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Hello everyone,

Saturday was one of those on again off again type trips for me and I did not make the decision to go until the morning of when I looked outside and saw blue sky. The morning at the parks was great but then as noon time approached so did the clouds and by early afternoon we were having intermit and by 5pm it looked like the rain was here to stay for the day so I headed home. The crowds at both parks seemed a little heavier than I would have thought with the impending rain.

Jason

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

Disneyland & DCA Thoughts and Observations:

• For once I had a great draw in the parking lottery... I was in line to head up to the 2nd floor of the garage, which was backed up down the ramp and a CM standing by the barricades decided to open it up and I was the first car allowed to head up to the third floor. So I had a great spot right by the escalators.. the first time in a while.
  
  
• I spent some time roaming around the Disneyland Hotel getting some pictures I needed/wanted for an upcoming request and I thought the hotel was quite busy, there seemed to be several conventions going on plus the normal weekend crowd.
  
  
• Speaking of the hotel, while in the lobby, I picked up a flyer called Magical Times (its the information on resort amenities, etc..) and I learned a couple new things. First is the Resort Fee covers quite a few things, I have not followed the perks/inclusions so this may be old news to many, but not to me: Parking, Local calls (as defined by within 12 miles), Newspaper, and High Speed Internet. Also found it interesting the top item on the back was how to use FastPass, I guess many guests still need the extra help to understand the system.
  
  
• I went for a spin on Monsters Inc since it was a walk on and the only noticeable change I saw were the load gates at the station. Nothing else stood out to me.
  
  
• Out at the Pier something odd was going on. They shut down the Sun Wheel, I was in line and next to get on. Everything appeared ok then the CMs started to talk and the next thing I knew they were asking us to leave the queue. I hung around a bit and they cycled through and got everyone off then a group of CMs stood around talking. I walked around to the other side of the Pier to get pictures and Screamin was down too, but here you could see a couple maintenance guys working near the launch area. Both were back up and running after noon.
  
  
• Speaking of odd closures I saw the Mark Twain pull in and off load so I went to get on and the CM said they were closed. Guests were asking if they could wait for the Columbia which was also running and the CM said no since the problem was with the River not with the boats. The Mark Twain pulled out empty, the Columbia pulled in and waited and the Mark Twain went all the way around and stopped waiting to come back in, where it sat for quite a while. All the other River traffic appeared normal, the rafts and canoes kept running. Eventually the Columbia loaded up and set sail and then the Mark Twain (not sure on the timing but I would guess within an hour, maybe closer to 30 minutes.
  
  
• To dodge some rain I stopped by Innoventions and was able to catch the ASIMO show. Its been quite a while, I would say over a year since I last saw it. The robot looks the same but seem more nimble and they added a few new things to the routine, like it runs now. I thought I heard this is a new version of the robot, but I was unclear if it was a new robot or just new programming. As for the show itself I found the script to be a bit choppy. They changed the intro saying ASIMO was now out getting the mail which implies he has been around awhile, but the rest of the show refers to him as a new arrival. So it seemed inconsistent and struck me as odd.. Also I still think those are some of the most uncomfortable bleachers, I think they are made for people under 5 feet tall or something.. they just feel so cramped, but at least they are padded and I was out of the rain/drizzle.
  
  
• The walls were also down around the Project Tomorrowland area, but you still were not allowed in, it was roped off. The only noticeable change I saw was the installation of the Power City game, the same one that EPCOT has running at the exit to Spaceship Earth. The rest of the area looked about the same if my memory is correct. There were no other signs of progress in Innoventions.
  

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