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6/28/24 - Disneyland Resort
 The Geek Speaks:

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.

6/28/24 - Disneyland Resort

Hello Everyone!

Friday was a relaxing day at the parks. I had no real agenda and spent the day hanging out with my family including my two young nephews. We visited a number of attractions with minimal waits as we moved around and tried to avoid the crowd. It felt to be a very tourist heavy mix with summer season well underway. Overall the parks felt moderately busy and wait times reflected this with most well under an hour most of the day with the usual exceptions spiking over that. The weather started out just below 70 and climbed to 80ish before coming back to that 70 mark as we were preparing to leave. There was a slight breeze most of the day and it was pleasant except in the direct sun mid day.

Thoughts and Observations:

  • The day started off early for us leaving the house just after 5am. This meant minimal traffic and time for breakfast before rope drop at 8am. We managed to make it in the park with 10 minutes or so to spare and we took a leisurely pace. We choose poorly at the parking structure and had a booth with one CM working two lanes and everyone seemed to ask her something. Traffic was slow on the up ramp then all the way around/through the Mickey and Friends garage to the Pixar Pals garage. They were only using one lane which did not make sense. There seemed to be enough cast members around to handle two lane operation and give a better guest experience. The plus side is this back up meant the wait at security was short and for the tram too.
  • There is always a little extra energy in the air around rope drop in the parks. Everyone eager to rush off to their first destination.
  • We choose poorly and shuffled along with the crowd into Fantasyland. The Peter Pan queue grew to meet us on the castle bridge and inched along as guests were funneled into the queue. It was about 30 minutes from rope drop until we boarded our Pirate ship. So we did not really save any time going there first, which seems normal since we are typically no near the front nor do we run. The advantage of stopping there first is you are waiting in pleasant weather vs the heat. Also most of the crowd seems happier vs worn out later in the day. We also had some entertainment to watch/listen too with Peter Pan and Captain Hook venturing by and the Pearly Band with Mary Poppins and Bert performing nearby.
  • We decided to visit Storybook Land next. The canal boat queue was not bad and there looked to be a fair number of boats running already. We found it funny, as did the cast members, that a number of groups around us all had 6 or more guests in them. They were trying to fill boats and asking for parties of four or fewer and out of three boats only found one in the queue that heard/took them up on the offer.
  • Spent some time in Toontown mid morning and found it to be pleasant. Walked onto both Runaway Railway and Car Toon Spin. The wait time sign for Railway was more or less accurate but Car Toon Spin was way off saying 25 minutes and they were sending empty cabs because there were not enough guests to fill them.
  • Tomorrowland was still relatively calm with 15 minute posted waits for the trio of attractions we wanted to visit. I was successful in photographing two more Pizza Planet trucks, one in Buzz Lightyear and another in Star Tours. I failed though on the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage. I was not able to spot it nor was anyone else in our party so I need to go visit again. This one is challenging as looking out the windows is awkward for me, they are rather low. The cruise started off on an interesting note.. as soon as the hatch was closed a woman stood up and wanted off the boat. We managed to get the cast member's attention and she had them reopen the hatch before we moved and the woman was able to exit. She kept apologizing saying she thought she could go but it was just too tight for her.
  • For lunch we want to California Adventure with some eating at Smoke Jumpers and others grabbing a bite at Flo's and joining them. I went to Flo's to pick up the food there and it was extremely slow. Well over 20 minutes from when I said I was there. The register line was moving much more efficiently and those guests were getting their food and on their way much faster. Not sure what was up, our order was two hamburgers and chicken strips. We saw a number of orders come up with similar items so not like one was out. Then to top it off the fries were less than hot, maybe luke warm at best and not very crisp today.
  • WEB Slingers was posted at 35 minutes and took us about 20. We moved at an ok pace for a while then slowed as the LL return backed up. We had some good luck and received the briefing room I wanted to go to (to get the other Pizza Planet truck).
  • We were walking by and the group wanted to take a little break and visit the Little Mermaid. You could not really see the queue from where we approached but it said 15 minutes so we hopped in line. Turned out a good portion of the queue was in use including the extended portion in the walkway. We moved fairly quickly thanks to very few LL return guests and in the end it took us about the 15 minutes that was posted. So it looked worse than it was and it felt worse too. Once onboard we stopped for several minutes on the down slope heading under the sea. So it turned out to be a good length of time devoted to Ariel and friends today.
  • Had some good luck finding a reasonable spot for the Pixar Parade with some shade less than 10 minutes prior to the start time. And then was able to walk onto Monsters Inc right after.
  • Over at Disneyland had similar luck finding a spot for the Magic Happens Parade, there were a number of spaces available if you did not mind the sun, shade was harder to find but I lucked out.
  • As we neared the 12 hours mark in the parks the group started to tire and vs pushing it we decided to head for home. Not bad for a large group with a wide age range (5 to 79). In the end I experienced 15 attractions (not counting Goofy's yard which the kids did play in and I walked around a bit), saw both parades, and caught bits and pieces of a few bands.
  • On the way out I noticed it was near launch time for a SpaceX rocket so we stopped in the Esplanade before the trams and watched it streak across the sky. The view was not overly impressive today due to the lighting and trajectory. I have become really spoiled due to where I live further north and west the rockets travel right by us at a closer distance and the views are great. I said the same thing with the May launch I saw at Walt Disney World. There you were closer to start with but the rocket was traveling away more or less so your view was not as good.

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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