Hello all,

Friday was a fairly relaxing afternoon/evening at the parks. The crowds were on the lighter side than normal with the wait times under half an hour for most of the bigger attractions. The walkways at Disneyland felt more crowded, but guessing that is because of the Pirates Premiere set up taking up so much space and changing the traffic flow.

Jason

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

Disneyland & DCA Thoughts and Observations:

• First stop of the day was DCA. It was great to see them putting the outer skin/concrete/stucco on the new entrance. Things are really moving along quickly. Once inside the park even more walls are up, as you saw in the pictures. The park is going to feel weird once all these projects finish and there are not walls everywhere you turn.
  
  
• Spent some time out on the Pier taking construction pictures and due to the light crowd was able to ride the Fun Wheel, Jellyfish, and Zephyr with no real waits at all. The view from the Jellyfish is one I have not seen in a while and it was great to get a panoramic look at the new dining area from that angle.
  
  
• Caught the Green Army men out near the Tower of Terror. I thought it was odd. They really did not fit in the area. They did have a decent size crowd though, which was nice to see.
  
  
• Next up was Disneyland and as you saw the Pirates Premiere has invaded, and they still had more to install before the big day on Saturday. If anyone attended and wants to share pictures drop me an email. It is impressive to see the lengths the studio will go through for a film premiere. A friend of the site sent a few cell phone pictures from the clean up effort on Sunday evening. Click here to see them
  
  
• Spent some time in the newly re-opened Star Trader. The new set pieces were a nice change and seeing Star Wars center stage was great. Still surprised at the large/out of place Pirates display but guess that is to be expected. Also I think the Captain EO stuff was all back in the Starcade section. Speaking of this I tried an experiment to send a picture in via twitter on this while at the park. The quality was not very good, but what do you all think of the concept of an occasional shot from the park?
  
  
• Grabbed dinner at Tomorrowland Terrace. Was amazed to find no real line to order and pick up the food. There were only a few guests around and plenty of CMs and windows to handle the small crowd. Unfortunately they still managed to goof up my order. I just wanted a plain burger and instead got one with sauce on it. Only took one time to get it corrected this round though (also should not the receipt was correct the kitchen goofed the order up).
  
  
• Noticed the Monorail was down for most of the afternoon and on into the evening. No clue what was going on but did spot the service vehicle out in the evening. Also there was a problem in Tomorrowland and the 7:00pm Elvis set did not go on, but the 7:45 did with no problem.
  
  
• Stopped by the Magic, the Memories, and You! show at Small World. A few minutes before show time I was able to pretty much walk anywhere to get the view of my choice. There were some guests in the area waiting, but plenty of space to move around. Once the show started the area did fill up more back down Small World Mall. Several parties that were around me left partially through the show. Wonder how the reaction has been, it seems muted at best. I think it is a well done show and fun to see, but not a huge draw. I am curious to experience the WDW version to see if I get a different feeling on a grander canvas.
  
  
• Surprised there was no Pirates sneak peak this evening. You would have thought with all the Premiere preparations it may draw some extra guests. The only other scheduling quirk to make note of was they were only running th eDisney Channel Rocks! show Friday, no Dance Crew.
  
  
• It was great to see them open the backstage walkway on the West side of Main Street to minimize the grid lock on Main Street during/after the fireworks.
  
  

Interesting Web Finds/Notes:
Below are some interesting links, notes, and rumors I found/stumble across/or have been informed of since the last Geekspeaks column.

• Interesting Web Finds:
  • I have been posting my webfinds to the Geek's Blog as I find them/have time to post them.
    
    
• Upcoming Merchandise Events (Taken from the May Merchandise Newsletter):
  • The Art of Mary Blair celebrating 45 Years of It’s a Small World – May 13 (Disneyland - Disney Gallery)
  • Sci-Fi Academy Trading Event – June 24 (Disneyland Resort)
  • The Florida Project September 9 – 11, 2011 World Showcase, Epcot
    
    
• Disney Related Press Releases
  • 5/02/11 - Disneynature Collaborates with the African Wildlife Foundation to Help Protect 50,000 Acres in Kenya’s Amboseli Wildlife Corridor
    
  • 4/28/11 - D23 Celebrates 20th Anniversary of Disney's The Rocketeer at Historic El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood June 21, 2011
    
  • 4/21/11 - It’s ‘Time to Add the Magic!’ at New Disney Hawaii Resort
    
  • 4/20/11 - Disney Twenty-Three Magazine Summer Issue Hits Stands May 3
    
  • 4/17/11 - Disneyland Resort Celebrates Soundsational Summer with Premieres of ‘Mickey’s Soundsational Parade’ May 27, Star Tours and ‘Little Mermaid’ Attractions June 3
    
    
• We post some announcements on:
  • Twitter - http://www.twitter.com/disneygeekcom
  • Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/disneygeek
  • Youtube - http://www.youtube.com/disneygeekcom
  • Or you can join our mailing list (see below to submit your address)
    
    

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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