Thoughts and Observations:

• Parking was not too bad. The overpass was open and no wait at the tollbooth but again it was backed up from before the ramp to the level to a parking space. Only one lane was open and it was moving slowly. Exiting in the evening was no issue at all since I left after Paint the Night and was ahead of most of the crowd.
  
  
• On the construction front the new parking structure is moving quickly. You can see how the new ramps will connect to the remaining floors and the forms are stretching up to the 4th floor on the nearest section. No indication of a completion date but seems like it is on track for an early 2019 opening.
  
  
• At the parks there were no time schedules at the turn stiles at either park. Guest relation kiosks and some cast members did have them. Wonder how long before the park maps themselves will be cut back too. The free maps make a nice souvenir and I find the printed schedules more efficient to quickly look up something.
  
  
• Prices are up on most beverages and some food offerings around the park. They seem to range from 10 cents up to a dollar in most cases. main entrees seem spared from this increase. Some snack/treat offerings were hit hardest. Such as Dole Whips which saw an over 10% increase. Visit our Disneyland Menu section to see pictures of several locations price histories.
  
  
• Went for a spin on the Pixar Pal-A-Round. The name still bothers me.. setting that aside was able to see very little visible progress on the Marvel Project. The Inside Out attraction seems to have slowed visible progress too. Was expecting to see them moving a little faster.
  
  
• At Disneyland the Enchanted Tiki Room has not reopened yet but the garden area has the walls down. There is a new ramp on left side closest to Main Street that features a switchback and takes you up through where the restrooms used to be to reach the show. The other side where the lift was is still behind walls.
  
  
• In Frontierland the walls are gone and planter reductions are done for now. A couple of feed were shaved off to open the walkways a bit more. Happy to see they were not completely removed. I am really curious what the hub project will look like.
  
  
• I was going to go for a cruise on the Mark Twain then noticed the top deck was off limits again, so I took a pass and stayed ashore.
  
  
• I am surprised that the Golden Horseshoe does not have a mobile order option yet. It has rolled out to so many other locations. The line on Friday was moving slow as usual. Got in line with a friend then decided to use mobile order for the Stage Door Cafe instead of standing in line. I was able to order, pick it up, and find a table just as they started to order. I was about half way done with my meal when their food finally showed up. They ordered an entre and dessert. The ice cream was picked up from one end and food from the other of the counter. The ice cream was ready several minutes before the meal and by the time they sat to eat it was already melting quickly.
  
  
• Went for a round trip voyage on the Monorail. The work near the former AMC in Downtown Disney appears to be moving along still, even though the project is on hold. Or at least there was equipment there and it looked further along than last time I saw it. The area around the Matterhorn is being worked on while the attraction is closed for renovation. They have altered the planters and look to be setting up a series of switchbacks closer to the existing building. Large trees were being positioned on Friday.
  
  
• Disney California Adventure is hosting a sneak peek of the upcoming Nutcracker and the Four Realms film, opening November 2. The preview is just under 15 minutes and the scene is shown in 3D. There were no displays for the film in the lobby nor did I notice theater effects in use.
  
  
• The east side of the World of Disney store has reopened. The center and west side have been closed. The store is slated to fully reopen later this month. Due to only one set of doors being in use and the store having a dead end now cast members were counting guests and later in the evening had a queue and were restricting entry to keep a safe number of people inside the building. The look matches what we saw on t he west side while it was open. I am still not a fan of it, it seems more Disney Springs (Orlando) than Downtown Disney in feel. The entrance sign near La Brea Bakery has been replaced and the new sign looks rather plain to me. The other two door signs have not been replaced as of Friday.
  
  
• Walking through Downtown Disney the big news this past week is Earl of Sandwich has return to the west side for a limited time (no one knows how long limited is or is not saying). The Salt & Straw location appears to be nearing completing. We spotted what looked to be product in the freezers and they were stocking some other areas. So it looks like it will be opening very soon. The other new dining options do not look to be progressing as quickly and no signs of how close they are. The food trucks are still around but they are spread out now blocking some of the closed buildings. This makes sense and make the area look slightly better.
  
  
• Ghirardelli is distributing samples again and no sign of pumpkin spice samples yet.. they were doing full size squares of caramels on Friday.
  
  
• As the sun set Disney California Adventure became very crowded again with food and restroom lines in many cases overflowing queue space and buildings and stretching out into walkways. Attraction waits were long too. I wish the park would add more night time entertainment options which may help to clear some of the walkways a bit. Also with Bugs Land closed there are now more dead ends in the park so traffic does not flow as smoothly either in Hollywood Land and Cars Land.
  

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

• 10/05/18 - Disneyland Resort Pictures Live from the park
  • Disneyland New Parking Structure Construction Pictures (10/05)
  • Disneyland Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge Construction Pictures (10/05/18)
  • World of Disney East Side Reopens
  • Downtown Disney Renovation Check (10/5)
  • Tiki Garden has reopened with a new ramp, the attraction has not returned yet
  • Disney California Adventure Crowds this evening (several pictures)
  • Cars Land Haul-O-Ween Celebration (Several pictures)
• 10/02/18 - Unlimited Squirrels: I Lost My Tooth! by Mo Willems

Geek’s Blog Postings Recap September 14-30, 2018

Disney Related Press Releases

• 10/04/18 - Disneyland Resort Names 2019-2020 Ambassador Team
• 09/27/18 - Disney Cruise Line to Sail from New Orleans for First Time in Early 2020
• 09/27/18 - Exciting Offerings Coming to Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea in Fiscal Year 2019
• 09/20/18 - In 2019, Walt Disney World Resort Offers More to See, Do, Taste and Experience Than Ever Before
• 09/20/18 - New Year’s Celebrations at Tokyo Disney Resort January 1 – 6, 2019
• 09/20/18 - Ralph Breaks the Internet - Trailer, Images, Poster & End Credit Song
• 09/17/18 - All-New Nighttime Fireworks Spectacular to Replace IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth as Part of the Transformation of Epcot

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