film Premiere On Disney+ Globally
• 02/02/23 - Disney+ Announces Release Date, Animation Studios, Filmmakers And More For “Star Wars: Visions” Volume 2
• 02/02/23 - Tron Lightcycle / Run Races Across The Grid On The Cover Of The New Disney Twenty-Three
• 02/01/23 - Disney+ Marks 30-Day Countdown To The New Season Of The Emmy Award-Winning Series “Star Wars: The Mandalorian” With New Key Art And Featurette
• 01/27/23 - Avengers: Power the Night - Creating an epic show

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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