* After you read this report you may want to check out the pictorial updates in our Disneyland Resort Pictorial Update section

Hello all,

I was lucky enough to find myself down in Orange County again on Sunday, and we found some time to stop by the Disneyland Resort. The parks were much more crowded than I had anticipated. The line for parking was one of the longest I have seen on a non-holiday in a long long time. I read on another site they temporarily filled up parking around 5:00pm. Once in the parks the lines seemed about the same as Friday.

Jason

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

Disneyland & DCA Thoughts and Observations:

• We decided to give the Anaheim Garden Walk a try for lunch. It has been open for a while now, with more shops/dining locations opening every month, and I had never made my way over. Here are some thoughts/observations:
  • For those who do not know the Garden Walk is a shopping/dining place located between Katella and Disney Way.
  • We arrived just before noon and pulled in and found the parking garage to be very empty. Found a spot near an entrance and headed into the walk. As you saw in the pictures it is sort of a cross between a Downtown Disney and a Mall (it reminded me of the Spectrum down in Irvine).
  • As we walked around we kept commenting on how nice it was and the number of options that will be available once everything opens. It felt weird to walk around a place that was so empty... we walked from end to end and passed maybe a handful of groups.. a dozen people or so. Stopped for lunch at Johnny Rockets and the staff out numbered the guests.
  • Due to time and the large crowd at Disneyland I did not head down to the Bowling alley or the lower level at all.. guess I will next trip.
  • Overall I found the Garden Walk to be a nice place to grab a bite to eat. Mostly due to the nonexistent crowd. It was fairly convenient to get to from the freeway (we were coming from the South this trip) and it was not too bad to get to the parks either.
  • I think once Disney builds their new garage it may help with some foot traffic, or at least make this more of an option for people. I know I had not visited since I usually arrive from the North and pull straight into the Mickey and Friends Garage and I do not want to drive around the park to get to the Garden Walk.
    
    
• Disneyland was another story. I knew we were in for a busy day when I pulled into the Garden Walk and noticed they were directing cars for Disneyland to the Pumba lot (this is the surface lot down off of Disney Way across from the Garden Walk). We headed down Katella past the convention center and turned right onto the former West Street (is it Disneyland Drive, I always forget the street name). The entrance off of Magic Way (the street with the Disneyland Hotel and Downtown Disney entrance) was closed so we had to go all the way to Ball and make a U-turn. The traffic to get into the garage was backed up to the intersection. It took about 20 minutes to make it to the toll booths to enter the garage..
  
  
• I found it odd that the only night of the weekend to be running fireworks was Sunday.
  
  
• It was interesting to note how many things had moved/changed in the Bay at DCA since Friday... kind of surprising actually.. it was great to see the new Games of the Boardwalk facades uncovered. They really do change the feel of the area and I cannot wait to see/feel the drastic change to the area once the shops are done too. Hopefully the revised Fun Wheel queue finds its way back into the project schedule, as of now it appears to have been cut in favor of repainting the existing one.
  
  
• We decided to wait in the 50 minute line for Toy Story, which turned out to be about a 70 minute wait due to it stopping several times and they were sending several trams through empty each cycle. Also for the life of me I do not understand why they do not run the fans in the queue area.. the short section that is inside is always on the warm side, no matter what the outside temp is it seems.
  

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