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3/22/24 - Disneyland Resort
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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.

3/22/24 - Disneyland Resort

Hello Everyone!

I spent a relaxing afternoon/evening at the Disneyland Resort Friday. The crowds seemed on the moderate side during the early afternoon and built as normal once evening came. Wait times followed suit with most being longer than we were willing to wait most of the day. The weather was pleasant topping out just shy of 70 and cooling down toward 60 with the sun out all day. The breeze stayed nonexistent most of the day.

Last Tuesday I was invited to the D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event announcement that included a preview of the Walt Disney Archives car show and information about the August events. I have several posts with the details and some pictures. Here is my summary page for D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event 2024.

Thoughts and Observations:

  • Today started off on a good note. No wait at the parking structure and directed into a spot quickly in not a terrible location. The downside was it was on the roof and the spots up there seem very tight. Of course the car to my right was on the line so I parked a bit to the left and the car on my left did not shift.. so we were close. Then a cast member an aisle away decided to chime in and tell us both to move, but there just wasn't space to move much with three big cars in a row. Luckily I see no new scratches or dings so think the car did ok, but it was hard to get in and out and the cast member was less than friendly.
  • For most of the afternoon the parks had a good number of guests walking around but they felt calm compared to recent visits and definitely a little less crowded.
  • The Boudin Bakery was closed, the sign was odd saying tours for the day had concluded, but it appeared they did not open at all. Also noteworthy is they had no retail bread for sale outside or inside. You could buy soup but no bread by itself. It seemed odd to me they did not post a sign saying this. Instead you had to wait to be told this at the counter. Luckily the line was short when I stopped by.
  • I made it onto the Mark Twain today and had a nice relaxing cruise with some interesting views. You cannot tell a lot of progress at the Haunted Mansion work but you can see the cleared area and utility work underway. Next door on Tiana's Bayou Adventure more painting was done and more plants installed as they work their way down the mountain.
  • In Toontown Donald's Duck Pond had the renovation walls removed. This splash pad has been closed and behind walls almost the entire time the new Toontown has been open. There were a number of cast members checking out the area. Not sure if parents will be thrilled or not with this water feature. Looks like kids can get very wet which could make for some challenges.
  • The Parkside Market building is being assembled at a quick pace. The cinder block walls looked nearly complete and a crane was on site to lift the steel into place. Some framing was also taking place on the wall nearest the Monorail. So looks like the good Monorail view of the construction will be blocked sooner rather than later.
  • Paseo and Centrico looks to be nearing completion. Signage was being installed and other exterior details. I have not seen a date yet but last I read it was Spring 2024.
  • As we walked around the parks and Downtown Disney I noticed some guests participating in the Eggstravaganza hunt but not nearly as many as last week.
  • At Disney California Adventure the lockers for Grizzly River Run have been relocated across the walkway from the attraction and gift shop where the former stage was. They sort of fit in but look a little awkward to me and are facing the main walkway. The former location seemed a little more out of the way and worked better. It appears the former location is going to be an expanded DVC kiosk. The one side facing the walkway was not enough so it will be the entire area. That was still behind walls.
  • So far this year my timing has not been great and the groups at the Food and Wine Festival have not really been ones I prefer to see. The music selections and types are not what I enjoy. That trend continued today unfortunately. It is nice to see a rotation of groups but I would have preferred to see some of the others on the slate.
  • We returned to Disneyland just before 8pm and the lines to enter the park stretched out to past the Monorail. They moved and it was an under 10 minute wait but was long. DCA had only a handful of guests per line at the same time.
  • The Jungle Cruise was listed as temporarily closed and had been for a while so we headed that way in hopes of it opening soon and a short wait. We waited about 10 minutes for it to reopen and were able to walk onto the second boat out. Our skipper was just ok. The ruins are still boxes and hard to tell if anything changed since it was a night cruise.
  • Wondrous Journeys returned this evening and runs until Pixar Fest next month. This evening there was nothing on the wire, no Blue Fairy or Baymax. Wonder if this was an opening night glitch, some other issue, or the plan for this short run. Other than that the show seemed about the same as the previous run. Nothing jumped out at me as a substantial change.
  • Took the tram back to the parking structure after the fireworks. I really do miss the walkway right by the trams.. so you can walk through and if the trams are long just keep going. Having to go through Downtown Disney feels so much further. It would be great if they would make that walkway an exit only, especially in the evening. They only had two load zones open. We made it onto the third tram to pull into the second stop.

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

Disney Related Press Releases

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.

Send comments, questions, any other email to: disneygeek@disneygeek.com

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