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8/30/24 - Halloween Time @ 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.

8/30/24 - Halloween Time @ the Disneyland Resort

Hello Everyone!

I kick off my long Labor Day weekend at the Disneyland Resort. I had a short agenda to see the new Coco show and visit friends. The weather was great topping out around 80 with a slight breeze and cooling toward 70. The crowds were very mild most of the day but as you would expect as the sun set they grew.

Thoughts and Observations:

  • My parking luck held again and I had no delays from the free way to being directed into a parking spot. The same cannot be said for the LA Freeways I used to reach the park. I also had no delays with security or the tram so it was under 20 minutes from parking to Main Street USA.
  • I looked at the wait times, almost all were on the short side but nothing jumped out to me as a must ride this morning so I opted for a leisurely cruise around the Rivers of America to start my visit. I always enjoy my time on the boats. Its a little escape from the crowds of the park usually and a change of pace. I am really going to miss the Liberty Belle at the Magic Kingdom once the bulldozers move in to start the Cars attractions. I am still very disappointed that with the so called blessing of size they found no better solution than destroying the Rivers of America to make way for the new additions. That seems so short sighted to me and removing the "theme" from the park.
  • The Haunted Mansion queue area had incremental visible progress since last week. No major changes jumped out to me as we cruised by. On the other side though the steel for the new gift shop at the exit is taking shape and you can get a feel for the scale of the new building. It is going to do a good job of blocking the adjacent mountain from the Haunted Mansion exit. The steel is right up against the construction wall which forms a narrow walkway that is the current exit path.
  • Tiana's Bayou Adventure had logs cycling through the attraction. It is always a little odd to see them going over the fall with no water on the drop. The flume is filled but the waterfall is turned off. They seemed to be at regular intervals and flowing smoothly the time I was in the area. Winnie the Pooh, Pooh Corner, and the Meet and Greet area have all reopened. The most noticeable change is the entrance to the Winnie the Pooh attraction has been tweaked with a new barrier set up so you no longer walk right in, you have to enter from the side. This should help with traffic flow, especially when the queue backs up as it should stay against the fence vs out in the walkway. Speaking of the walkway the main pathway through the area was redone but some sections near the entrance plus the meet and greet area remained the same. I thought this may be a chance for them to tweak the area's configuration. Tiana's Bayou Adventure queue building has most of the scaffolding removed offering you a good look at it. The Hungry Bear looks like it is ready to open, the big project there is the kitchen renovation so no visual indication of how close that is to being complete.
  • Bayou Country is starting to take over the area. A few sets of trashcans now sport the new logo.
  • Pluto's Pumpkin Pursuit has returned and this year is at both parks and Downtown Disney. Game Boards are $9.99 plus tax and available in a number of locations. There are 13 pumpkins in each quest. I would have liked for them to have created some different pumpkins for the parks. All three sets are the same.
  • A new version of the Coco Show at Disney California Adventure premiered today and will run through the Halloween season. The Storytellers of Plaza de la Familia Celebrate The Musical World of Coco! takes place several times daily in Paradise Gardens Park. The show features a couple of storytellers accompanied by dancers. Miguel still takes part in the show in puppet form. The Mariachi Divas are no longer part of the show. The show was enjoyable and if you had never seen the original show it was well done. The pacing seemed a tad awkward with a pause for audience participation and a slow down in the middle. I prefer the original show as it felt more lively and moved at a quicker pace.. The new version suffers the same challenges as the original though given the venue choice and show times. The audience and performers are all on the same level so seeing is a challenge more than a couple rows back. The new version does try to address this by having some performers stand on a box/stage for portions of the show. The show times are all mid afternon between noon and 4:30pm so you are in the direct sun with no shade if you want to see the show..
  • I do want to note that this past week Disneyland announced plans for the holiday season. Viva Navidad Street Party is slated to return but seeing it will be a challenge. It will be performed on Saturday and Sundays only most of the season and will run daily starting on Dec 21st, which is the first day of the holiday block out for all Magic Key Passes. This is disappointing as I enjoy the show and it means a lot of guests will not be able to experience it this year.
  • I used the Virtual Queue again to visit the Haunted Mansion. When I arrived the morning queue was filled already so I had to wait for the noon release. We picked up a group which was called mid afternoon. We had no substantial wait. A bit of a slow walk to get scanned in but other than that moved right through with no problem. Also noteworthy was I did not get a push notification that my group was called today. I thought that was odd/annoying.
  • Out in Fantasyland the walls are down by the Fantasyland Theatre and the pavement project looks complete. It is plain black asphalt. Not sure how much of an improvement that is over the previous slurry style walkways in the area.
  • Stopped by Disney's Grand Californian Hotel to see the finished Halloween display. The culinary team did a great job and it is a highly detailed piece to look at. There are 13 hidden Mickeys to search for too. I found 11ish (not sure if a couple count or not).
  • New concept art for Downtown Disney projects was released today. Here is a link. Opening dates are not specific but several have winter as the time frame.
  • I arrived in Cars Land in time to see the lighting moment. Route 66 was incredibly busy, the most I have seen in a long time for the lighting moment. I have never been a fan of the Haul-O-Ween version. I would have preferred a different song. The crowd returned to normal in the area within 15 minutes of the ending of the moment.
  • I closed out my visit spending some time on Buena Vista Street taking in the Halloween sights. The area takes on such a different feel for the season and was fairly busy with guests entering the park still at 8pm.

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