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4/06/07 - My thoughts and observations from Fridays trip to the Disneyland Resort
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4/06/07 - My thoughts and observations from Fridays trip to the Disneyland Resort

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

Hello all,

Friday was an overcast, gloomy, crowded day at the Disneyland Resort. The crowds were heavy but a bit odd. For example I had no delays getting into the structure and ended up in the first row on the 5th floor (usually I am about the middle of the 4th floor so it was a bit more crowded, but nothing like during December when its jammed and takes forever to park). Not sure if this was the luck of the draw or what, also the tram lines were non-exist ant, as were the entrances to the parks. But once in DCA you could feel the crowd and see people everywhere. The lines for most major attractions were well over an hour and even other ones were significant, with the Sun Wheel non-swinging cars checking in at about 30 minutes. Over at Disneyland much the same with the lines for Space Mountain around 100 minutes and Indy well over an hour most of the day. But then as night fell the lines eased up and even 20 minutes before show time for Remember you could get a spot relatively close to the hub.

Jason

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

Disneyland & DCA Thoughts and Observations:

  • I did not spend too much time in DCA due to the crowds and there being several things in Disneyland I wanted to see, but the park did feel quite crowded and the wait times backed up that feeling. The only observation I have is that the new Toy Story Mania (or is it Midway Mania I have seen conflicting reports on this new attraction's name here in Anaheim...) show/queue building appears that its going to stick out quite a ways into the former eating area, bringing itself all the way out to the walkway almost, which I guess makes sense, it should be interesting what this new building looks like, I have yet to see any concept art.

  • As you saw in the pictorial update there is a new out door vendor stand in Tomorrowland, under the old People Mover/Rocket Rods loading station. I think this is a much nicer way to add such carts than the way things have been done in recent years where they just roll out another cart into an area, here it is tucked away into a spot and made to look like it fits in. Unlike many of the Lemonade stands that showed up a couple years ago...

  • Looking at the subs there has not been that much visible progress over the past three weeks, a couple new things here and there but it appears the bulk of the work is going on out of site. I did spot a good size party boarding a sub (a couple did wave to the monorail but I did not recognize anyone).

  • I did not get any good pictures, but do want to mention that the Disneyland Railroad is back in operation and all tarps, walls, etc.. at the stations are down. Nothing too noticable has changed, it looks like some of the track and track bed between Tomorrowland and Adventureland (including Main Street station) has been replaced or at least rehabed. Next time I will try to get better shots of the stations, but on first glance nothing looks to have changed, just new paint.

  • The Flag Retreat had a good size crowd too, which was great to see. There were no children selected to participate this time, wonder if it was a fluke or another change in the ceremony.

  • Went for a spin on the Jungle Cruise and had a very entertaining skimmer.. I believe her name was Kimmy (but I am terrible with names). She was really into the spiel and it makes such a difference, usually by the time I get on in the evening the skippers are wearing out... not her. I even heard a couple jokes I had not heard before (or for a very long time)...

  • While complimenting cast members, I also want to mention a word about the one that did the intro for the Tiki Room (I missed her name) but in the spiel she gave she talked about how this was the forerunner for such popular attractions as Pirates, Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, etc.. and she included the Country Bear Jamboree and how this attraction is missed and she made an off the cuff comment asking what's up with the Winnie the Pooh attraction anyway and poked a bit of fun at it, which I really agreed with, and judging by the applause many in the audience did too. (Guess I should mention when I walked by Pooh it was a walk on both times... and the Tiki Room was playing to a 2/3 full audience most shows it looked like, if not 3/4ths full.

  • Considering the crowd I thought Disneyland's entertainment choices after dark were quite limited with basically just a band at the Tomorrowland Terrace, the band at Cafe Orleans and then the fireworks, everything else was done by sunset. DCA was worse with just the Electrical parade and nothing else, not even Road Trip listed as performing.

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

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