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8/01/14 - My thoughts and observations from Fridays visit to the Disneyland Resort including a first impression of the Adventure Trading Co.
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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.

8/01/14 - My thoughts and observations from Fridays visit to the Disneyland Resort including a first impression of the Adventure Trading Co.

Hello everyone,

Friday was another warm afternoon at the Disneyland Resort. Temperatures were nearing 90s, but as usual it cooled down as the sun set making it a comfortable evening. The crowds were average again, with waits of under an hour for most attractions all day, with only a few exceptions. Even the Radiator Springs Racers only had a posted stand by wait of 80 minutes, and it took me 15 minutes to go through the single rider line in the middle of the afternoon. If someone said guess the two attractions you experienced (excluding shows, etc..) in 9 hours at Disneyland I think the combination I put together Friday would be hard to come up with. I went on the Radiator Springs Racers and Casey Jr.

Jason

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

Thoughts and Observations:

  • I started off making the rounds in Disney California Adventure. Nothing too noteworthy to report as you saw in the pictures. Due to a short wait I paid a visit to the Radiator Springs Racers. There are now four mist producing fans in the section of the queue that is out in the open. It seems this will make it much more comfortable to stand out there. I was in the single rider line and not directly under them but I was able to feel the cool air and it was a nice breeze. They look a little awkward in their suspension from the poles, but at least they each have a different ad on them which gives them some detail.

  • Onboard the Racers most of the effects were working. My car stopped just before entering Luigis for a few moments. I was able to get an up close and extended look at Sally and Lightning while waiting. From there through the finish the attraction had quirks. Doc was stationary. No other car showed up to race. During the race my car hesitate several times and it was not a smooth ride. The audio for Lightning and Mater at the end was also not working. On the positive side the tractors were tipping.

  • Made my way over to Disneyland. A large group of turnstiles are under wraps as the renovation project enters its 3rd phase of 4 phases. The end two sections are complete and now they are working on one of two middle sections. The work did not seem to cause any problems on Friday for guests entering or exit. The lines kept moving and there were no backups the couple times I passed by.

  • Main Street was much more peaceful this week. No construction noise.. just more/new scaffolding. This time around Castle Bros. Always great to see the park being maintained.

  • The big news this week is the opening of the Adventure Trading Company. If you attended the D23 Expo last year then you saw a preview of this experience at the Imagineering Pavilion. This experience is a little easier to explain than the Legends of Frontierland. It is more or less a chance to purchase a short adventure/puzzle/beverage/food and reward juju (trinket) upon completion. To participate it begins much like the Legends of Frontierland. You meet with a cast member and choose an adventure name. They give you an overview of the jujus and explain what you can do. Then you can opt begin. To start you purchase the adventure you wish to partake in then upon completion you receive a juju. All the $5 adventures originate at the Outfitters in Adventureland. The $7.50 ones you go to that sales location to purchase.

    • $5 Adventure Jujus
      Crocodile Tooth - Storytelling
      Elephant - Tracking
      Eye of Mara - Knowledge
      Piranhahaha - Humor
      Tiki Bird - Observation
      Treehouse - Discover

    • $7.50 Jujus
      Pineapple - Goodwill - Pineapple Parfait from Tropical Imports
      Snake - Courage - Drink Venomade from Bengal Barbecue
      Tiki Mask - Friendship - Drink from Trader Sams

    • The adventure "briefing" comes in different forms including newspapers, booklets and spoken stories. The adventures involves some cast member interaction where you share stories and complete your adventure. The adventures are what you make of them. If you become really invested and spent time engaging the cast members and participating you can be in adventureland participating for quite a while. Or you can purchase them and rush to complete and get the Juju with little effort or time spent if your goal is to just collect the prize.

    • On Friday I did not participate. I spent some time in the Outfitters learning about the Jujus and adventures and visiting with the Cast Members. The main reason for not participating boiled down I really did not want/need a Juju to add to my collection of things. I figured it would just become another of the random items in a box somewhere in the house. I do not think they are something I would display and did not want to spend money on something I did not want/need so I opted not to play. Because of the spread out nature of the experience it was hard to tell how many guests were really participating. The location is a little out of the way to sign up and not sure the foot traffic it generates with the couple signs. I would think word of mouth and the internet may be larger drivers. Especially if it is promoted to Annual Passholders directly...

    • One note is if you do want a particular Juju and want to participate you should visit early in your visit. The number of jujus are limited each day and they ran out of a couple on Friday. Also the game itself is scheduled to run for August only at this point.

  • Legends of Frontierland: Gold Rush! was having a sale on land today. Only 75 bits. It is usually 100 bits and last week it was 150 bits. Also new to me this week was the option for a pre-printed name tag. So if you are like me and do not have a clever name or want to be creative you can choose one at random from their stack. This sounded good till I drew Absorbent Dew Drop. Not really sure how western that is...

  • Casey Jr had no line again.. so went for another ride. Two weeks in a row.. that is interesting. Again upon returning there was a couple train wait.

  • Stopped by the Music of Nashville to catch a performance by the one vocalist I had not seen yet. The show was ok. The crowd was as small as last week, maybe 50-75 guests throughout the performance. Also I think its really interesting that when they ask who has seen the show it is a very small response every time. I would think if you made the effort to come back to the show you had seen or are aware of the show. Or maybe its just the country music idea drawing the guests? I cannot believe they are all lost tourists who happened upon the area with no idea what they were doing there.

  • I caught several sets of the All-American College Band. They only have a few weeks left before wrapping up their summer.

  • Tomorrowland Terrace hosted Hard Days Night: A Tribute to the Beatles on Friday. This marked one year for them being in the performance rotation and the band seemed excited. I saw parts of three sets and they all had healthy crowds.

  • Recently we launched two new test features here at disneygeek.com check them out and then 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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