Hello everyone!

I started my Easter Weekend at the Disneyland Resort for my 10th visit of the year. The parks were not as crowded as previous visits as the Spring Break season seems to be wrapping up plus several blockouts for the holiday weekend. Disney California Adventure actually felt more crowded than Disneyland most of the afternoon. This weekend marked the final weekend for the 2019 Egg-Stravaganza as well as the Food & Wine Festival. Wait times around the parks were on the moderate side in most cases. At Disneyland in the afternoon many were well under an hour, hovering around the 30 minute mark only.

Friday morning Disneyland Announced that Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway will be added to Toontown with a projected opening in 2022. This will be the same attraction that is opening at Disney's Hollywood Studios in Spring 2020. Disney confirmed that this attraction will be built where backstage buildings currently are, so it will NOT be replacing any attraction and will be an addition to the park. I thought this was great news to see an investment being made in Toontown and a new attraction vs a replacement. Maybe this will put to rest for a while rumors of the demise of Toontown. I really wish they would/could install different variations on attractions in the various parks vs clones though. I think the resorts should have more unique offerings to encourage guests to travel to them all. It is great to see Mickey & Minnie receiving their own attraction, but I am not a fan of the current styling of the characters in the shorts so that is a bit of a disappointment, I would have preferred a classic look to match Toontown.

Thoughts and Observations:

• Parking on Friday was really a breeze for me. I even lucked out and only had to pause at the Ball Road light. There were only a couple of cars in my lane at the toll booth and I choose a the shorter lane to reach the floor and was directed into a spot with no waiting. Work continues on the parking sensor system throughout the structure, more signs have been installed. It is going to come online this summer.
  
  
• The Pixar Pals Parking Structure is racing toward its finish. There has been a lot of visible progress on the tram stop area. It appears the new security queues are taking shape and more finishing details are being applied to the structure itself. For me the very beginning phases and then the final details are always the most interesting to watch as you can see a lot of change during both periods every visit. The structure is slated to open in the June-July time frame.
  
  
• Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge is also nearing completion. Worked has wrapped up in the areas we can see from outside the park and in. There is no scaffolding visible and very little has changed since last visit. The reservation only period of entry begins in six short weeks. Disney has yet to release any details on how to get a time slot beyond saying if you book a room at a Disney Hotel you will be guarenteed one entry period per reservation for each registered guest.
  
  
• Out on Pixar Pier work continues. Character artwork has recently been added to the seating areas near the Pixar Pal-A-Round. These are an interesting addition at this point in time to see more details being added to areas that opened almost a year ago. The Inside Out Emotional Whirlwind has made a lot of visible progress with a large set piece/backdrop recently installed and the concrete work finished for the attraction area. No opening date has been announced yet.
  
  
• The Pixar Pal-A-Round had one of the longer waits on Friday. The first time I walked by it was around an hour. Then it went down to a posted 30 minutes but it still took closer to 45. For comparison when I walked by Big Thunder it was 25, Peter Pan 30 and Space Mountain 30. I was happy to go for a spin but the long/slow wait was not that enjoyable.. then the group I was paired with took over half my bench too which meant I could not get all the pictures I had planned to. I miss the old Sun Wheel days when you could wait 15 minutes have get your own gondola!
  
  
• The Redwood Creek Challenge Trail hosted the 10 finalists for the 2019 Environmentality Challenge. These art projects are created by cast member teams using trash/recycled materials from the parks. You can vote for the winner from the 10 finalists. I think the display works really well out in this area and is a much better way to view the projects than in the Opera house.
  
