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8/02/13 - My thoughts and observations from Friday at the Disneyland Resort
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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.

8/02/13 - My thoughts and observations from Friday at the Disneyland Resort

Hello all,

Friday was a relaxing trip to the Disneyland Resort. The weather was mild and there was not a lot on my shot list. The crowds felt slightly heavier than the past couple of visits. Wait times were still reasonable throughout most of the afternoon/evening with only a few exceptions. For example Splash Mountain was 70 minutes in the late afternoon but at the same time Space Mountain was 40 and Star Tours 30 only.

Jason

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

Thoughts and Observations:

  • First stop today was Disney California Adventure. I circled through the park and nothing too different/interesting jumped out at me. The walkways seemed on the crowded side, either that or I just had bad luck and people around me all the time. I was really surprised by how empty the Dancin With Disney area was when I took a look in there around 2:00pm. I am guessing/hoping it was because of the Parade starting and everyone out there. I think the Cast Members out numbered the guests inside. In case you have not seen my suggestion before if you are looking for a place for some character interaction and air conditioning this is usually a good venue to take the kids to and let them burn off some energy dancing and playing.

  • Downtown Disney was hosting a summer celebration this week that included a sand volleyball tournament by AMC/ESPN. I thought this was a great idea and very Southern Californian in nature, but very modest in terms of activities. There were three tents, a food truck, DJ, then Volleyball Court only. I stopped by and was surprised by the small crowd out there. Not sure if it was because it was early afternoon or because guests just did not know about it. There were a couple of signs up around Downtown Disney but seems to me if they really want to promote these events they need to be advertised between the trams and parks where a majority of guests walk. Also guessing they may have a bigger crowd on Saturday when they do the exhibition vs the regular tournament.

  • Over at Disneyland the story was much the same as DCA. Nothing too new or different to report. It is summer so status quo for the most part. The big project news is the walkway by Big Thunder is closed and looks like they are completely redoing it and putting in themed concrete like the rest of the park. So the last section of the old slurry style in Frontierland should be gone. That only leaves the area between Small World/Fantasyland Theatre/Toontown left I think with this old type of walkway.

  • I was surprised to find an average crowd out at the Big Thunder Ranch this week. I would have thought with the walkway closed it would have been smaller than usual.

  • I decided to watch Fantasmic this evening since I had not in quite a while. I was disappointed to see or should I say not see the Dragon this trip. Also they did not run any of the fire on the Rivers of America. There were several jets of flame from the island at the point the River should have caught on fire so looks like they had a temporary effect in place that I do not recall seeing before and I missed getting a picture of it.

  • For those of you planning trips to the Disneyland Resort from out of state be sure to check the weather to help with you packing. Friday was a good reminder of that. The highs touched 80 degrees but it quickly cooled down into the 60s after the sun set and by the time I reached home it was 61 degrees and foggy. So even though it is Southern California and the impression is it is always hot in reality it is much more mild most of the time.

Interesting Web Finds/Notes:
Below are some interesting links, notes, and rumors I found/stumble across/or have been informed of since the last Geekspeaks column.

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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