* After you read this report you may want to check out the pictorial updates in our Disneyland Resort Pictorial Update section

Hello everyone,

Friday was an overcast day at the resort. The sun only poked through a couple of brief moments, but luckily no rain (earlier in the day we drove through some heavy mist/light rain). The crowds were mild for the afternoon and got a little heavier in the evening, but still not bad. Wait times on most attractions were under 30 minutes most of the day except for Nemo which was just over an hour most of the time.

Jason

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

Disneyland & DCA Thoughts and Observations:

• As you saw in the pictorial update, Halloween Time has arrived at the Resort and this year they have stepped up the decorations a notch. At DCA Candy Corn Acres has taken over the Sun Plaza. The concept here is very similar to other things they have placed in this space, such as Santa's Beach Party Blast. Throughout the day CMs and Characters interact with guests and there are small shows with a lot of guest interactivity. I thought the amount of detail in this set was great! The Candy Corn crops and props everywhere as well as the background music really worked well. The show itself was average, but young kids will enjoy it a lot. While watching the show I overheard at least three people come up to the ODV cart looking for candy corn... I cannot believe Disney missed that opportunity out there... I did see candy corn for sale in the candy stores at both parks though but the CM working the cart did not think to direct them there and just said she did not sell any. One thing missing from the schedule are the ghost stories by the Tower of Terror, guess that did not go over well, but the lighting effects are back on the exterior of the building (strobe lights hits the building and a bat effect happens every now and then).
  
  
• Over at Disneyland all of last years favorites have returned as well as some more decorations out in Frontierland in the park area and a new show called Woody's Adventures out at the Round-up at the Ranch which I don't remember from last year. I found the show ok, it was not overly engaging but I thought the commercial interruption was a nice touch. Haunted Mansion Holiday is back again, the only real change I noticed was the gingerbread house, but I only had one ride through so maybe I missed something.I did not catch the Pumpkin Festival show, since the show times are not listed and I did not see it going on any of my trips through. Also kind of interesting to note on the time scheudle the Halloweentime events are the lead on page 2.. they did not make the cover. The Princess and Pirates items stayed on the cover.
  
  
• I only saw one monorail running, monorail Red which had a split personality. Half was red and the other half was wrapped for the Year of a Million Dreams. My guess is since the Nemo Monorail went over so well they decided to do it again. Wonder if the second half will get wrapped too or if it was just the half for the cameras.
  
  
• The new Toy Story display in the Character Close-up area is open and the pictures I took really do not do it justice or showcase what it is. Its a large (maybe 10ft by 10ft) box with an elaborate model inside. When it spins it appears as if the characters are animated then they toss in some lighting effects and its quite unique. I think its interesting but the lighting effects grew annoying.. I only had a few minutes so not sure if there is any type of show/explanation to go with it or what the entire sequence is. So maybe next trip I can check into that. Has anyone else seen it?
  
  
• I found it kind of odd that this off season Fantasmic is running on Saturday and Sunday instead of Friday and Saturday as it traditionally has..
  
  
• Note: Today marks EPCOT's 25th Anniversary and Disney had media days on both coasts with several announcements. Most of the things have been known for months, for example the extension of the Year of a Million Dreams and the suite at the Gallery in NOS. More information is available at: http://DisneyParks.com/DreamCatalog.

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

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