home > Columns > Geekspeaks >
04/21/17 - Thoughts and observations from Friday at the Disneyland Resort.
 The Geek Speaks:

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.

04/21/17 - Thoughts and observations from Friday at the Disneyland Resort.

Hello everyone,

Friday was a pleasant day at the Disneyland Resort. The crowds were moderate almost on the verge of light for the early part of the afternoon at Disney California Adventure. I think the combination of block outs, peak pricing, and 90 degree weather all played a part. Hopefully this means a few week lull with the end of the Spring Break season. Even into the evening at Disneyland it was not overly crowded feeling as I walked around. For example an hour before the Main Street Electrical Parade and only the curbs were filled. Plents of space behind those guests along most of the route.


Thoughts and Observations:

  • The day started off on a bad foot with the Ball Road overpass closed so that meant sitting through the light on Disneyland Drive. I really wish they would have made the overpass large enough to handle two way traffic. It makes it so much easier to get in and out of the structure. The good news is Anaheim PD did not have the entrance blocked and there was no wait at the tollbooths.

  • My first park today was DCA. I noticed they still had FastPasses for Racers available. The return time was 8:40pm but still a sign of a smaller crowd to have them available at all after 1pm. I stopped by the Racers on my tour of the park and decided to give the single rider line a try in the afternoon. I lucked out and it was a literal walk on. I only had to stop to wait for the guests ahead of me to exit the car. Come night fall when I returned to use my FastPass the scene was not as calm. The return line was backed up outside the queue. I am guessing the attraction must have been down earlier in the evening and they were still playing catch up. At that point the single rider line was past the bridge too.

  • Stage 17 was hosting a Canadian Music Festival all day Friday and Saturday. When I stopped by a workshop for a performing group was going on. I thought it was interesting they had it open so anyone could stop by and see. It appeared to be mostly performers and others from their group in the audience, plus a few others who popped in to see what was going on.. The event was not listed on the times guide, app or website (same with other performing arts groups at DCA - where as Disneyland they are listed on the printed guide). There was a sign near Hollywood Blvd and that was all I saw. This time of year there are a large number of groups that visit for their spring break. The new stage in Hollywood Land was hosting a half dozen throughout the afternoon. Disneyland had several listed too.

  • Over at Disneyland in the planters of New Orleans Square there are new sculptures on top of plates and other equipment. Assuming this is part of the infrastructure upgrades to support the new version of Fantasmic. It will be interesting to see what surprises are being added. The statues seem odd to me, especially the ones that stick up that will be in sight lines for the show.

  • The Castle Holiday Shoppe opened in Fantasyland on Thursday replacing the Castle Heraldry Shoppe. This features mostly Christmas ornaments plus a couple other holiday items. The interior of the shop is rather plain with the walls displaying the merchandise and some minor decorations around the perimeter. It had a temporary feel to it to me. Even the window had that feel with a couple holiday items added but no substantial changes.

  • Throughout the late afternoon it was interesting to watch the Toy Story FastPass situation. Much of the time the standby wait was longer than the start of the return time window. The standby time jumped around a lot too. So it seems they are still working on the mix and timing. The one thing I noticed the two times I rode was the standby line barely moves.. it seemed at least 5 to 1 FastPass over standby. FastPass return waits varied too.. one time only a few minutes another closer to ten. The attraction was having some problems. One time two of the games were out of focus for me. The ride stopped for several minutes as I wrapped up one round. Also they had to take one set of trams offline for some reason before the group in front of me boarded. My best advice would be to use the app to check the standby vs FastPass return time. It can work out in your favor if the crowd conditions are right.

  • Stopped by the Grand Californian for dinner. The pool renovation looks to be wrapping up for one pool but still a ways to go for the water slide and far area of the pool. Guessing the push is on to get it wrapped up before the summer season. I am sure guests staying there Friday with the 90 degree weather were disappointing to have to go to one of the other hotel pools. I ate at White Water Snacks. When I first arrived there were guests at two tables. By the time I left I had the place to myself for quite a while. It was really really quiet this afternoon.

  • Paradise Garden Grill has another temporary menu. This time around a lot of deep fried items since Corn Dog Castle is closed for renovation. They offer everything the castle did and then more.. including corn on the cob and chicken skews, both battered and deep fried.

  • A preview for the upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean - Dead Men Tell No Tales film has moved into the Sunset Showcase Theater (former Muppets Theater). The sneak peek opened started Thursday with no end date announced but guessing it will close just after the film opens, which is May 26th. The preview follows the format of other recent ones with banners, signs, photo op, and a couple props/costumes in the lobby. They show a sequence featuring Jack and his crew pulling off a bank robbery in a way you probably have never seen before. It is a big action sequence with the humor we all expect from the franchise. It wraps up with several clips that can best be described as a trailer. Overall the preview did little to really explain the film but it was entertaining and had an energy to it that had many talking on the way out and ready for the film.

  • I found it interesting there was/is no preview for the Guardians of the Galaxy vol 2 that opens in a few weeks nor for Born in China which opened Friday. I am assuming there will be for Cars 3 in the coming weeks.

  • Speaking of Cars 3 merchandise is hitting the shelves in the park with Sarges and Elias and Co having the largest selection I saw.

  • As the sun set the entertainment choices inside the parks started to dwindle. With no bands at Tomorrowland Terrace and no party going on at DCA you had to go out to Downtown Disney to catch a live band. It would be nice to see the bands return for the summer.

  • As I was leaving just after 9pm the trams arriving from the Mickey and Friends parking structure were fairly full. In the structure there were a number of cars circling looking for parking spots. For those of you not familiar with parking, as the evening goes on Disney re-opens floors for parking but you are on your own to find a spot. Most guests head for the first couple of rows and expect to find a spot near the escalator. If there is not one they have to go around again because of the one way traffic flow (unless they decide to ignore the arrows and safety and drive the wrong way down the aisle which is unfortunately common).

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

Geek's Blog Postings Recap – April 3-11, 2017

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.

Send comments, questions, any other email to: disneygeek@disneygeek.com
Back to previous page

 

Quick Note

Check out the geek speaks archive for past updates.

 

Interested in Helping out?

If you are a fellow disneygeek and interested in sharing your insights, pictures, thoughts drop us an email here we are always looking for contributors.