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8/26/16 - Thoughts and observations from a Friday trip to 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.

8/26/16 - Thoughts and observations from a Friday trip to the Disneyland Resort

Hello everyone,

I was expecting Friday to be on the crowded side, especially in the evening. The weather was mild topping out near 80 and dropping toward the 60s. Some AP blockouts have been lifted. And some kids are not back in school yet. Plus with the 60th ending in a little over a week. I was pleasantly surprised as were many others I spoke with while roaming the park at how mild the attraction wait times were. There were a moderate level of guests moving around but most wait times were well under an hour. Not quite off season quiet, but very light and with some timing you could visit many attractions with under a 15 min wait.

Thoughts and Observations:
  • Star Wars construction is moving along as you probably saw in my picture set. Many more walls and concrete structures are taking shape along the Rivers of America and Disneyland Railroad path. A noteworthy change is the ramp and stairs to the Hungry Bear lower level have been removed and you enter from a side walkway over the stream now. Has anyone seen a recent overhead picture? I am really curious how it is all looking. Also worth pointing out is they moved the Columbia back. So guess it was out for the removal of the masts and rigging for renovation.

  • Summer is just about in the books with one week left then Halloween season kicks off Sept 9th. Merchandising around the parks is not waiting and orange is replacing blue. Halloween has moved into several locations and Diamond Anniversary merchandise is being consolidated.

  • Thanks to the light crowds and the lack of some entertainment I wanted to see I managed to visit the Pirates of the Caribbean, Tarzan's Treehouse, Monorail, Radiator Springs Racers, Jungle Cruise, it's a small world and I waited under 10 minutes for each. I also took in several sets by the Disneyland Band, a Bootstrappers performance and other random entertainment as I roamed the parks, wrapping up with Paint the Night and Disneyland Forever on Main Street USA (which was my longest wait of the day at 30 minutes for Paint the Night).

  • I was glad I choose to stop by the Nightly Flag Retreat Ceremony in Town Square. They happened to be honoring members of the 9th & 10th Calvary, Buffalo Soldiers, who were marking their 150th anniversary this year. They had several former members on hand. After the ceremony they were presented with Challenge Coins. I think it is great they do these events. My only complaint is they do not announce it at all.. not on the app, the website, twitter, in the guides or even with signs in the park. If I would have known ahead of time I would have made a point to be there vs a chance encounter. And I am sure others would too.

  • I was disappointed the live music along the Rivers of America in the evenings has concluded its run. So all was quiet in the evening on the river and Mark Twain. I was planning on pulling up a seat and listening to several sets Friday evening and that plan went out the window, all bands were done performing shortly after 5pm.

  • Friday Tomorrowland Terrace featured Tomasina again. Sat 80z All Stars and Sunday Instant Replay. I was really hoping for Scot Bruce or Hard Days Night Friday. Found it a little frustrating they did not list the bands on the website or app to help you plan ahead.

  • Since there is only a little over a week left for Disneyland Forever I opted to watch further up Main Street than I normally do. Also because last visit they had the projectors off on the Southern portion of the street (they looked on Friday). Disney announced Fantasy in the Sky will be taking over on non party weekend nights. I am assuming that will hold until Christmas and hopefully Believe in Holiday Magic will return this year. No official announcement has been yet though.

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.

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