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4/10/16 - Thoughts and observations from a Sunday trip to the 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.

4/10/16 - Thoughts and observations from a Sunday trip to the Disneyland Resort

Hello everyone,

I took a rare Sunday trip to the Disneyland Resort because some family members wanted to go and meet some friends. I crossed my fingers on the weather and lucked out with only one drizzly/light rain patch hitting us. The parks felt crowded to me, but since I do not go on Sundays not sure how it compares to normal. Wait times started off pleasant but quickly grew throughout the morning. Parking was one of the longer waits too.

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

Thoughts and Observations:

  • Parking was really backed up when we arrived at 8am. It took about 45 minutes from the freeway exit to Main Street. The line to get through the tollbooths was out of the garage and all booths were open. They were parking on two levels simultaneously so no delays once you paid. The trams were also out of sequence and we had to wait for a couple before reaching the park. Security lines were non existent and same for entering the park though. So it seems the backup at the garage and trams evened out the crowd a bit.

  • Star Wars preparations continue to move on with some very visible changes from the parking structure this week. Several backstage support buildings were leveled this past week. These were for transportation (the trams would roll through there for refueling before the new facility was built) and other services. Inside the park they moved several of the trees that were being saved behind the coffer dam to help hide the construction and parking structure. These combined with the printed mesh looked fairly good and did the job. Getting views of the construction are getting harder and harder. The double mesh at the Hungry Bear has effectively blocked most of the views from there. So there are only a couple holes left in the fences to see a small glimpse from inside the park. Your only other view is from Big Thunder and a very obstructed one from the tree house.

  • I always enjoy walking the parks in the morning hours just after opening. Everything feels fresh and there the energy level of everyone seems higher. Also with thinner crowds you can appreciate more of the details of some areas. For example I was in Critter Country waiting for the rest of my group and was able to photograph the critter benches. A fun collection that usually you cannot really see due to so many guests utilizing them or blocking the view.

  • I was in Tomorrowland as the Launch Bay opened for the day at 10am. There was a good crowd of guests filling much of the outdoor queue for the building. As soon as it opened all walked right in and most went to get in line for the characters, the posted waits jumped to 45 minutes almost instantly. No signs of progress on the Super Hero HQ Space.

  • Disney California Adventure Food & Wine Festival Entered Week 2
    • They had the same buttons for Annual Passholders. The cast member I talked to said they will be switching the design on Mondays.. I thought this was weird since the festival is based on the weekends with different guides and programs each weekend.
    • The AP Tasting Passport has had a price drop, it is now $39 instead of $45. This makes it a slightly better deal if you can average over $6.50 for your food items you can save a little. Note if you purchased at the higher price they are offering refunds if you ask and have your receipt, annual pass and tasting passport. For the hassle they were giving out $10 festival gift cards so you got a couple bonus dollars and the commemorative gift card.
    • Lines for the Marketplaces were on the long side again with delays. This week most of the delays seemed to be with the food prep and serving. For example the By the Bay had no wait to order/pay but 20 guests waiting for food at one point. I saw similar issues at other marketplaces too.
    • I did not catch any of the cooking demonstrations this week but watched part of a lifestyle stage conversation and an artist presentation. Again I thought the artist presentation was the most interesting this week. The presentation I went to was on Star Wars inspired food. I found it a bit awkward how the images were on the screen with the breaks.. and that they were just looping a slide show while the Q&A went on vs talking about them.

  • Captain America and Spider-Man have a location set up on Sunset Blvd, where the Monsters University gang used to be. There were some props and signage on the buildings then a queue in the street for them. Due to the way the crowd was flowing it was hard to get a decent picture of the duo without other guests. It was a single queue so if you waited you were able to meet both.

  • On the way home I remembered another reason I really dislike Sundays.. the traffic driving back through Los Angeles to home was miserable and took almost double the time it took to reach the park in the morning. Also having to go to work the next day is not the most fun.


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

Geek's Blog Postings Recap – March 29- April 5, 2016

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

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