  
• At Disneyland more aspects of Project Sardust are underway with construction walls still up in the hub and several new projects underway in Tomorrowland. Some projects have wrapped up since my last visit though. The walls in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle have been pushed back and the new curb-less, sloped walkway to the hub is now accessible. The Castle is slated to be finished by the end of May. The Adventureland entrance archway has been removed and they already cleared the support column and concrete so the full walkway is available. A new sign will be installed that will span the entire walkway in the coming weeks. The walkway between Adventureland and Frontierland has reopened and is slightly wider with the removal of some elements and a shrinking of the planter, wonder if they plan to rebuild some of the fort elements that were removed. In Tomorrowland the walls near Autopia's exit are removed and a new path and shrunk planter are revealed. Also throughout Tomorrowland new large benches have been added. It is great to have more seating options. All of these small projects are adding up to more usable square footage being added to the park and hopefully easing crowding and traffic pinch points. I just hope in the end the sum of the changes does not change the overall feel of the park too much. Over the years the park like feel has been slowly disappearing. If you look at pictures from the 50s and 60s compared to the 80s and 90s compared to now the amount of green/planters/grass keeps shrinking. The walkways keep expanding and the crowds keep growing.
  
  
• One oddity to report from Friday. My cell phone decided to jump ahead 7 hours at three different points throughout my visit to Disneyland. Not sure if it was a Verizon issue or something with my phone. Has anyone else experienced this? This was the first time I saw that behavior. The phone did have an Android update last weekend so that is another variable too.
  
  
• Took a quick walk through Downtown Disney to see what was going on. The Pop-Up Disney location in the former ESPN Zone opens the 26th. As of Friday new signage had been installed and the old stone athletes with the moving heads had been covered on the building exterior. Also in Downtown Disney signs are up for the Black Tap dining location, no indication of an opening date but the project is inching forward.
  
  
• The Disney Gallery is hosting an exhibit featuring props, costumes and concept art for the upcoming live action version of Aladdin. The Opera House is playing a 10 minute sneak peek. President Lincoln is on hiatus again. The preview consists of a section of One Jump Ahead as well as when Aladdin meets Genie. There are some other trailer clips included too. I enjoy seeing these previews and exhibits in the parks, but I am not a fan of Great Moments being closed for so long.
  

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

• 04/19/19 - Disneyland Resort Pictures Live from the park
  • Disneyland Pixar Pals Parking Structure Construction Pictures (4/19/19)
  • Disneyland Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge Construction Pictures (4/19/19)
  • Pictures: Environmentality Art Challenge 2019
  • Pictures: Disneyland Adventureland Entrance Work
  • This planter in Tomorrowland has been reduced in size and you can now walk all the way around it
  • Marvel Project at Disney California Adventure Construction Pictures (4/19/19)
  • Pictures: Pop-Up Disney Signage
  • Pictures: Disney’s Aladdin Preview & Exhibit In Disney Gallery & Main Street Opera House
• 04/18/19 - Pictures: Shanghai Disneyland & Disneytown Character Eggs 2018
• 04/17/19 - Disneynature’s “Penguins”: Maggie’s Review
• 04/15/19 - Marvel’s “Avengers: Endgame”: Global Press Conference

Geek’s Blog Postings Recap March 12-April 2, 2019

Disney Related Press Releases

• 04/18/19 - Toy Story 4 - Old Friends & New Faces: Bo Peep TV Spot & Final Poster
• 04/17/19 - Disneyland Resort Will Debut New Oogie Boogie Bash – A Disney Halloween Party, Coming to Disney California Adventure Park with a New ‘World of Color’ Spectacular
• 04/16/19 - Marvel Studios Avengers: Endgame - To the End Video
• 04/12/19 - Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker - Teaser & Poster
• 04/11/19 - The Walt Disney Company Spotlights Comprehensive Direct-To-Consumer Strategy At 2019 Investor Day
• 04/10/19 - Disney+ Signs Exclusive Multi-Year Production Agreement with Supper Club
• 04/10/19 - New Nighttime Spectacular ‘Epcot Forever’ to Debut Oct. 1 at Walt Disney World Resort
• 04/10/19 - Summer at Tokyo Disney Resort
• 04/10/19 - The Lion King - Trailer & Images
• 04/08/19 - LOVE for Wildlife Photo Exhibition Opens in Celebration of Shanghai Disney Resort’s Earth Month

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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