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

Hello all,

Friday was an early taste of summer as the temperature crept up to the 100s in Southern California. My car read 100 as I got off the freeway, but it cooled down to a mild 94 degrees in the parking structure.. The crowds around both parks were mild. I think a combination of the time of year and the heat kept them at bay. Most wait times were well under an hour, except for Nemo, Splash Mountain, etc.. I managed to walk on several attractions (Jungle Cruise during the afternoon, Monsters Inc, Haunted Mansion) which was nice.

Jason

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

Disneyland & DCA Thoughts and Observations:

• My parking lucky streaks ended at one... this time I was stuck on the far side of the garage about 10 cars from the end of a row, so it was a good hike to the escalators. Also I noticed that the parking prices had gone up another dollar, so its now $12 to park your car.
  
  
• As you saw in the pictorial update the new Mark VII Monorail Red was out and cycling for the afternoon and on into the evening. They are still testing and the CM says they are day to day with it. Overall I thought the monorail looked good. I would call it an evolutionary, not revolutionary change from the old Mark Vs that Disneyland had. The monorail sounded a bit louder than the old ones, wonder if it has A/C in it? I noticed the windows were all open, and they only open a little, not like the old ones that opened quite a bit. My guess is this was done so you cannot stick anything out them. The horn sounded about the same, guess you cannot mess with the classic sound. At night it appeared the interior light package was not on, or at least I could not tell it was from the ground. I was surprised they stuck with the individual door buttons to close them. I figured they would have gone to a central control like WDW has. I talked to a couple CMs and they said they thought the paint job on the new Monorail Blue was a little better and you could really tell the color shift with the light. They said blue is still a ways away as they have cables everywhere and are still working on wiring it.
  
  
• This was my first time on the Jungle Cruise during the day in quite a while. I walked by and saw no line so decided to give it a spin. It is a different perspective during the day... I enjoy both of course. The boat I was on was quite dead, not sure if it was the heat, the time of day or what, but the guests just seemed to star off into the jungle.
  
  
• Since it was hot I stopped at several drinking fountains throughout the visit and based on my experience the one in Fliks Fun Fair nearest the telephones was the coldest of either park. The Toontown Goofy Water one was second.
  
  
• I find it a little interesting that the new Toy Story attraction seems to have a bit of an identity crisis. On the merchandise it is Toy Story Mania. On the sign its Toy Story Midway Mania and in the guidemaps its Toy Story Midway Mania. From what I have seen Florida has similar issues too.
  
  
• The Pixar Play Parade at the Disney Electrical Parade both started late (the Pixar Parade they made an announcement about the delay even), no reason for either and both seemed to run as usual once they stepped off.
  
  
  

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

Stop by the Geek's Forum to discuss this and other Disney topics.. click here

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