Hello Everyone!

I spent Friday afternoon and evening at the Disneyland Resort. The parks felt busy but wait times seemed on par and inconsistent with some being mild and others on the long side depending on when you checked. The weather was on the cooler side, never reaching above 70 but the sun made it feel warmer and it did not drop below 60.

Thoughts and Observations:

• Parking was not a problem. The light at Ball road was backed up so I opted to use the overpass and was directed into a spot on the roof with no wait.
• The annual Eggstravaganza is underway with three egg hunts to choose from. Each costs $9.99 plus tax and includes a game board, stickers and a prize egg. You can then set off to find the 12 eggs for the quest you choose. There are separate game boards for Downtown Disney, Disneyland and Disney California Adventure. There are six prize eggs to choose from and all are available for each quest. There are a couple of redemption locations for each. As I roamed around I spent some time looking for the eggs and I managed to find all 36. There seemed to be a fair number of guests both old and young playing throughout the resort. I would like to see them expand these hunts to offer varying levels of difficulty like those Tokyo Disneyland has done before.
• World of Disney is still set up as one way traffic with the doors by La Brea Bakery the entrance and those by Starbucks as an exit. The others were marked with signs directing you toward the exit set. This is one of the COVID changes that has stuck around. I guess they like the guest flow. To me it was rather annoying having to walk all the way down the back to get to the parks.
• My plan was to go for a round trip on the Monorail to see Downtown Disney and sub lagoon work, but seems Monorail Blue had other plans for me and broke down. So the one I was on was held at the Downtown Disney Station and the cast members did not know for how long. They said they were still determining if it could be cleared or if it needed a tow. So I opted to disembark and walk. I thought they did a great job of letting everyone know there was an issue and warning of the wait then updating on the status. Also noteworthy is our driver pointed out/explained the construction work.
• Mirabel was meeting in Zocalo Park as I walked through Frontierland. No line today, but a healthy group of guests in the area visiting with her and taking pictures. It will be interesting to see how these experiences change in the coming weeks as Disney starts to being back traditional character meet and greets. I hope they keep a mix of offerings. The number and accessibility of characters the last several months has been great. I see it being a mixed bag with some guests really wanting their one on one up close character encounter while others are more than satisfied with the current offering.
• Stopped by Golden Horseshoe at 5:30 to catch the Piano Player's performance and get caught up on some email and posts and was really surprised to find the saloon nearly empty. There were maybe two dozen people in there and at one point it dropped to under a dozen. Not sure why no one was inside eating today during a normal dinner time.
• WEB Slingers opened a single rider options since my last visit.
  - Overall I had a very positive experience. My time from entering the queue until boarding was 10 minutes and total time was about 15 minutes from entering queue to exiting the building.
  - I found it interesting the attraction seems to be built for it with a queue outside and separate walkway and glasses distribution. There are even separate doors for the preshow room and to head to the load area. But they did not build any sort of railing/divider in the preshow so right now they are using temporary barriers. This seems odd. Wonder why they did not put up a simple railing to match the ones used in the queue. The room is not that large and it would have made sense.
• I would like to see single rider return to Soarin. That seemed a fairly straight forward attraction to have it on but so far no luck. I had wanted to visit to see the California film again, but the wait times were longer than my patience the half dozen times I checked hovering around an hour.
• I happened to near Cars Land as the sun was setting so I hung out for the lighting moment. It is always a fun time in Cars Land. I wish they would put this on the schedule for more guests to know the time.
• Moon Knight is appearing in Avengers Campus after sunset. While I was in the area he was up around the quinjet. He would come to the front and look around the wave his cape and go around to the other side. He drew a good size crowd that and they were enthusiastic. I think its great Avengers Campus is being kept fresh with characters from the new shows and movies appearing quickly.
• I stopped by the Pixar Pals Dance Party to see how week two was. The format was still the same with one or two characters joining a cast member on stage. They would teach some dance moves and then dance with the character. This drew a good contingent of kids and they seemed to be having a great time.
• I closed out my time in the parks with Mickey's Mix Magic Fireworks from Main Street USA. There were plenty of viewing options along Main Street USA almost right up until show time. Even then you were not really packed in that tightly. It had been a while since I saw fireworks from in the park due to the groups I have been visiting with or weather, so it was nice to see something again... I am looking forward to the return of Disneyland Forever in three weeks.
• I was able to board the first tram that pulled into the station I choose. I found it interesting they had the first stop on both sides open for guests leaving. The waits did not look more than two trams on either side when I left, but I was ahead of most of the fireworks crowd since I watched from near Town Square.
  

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

• Disneyland Resort Posts from 4/01
  • Eggstravaganza 2022 @ Disneyland
  • Eggstravaganza 2022 @ Disney California Adventure
  • Eggstravaganza 2022 @ Downtown Disney
  • Pictures: Disneyland Hotel DVC Tower Construction (4/1/22)
  • Pictures & Video: Downtown Disney Construction/Demolition (4/1/22)
  • Pictures: World of Color Renovation Check (4/1/22)
  • Video & Pictures: Golden Horseshoe Piano Player
  • Pictures: Moon Knight at Avengers Campus
• 03/28/22 - Product Review: Alice in Wonderland Tarot Deck and Guidebook
• 03/25/22 - Review: West Side Story Home Video

Disney Related Press Releases

• 03/31/22 - Disney Wish Reaches Key Construction Milestone After Leaving Meyer Werft Shipyard for Open Water
• 03/28/22 - The Walt Disney Company Earns 6 Academy Awards® Including Best Animated Feature Film And Best Documentary
• 03/24/22 - Earth Week Celebration at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park Brings New Ways to Join in the Fun and Connect with the Magic of Nature
• 03/23/22 - Celebrate Animation At The 94th Oscars With 'Life Is Shorts: Oscars 2022,' Hosted By Tamron Hall And Featuring Disney And Pixar's Acclaimed Shorts, On Friday, March 25, On Disney Channel And Disney Xd
• 03/23/22 - H2O Glow After Hours Event Brings ‘Light at Night’ to Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon Beginning Memorial Day Weekend
• 03/23/22 - Margaret Cho Joins Disney+'S Teen Rom-Com Movie "Prom Pact"
• 03/21/22 - Disneyland Paris announces a Multi-Year Transformation Plan for Disney Village
• 03/21/22 - Hong Kong Disneyland sees record high local attendance and annual pass membership with the launch of new Castle of Magical Dreams and daytime show
• 03/19/22 - Walt Disney Records Releases Lofi Minnie: Focus Digital Album Available Now

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