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08/04/17 - 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.

08/04/17 - Thoughts and observations from Friday at the Disneyland Resort.

The end of summer is rapidly approaching and Halloween will be ramping up before we know it. This was re-enforced when I spotted a group of tour guides rehearsing the Halloween tour on Friday. The weather Friday was around 90 and for Southern California humid. It did cool down to the 70s as the sun set and there was a nice breeze at times. The crowd felt moderate for summer with most attractions matching. The only really abnormal spike was the Disneyland Railroad which saw long lines throughout the afternoon and evening.

Thoughts and Observations:

  • The Mickey and Friends Parking Structure work continues. The second floor had a large portion completed. It looks very generic now. Guess functional is the right word. Noticed the 3rd floor was taped off when I arrived, I did not see on the way out since I was parked on 2. All other floors had work near the escalators though. This project seems to be dragging on. Surprised they did not do one floor at a time to minimize disruption. Guess this is more cost efficient to keep them all in sync more or less.

  • Spent some time looking at the Star Wars construction as usual. Nothing too interesting jumped out at me from the parking structure except to note they are moving along with the walls on the Battle Escape building so as it becomes enclosed our views show even less each visit. The steel for the rock facades on the building is really taking shape and is visible from several areas in the park including Toontown where it looks like they have framed the new mountain tops through the trees. The final sight lines are going to be interesting how it is set up.

  • Walked through World of Disney on the way to the parks and was surprised by how crowded it was in the mid afternoon. Maybe people wanting to be in the air conditioning?

  • At Disneyland planned to visit the railroad first. After waiting 10 minutes or so I was making progress toward boarding the next train most likely when operations halted and they cleared the station. Seems a train rain into an issue and they had to shut down. Before they did a cast member was saying how they had four trains in operation today. On the way out I did take a look at the new train board in the lobby area. It showed four blocks full. Also it showed the new route.

  • I ended up going for two cruises on the Mark Twain today. Both from the first deck on the bow. First to get pictures then to take video. The view from water level is more immersive on the new sections with the rock work rising up above you and the sight lines beyond more limited, vs what you see on the top deck.

  • The 2017 All-American College Band is on the home stretch. They have five more performing days only. Friday they hosted their last guests artist. Next week they will wrap up their 11 week program. So if you are in the park it is your last chance to enjoy them.

  • Later in the evening the railroad reopened and I was able to go for the Grand Circle Tour plus a stop. This time around managed to get a spot in the front row up near the engine. So I was able to look out as well as forward. There were three trains in operation when I went on. Our engineer had some issues getting the CK Holiday out of the New Orleans Square station. Not sure what happened but they had to go backward and forward rocking it several times to get moving. Later in the evening I noticed it down again for a period of time. So right now adding to the high demand are the kinks they are still ironing out to get the operation running smoothly again.

  • This trip I spent a very brief time in Disney California Adventure. Really only long enough to watch a college band performance and grab some chocolate from Ghirardelli.

  • Since the crowd was not too bad and I expect it to get busy as the end draws nearer I found a spot for the Main Street Electrical Parade on Main Street. The guest flow/crowd control seemed a bit off this evening with ropes going up what seemed later than usual in a couple spots and at parade time it seemed they waited too long to switch to the bypass and the curb became gridlock. The parade is slated to retire August 20th.. so only two more weeks to go. The question is what will happen to the parade after the 20th. Will it stay in storage to come back next year, will it be shipped elsewhere, or will it actual retire for good? Disney has yet to announce any plans.

  • Close out my evening with Remember Dreams Come True Fireworks from Main Street USA. As I looked around I spotted one set of Made with Magic / Glow with the Show Ears in use this evening. They were near me so I was able to include them in a couple pictures. They never really seemed to catch on. I think the effect is great when everyone in the audience has them but when only a few do it is not that impressive and they are at a high cost point.

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

Geek’s Blog Postings Recap – July 26-Aug 3, 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.

Send comments, questions, any other email to: disneygeek@disneygeek.com

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