Disneygeek - Geek Speaks - 03/04/11 - My thoughts and observations from Fridays visit to the Disneyland Resort.

The Geek Speaks:

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.

03/04/11 - My thoughts and observations from Fridays visit to the Disneyland Resort.

Hello all,

Friday was a mild day at the Disneyland Resort weather wise and crowd wise. Both seemed about average for this time of year. As you saw in the pictures wait times were well under an hour for most attractions throughout the afternoon/evening. Walking around the parks the walkways seemed crowded with guests roaming around, not sure if this was because of the number of walls/projects going on, timing, or just me.

Jason

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

Disneyland & DCA Thoughts and Observations:

Due to some bad timing and weather it had been three weeks since my last visit to the Disneyland Resort. Many of the projects around both parks had made quite a bit of progress. Since the last update Disney has announced that the both the Little Mermaid and Star Tours will open on June 3rd and the week before is when the new parade at Disneyland will kick off. No official announcement has been made about the dining area or Goofys Sky School at DCA, but all indications point to a similar opening date.
The upgraded area for the Character Meet and Greet on the Pier is a nice touch. The trees really make a difference when approaching the area and work as a good way to break up the view. When I walked by the first time Mickey was out and dressed in his sailor suite, looked to be the same that I saw years ago inside Ariels when the Disney Visa photo opportunity was there. I had heard Duffy was going to be out there too, but no sight of him on Friday.
Stopped by the Fun Wheel to get my regular construction shots and was surprised that the CM loading the non swinging cars was trying to group small parties together considering there were maybe five groups in line when I got there. I asked for our own car and she did give us one, we had three adults and I really did not want to be squished on one side, it is really not that comfortable and taking pictures is a real pain. The seats comfortably fit two adults and a child, but three adults is pushing it and with no crowd thought this was odd.
In the time guide this weekend it was back to the regular single page with Disneyland on one side and DCA on the other. The Family Fun Weekend had a small box on the top section of the Disneyland side. Also noticed the Pixar Pals is still not showing which show is going on that day. This weekend they also switched around the DCA entertainment and moved Disney Dance Crew to the morning and Disney Channel Rocks! to the afternoon. Wonder if that made any difference at the shows? I was tied up and never made it by to see if the crowds were any heavier. Did anyone go to the shows, curious what you found?
Disneyland was celebrating the final Family Fun Weekend featuring Mardi Gras. This event took place out in New Orleans Square and consisted of Princess Tiana Mardi Gras Celebration, a character procession/meet and greet, two merchandise carts, and some special menu items around New Orleans Square.
- I thought this weekend felt more disjointed because of the location and how spread out it was. I thought containing the festivities in a single location worked to make it feel more like an event. The way Mardi Gras played out to me I am curious if your average guest would identify it as a Family Fun Weekend. They would think its a couple character shows. And if they were dining at one of the restaurants some menu items.
- It interesting that the characters were let loose during the Meet and Greet with no backdrops or even Photopass. I liked this and thought it was better for the guests and characters. They had photopass set up in the courtyard for Mickey/Minnie or Donald/Goofy. Having the band stick around after the character procession was a nice touch. The lines were relatively short for all the characters this week, not sure if it was because of the light crowd, the location, or the fact that this was the third weekend of Mardi Gras.
- The Princess Tiana show worked and had a healthy crowd in the area, but was a let down after the original showboat show, which I really enjoyed. I would have liked to have seen that back for the weekend but I know at the cost point it would have been way too big of an expectation to stage a show that elaborate for only a few runs. I did think it was a step up from the regular celebration show they have been running recently with the addition of more performers and characters.
I had the opportunity to attend all five variations of the Family Fun Weekends. Overall I thought this was a nice addition to the entertainment offerings and I think those that attended the events had some great character opportunities and good entertainment. It will be interesting to see if they come back again next off season and if they do what will be tweaked.

I really enjoyed the Kickin Country weekend since I listen to country music and the Fortworth West band was great to hear. The character opportunities at all the weekends really seemed to be the centerpiece for most people I spoke to. Having the time to interact with the characters and get to see some you usually do not in the parks or in large groups was great!

If you attended any of the weekends what did you think? Drop us an email or stop by the forum and share your thoughts.
I decided to try viewing the Magic, the Memories, and You from as close as I could get Friday. So I queued up on the ramp that leads to Toontown, near the Toy Store about 7:45 for the 8pm show. The area was nice and quiet especially once they closed the toy shop a few minutes before 8. The show started and first thing that struck me is they do not pipe the sound to the speakers in this area so everything is coming from behind you and in front is only the warning for Small World boats approaching the dock. From that close you could see some of the alignment issues on the facade too. I thought a couple of the effects worked better up close though.

Then after the first segment a CM came up and gave us a hard time for being on the wrong side of the rope. I found this fairly poor of the CMs working the crowd control. If they did not want us to watch the show from where we were they should have come over to us before it started and asked us to move. Instead they waited until after the show had started so finding another viewing location meant I had to walk in front of/through other guests. I had assumed they would let us stand there for the show then ask us to move before the fireworks since no one seemed to mind as we hung out waiting for the start. I understand having people move because of the fallout zone but seems they should have done this prior to the start of the 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.