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6/14/24 - Disneyland Resort
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Welcome to the disneygeek.com Geek Speaks section. In this section I will post my comments on trips to the parks or other Disney related events.

6/14/24 - Disneyland Resort

Hello Everyone!

I spent a relaxing afternoon and evening at the Disneyland Resort on Friday. The weather was perfect topping out around 80 and cooling down to about 70. The crowds were a bit different than usual. The wait times seemed longer than usual but walking around felt less crowded most of the day and the normal onslaught of guests after the sun set did not seem as bad. Backing this up was the availability of same day Magic Key reservations into the evening. It was the final GradNite of the season which did not seem nearly as crowded as some of the earlier ones.

Over the years summer has been an entertaining time at the Disneyland Resort and one of my favorite times to just be at the park. . The parks are alive with a wide variety of live entertainment to give alternatives to attractions to round out your visit. This included the All-American College Band, live bands on the Tomorrowland Terrace Stage, Swing Dancing with live bands at Carnation Plaza Gardens or Jazz in New Orleans Square. Over at Disney Californio Adventure there were groups on the original Wharf Stage and the Backlot Stage hosed some options too. The current offerings at the Disneyland Resort are rather sparse by comparison. All live entertainment is over by shortly after six (one Dapper Dan set at 6:15) all other groups were done early in the 5pm hour. The offerings are a shell of their former selves and if internet rumors are true the options will be even more limiting come July with more cutbacks. This is disappointing to see.

Thoughts and Observations:

  • My arrival experience was average, no wait at the toll booth and minimal backup being directed into a spot. Drew a decent spot in the first aisle but more then half way down on the Mickey level. Security had less lanes open than usual and took longer than my past several trips. No wait at the tram or park entrance though.
  • Anger from Inside Out started greeting guests today on Pixar Pier. He had a limited window of 10am to 2pm only and no set times listed on the app. I stopped by just after 1pm and saw him come out. His proportions are odd in the film and this translated into his look in the park. It was fun to see him.
  • I was surprised there was nothing going on for the release of Inside Out 2 today. The World of Color preshow played I assume (it is unlisted). There were no buttons or banners out. Thought maybe something where Anger was on Pixar Pier but nope. Also no other emotions around when I walked through.
  • Speaking of no characters I passed through Avengers Campus a few times and only saw Spider Man out once, I did not run into/cross paths with any other characters. This felt odd to me. It seemed on recent visits this happens more frequently than in the past. Is my timing bad or are there less Avengers out now a days or shorter set times?
  • Over at Disneyland with Season of the Force completed the BDX droids are gone and the seek and find scavenger hunt too. Both were last visit too but I did not make it out there.
  • Stopped by the Droid Depot to show the Pizza Planet truck to someone and of course it was removed from the line earlier in the week for some reason. No ETA on when or if it will return.
  • Stopped by the Star View Station in Tomorrowland. On the way in Darth Vader surprised us. He was standing in the shadow of the doorway. There were no other guests but you could hear him and as our eyes adjusted slightly you could catch a glimpse of him lurking/waiting.
  • In Cars Land while I was eating at Flo's I watched Lightning McQueen back into the extended queue space for the Racers. I rarely see him there so it was interesting to watch the effort to get into the space.
  • Walked through Club Pixar and the area was event more empty than last visit. There were people on the benches enjoying the shade. The music seemed at a lower level than previous visits, almost normal background music. The marketplace was not drawing guests while I was there. I was in the area for several minutes and did not see anyone stop by. The area did have traffic as Monsters Inc was 45 minutes. The other marketplaces had more guests as I walked around but overall still very light.
  • I took a walk through Downtown Disney and compared to most Fridays it was very quiet. You could see a lot of pavement and lines for food were short. All the missing lamp posts really stood out without the crowd. It seemed almost all from the tram stop through the bridge near the LEGO store were gone.
  • The west end work is nearing the next milestone. Din Tai Fung looks ready to have the walls removed (which I saw online they were Friday night so my thought was right on). No word on opening but seems like it should be very soon now with the walls down. The Parkside Market is moving along as the framing looks mostly done and the walls are going up.
  • I walked out by the new security area but the line was still long so I did not go out to see it. I was able to get to where the new mural is on the rest room building. Last week there were too many people in that area.
  • June 14 marks the anniversary of a handful of attractions. In 1958 the Sailing Ship Columbia and Alice in Wonderland opened and the following year in 1959 the Monorail, Matterhorn Bobsleds and Submarine Voyage all opened. The only one I visited Friday was the Monorail. The others I would ride I had bad timing with the waits.
  • I noticed the Indiana Jones Adventure had been down for a while on my way through Downtown Disney and back on the Monorail so decided to walk by and see if it was close to reopening. While I was at the entrance the maintenance cast members were just arriving so knew it was going to be a while. I walked by an hour later and it was still closed. It did eventually reopen, but I missed the time.
  • During the 6pm hour I stopped by the Hungry Bear. It was really quiet with plenty of seats. The two open registered had a handful of guests in each though.
  • I had good timing for a couple of attractions as night fell. I visited Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway. It had a posted wait of 30 minutes but turned out to be 10. Then the Jungle Cruise was 5 minutes when it was posted at 15 or 20.
  • Fire of the Rising Moons in Black Spire Outpost had a moderate crowd only according to some friends who stayed out there to watch the show. There was plenty of viewing choices right up to show time they said.
  • I opted to watch Together Forever – A Pixar Nighttime Spectacular with Fireworks from Main Street because I wanted to be closer to the exit to start the long trip home. Interesting note on the fireworks. No sign of Buzz Lightyear or the Up! house on the wire. Anyone know the story on what is going on there?

Here are some recent posts to the Geek's Blog:

Walt Disney World May 2024 Trip:

Disney Related Press Releases

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

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

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