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

Friday was a cloudy and scattered showers day here in Southern California (by showers I mean drizzle in some areas for the most part). The crowds at the parks surprised me. I was expecting a lot less people because of the weather and it being off season.

One more note before going into each park. My list of complaints for the parking structure just keeps growing. If having to drive all the way around the garage to get into a parking space and then again to get out of the garage was not bad enough, they have now added speed bumps to slow you down. I understand slowing people down, but I just hate going over them. And now you have to do it twice because of the traffic flow. I still do not completely understand the purpose of the new flow... but I guess it must be better for some reason because of the added expenses (the blasting and restriping, the speed bumps, and the extra CMs it takes to use). One person, a conspiracy theory buff thought Disney was in with the oil companies and they just want you to drive further.... oh well. I still like parking inside vs. outside, coming back to a well lit and comfortable temperature area is nice. Enough rambling about parking, it just bugs me.

Disneyland Items:

• As I said above the crowd was heavy than I anticipated, but still not too bad. You could get on just about anything you wanted without a long wait (especially if you used FastPass). Some of the Mountain lines got a little long, my guess because two of them are currently closed (Splash & Thunder)
• Work on Splash Mountain appears to be entering its final stages. They had water back in the Flume. I am guessing it was fairly fresh too because it was really dirty, and I would assume that is from all the construction "dirt" that got in the flume while it was dry.
• The paving project in Critter Country seems to be moving along too. You can see quite a bit of work has been done.
• We finally managed to catch a demonstration of the Segway over at Innoventions. It is quite an interesting device. Wonder if/how it will catch on. I still see only limited uses for it at its cost. I think it fits great with Innoventions and everytime it was out it drew a crowd of people to look and ask questions. I think that is really what Innoventions is supposed to be. I only wish there were more exhibits with new and ground breaking technology and less "video games".
• We caught Mickey's Detective School again, just to see how it looked "under the lights". Lighting can make such a difference in some shows. I thought it looked ok.
• Speaking of shows. We did not see that much live entertainment around the park. Might have just been a timing issue... not really sure.
• Still kind of annoying how much of the park is closed or closes early. By 8pm a lot of things were already closed in Adventureland. NOS several of the shops do not even open.
• We watched Believe from the parking structure. Its really a different view seeing everything from the side. The show looses a little without the soundtrack, luckily we have seen it so many times that I think its embeded in our brains....

DCA Items:

• Across the Esplanade the crowd was lighter than Disneyland as usual, but not that bad. You could get on just about anything with a minimal wait. (Even without FastPass) throughout most of the evening.
• Work on the Tower and Bugs land is really starting to move along. Flik's Fantasy Faire looks like it might be a very well themed area. I only hope the attractions live up to it and are available for people of all ages and not just little kids like some rumors have said.
• The cover for the backlot stage makes a lot of sense, but looks slightly out of place. Hopefully they will add some items to it to make it fit with the backlot theme.
• Wonder why the construction walls extend all the way over to Superstar? Are they doing work out there too? Stroller parking maybe or something? Could not see in so we don't know.
• Went to see Blast and we sat on the far right hand side as your looking at the stage. Out in the single row of seats by themselves. It was really a different vantage point for the show and of the theater. It was great to watch the Hyperion fill up and be able to see all three levels. The view of the show is somewhat obstructured and not the best though. If it is your first time seeing the show I would recommend against sitting down there you miss alot. If you have seen the show before you might want to give it a try and see it from a different angle.

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

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