Hello all,

Friday turned into a surprisingly busy afternoon at the Disneyland Resort. I was expecting crowds for the holiday weekend but other than that a relaxing trip since I was just there last Friday. A combination of some newly opened attractions/areas, plus chasing around the Lazygeeks almost 3 year old made for a rather busy trip. The crows were surprisingly light for most of the day. The first time I went on Toy Story it was only a 25 min wait, the second time 40 min, which still is not miserable. Over at Disneyland almost everything was under an hour most of the day with only a couple of exceptions.

Jason

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

Disneyland & DCA Thoughts and Observations:

• I thought I was going to be in for a very crowded day at the parks, especially when I arrived at the garage a little before 1pm and was parked on the roof and it was halfway full. The others arrived after 4 and were on the third floor.
  
  
• First stop of the day for me was DCA. As you saw in the pictures things are wrapping up with the World of Color now that we are under two weeks until the premiere.
  
  
• A pleasant surprise on Friday was the opening of the Silly Symphony Swings. From what I gathered it was a soft opening but it did remain open the entire time I was at the parks. The wait looked to hover around 15 minutes the couple of times I walked by. Overall I think this is a great improvement to the Pier. The detail and energy of the new look is great! The orange was interesting, but lacked some character in my mind. This new structure and the openness of it really brings a dynamic feel to the area. I did not have time to ride on Friday but will on a later trip.
  
  
• Another great surprise was seeing the test car out on the Radiator Springs Racers go around the track. It was moving at a really really slow pace but it was moving and made it around the track in about the time it took me to go around the Fun Wheel.
  
  
• Speaking of the Fun Wheel.. while in line the group in front of me was having a big discussion on where things were in the park, so I volunteered to help them a bit. One point of contention was they were looking for the Blue Sky Cellar.. seems now on some packages you get a voucher for a free pin? I had not heard of this but pointed them toward the cellar so they could go after their ride. Later on while visiting the cellar I got behind another group with vouchers.. seems to be a popular add on.. and FYI the CMs at the Cellar will collect your voucher and give you a pin.
  
  
• I managed to get onto Toy Story Midway Mania twice this visit to experience the new game, the Dino Darts. It is nice to see the new characters throughout the games. (If anyone wants to know a couple secrets to the new game drop me an email and I am more than willing to share some tips). I am still extremely disappointed that the single rider option is no longer available.. there were quite a few trams going by with empty seats in them. I would venture to say it was averaging close to one per tram (maybe two trams).. either way at least 6.25% reduction in hourly throughput.
  
  
• Stopped by the Disney Gallery to see the new exhibit, Day One at Disneyland. This is the second one in this new space. Overall it was great to see the new artwork in the front gallery as well as the classic artwork and photos in the back gallery. I also really enjoyed the old attraction spiels running as the background music.
  
  
• At Disneyland I managed to get on one of the last cruises of the day for the Columbia. The spiel onboard seems more integrated than the Mark Twains to me. It was great to see both ships running.
  
  
• In the evening pushed it a bit to make it to both Fantasmic and Magical (and due to some timing constraints, which happens when you let an almost 3 year old pick your attraction order, I ended up moving rather quickly from Elvis in Tomorrowland over to Frontierland then to Main Street). I did not notice anything new or changed for Fantasmic. During the finale the lasers looked a little different but I was moving quickly through the crowd and not really watching the very end of the show since I wanted to make it to Main Street for Magical, but the one glimpse I took from the bridge near pirates looked different, maybe a little brighter/stronger?
  
  
• Watched Magical from Main Street. Most of the show seemed the same, maybe a couple more shells throughout and then the finale. The other big change was no confetti or black lights at the finale.
  
  
  Other Disney Related Thoughts:
  
  
• Did you all catch the release on the Official Parks Blog? They will be hosting the Halloween Parties at Disneyland this year (click here to read release). I think its interesting that they are moving the party but I see two problems with this. First is a personal one.. they are running them on Fridays so Disneyland will be closing early and that is the day I usually try to visit! Secondly did anyone catch in the release that it says the fireworks will be exclusive to the party? Does this mean no Halloween fireworks for the rest of us? If it does then I really do not like this trend.. I really hope Disneyland does not go down the road that WDW has where you have to pay extra and go to the premium events for things that used to be included... for example look at the Christmas offerings at the Magic Kingdom in WDW.. except for right around Christmas they are only available at the after hours party.
  
  
• The big news of the week on the Disneyland front was the announcement of more renovations at the Disneyland Hotel. The center courtyard will be receiving quite a few changes. The waterfalls, dancing waters area, and village (guess that is what it is called) will all be removed over the next few years. A new pool area and lawn will be installed. Also they announced new names for the towers too. Check out the press release below for some more information and concept art. I will miss the waterfalls, I wish there was some way they could have saved those and worked them into the new design, but on the other hand I do understand they are expensive to operate, take up a lot of room, and are not visited/enjoyed by that many guests.
  
  
• The other release of note this week was on the Parks Blog. They released a new commercial for World of Color and unveiled a new logo and slight name change for DCA. The apostrophe has been dropped so now its just Disney California Adventure Park... no more possessive.
  
  
  
• 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 Video Links
    • Silly Symphony Swings (YouTube)
    • Electrical Parade moving east (Disney Parks Blog)
    • World of Color Commercial (Disney Parks Blog)
      
      
  • Some Recent Press Releases:
    • 5/27/10 - Disneyland Hotel to Renovate Pool Area, Add New Dining Locations and Re-theme Hotel Towers
    • Every Role is a Staring Role - Steam Trains (Disneyland Resort YouTube)
    • Carousel Name Change at WDW (Disney Parks Blog)
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  • We post some announcements on:
    • Twitter - http://www.twitter.com/disneygeekcom
    • Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/disneygeek
      
      

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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