Disneygeek - Geek Speaks - 8/18/23

The Geek Speaks:

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.

8/18/23 - Disneyland Resort

Hello Everyone!

I spent Friday afternoon and evening at the Disneyland Resort. The weather was great topping out in the mid 80s with a slight breeze then cooling down to the low 70s. The crowds followed a more traditional pattern of being mild the evening and then the parks felt busy as the sun set. Wait times were moderate most of the afternoon with a noticeable increase as the day went on.

Thoughts and Observations:

My trip started off on a bad note.. I chose to take the 101 through Hollywood vs going around on the I5 and today that was not the right choice. As I neared the Hollywood Bowl the CHP ran a traffic break a quarter mile or so in front of me. We stopped for what I assumed would be a routine thing. Normally these breaks are so they can move a car or debris off the freeway. As we sat there more police cars showed up and people started getting out of their cars trying to see what was going on. Many turned their cars off. Several minutes later two more CHP cars came inching along trying to squeeze through on the left side (where there was no shoulder). This process was extremely slow and meant cars ended up in awkward positions. Eventually they did make it through to the front. It was about 20 minutes before they reopened the freeway. No indication of why it was closed though. But it meant my drive to Anaheim was over 2 hours.
Once I reached Disneyland Drive things went more smoothly. I hit a green light at Ball Road, only two cars in front of me at the tollbooth and an ok spot in the garage. Plus no wait at security or to board a tram.
Disney Junior & Friends Playdate events were happening throughout Disney California Adventure from 11am until 5pm. I missed the early events due to my later than planned arrival. I did see a number of photo ops set up around the park, a 1pm Alice's Bakery show and some character meet and greets. I thought the event was really targeted at those that were invited and the regular park guests were just backdrops. The information seemed lacking in terms of times, especially ahead of time. In the park there were some signs and day of the app did have a couple pieces of info.
Halloween continues to creep in with decorations up in Cars Land and more merchandise throughout the parks. At Disneyland the Haunted Mansion is closed for its transformation. HalloweenTime officially starts September 1st at the Disneyland Resort.
The San Fransokyo Bridge facade is being installed piece by piece. They finished a few of the cross members since last week and were working on one when I walked by. The facade still looks off to me, hopefully once it is all installed and tightened up it looks better. Some more signs and graphics have been added throughout the area as it races toward opening in a couple weeks.
In Avengers Campus there is little visible progress on the Avengers Vault. This new store is slated to open mid-September. The hole in the side of the building has looked the same for weeks now and no other signs of progress.
Over in Disneyland the Adventureland walkway was still blocked off Friday (it reopened on Saturday). Traffic flowed relatively smoothly in and out of the land again even with the reduced walkway. Further along the scaffolding and scrims have been removed from the front section of the Treehouse so you now get a good view of the project. The upper portions look complete but there are still missing stairs.
Disneyland has announced that Tiana's Palace will be opening September 7th in New Orleans Square. The portions you can see look ready to go.
Today someone I was with had not seen Rogers: The Musical so we picked up a virtual boarding group at 2pm, with no issue, for the 4pm show. Other friends did standby for the 5:30 show and were able to choose the Mezzanine or Balcony. I ended up in the Mezzanine which meant I finished seeing the show from all three levels. Hard to say which I prefer.. I do know the Balcony was the worst.. the angle made it hard to see some of the projections and I felt really far away there. The Orchestra gave the best sight lines but the lights seemed more in your eyes and bothersome.
I took a stroll through Fantasy Faire since I saw the scrims were pulled back. The renovation work is progressing. Anna was out in the garden area meeting guests and cast members were trying to tell people the Royal Hall was open with no wait. Seems the scaffolding makes people think its closed.
Indiana Jones Adventure has been on my list to visit since its most recent renovation. Today I saw a 35 minute wait and it did not look that bad so decided to give it a go. Ended up waiting about 17 minutes to reach the merge point then another 10 once inside coming in at about 30 minutes total wait. It was great to ride through the effects all working. The new projections looked ok. Overall the attraction was in great shape (except the projections on the first door seemed a tad out of focus). I think I still prefer the Tokyo version of the attraction. It has a couple different effects and there seemed to be more going on in the main room.
Pirates of the Caribbean was posted at 15 minutes and took just under 10. Our cruise was normal until we rounded the corner near the auction scene. The boat in front of us stopped. Not sure why but it looks like it was held there for some reason. So we ran into it and stopped and this backed up at least a handful of boats behind us. After a few minutes the boat in front of us started to move and we seemed to be pushed up against it the rest of the attraction. That boat arrived at the lift hill and only paused momentarily. There was not backup for the lift.
Queenie and the Jambalaya Jazz were scheduled to perform two sets again. I stopped by and watched the first at 8:10pm. It went on as scheduled with no issues. I did notice a couple of the fountains seemed to be having some issues.
Interesting note on the trams this evening. They were loading both zones on the north (park side) and only the first one on the south (Downtown Disney side). Usually it is the other way around at park closing.