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6/19/15 - Thoughts and observations from Friday at the Disneyland Resort including Inside Out, Ant-Man & College Band
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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.

6/19/15 - Thoughts and observations from Friday at the Disneyland Resort including Inside Out, Ant-Man & College Band

Hello everyone,

Arrived at the Disneyland Resort after lunch. Today marked the kickoff of summer in my mind at the Disneyland Resort with the return of the All-American College Band, the Inside Out pre-parade and new Ant-Man sneak peek. The crowds today in the park were moderate when we arrived then continued to build as usual as the day went on. This was also the last weekend for Grad Nites so that added to the crowd. Wait times were higher than last week from what I saw. This week was warmer with temps in the upper 80s cooling down into the 70s by the time I left.

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

Thoughts and Observations:

  • Parking was a very quick process. It appeared they had reopened the structure recently.. the Anaheim PD and cones were still at the entrance but they were allowing us in.

  • First stop of the day was at the ticket booth because some members of our group needed to renew/upgrade their Annual Passes. Since they were dealing with Premiere Passes this meant a long processing time and a couple of Cast Members to help them as usual. Eventually everything got sorted out, they paid the upgrade cost, and received their new passes. Hopefully they work down at WDW on the first try this time. They did link up with the myDisneyExperience account so that is promising.

  • Inside Disney California Adventure an Ant-Man Sneak Peek has taken over the Bugs Theater. In the lobby before you enter the theater there is a suit/costume on display from the film. The sneak peek is shown in 3D. I did not time the running time, but it was under 10 minutes, probably 7 or 8. It features a scene of his first experience with the suit and then some other clips from the film. The inclusion of a suit adds to the experience and was a nice plus. I am a fan of these experiences in the parks. I think it adds a little to your day. I wish they could find a way to do them without shutting down attractions to accommodate them but I guess neither theater is utilized fully. Too bad they could not do split days. So first time guests would still have a shot at seeing the traditional show and repeat guests could see the movie preview. They did this eons ago with the circle vision films. This preview used many of the in theater effects, several of which I am not a big fan of and find annoying, the bee sting jumps to the top of that list.

  • Walked out and around the Paradise Pier to see what was going on. Nothing except a hot afternoon and a lot of guests. Disneyland.com listed Instant Concert going on, the in park times guide did not. I hung around until one of the listed show times and there was no activity on the bay at all. I would like to see these concerts return. Maybe with some more contemporary music? In general the live entertainment in DCA has dwindled in recent years. For example the Minnie Fly Girls and Phineas and Ferb are both gone with no real replacement.

  • The 2015 edition of the All-American College Band has started their summer run. Friday was their second day in the park. This year they perform a 3pm set in Hollywood Land. Then over to Disneyland for the Flag Retreat at 5:15, Castle at 6:15 (which is only two songs then they march down Main Street stopping twice), 7:15pm in Town Square, and then 8:15 they walk the parade route starting at Small World stopping four times along the way to perform. Thanks to Paint the Night catching their pre-parade is a bit of a challenge and you have to choose which spot you would like to see. The Castle set runs into the same issue with the crowd on Main Street already. The good news is for those guests waiting all that time for the parade there is something to see and help pass the time. This year there is one student from USC, always great to see a fellow Trojan! Fight ON!

  • The other big debut on Friday was the Inside Out pre-parade. This runs at 5:05 (10 minutes before the Pixar Play Parade) in Disney California Adventure, starting in Hollywood Land and working its way out to Paradise Pier. The pre-parade features several performers walking along with a single float. The float has all five emotions (Sadness, Joy, Anger, Disgust, and Fear) on board. The audio features the five emotions talking as they head down the parade route. I thought it was very well done and fun to listen to them. I was surprised by the large number of performers with the float, there were 7 in front and 7 behind it. Great to see something on the new film in conjunction with the release. Remember back to when Disneyland used to do a full parade or stage show for the films?

  • Speaking of Inside Out there are special menu items at Award Wieners in Hollywood Land to mark the release of the film and some merchandise in Elias & Company (I did not check but guessing there is some in World of Disney and maybe the Emporium at Disneyland).

  • I was surprised there is no Meet and Greet with the characters from Inside Out. There were walk around characters of Joy & Sadness at the movie premiere in Hollywood and at a WDW event. So I thought they would be coming to the park too.

  • I opted to follow the College Band pre-parade down the parade route and lucked out to find a spot in Town Square without a lot of trouble. One advantage to not being too picky and standing several rows back. The front rows were filled in along the parade route early as usual. Some of my group had a bench for the 7:15pm College Band set at the Train Station and stayed there for Paint the Night. They said it was great to sit and watch the parade. It meant a less than stellar view of Disneyland Forever though. They could not really see any of the projections.

  • Do you visit our pictorial updates using a mobile device? If so we would like your feedback. I have created a beta of a more mobile version of our Disneyland Picture sets at https://disneygeek.com/mobile Please give it a try and share your thoughts.

Interesting Web Finds/Notes:

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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