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5/17/24 - Disneyland Resort
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5/17/24 - Disneyland Resort

Hello Everyone!

Friday I returned to the Disneyland Resort, I was at Walt Disney World from May 1-8. I had very little on my agenda for the day other than enjoy the parks and look for some Pizza Planet trucks. The crowds were about what you would expect this time of year. Most attractions under an hour most of the afternoon with the wait times and crowd density going up as the sun set. It is GradNite season so that also adds to the crowds, especially in the evening at Disney California Adventure. The weather was overcast and gloomy until around 4pm then the sun came out. It never broke out of the upper 60s and settled into the lower 60s by the time we left.

Thoughts and Observations:

  • My parking luck was not great. I was in a close aisle but near the end on the roof. I really dislike the roof spots, they seem smaller to me. The columns help to offer some extra space on the lower levels it feels.
  • Disneyland security screening has always been slow, but the new process seems even slower. Now you need to empty your pockets into a little tray and the same CM will check your page and push your bag and other items through for you. After going through Walt Disney World scanners were you do not even need to stop this seemed so slow. The WDW system works well for most people most of the time. The secondary screenings and strollers back up a bit but its still faster on the whole than the Disneyland process. It would be great to see Disneyland do something to improve the flow at the screening checkpoints. Either machines like Disney World or bag scanners like Paris and Tokyo parks have seem to be paths to take for a better guest experience.
  • I continued my quest to find the 50 Toy Story Pizza Planet Trucks that are hidden around the resort. I increased my total to 23 now so almost half way done after two visits. A majority of my remaining ones are on attractions I think so that is going to take me some time. It is fun quest and the trucks are sometimes well integrated. I would have liked to have seen a website or handout or something on this quest to make it a little more than needing to be "in the know".
  • The renovation project near the Adventureland entrance bridge has had the walls removed. The project near the restrooms still has its walls though. They have replaced some of the planks on the ground and the fencing, the corner may have been cut a bit too to make a wider walkway. The new fencing does not look the same as the old and the area looks rather odd right now. Hopefully it is still a work in progress.
  • Not much visible progress on the Haunted Mansion project from the ground or the Mark Twain. The fences and angles make it really hard to see much. It does look like they have started to rebuild the area as some new rebar is visible now.
  • Further along Tiana's Bayou Adventure had a number of people working on the exterior Friday afternoon and more scaffolding is gone as they work to wrap up the exterior work. I saw pictures online they were doing some early log testing last week, no signs of that Friday when I walked by.
  • Stopped by the Pixar Pals Playtime Party in Fantasyland and it was a much more calm experience this week. My last visit was opening day. Today most of the characters and photo ops you could walk up to or had a few person wait when I was in the area. I watched the full show on the stage. I thought the dance lessons took up way too much of the show time and seemed to make it really draw out. The finale featured a large number of characters Woody, Jessie and Bo Beep from Toy Story, Joy and Sadness from Inside Out, and Mr Incredible, Mrs. Incredible, Frozone and Edna from the Incredibles. Meeting guests we spotted the Onward brothers, Luca & Alberto and Merida during our half hour or so visit. The longest wait was for the Luca characters there were well over a dozen groups waiting for them to arrive.
  • Walked through Toontown with hopes of finding some more Pizza Planet Trucks but the attraction waits were more than my patience and Minnie's house was closed. Over at Goofy's his yard continues to have challenges. This visit two of the spinning seats were gone with trash cans covering the attachment point. It seems to be a never ending challenge there.
  • I had not been inside Pizza Planet in Tomorrowland for quite a while. They have kept the covid configuration where cast members assemble your order and give it to you. They encourage mobile order but there were a handful of registers when you walked in too. Overall it felt very temporary and not great. If this order model is staying it is due for a renovation to make the area flow and look better.
  • The Star Wars Seek and Find game is still rolling along as Season of the Force has a couple more weeks. Today the 4th card in the keepsake series featuring the Millennium Falcon was available. I missed the third card due to my WDW trip, which featured R2-D2. They had plenty so I was able to pick up one this week. The game board and cylinder locations have stayed the same again. I really would like to see this change with the prizes or at least offer a couple alternatives.
  • Over at Disney California Adventure Pixar Fest has expanded since opening day. Last week six Festival Marketplaces opened with a variety of food and drink offerings. The booths did not seem as popular as the Food and Wine or even the Holiday ones. I saw only a couple of guests in line at times, but they seemed walk ups when I was in the area which was mid to late afternoon.
  • I decided to use the single rider queue for Radiator Springs Racers and went back to back in just over a half hour total time. I was trying to get a clear picture of the Pizza Planet truck and failed both times. My pictures look like a Big Foot sighting or something. Blurry, out of focus and hard to tell what you are looking at.
  • While in line I spoke to a GradNite student in front of me. Their school was from the Bay Area and they had left in the middle of the night to get to the park early. They were spending all day in the park then the party this evening. Then back on the bus for the trip back home. So a long 24+ hour trip for those students for a full day at the parks plus the party.
  • There was substantially less parade viewing available this visit thann the first. There are now several marketplaces, a merchandise location and tables for dining viewing all taking up portions of the parade route. This meant the remaining areas felt more dense unfortunately.
  • I stopped by Club Pixar about an hour after it opened and found it to be very mellow. There were a number of kids running around/dancing and parents resting on the benches. Overall it seemed very similar to other DJ/parties that have been tried in the area. The ones that seemed to have the energy have more live entertainment like the Mad T Party or Electronica and tend to target an older demographic into the evening.
  • The Downtown Disney crowd seemed about normal for a Friday night. The lawn/stage had two groups today. Tapua was there earlier in the day and Filharmonic this evening. I stopped by for a Filharmonic set. I was really surprised not to see the concrete project done. Looking through the fence it looked done and ready to open any day. Din Tai Fung looks to be racing toward opening sooner rather than later. Signs were in place and on. The exterior looks almost complete, just some detail work remains. The Parkside Market is moving quickly but has a ways to go still.
  • The LEGO store was celebrating season of the force with a trio of models out and a free building event for a UFO.
  • The plan was to take the Monorail back to Disneyland but it looked to be a 2 - 3 train wait probably so we opted to hike it.
  • We left around 8pm and the trams coming in were almost all completely full, mostly with GradNite students. Security was backed up too.

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

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