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9/28/18 - Thoughts and observations from Friday at 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.

9/28/18 - Thoughts and observations from Friday at the Disneyland Resort
This was a relaxing visit to the Disneyland Resort. Fall/Halloween Time is in full swing around the parks. I had several family members with my including my 2 year old nephew so we enjoyed some of the entertainment and attractions with him and roamed the parks a bit. The weather was perfect topping out just over 80 and cooling to the low 70s. Crowds were mild to start and then becoming extremely heavy as usual on Halloween Party Fridays.

Thoughts and Observations:

  • The day started off on a good note with the Ball Road overpass open to two way traffic and no line at the tollbooths. Traffic was forced into a single lane and backed up down the ramp to the second level of the parking structure. I drew a spot on the far side of the garage eventually, but it took longer than usual to be directed there.

  • Thanks to the mild crowd we were able to get an instant FastPass to it's a small world. Autopia was a near walk on with the full queue not even in use. When I entered the end of the line was the top of the stairs. They were only running three tracks again too. For the 3:30pm (and only) Pixar Play Parade of the day I showed up as the lead float was near the firehouse and was able to get curb seating.. the trade off was I was out in the sun. The shady side of the street was several guests deep, but with no wait it was not that bad.

  • Some FastPass news this week. The scanners are being replaced with a slotted box instead of the external one. This seemed to make it easier for guests to line up the bar code and helps with an issue some phones were having with the sun. It appears that the FastPass return to Pirates of the Caribbean is not going to happen. The return time sign has been removed along with the scanning stations. Guess someone finally looked at what happened the last time they tried it and decided it was not a wise move.

  • Tomorrowland had a water pipe issue earlier in the day and they were in what looked to be the final stages of clean up when I walked through the area. There were a lot of cast members around and a couple workers in a hole working on the problem.

  • As I was leaving the park I noticed several food locations closed including the Corn Dog Cart, Refreshment Corner, Gibson Girl and Carnation Cafe. Cast members were out front of each and the doors were all closed. They were not saying why. I tried to place a mobile order for Smokejumpers and the system said it was unable to. When I showed up at the restaurant it was closed too. The cast member said they were not expected to open for another hour or so. As we stood there trying to figure out what we wanted for dinner a lead came by and opened the door. So we were able to eat there. No one would share why they were closed but one CM said they were closed all day and just opening. This was 5pm. Did anyone see any news about what was going on at the parks Friday?

  • The Disneyland Annual Passholder corner is slated to close after this weekend. Seems odd the Halloween AP corner concludes its run before October. It was not really that big of an event with generic colored AP buttons and a photo op this season but it was still something.

  • As the sun set and the 7pm closure of Disneyland came Disney California Adventure was once again inundated with guests. Halloween Party Fridays have made the park miserable. Attraction wait times spike, for example the Pixar Pal-A-Round had 60 minutes posted and both Luigis and Maters were over 30 min and climbing when I walked by. The Little Mermaid was using the extended queue and wrapping along the parade route, I missed the wait time. Dining location lines also spike. At one point I counted over 30 guests in line a churro cart which was one of the shorter lines in the park. The Boardwalk Pizza & Pasta line was out the door and wrapping as it headed off toward the parade gate. Most rest room lines (mens and womens) were out the doors throughout the evening. I understand the desire to have weekend night options for parties but the impact on regular guest days on Fridays is extreme. I overheard quite a few conversations of guests complaining and as we waited for Paint the Night most of the guests around us were there waiting so early because everything else was so long.

  • The Musical Celebration of Coco continues to be a big draw. Even with the bad sight lines and awkward staging the area is jammed with people for most shows. I walked by 20 minutes before the show and the crowd was 6-10 people deep around the area. It would be substantially better if they moved the show to the Paradise Park area and utilized the stage. With the terraced viewing and an elevated stage more guests could enjoy the show and actually see it. Having everyone including the performers on ground level means it is very hard for most guests to see and enjoy the show.

  • Disney announced that both the Pixar Play Parade and Paint the Night will end their limited runs in November. The last Play Parade will be November 4th and Paint the Night on November 7th. At Disneyland the Christmas Fantasy Parade will take over and then in the new year Soundsational is slated to return. At Disney California Adventure nothing has been announced but the hope is World of Color will be returning during the holiday season.

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

Geek’s Blog Postings Recap September 1-13, 2018


Disney Related Press Releases


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

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