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07/13/02 Disneyland Resort Visit - Rockin' the Bay kickoff
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07/13/02 Disneyland Resort Visit - Rockin' the Bay kickoff

** After you read this report you may want to check out the pictorial updates in our Disneyland Resort Pictorial Update section

Have you ever wondered how far you walked in a day at Disneyland? Well we have. So we got ahold of a pedometer from our friends over at SierraMountainWorks.com and in the 11 hours we were at the parks on Saturday we walked approx. 10.42 miles (21218 steps). Which really surprised us since we waited 2.5 hours for the concert, watched two 45 min concerts, Blast, the Muppets, and road some rides. It does not take long to rack up the miles.

My ongoing grip about the parking garage layout continues... First going into the garage this time people decided to be like sheep and follow each other instead of using both lanes of the entrance ramps... the poor CMs keep pointing and yelling, but people still refused to use both lanes. The bigger issue happened while leaving. This was my first time leaving with a large crowd in a while. I was parked in the second row, closest the escalators. So that meant I got to drive through the masses getting off the escalator and walking down the road instead of the nice walkway Disney has made. I really think the old system where you exit out toward the back versus the front was safer and quicker. Oh well enough complaining about the parking garage... onto the fun stuff.

Disneyland Items:

  • Since we spent most of the day at DCA either watching or waiting for the concerts, I do not have much to add about Disneyland except to say that the crowds were much heavier than @ DCA. There seemed to be people everywhere, which was great to see.
  • Most attractions seemed to have average summer lines, with the exception of Splash which seemed longer than usual, but I guess that is the new norm.
  • We walked through the first Fantasmic and it appeared to be a full house.
  • Believe had Main Street fairly full, but still room to move around.

DCA Items:

  • I really enjoyed the Beach Boys concerts. I was a little dissappointed in the crowd at DCA and at the concerts. I was expecting it to be much more crowded with many more people trying to see the concerts. Especially since they were reminding people of the concerts all over the park, the radio and TV commercials, KEARTH (the local oldies stations) has been running promos all week with free tickets and things, and they broadcast live from the park Saturday.
  • We wanted to make sure we got a good seat, so we watched and when the line reached mid bridge (the walkway leading to the Pier) we jumped in line. Which happened around 1pm. So that meant we got to spend the hottest couple hours of the day sitting on the uncovered bridge. Luckily their was a nice breeze some of the time, or else it would have been miserable.
  • It paid off. We had our choice of seats for the most part. We ended up sitting in the first elevated row on the concrete. Good view, but a little hot on the rear. Wish I would have thought to bring a seat cusion or a towel...
  • No idea how crowded or how the crowd was handled for the first concert. Since we were in line most of the afternoon and then seated down close to the stage we could not see or hear what was going on behind us. For us there were no problems except the heat and how early we had to be there.
  • We found the concert extremely entertaining, except for the beach ball that was attracted to my head and video camera (must of gotten hit at least a half dozen times... can't wait to watch that video...
  • The first concert was taped by several TV/film crews.
  • We decided to go cool down between concerts and took in the Muppets and the Sun Wheel.
  • So the second concert we arrived to about 10 minutes before it started and got in line. We ended up standing about 5 rows deep behind the top railing. Still an ok view if you could align yourself between people and kids on shoulders correctly. The bad thing was you had to stand the whole time, the good news was there was some shade.
  • Also of interest during this concert they announced no video taping... the first one I did not hear such an announcement.
  • One more note, they played different sets of music for the two concerts, which was great. Also they started both shows about 10-15 minutes late.
  • Talked to a CM while going into Blast and looking at the construction. He said he got to test the Bumper cars, and the new area looks really good. The detail is incredible. Still saying an October opening.

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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