Breaking news: Disneyland President Ed Grier announced he will retire effective this Friday.. for more info check out the OC Register story here. Seems Disneyland Presidents last only about 3 years now a days. I believe this is the 4th or 5th one to last about that long.

Hello all,

Friday was a relaxing day at the Disneyland Resort for me. My two main goals were to visit the new Disney Gallery and then the Haunted Mansion Holiday. The crowds in the park were mild most of the afternoon but come evening once DCA closed for the Halloween Party the park really filled up and wait times grew and getting around Disneyland became a challenge.

Jason

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

Disneyland & DCA Thoughts and Observations:

• Once again parking was a frustrating experience. It was slightly better than last week, only 50 minutes from when I exited the freeway till I was at the security checkpoint where as last week was an hour. This time around I tried the Pumba lot over the Gardenwalk. It seemed about the same time wise to park my car, but the walk is slightly shorter, the tradeoff is your car is outside. Also exiting seemed a little quicker since you did not have to deal with the Gardenwalk tollbooths/exit gates. I opted to walk both ways again vs wait for the shuttle bus. Since the busses have to go around and wait at all the lights you can walk there in almost the same time. There was a bus just pulling out of the shuttle stop and it was just pulling into the stop at the parking lot when I entering the lot. One other interesting note, I was one of the last cars into the Pumba lot and they had us parking in what was serving as the entrance way. Also they stopped collecting money and scanning passes for some reason. They were just waving us in.
  
  
• It seems to me they need a more efficient way to do this. Parking out in the Gardenwalk or in the Pumba lot is not that bad, only a 10 minute walk or so, but taking so long to park is getting old really fast. Seems to me they could put a sign up on the freeway or something so we can use a closer exit and not have to deal with the congested surface streets and people trying to figure out which lane to be in and just cause delay after delay. It really puts you in a bad mood having to sit in your car for so long in traffic and then think about all the wasted gas, time, and money.
  
  
• Friday marked the opening of the new Disney Gallery on Main Street (inside the former bank) as well as the first half of the Opera House Lobby which features the Disneyland Story. I was not sure what to expect from either as the information on them has been fairly lean, but after visiting I really enjoyed both. The way the new Gallery is configured works nicely and they say its about the same size as the old gallery, but not quite sure it means the same usable space since this one is only two larger rooms where as the old one had several smaller rooms. The Disneyland Story I think is a great addition to the Opera House. I am excited to see the second half as well as the return of Lincoln. The CMs I spoke with kept hinting that the return may be sooner than we think (last I read and at the D23 Expo they kept saying it was slated for December).
  
  
• I stopped by the Gallery a couple of times to take in the exhibit and to see the crowds. It seemed to have more foot traffic than the old location, which is to be expected due to the location change. Also since it was opening day there were quite a few CMs and TDA people stopping by to check out the space. The comments from everyone that I overheard were all positive. I do miss the old Gallery still, I thought the location was distinct and provided a retreat for those that opted to make the trip up the stairs to visit.
  
  
• Due to the new configuration that takes over the space of Walts office displays I am guessing that closes the book on them returning to Disneyland anytime soon, even though there have been hints/rumors of them showing up in DCA once the make-over is complete (which would work from a thematic front since its about Walts California Adventure). I always enjoyed them and the window to Walts world. Hopefully they find their way back.
  
  
• Ventured out to Tomorrowland and the Space Mountain line/crowd was a little less this afternoon than last week, but by the evening the line had pushed to the 2 hour mark. I did not visit the attraction but I did stop by the exit area and I was really surprised to not find any Ghost Galaxy merchandise. That seems very un-Disney like to miss that opportunity, or was I just missing it?
  
  
• Last week I forgot about the Villains photo location out in the Small World Mall so this week I stopped by to check it out. The line seemed fairly constant but not too long, maybe 5-10 minutes. The set up seems great that you wait in one line then you have an opportunity to meet three different Villains and take pictures with them. The location is a little awkward, but the idea is great and everyone seemed to be having a good time (even the Villains). I was surprised that this photo op did not make the Disney Characters section of the Entertainment schedule or the guide map. Seems to me you would want to promote all the Halloween Time offerings. For that matter the Ranch did not make the cut this year either when it comes to promos. (Over at DCA Candy Corn Acres did not make it onto the program either).
  
  
• I headed out to Tom Sawyer Island to see what was new. They were only running one raft Friday which meant it took slightly longer to get back and forth and the rafts were really crowded. The Island itself seemed pretty empty for the most part. As you saw in the pictorial update all the trails have reopened and you can go around behind the fort now to the Graveyard. Nice to see it all re-opened. Too bad the Fort is not going to re-open. I always enjoyed going up to the towers of the old fort.
  
  
• I ate dinner at the Taste Pilots grill and once again cost cutting was on display. A small thing that most people would not notice (and to admit it took me a few minutes to notice myself) but the buns for the hamburgers are smaller than the old ones. Not sure if this is permanent or not but I would assume so, just as they are working to standardize fries it looks like they are doing the same for buns. I am sure this saves them some pennies and when multiplied out by the volume is some series cash but for my $8 I would like a little bit of variety and quality. (I still miss the shoe-string fries they used to have at Award Wieners and have not eaten there since they disappeared a few years ago). I hope they do not go the route WDW has, I think their buns are terrible and I read this week they have eliminated All Beef Hot Dogs from the offerings, only meat ones are now available. (Speaking of WDW I saw they raised parking to $14 and the cost of mini golf.. today I saw reported on another site that Disneyland followed suit with the parking increase).
  
  
• Went for a ride on Small World since it is going down for the Holiday transformation soon. I had not noticed, or for some reason it did not stick in my mind, that some of the characters have music from their movies, such as Cinderella and Pinocchio. Those are the two I remember hearing some familiar chords from..
  
  
• I stopped by the Big Thunder Ranch around 6:00pm and there seemed to be a good size crowd of guests at the BBQ, probably the largest I have seen. Has the word of mouth caught on with it and the new (well revised) slightly lower prices made the difference?
  
  
• I spent more time, probably a good 20 minutes or so, milling around Space Mountain watching (and listening) to the Ghost Galaxy sounds and projections. There seemed to be quite a few others doing the same. It is definitely a different show, but a great touch. I really enjoyed the segments with the ghost/beast trying to escape (or at least that is how I interpreted it, others may say it was trying to get in).
  
  
• The Halloween Fireworks had a large crowd on Main Street again. The show was about 10 minutes late and there were no announcements as to the reason. Zero did not appear for the opening segment but he did later in the show, wonder if that was the problem. Also I spoke to someone who watched the show out from NOS after Fantasmic and he said it was ok, but just a normal fireworks show from that vantage point (next time he is going to try Main Street for comparison).
  
  
• While hiking back to my car I noticed a tram was running on the old Lion King route, maybe to the convention center? Were they using it for overflow parking or was there a big convention in town this week?
  
  
  
  
• Interesting Web Finds/Notes (and some Press Releases):
  In this section of the Geekspeaks column I will include links, notes, and rumors I find/stumble across/or have been informed of:
  
  
  • Press Release on the Opening of the new Gallery
    
    
  • IDEAS Making of Base21 - The Siemens VIP Lounge @ EPCOT- YouTube
    
    
  • We have started to post some announcements on:
    • Twitter - http://www.twitter.com/disneygeekcom
    • Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/disneygeek
      
      

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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