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4/15/22 - 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.

4/15/22 - Disneyland Resort

Hello Everyone!

Started my Easter holiday weekend at the Disneyland Resort. I arrived just before noon and stayed until after fireworks. The parks both felt busy and wait times seemed higher than past visits as would be expected with a holiday weekend. The weather was on the mild side topping out just above 70 with a slight breeze and then cooling down to the lower 60s as the evening went on.

Thoughts and Observations:

  • I started off my visit walking over to the Disneyland Hotel to take a look at the DVC work. The second floor is taking shape and the supports for the third floor are rising up. It is always interesting to watch these towers rise up and take shape. Unfortunately most of the prep work was not visible but now that the construction has reached the height of the walls you can see visible progress each visit.
  • While taking a look at the construction noticed the hotel pools were both much busier than previous visits, even with the mild weather. Guess if you are on vacation from a cold climate the 70s and sun feel like swimming weather. What a difference a week makes though, last Friday was about 30 degrees warmer with the high over 100.
  • Speaking of the mix of tourist to locals all passes were blocked out Friday except for the Dream Key (the top tier pass). There seemed to be an uptick in the number of guests using the Genie+ and Individual Lightning Lane systems with return queues backed up more than I had seen on previous visits. Also in the late afternoon a notice was pushed out via the Disneyland App warning guests to look at availability before purchasing the addon.
  • Tokyo Disneyland open on April 15, 1983. I have been lucky enough to celebrate a couple anniversaries in Tokyo, the 32nd and 35th. This year that was not in the cards due to Japan not being open for tourists. So the closest you can get in Anaheim is the Mickey and Friends Cavalcade. It features the 35th Anniversary theme song, A Brand New Day as well as the Mickey Drum Float from Happiness is Here Parade.
  • I stopped by the entrance to Toontown and paused to reply to a couple emails in the shade. While there you could hear the work going on. It sounded like they were compacting something. So curious what phase they are in. If all the demo work is complete and they are starting to shape the land now?
  • Mr. Easter Bunny is meeting in Town Square for the season, but seems you have to be an early bird to catch him. I stopped by a couple times and the cast member said he was out earlier in the day only and was off preparing for Easter in the afternoon and evening but to try back tomorrow. This seemed a little odd to me that he was not out for more time or part of the cavalcades.
  • Monorail wait times were hovering in the 30-45 minute range on the app and I stopped by a couple times and saw the queue down the ramp. It appeared only Monorail Orange was running so that plus the crowds seemed to be the reason for the waits. I somehow lucked out and happened by during a lull and was able to squeeze in (made it by 2 groups) to make the next train so had less than a 15 minute wait when I choose to ride. Also noteworthy they shut the Monorail down at 7pm and there were no plans to reopen after fireworks like they typically do when the park is open late.
  • From the Monorail you get a good view of two projects. The first is the new west side area of Downtown Disney. The demolition work is wrapping up and teams were removing foundations and other concrete this week. All the buildings are gone and the debris from them for the most part. Next up is the concrete removal and clearing then the land should be leveled and prepared for the new construction. The second project is the Finding Nemo Submarine Lagoon. Most of the lagoon looks to be finished now with only some portions closest to the water falls with scaffolding still. Disneyland has not shared any target date and the opening season has been wrong twice now. Hopefully the subs return sooner rather than later.
  • I had poor timing on my park hopping over to Disney California Adventure. I had figured the 1:00pm rush had subsided and headed over closer to 2:30pm and instead found a healthy wait. There were 8 lines open and they were all fairly long. I picked one and it actually moved really smoothly taking only about 4 minutes from entering the queue until on Buena Vista Street. By comparison Disneyland had only a couple guests at each entry line.
  • The walls are down from around Stage 12 in Hollywood Land. The Marvel meet and greets are removed as are the photo walls that were in the area prior to them. Now the area is an expanded eating space and Chef Goofy is greeting there since his other location is behind walls as part of the sidewalk project. This area of the park has never been well utilized and continues to search for something. Wonder what will be next? The sidewalk project continues to move along and each visit new sections are behind walls. This week some work was being done on Sunset Blvd as well as between the Animation Building and Sunset Blvd on Hollywood Blvd.
  • The annual Cast Member Environmental Art competition is underway and the finalists were in the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail area. They were on the 2nd level and spread out in two locations, which was a tad awkward to really compare them. Guests (both old and young) did not seem to grasp the idea of voting and instead were picking up several tokens and putting them in each/every box instead of picking their favorite. It would have been nice to have a cast member on hand to distribute the tokens and explain more about the program and voting. The art was creative as usual and fun to see.
  • I went for a late afternoon cruise on the Mark Twain Riverboat and the cast members seemed to have their wires crossed. Everyone boarded and then they announced that the top deck was closing for this cruise and you had to go down. The CM in the wheel house made the announcement then was talking to guests out the window asking them to go down. After most had been cleared, myself included, she came back on and said the top deck was now available so most went back upstairs. This seemed odd. Also noteworthy the aft port stairwell was still roped off (it was my last visit too).
  • One of my goals this Food & Wine Festival was to visit Soarin' Over California. I prefer this original film but the waits have been over an hour many of the times I stopped by which are well outside my patience. Friday the extended queue was in use the times I stopped by and the Lightning Lane was backed up well outside the door to the walkway.
  • Since my last visit another new character has arrived at the Avengers Campus. Mr. Knight from Moon Knight is appearing in the evening. He comes out near the Spiderman greeting location and stands on the opposite side of the walkway (the side backing up to Maters). The location is a tad awkward and cast members are fairly aggressive to keep the walkway moving/clear. I spotted him around 8pm. Moon Knight is also appearing through out the evening at Avengers Headquarters.
  • Mickey's Mix Magic with Fireworks is wrapping up its run, next Friday Disneyland Forever returns to take its place on weekends. The projection only version of Mickey's Mix Magic will continue to run on weeknights when there are no fireworks. I found a spot out by it's a small world to see the show. The projections look great on the facade, except they left the facade lighting on for the first couple minutes of the show this evening.
  • There is a limited time Encanto Projection show running at it's a small world. This show features visuals and the song "We Don't Talk About Bruno". It was a fun show and the crowd really seemed into it. The timing is rather odd. The schedule says it runs from 9pm until 11:45pm but no precise time. The first one is at 9:15pm, a couple minutes after Mix Magic concludes. I have not seen times on the others so if you are trying for a later show ask a cast member. I found it odd they choose not to run one before Mix Magic.. Maybe 8:30 or so. For families with young kids fighting the crowds after fireworks and staying late is a challenge.
  • I was pleasantly surprised that the tram stop was not backed up. I walked up, found a spot and the next tram that pulled in I made it onto as did just about everyone else at the stop I was at. I was expecting a couple tram wait and having to decide if I wanted to walk or wait.

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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.

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