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8/05/22 - 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.

8/05/22 - Disneyland Resort

Hello Everyone!

I had a relaxing visit to the Disneyland Resort on Friday. I had a very short agenda with the main goal being to enjoy the All-American College Band and check in on some projects around the parks. The weather was on the warmer side topping out around 90 with humidity you could feel which is not normal for us Southern Californians. It was still a fraction of what you would experience in Orlando but noticeable for us. There was a slight breeze and plenty of shade to help too. The crowds felt about the same as previous visits. The parks are busy but not over crowded.

Thoughts and Observations:

  • For those of us who bought and activated our Disneyland Magic Key passes in the opening days we are now about 3 weeks from expiration and Disneyland has yet to share renewal options or plans. This is a bit frustrating not knowing what is going on and not being able to make reservations for coming weeks. Disney has said something is coming soon, but no indication of what something or soon is.
  • I started my day walking to the Disneyland Hotel. The former Downtown Disney parking lot landscaping project continues. New trees and curbs are being installed around the lot and it looks like preparations for new pavement in some spots. Across the entrance road in the other parking lot the construction we saw weeks ago on the far side near the trailers is visible over the fence line. It appears to be a test structure. Best guess is it is for the new West side project. Does anyone know?
  • The Disneyland Hotel towers are being repainted and the DVC tower is rising above the 8th story now. The concept art for the new tower still looks quiet difference than the color scheme of the existing towers. Its going to be interesting how the final product looks.
  • Downtown Disney was a live with activity for a Friday afternoon. There seemed to be a good number of people moving about as I walked through it. Since my last walk through the silletas have received signage explaining about them and a QR code link to the Parks Blog article for more background. This was nice to see, but I would have liked the QR code to do more since it was so prominently featured on every sign. It linked to the same article.
  • As you neared the ticket booths there is a Honda SUV on display celebrating the Main Street Electrical Parade's 50th Anniversary. On top of the car is a large snail. I overheard several groups walking by while I was taking pictures wanting to know if they sold the snail somewhere.
  • I started the afternoon at Disney California Adventure today. It was nice to step onto Buena Vista Street and see a Red Car Trolley making the rounds. Even when not riding having it back adds to the immersion. At present there is only one car in operation and it makes stops at the park entrance, Carthay Circle, near the Animation Building and on Sunset Blvd. across from the Hyperion. The stop on Sunset is new and is really makeshift at the moment with only a warning sign indicating it is in fact the stop. Nothing on the post or ground to indicate it. With the passing point on Hollywood Blvd. its going to be interesting how two car operation works, seems one will be sitting for quite a while waiting for the other.
  • Plaza Point Holiday Shoppe at Disneyland has switched to its Halloween Display. Red, white and blue is not orange and purple. Also interesting some Oktoberfest merchandise that looks straight out of EPCOT has arrived for Fall too. Great to see the transition but it seems really early for Halloween to me still.
  • I stopped by Coke Corner a couple of times this afternoon to grab some ice water. Both times the cast member explained they just had water, no ice available today. The first time the water was chilled the second closer to room temperature. They were both still cooler than the drinking fountains but not ice cold.
  • The Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage has returned to normal operation since my last visit. It was great to see the subs circling the lagoon again. Unfortunately the wait time was 40 minutes or more most of the day. That combined with the idea of being in the small enclosed space right now caused me to skip them this visit. From what I have seen/read the renovation work has restored the attraction to looking new again.
  • Speaking of COVID. Mask usage around the parks was about the same as last visit. A majority of cast members indoors were wearing masks and a large number outside too. Guests were a much lower percentage overall but still more than we saw in June.
  • The small glimpse of the Toontown work you can see from the it's a small world mall shows the hills are being painted. It would be nice to see an update on the project on the Parks Blog. Maybe at the upcoming D23 Expo something will be shared.
  • I stopped by the Fantasyland Theater to take in a showing of the Tale of the Lion King. I went to the 5pm showing and the theater crowd build throughout the beginning of the show to be mostly full but not packed in if that makes sense. The audio levels were on the loud side though at some points nearing distortion. Not sure why the need to be that loud.
  • My primary objective Friday was to enjoy the All-American College Band and I made a point to be at all their sets. This was my first time seeing the Dapper Dans join them at the Flag Retreat.. my previous couple viewings the band was there by themselves. It always impresses me how the band evolves over the course of their summer. This year due to timing I only saw them perform a few days unfortunately and did not see any of their guests at the 9pm set. The band has one more week and is slated to wrap up their summer next Friday.
  • My evening ended on a less than pleasant note. To exit the parking structure they were forcing you to go to Magic Way from the Pixar Pals structure. Traffic was backed up into the structure, it took over 2 lights to get moving. One interesting thing of being stopped was you could see several trams staged and being prepared for the exit crowds on the first floor of the structure. Once making the left on Magic Way I just barely made it through the light onto Disneyland drive so that was good luck and only had to sit through one light at Ball Road. Overall though sitting in traffic to exit is not a great way to cap off the evening.

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

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.

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