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8/10/18 - 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.

8/10/18 - Thoughts and observations from Friday at the Disneyland Resort
Friday the plan was to go to the park and enjoy the last day of the 2018 Disneyland Resort All-American College Band. Several friends were at the park so spent some time visiting and hanging out with them which led to a relaxing day. The crowds in the park were moderate and wait times varied depending on luck or choice of attraction. The usual suspects were beyond the hour mark but not by too much. Mid afternoon Pirates was under 15 minutes and Jungle Cruise was a walk on (boats were not even full). The weather was on the warm and humid side for use Southern Californians but there was a nice breeze at times. The smoke from the fires was noticeable a couple times but for the most part not that bad.

Thoughts and Observations:

  • Parking was a relatively straightforward affair again. Had to wait at the Ball Rd light made the first cycle through. No delays at the toll booth nor the ramp, except for a very slow driver in front of me that seemed afraid of the cones. There was a slight pause/delay right before being directed into a spot near the far corner of the garage on the Mickey level.

  • Walked along the perimeter of the garage taking a look at the construction. In just a week since my last visit the new parking structure second floor has progressed with a good size segment taking shape already. Across Disneyland Drive the Star Wars spires and rock formations continue to take shape and be unveiled. No other noticeable visible change this visit.

  • Started off my visit with a four classic Disneyland attractions. Autopia & Pirates of the Caribbean were both just over a 10 minute wait and the Jungle Cruise was a walk on. Then a cruise on the Mark Twain. And in between stopped for something to drink and frozen treats for my friends kids. So within the first 2.5 hours in the rolled through several attractions. A couple of notes. Autopia only had 3 of 4 tracks in use and it was still a mild wait. The Mark Twain had the top deck blocked. I thought when it pulled in guests were up there so not sure what was going on. Maybe heat related?

  • The group decided on Smokejumpers for dinner since one member wanted the chicken sandwich. We used mobile order again and it was a simple and uncrowded process. The order did take a fair amount of time to come up though.. but they all seemed slow for some reason. The A/C was working slightly better this week, they had the doors closed. Finding a seat inside was a little bit of a challenge since everyone wanted the cool air and those that were done eating seemed to linger.

  • I goofed up and missed the Flag Retreat. I always pick up the paper time guide and I glance at the app.. and I still missed that the Flag Retreat moved from 5:00pm to 4:30pm already. So when I showed up just before 5pm it was over! oops... some day I will learn to read the schedule.

  • Walked through Downtown Disney and nothing major to report. The ongoing renovation/painting of the south side looks to be nearing completion. The North side new dining is moving very slowly and no real change on the west side where the new hotel is going.

  • I spent most of the evening enjoying the final College Band performances for this summer. It is hard to believe their 11 weeks are done already and summer is just about over. Time has flown as usual. This year's group was talented and entertaining as always. Ron has left the program and the park performances were directed by the TA for the summer. This worked but I think the shows benefited from having someone to engage the crowd as the band played. I hope next year they shift to an earlier schedule.. the 9:55pm set is tough for me and adds quite a it of length on an already long day.

  • The tram lines were long as always when I left. They were using three of four zones for loading and each zone was still backed up several trams. Wonder what the plan is to increase capacity here when the new parking structure opens? Adding 50% more guests could make for an even longer wait during peak periods. Hopefully they re-add a walking option that is relatively easy compared to the current route through Downtown Disney.

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

Geek’s Blog Postings Recap July 16 - August 2, 2018

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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