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06/30/17 - Thoughts and observations from Friday at the Disneyland Resort.
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06/30/17 - Thoughts and observations from Friday at the Disneyland Resort.

Hello everyone,

I kicked off my 4th of July Holiday weekend at the Disneyland Resort. The weather and the crowds were both mild. Temps topped out around 80 and cooled to the 60s. Wait times throughout most of the afternoon were under an hour for just about everything. At one point Peter Pan was posted at 15 minutes. At DCA the Racers were an hour or less most of the visit. The only wait over an hour was the Guardians of the Galaxy.

Thoughts and Observations:

  • Since my last visit there was incremental progress on the construction projects, but nothing too visually different this trip. From the parking structure more steel and concrete going into the show buildings. From Tom Sawyer Island and Critter Country you could see more of the rock work more clearly as the scaffolding is starting to be removed. In Downtown Disney Splitsville steel has stretched out to mark the full footprint now. The Disneyland Railroad was conducting tests as the sun set, but they seemed to be more zone testing and less cycling this week. There were very long gaps between circuits.

  • I stopped by Cars Land and finally crossed paths with Cruz Ramirez. The past couple of visits I had bad timing and missed her. She was in the Cozy Cone rotating with the others. She drew a good crowd, just like the others.

  • For the 4th of July Holiday the United States Air Force Honor Guard was performing at the resort. They had three shows at DCA and two at Disneyland. They put on an impressive show and drew good crowds at both parks. Always great to see guest groups like this in the park.

  • The Adventureland renovation project and reshuffling has completed. Tropical Imports is now stroller parking. South Seas Traders is now seating and has the fruit stand. The old Outpost is seating. The former Bengal BBQ seating is gone and a single palm tree is there. This opened up the walkway and reduced the choke point between Indiana Jones and Bengal BBQ. The couple times I passed through traffic was flowing smoothly.

  • To mark the reopening of the Rivers of America a series of six collectors cards were available throughout Frontierland, New Orleans Square and Critter Country at various locations. These cards were free and all you had to do is ask a cast member. Depending on crowds and the cast member some would ask you trivia questions to make you earn your card. I managed to pick up five of the six. The Fantasmic card was out of stock. I stopped by a couple of times and tried a couple locations and the story was the same everywhere. They all assumed there would be more coming in the near future but no one new when. I thought this was a great promotion and a fun scavenger hunt. I was disappointed that one card was out of stock already. Hopefully on my next visit they will have them.

  • Thanks to the light crowds and FastPass tweaks several attractions featured nearly instant return times. For example I grabbed a FastPass for Car Toon Spin, got a drink of water then walked on. Where as the Stand By was over 30 minutes. The lesson here is to take a glance at the FastPass return time before getting in line, you may be able to save some time.

  • Friday evening Ride the Tide a 60s surf band was at the Tomorrowland Terrace. I had not seen them before so stopped by for a set. The first set was lightly attended. I swung back through for their second and it was more crowded. A large group of kids stopped by and brought the dance floor to life.

  • Closed out my evening on Main Street USA with Remember Dreams Come True. I was disappointed the 4th of July show ran from Saturday to Tuesday this year.. no Friday performance.

Disneyland released the return dates for the Rivers of America, Railroad and Fantasmic:

  • Big Thunder Trail - Opened Thursday 6/8
  • Tom Sawyer Island - Opened Friday 6/16
  • Fantasmic Monday 7/17
  • Disneyland Railroad - Saturday 7/29
  • Rivers of America - Mark Twain, Sailing Ship Columbia and Canoes - Saturday 7/29

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

Geek’s Blog Postings Recap – June 20-27, 2017

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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