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8/28/15 - Thoughts and observations from Friday at the Disneyland Resort
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8/28/15 - Thoughts and observations from Friday at the Disneyland Resort

Hello everyone,

As I pulled into the parking structure on Friday my car said it was 100 outside. It was rather hot, but thanks to a slight breeze at times, the use of shade and A/C, and not a lot on my schedule the weather did not impact my day too much. The crowds in the parks were on the mild side. To counter balance the heat and off season time period the summer block out has been lifted for local Annual Passes. The afternoon during the heat of the day the parks were good to walk around. There were more guests wandering around than I had thought would be out but it was not bad. As the sun set though the locals descended as usual on Friday and with no block outs and the security, park entrance, and other areas backed up and became more congested.


Trip logs and mileage reports are in the Park Miles section.

Thoughts and Observations:

  • As I was walking through the Pier area of DCA I noticed a relatively short line for the Fun Wheel, it was about a cycle. Since I had not been on it for a while decided to go for a spin with the hopes of seeing something going on at Luigis. No such luck though. From the distance and angle I was not able to see anything this afternoon. I saw some have seen a test car out but no real details on this upcoming attraction have surfaced.

  • The sixth and final Diamond Anniversary Photo Spot opened near the entrance to Flik's Fun Fair in Bugs Land. This one makes sense from a location stand point since it is an under utilized space but still seems odd in terms of content choice.

  • Over at Disneyland the heat had an effect on the Disneyland Band's sets. They shortened them cutting a couple songs from the Frontierland set and the same for their pre-parade. The band performed around 4:10pm on Main Street USA stopping twice on Friday, once on each end of the street (I was told they stop three times on regular days with the third stop being in front of the Train Station). Great to see the band out in the afternoon. They also do the Flag Retreat now. I was looking at the times guide and the band is slated to run 7 days a week, even in the off season. I noticed the 4:10 set was not listed.

  • During the D23 Expo weekend the Little Golden Book story of the the Little Man of Disneyland was revisited. To learn more about this story here is a D23 article on it. In Adventureland his house has appeared. You really have to look for it or just happen to look in the correct spot. It is at the base of the tree that holds up the Indiana Jones Adventure sign. Between other guests, strollers, and the trash cans getting a clear picture is a little bit of a challenge. Great to see this small detail/back story pop up in the park.

  • So far Disney has not officially announced any time line or location details for the Star Wars project in Anaheim (the DisneylandToday twitter account jumped the gun a few weeks ago and gave a rough idea of the Big Thunder Ranch area if I remember correctly). The general internet speculation/rumors concur with this and all point to the project taking over the Big Thunder Ranch/BBQ/Jamboree area and then extending backstage across the train tracks and taking over the space currently used by the Circle D Ranch and several other facilities. The early rumors of the demise of Toontown seem to have reversed course and they now all say it is safe for the time being. It is being reported online that the Ranch area will be open through January for one more Christmas season then will be shut down to start the project in January. Time will tell for sure and I am curious how this will all fit together and blend with the park. I am disappointed to be loosing one of the few quiet places left at Disneyland but from an impact perspective I understand the reasoning and in terms of options this appears to have the least impact and loss on the guest side of the equation. The space is under utilized/visited by most guests. I hope some of the elements of the ranch can be relocated elsewhere. Also wonder if another multipurpose area like the Jamboree is in the works somewhere?

  • The early indications are there will not be a Halloween Carnival in the Jamboree this year and no pumpkin carving. If this holds that will be a loss. The pumpkin carving in the fall and egg painting in the spring I think are great activities. It would be nice to see them relocated elsewhere in the park and not retired.

  • As far as I could tell from the lack of signage and promotion there is not an end of summer series or Hawaiian Nights going on at Downtown Disney. I did see one tweet last week talking about a performance so this week I walked through and found the main stage by the ESPN Zone was hosting the same group from last year that performs Island songs and features dancers on a journey through the Islands of the pacific. There was no indication of set times or of the show.. but turned out to be at least at 6 and 7pm. I do not understand why Downtown Disney cannot do a better job of communicating these performances. Wonder if it is done on purpose to avoid crowding? Or just no one takes the time to post the information in either paper nor digital form on a regular basis.

  • Since I had cleared my picture list for the day and did not feel like walking in circles any more I opted to head toward Sleeping Beauty Castle before 8pm and stake out a spot for Disneyland Forever.
    • I found an area that offered a view of the castle and the top of the Matterhorn. It was about 10 rows back from the front. The cast member near by said it was a standing area so I found an ECV and stroller to stand behind to act as a buffer. Turns out this was incorrect information and as soon as Paint the Night ended they started asking everyone to sit. This meant I had a partially obstructed view which made it a little more challenging to take pictures and video and I did not want to really block those behind me either. An interesting note.. as I sat there the pavement was still radiating heat from the day making it even warmer to sit there and wait. It seems they kept the left/west side of the area directly in front of the castle as sitting only. Guessing so those on the benches in the hub directly behind the area can see.

    • Viewing Disneyland Forever seating in front of the Castle was an interesting experience. I thought being able to see the projections was great. The quality of the projections and the alignment issues they were experiencing on Friday were not pleasant though. Also the brightness difference from the rear projected portion and front projected areas was drastic and a bit odd. The rear projection was substantially brighter and more clear. The projection quality seemed slightly better than what I saw in Hong Kong, maybe the same if Hong Kong had not had so many construction surfaces to deal with, but fell short of the Magic Kingdom in Orlando and would not even rate compared to what I saw in Tokyo. The show is impressive from this angle with the shells behind the Castle looking great. Unfortunately Friday Tinker Bell, Nemo, and the laser effects were all MIA. There was no snow either in our area. So it was lacking in terms of effects.

    • My favorite spot to watch the show is still on Main Street. The immersion there with projections on either side, the castle in the distance and fireworks in the sky is ideal to me. This was good, but for the time investment needed to secure the spot it is probably not somewhere I will frequent to see it.

    • Lastly leaving from here could be a challenge. I opted to stick around through A Kiss Goodnight which helped. I was able to move down the street without stopping. It was slow going but I kept moving which was ok.


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Interesting Web Finds/Notes:

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