home > Columns > Geekspeaks >
9/26/14 - My thoughts and observations from Fridays visit to the Disneyland Resort.
 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.

9/26/14 - My thoughts and observations from Fridays visit to the Disneyland Resort.

Hello everyone,

Arrived at the Disneyland Resort to start my 30th trip of the year slightly earlier today than usual since I did not go to work first. The crowds at DCA felt much heavier than last week. Wait times were up but still fairly mild in the afternoon. For example Screamin was a walk on, Toy Story 30 min, Racers 65min. This week not so lucky with the Racers FastPass. I did get one but the return time was 11:30pm (about 12 hours from when I picked up the ticket). Disneyland was much more crowded too especially in the evening once the Halloween Party Guests arrived.

Jason

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

Thoughts and Observations:

  • Parking is sometimes a challenge come Halloween Time but Friday I lucked out and had no delays. I did get stuck on the roof of the parking structure. When we arrived just before 11am all the other floors of the garage were still empty. Looked like they had the early morning arrivals directed elsewhere.

  • I spent the first couple of hours of my trip at DCA. Walked the park and not much to report. Nothing too interesting jumped out to me. It was nice to see them lower the World of Color fountains between the Instant Concerts. Also to see the water wheel at GRR back in motion. We had a relaxing lunch in Paradise Gardens listening to the Ellis Island Boys. Unfortunately I had one of the worst Disney corn dogs I have gotten in Anaheim, looks like Corn Dog Castle is going back on my do not eat list for a while (it was there for several years). It was fairly rubbery and not a lot of corn bread on it. So seems like it was over cooked and was sitting a bit. It was still hot.

  • At Disneyland my first stop was the Big Hero 6 sneak peek in Tomorrowland. I even lucked out and our group was given Baymax kites. The kites were a fun freebie and my understanding is they were left over from the AP preview on Thursday. They were a bit of a challenge to carry around all day (I was too lazy to go back to the car and they were too big for a locker). The preview itself was about 10 minutes long and featured clips/scenes introducing the characters as well as some comic moments from the film. They showed it in 3D and used the in theater effects, the motion base, water, wind and lights. The general reaction I observed was positive. Many commenting on how it seemed more entertaining/comical than they though it was going to be.

  • Spent some time at the Halloween Carnival checking out the latest pumpkin creations and caught the Magic show. This week a different magician again. I thought this one may have been the best of the three I have seen. They each have their own set of tricks/illusions but all three have closed with the levitation trick and then the finale switch with Mickey.

  • I checked by the sub lagoon several times in hope of a soft opening but no luck. So hopefully next trip the line is not too bad. Interesting to note the three sea gulls had not returned as of Friday. Hopefully they will soon.

  • The Legends of Frontierland wrapped up its run on Saturday. Friday there were a fair number of guests participating and activities going on throughout the day.

  • It was very disappointing to walk around Sleeping Beauty Castle. As you saw in the pictures they have removed the benches along the walkway leading up to the castle and have started work on the next phase which will be a railing extension. It should be interesting what the final product looks like, but so far the track record on safety enhancements blending in has been fairly poor. I think they are starting to go to the extreme to prevent people from doing dumb things. And I would be willing to bet guests will still find dumb ways to hurt themselves or their children. Does anyone recall any stories of guests ending up in the moat? I can see it happening but I have not really heard stories of it.

  • Friday was the first Halloween Party of the season and as has become the norm it takes over the park and has a substantial impact on day guests several hours prior to the actual start of the event. The party itself starts at 7pm, but they start setting up for it in the early afternoon and by late afternoon you start to get the impression you should not be in the park. I am not a big fan of the mix in idea. To me if it was my once in a lifetime trip to Disneyland and I really do not need to see all the Halloween party signage, kiosks, etc.. up around the park all afternoon in my pictures or line of sight. Also for those attending wonder how they like having to push their way through a wall of exiting day guests as they enter the park for their party? I understand the reason for this mix to give guests more time in the park and maximize the number of people in the park for the max number of hours but it really seems a disservice to both. For those with Annual Passes guess it is not that big of deal and the parade of costumed guests is usually enjoyable. This year the Frozen cast is definitely the popular costume. You will see Anna, Elsa, and Olafs of all shapes and sizes. An interesting observation Friday was it seemed there were a larger number of adults (including college age and probably some high schoolers in there) compared to say grade school kids.

  • Made an after dark pass through DCA and noticed just about anywhere that served food seemed to have long waits. Our guess was since Disneyland closed at 7 and many dining locations early than that guests waiting until they had to leave then decided to find dinner and this led to longer than usual queues around DCA.



  • Do you visit our pictorial updates using a mobile device? If so we would like your feedback. I have created a beta of a more mobile version of our Disneyland Picture sets at https://disneygeek.com/mobile Please give it a try and share your thoughts.

  • Video featuring my pictures:

Interesting Web Finds/Notes:

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

Stop by the Geek's Forum to discuss this and other Disney topics.. click here

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

 

Quick Note

Check out the geek speaks archive for past updates.

 

Interested in Helping out?

If you are a fellow disneygeek and interested in sharing your insights, pictures, thoughts drop us an email here we are always looking for contributors.