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6/24/16 - Thoughts and observations from a relaxing Friday at the 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.

6/24/16 - Thoughts and observations from a relaxing Friday at the Disneyland Resort.

Hello everyone,

This trip to the Disneyland Resort turned out to be a very relaxing summer afternoon and evening. The weather was perfect with highs in the low 80s and cooling down to the 70s with a slight breeze. The crowds at the parks were on the mild side with waits under an hour for almost everything most of the day. I had a very small picture list so I took advantage of the low wait times and went on a couple of attractions and then spent the rest of my visit enjoying the All-American College Band.

Thoughts and Observations:

  • As you saw or will see in the full picture sets the Star Wars project continues to show visible progress. This week utility work has begun as well as the foundations for retaining walls have started to be take shape.

  • Security procedures continue to be modified around the resort. On Friday they were requiring everyone to go through secondary screening. When I arrived in the afternoon there were plenty of lines open and waits were minimal, no longer than the regular bag check. Come evening the lines were backed up almost all the way to the fountain. It looked like it was the bag check not secondary screening that was the delay.

  • Soarin was closer to normal this week. Standby waits were around an hour and FastPass tickets were for three hours or so out when I arrived. They still are having theater problems, I know one was down at least once during my visit. When I went to use my FastPass the return line was backed up to the main walkway. Cast Members were noting the tickets and giving you the option to come back anytime to avoid the long wait. Single rider is still not an option, but when I went to ride the cast member did make a call to the queue for single riders so I was able to skip most of the final ramp and get on a cycle early saving probably 10 minutes or so of wait time. On a second viewing my initial impressions still held true. I did find it easier to avoid watching the CG some and just enjoy the sights. Since I knew the CG was there I was not pulled to look at it as much.

  • I decided to take advantage of the low wait times and went for a cruise on Radiator Springs Racers using the single rider line. My total time from entering to exiting the queue was under 20 minutes. The attractions itself could use some some renovation time though. The tractors were not tipping, Doc was not in motion nor did he talk to us, and Guido/Luigi did not talk to us either to kick off our race. Also I noticed to add my race photo to the app it did not work until the next day. I tried the code a couple of times throughout the day and received errors, tried it Saturday morning and my picture popped up.

  • As I roamed around Disney California Adventure there was not much else of note going on. It was a typical summer afternoon. I did see the Zootopia characters out and they had a decent line that appeared to be cut. The Marvel line in Hollywood Land was substantial as has been the norm every time I walk by. The only other item to note was the Pixar Play Parade ran from the Pier to Hollywood Land. My guess is because of Frozen shows, this allowed plenty of time for the 4pm show to end and clear before the 5:30 parade arrived in the area.

  • I stopped by the Hungry Bear to take some pictures and grab a bite to eat and I was really surprised to find it nearly empty at 5:00pm. I walked up ordered and my food was ready before I finished paying. There were less than 10 tables in use and the back portion was blocked off. Wonder if this is because of the construction, the mild crowds, or something else.

  • I found it odd that Disney California Adventure stuck with the 9pm closing. Grad Nite season is over but still and early closing and only one World of Color showing for the evening because of it. The park was not overly crowded but this seemed to really push a lot of guests to Disneyland just as Paint the Night was rolling through.

  • On my way out I walked through Downtown Disney and found it to have an average Friday night crowd. The traffic out on Magic Way seemed lighter than normal though and they were still allowing cars into the parking lot just before 9:30 when I was leaving.

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

Geek's Blog Postings Recap – June 5-19, 2016

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.

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