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7/03/15 - Thoughts and observations from Friday at the Disneyland Resort - Peter Pans Flight 1st impressions
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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.

7/03/15 - Thoughts and observations from Friday at the Disneyland Resort - Peter Pans Flight 1st impressions

Hello everyone,

Decided to kick off the 4th of July Holiday weekend with my 20th trip/day to the Disneyland Resort of the year. I spent a full day at the parks arriving before rope drop and staying until Disneyland Forever. The weather was picture perfect for Southern California. It was overcast and cool, in the high 60s/low 70s when I arrived and the marine layer burned off and it warmed up to just over 80 with a slight sea breeze in the afternoon then cooled back down in the low 70s by the time I left. It is really hard not to enjoy Southern California weather! The crowds at the park were average summer. It was definitely not holiday busy but there were a fair number of guests and some waits did creep up to over an hour but most remained well below that 60 minute mark throughout the day. I spent most of my day enjoying the entertainment and visiting with friends so it was a very relaxing day at the park.

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

Thoughts and Observations:

  • Last week a selfie stick ban went into effect at Disney Parks world wide. I was surprised it took Disney so long to react to the growing problem. I am guessing the thought was people would have some restraint and common sense but unfortunately that did not happen and what was initially a ban on attractions only is now a resort wide ban. I think this is a good move. At some point I would really like to see them move toward more restrictive measures like Tokyo Disney has where you are not allowed to hold cameras, kids, balloons, etc.. over you head during performances. It was great to watch parades and shows at the Tokyo parks because of this. If you want your picture taken there are plenty of cast members or or fellow guests that are more than happy to help out (it seems every trip I get asked several times to take pictures for other groups).

  • Disney does its best to make you aware of the ban. At the parking toll booth they asked I was aware of it and offered a brochure in 9 languages that described the ban. This is the same handout they are using at Walt Disney World. After parking your car as you walk to the get on a tram there are signs throughout the area of the ban. As we were boarding they made an announcement and then right before pulling out made one more. As you approach the security tents there are more signs. At bag check the cast members inform you again as they are searching your bags. So if you make it to that point and still have one and claim you did not know you really are not paying any attention to your surroundings or are purposely ignoring it.

  • The ban appears to be working. As I walked the parks and watched the various parades/shows I did not see any.

  • My plan to start the day was to head to Fantasyland and visit the updated Peter Pan attraction. Seems this idea was shared by a majority of the guests waiting for the park to open. As soon as the ropes were dropped people were literally running through the hub to Fantasyland. This really surprised me. I heard on Wednesday this happened, but that was the first day. I walked at a fairly normal pace along with a good size crowd and followed the mass of guests toward Fantasyland. It was not very well organized to funnel everyone into the queue and some guests were taking advantage of this and jumping the line. Eventually we made it into the queue and walked by the 70 minute wait time sign.. then quickly past the 50 minute sign then things slowed down to a regular pace and we shuffled along. It took just under an hour, it could have been 15 minutes or so shorter but they had to cycle and shut down for some reason for a few minutes. The wait seemed to hold strong with a posted 60 minute or so wait every time I walked by or paid attention. Because of this I only experienced it once and tried to soak it in a bit as well as shoot video... which means I did neither that well. At least I did not try to shoot still too.

  • I thought the updates were subtle for the most part and worked well. They were not as impressive or expansive as the ones Alice in Wonderland experienced last year. Alice set the bar and I was actually expecting more for Peter Pan. If they had done Peter Pan first it fell in line with the expectations I had for Alice.. but Alice blew those away and Peter Pan did not, if that makes sense. I do look forward to experiencing Peter Pan a few more times to see what I missed but on a first ride through it was just ok to me. Like many I enjoyed the original and always looked forward to a flight and this has not changed that. I was just hoping for something more with the update.

  • After Peter Pan decided to walk through Tomorrowland and it was substantially more peaceful. Star Tours and Buzz both had minimal waits. We choose Buzz since it was something everyone could do. I ended up with my own space cruiser. Both guns were off and not really shooting that straight. The attraction as a whole seemed in need of some TLC. The ride vehicle was showing wear and the guns were really beat up. Also found it interesting that three of our scores did not even bother to post. There were three zeros on the post ride picture and email.

  • As I walked down Main street USA and then Buena Vista Street I really missed all the red, white, and blue. That just brought some extra summer feel to the parks and it being 4th of July weekend I would have liked to have seen more.. instead we have Diamond Anniversary blue everywhere. Also interesting to note the Dapper Dans had their regular costumes Friday. Lastly I was disappointed that Disney decided not to run any of the 4th of July tags early this year in Anaheim. WDW had shows yesterday but we did not. In years past they would round out the weekend and try to spread the crowds out a bit. With the new World of Color and Disneyland Forever shows I guess they did not feel the need for that. Wonder if the same will hold true for the Christmas season.. speaking of Christmas.. wonder how the Candlelight will work with Paint the Night.

  • The parks did have a couple of military groups visiting over the weekend which was great! Friday the United States Air Force Honor Guard did three performances in Disney California Adventure and then a couple over at Disneyland. The drill team demonstrations were great to watch and the crowds seemed into it. Hopefully my pictures and video captured some of the experience to share. I always enjoy these guest groups and this was a great one! Also noteworthy is the group made the front page of the Disneyland times guide.. and the back page of the Disney California Adventure one.

  • Typically for patriotic holidays I try to go visit Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln but this time around I was visiting with friends and we did not make it to a performance this year.

  • To close out my evening I found a spot on Main Street for Paint the Night and then Disneyland Forever, it is 4th of July weekend after all and that means I needed to end the day with fireworks!

  • I was parked in the Pinocchio lot due to arriving so early. I still find it odd that they funnel exiting cars out toward Magic Way and Disneyland Drive vs through the structure to exit. Disneyland Drive was very congested when I was leaving due to Downtown Disney parking being full. Seems they should give you the choice of which way do you want to exit. Instead if you follow the arrows to the back of the Pinocchio lot expecting to exit through the garage you are met with a barricade and directed back toward the Magic Way exit and into the traffic mess adding a delay to your exit for no real apparent reason.

  • 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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