Hello Everyone!

Friday was a relaxing day at the Disneyland Resort for me. I had almost nothing on my to do list and hung out with family and visited some friends. The weather started off overcast but cleared quickly with some clouds. Temps topped out near 80 and cooled to about 70. There was a good breeze at times. The crowds felt heavy early in both parks and built even more as the sun set. Wait times were on the higher than normal side for most attractions most of the afternoon. Not super busy but more than past weeks.

Thoughts and Observations:

• Crews are painting the Indiana Jones show building adjacent to the tram stop. You can see trees and other elements now. So guess the canvas/tarps are not coming back and instead it will be painted on this time around.
• Stopped by Kingswell Camera and picked up the final Magic Key Trading card. I managed to get three of four, I missed week two. This exceeded my expectations since it was announced as a Monday through Thursday giveaway. So I lucked out there were plenty left and they were passing them out on Fridays.
• Went for a spin on the Pal-A-Round (still not a fan of that name) which turned out to be a relaxing ride and we lucked out as they were grouping smaller parties but the ones right behind us were all 4 or more people so we got our own gondola. Noticed they still have not implemented the magnetic brake for the swinging gondolas. That project seems stalled. The test fins are still only on two gondolas. Or is that the plan to only have them on the first two for the stop right after the full rotation? I could not tell if they were engaged/made a difference.
• Toy Story Midway Mania! had a posted wait of 25 minutes but did not look horrible so decided to give it a try. The Lightning Lane return mix was not favorable and several times we stopped as a large number of guests walked through in the return queue. In the end the wait time was pretty close to the posted time. The attraction is in need of some renovation. The screens were in bad shape with jittery projections, digital artifacts on screen and misalignments. It was not very good show and rather disappointing. Also observed several trams that had door issues and had to be opened and manually released. Lastly the queue space was extremely loud with guests voices building and echoing. It would be nice to see some other elements added in there to deaden the sound.
• Watched the Disneyland Band accompanied by the characters in their Halloween costumes. This is always fun to see. Unfortunately with the Train Station renovation project they do not stop in Town Square. It would be nice if they stopped on Main Street or something. With no parade though this march and the two cavalcades are all you get this time of year.
• The Mark Twain Riverboat had the top deck closed the first time I thought about cruising. I went on later in the day and it was open. No indicatin of why it was closed. Assuming a staffing choice.
• Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge seemed quiet. I saw a couple characters move by but not a lot going on for a mid afternoon visit.
• I did not receive a push notification when my Haunted Mansion virtual queue group was called. This is the second time this had happened to me. We noticed by checking so it was not a problem but it is a little annoying.
• Finally caught the Guardians of the Galaxy Awesome Dance Off! with Deadpool. This was a fun alternative show. The integration of Deadpool into the show and the banter between him and Star-Lord was entertaining. It is a positive to see variations to the entertainment and some plusing still occuring.
• Not to sound like a broken record.. but the selection of live entertainment at both parks continues to be on the thin side especially in the evening. After 5pm your choices are few and far between which is so disappointing to the way the parks used to operate. So now in the evening when the large crowds arrive the wait times balloon across the parks as there is very little to do besides wait for something. The lack of choices does not seem to be denting the evening rush though. The three HalloweenTime Fridays I have been in the park the backups as the sun set were just as bad as they were before COVID. Right now World Of Color is down for renovation, Hyperion and Fantasyland Theatre are both empty, nothing in Tomorrowland, no day time or night time parade at either park and many of the atmosphere groups and smaller shows have disappeared from the schedule or wrap up well before sunset.
• I left just before 8pm and the crowds coming in were large again, security area lines stretched all the way to the barriers at the Mickey and Friends parking structure. It is predictable yet security had about 1/3 of the lanes closed which added to the delay. At Downtown Disney the line stretched back through the old valet space again. As we left many more guests walking to hopping for shorter security waits than were heading to the structure like us. I talked to some friends who were trying to get into Disneyland and they said the entrance waits were long (one opted to go to DCA instead since there was no wait there).
  
  

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

• Disneyland Resort Posts from 9/20
  • Pictures: World of Color Renovation Continues at Disney California Adventure
  • Pictures: Pixar Pal-A-Round Views of the Disneyland Resort
  • Pictures & Video: Disneyland Band with Characters in Halloween Costumes
  • Pictures: Tiana’s Bayou Adventure @ Disneyland – Project Status (9/20/24)
  • Pictures: Haunted Mansion Area Renovation at Disneyland (9/20/24)
  • Picture: it’s a small world is Closed for Renovation and the Holiday Transformation
  • Pictures: Disneyland Entrance Project from Monorail (9/20/24)
  • Pictures & Video: Guardians of the Galaxy Awesome Dance Off with Deadpool
  • Pictures: LEGO Nightmare Before Christmas Set
  • Pictures: Downtown Disney West End Construction (9/20/24)
• 09/15/24 - San Diego Comic-Con 2024: Disney’s Memorable Moments
• 09/12/24 - My First Impressions: Inside Out 2 Home Video Release
• 09/07/24 - Daynah's Experience – Donald's Quacky Duck City in Tokyo Disneyland
• 09/03/24 - Daynah's Review – Pixar: The Official Cookbook
• D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event (Summary Page)

Disney Related Press Releases

• 09/19/24 - Disney+ Program Listing for October 2024
• 09/18/24 - Disney Treasure Conveyance (Disney Pictures & Video)
• 09/13/24 - Christmas at Tokyo Disney Resort
• 09/12/24 - “An Almost Christmas Story,” New Animated Holiday Short Directed By David Lowery And Produced By Academy Award-Winning Filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón, Coming To Disney+ This Fall
• 09/12/24 - Disney And Pixar’s Inside Out 2 Begins Streaming On Disney+ Sept. 25
• 09/05/24 - New “Bluey Minisodes” Coming October 7 To Disney+ First Look At “Blocks” Available Now
• 09/03/24 - New Villains Show Coming to Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Summer 2025

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