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10/06/17 - 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.

10/06/17 - Thoughts and observations from Friday at the Disneyland Resort.
Friday was another above average temperature and crowd day at the Disneyland Resort. The afternoon highs were in the mid-90s but it cooled down in the comfortable 70s in the evening. The crowds started off on the moderate side but as the sun set and Disneyland closed to day guests Disney California Adventure became extremely crowded again with long waits for just about everything it seemed.

Thoughts and Observations:

  • As I arrived at the Disneyland Resort this afternoon a crew was just wrapping up changing the traffic pattern for the Ball Road overpass. This week instead of closing it they had it set up for two way traffic, one lane each direction. I had not experienced this before. It makes a lot of sense to ease traffic at the intersection throughout the evening with the arrival of party guests, normal Friday traffic and day guests departing.

  • Star Wars Galaxy's Edge construction continues to inch along. The most visible change this week is more wire mesh for the mountains being installed and more exterior wall/siding going up on the large show building. The views of the project are slowly going away unfortunately as work shifts to inside the large buildings and the park facing side that you can no longer see because of the buildings.

  • I started off my trip with a stroll through Downtown Disney. This year they have added Halloween/Fall decorations throughout the planters. I thought these were a nice touch and looking forward to seeing what they do for the upcoming holiday season.

  • The Lego store has a new model for Star Wars Fans.. a large Millennium Falcon set is now available.. it features a $800 price tag.

  • Downtown Disney is undergoing a shift. Several stores have closed or are closing in soon. Closed already are Vault 28, Fossil, and Chapel Hats. Closing later this year (or early next year) are Build a Bear and Ride Makerz. The first two will be replaced with a Star Wars VR Experience this holiday season. The other three a dining experience next year. Anna and Elsa's Boutique was closed temporarily and reopened as the Dream Boutique Saturday.

  • Decided to spend the afternoon at Disneyland today. I had no real agenda besides checking out the Star Wars construction from in the park. Decided to book a Haunted Mansion FastPass too. As I was doing this I saw a posted 5 min wait for Autopia and has been on my list to get a POV video. I realized a few weeks ago that I had full POV video from all the Autopia style attractions around the world except for Anaheim's. The park I visit most frequently I somehow managed to avoid getting a video of. So I took this opportunity to get the video..

  • I decided to have an early dinner along the Rivers of America on the extended seating area of the Hungry Bear. It was peaceful out there and a good place to get caught up on some posts/emails. Too bad there is no wifi there or it would really be perfect. The views of the river are ok, but I was hoping for more. With the trees along along the river the view was partially obstructed.

  • The Haunted Mansion Holiday FastPass return queue was shorter and moving better than past weeks. It stopped about the graveyard entrance which meant a relatively short wait this time around. Also the doombuggy line was just about the last portrait so not bad. Topping it off we only slowed down twice and had a brief pause in the graveyard.. unlike last time where I stopped every 20 seconds it felt like.

  • In Tomorrowland Jake the Droid was out exploring. Imagineers are contacting play tests of this concept in the park and at the D23 Expo. He is a semi-autonomous droid that can interact with guests and the environment. On Friday he was circling Tomorrowland and checking out some of the guests and stores. There are several droid signs up in the area. Most places that sell things are droid no-go zones. But other spots they are encouraged. I found it interesting to watch the guest reactions. There were a fair number that were oblivious to it. Kids seemed to respond to him and several kept touching Jakes head which seemed odd. Only one kid was a little rough and received a good yank and talking to by a grandparent. Cast Members conducting the tests were a good ways off and in the background, letting the droid roam and do his thing. I thought this was interesting and fits in with the story line Imagineers keep saying about how Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge will have droids and other characters roaming around.

  • The Sunset Showcase Theater in Hollywood Land at Disney California Adventure (formerly the Muppet Theater) is hosting the next film preview. This time for Thor Ragnarok. It follows the same format as the past several. Some signs out front, costumes in the lobby then a scene from the film. They do use the extended/side screens which is a nice plus.

  • Finally caught the Buena Vista Street Halloween lighting moment. This is a very brief audio recording of Oogie Boogie with the lights coming on. I was not overly impressed with it. I do not know what I was expecting but it just sort of happened. If you have time to only catch one I would recommend seeing the Cars Land lighting moment over Buena Vista Street.

  • I was walking out to Paradise Pier and the announcement for A Musical Celebration of Coco came on so I walked that way and caught the show under the lights. There was a good crowd gathered so I was unfortunately several people back.

  • I had a FastPass for Toy Story Midway Mania. When I stopped by to use it the FastPass return queue was full and guests were backed up to the gift shop. This was longer than my patience so I skipped it. My guess is it was a 15-20 minute wait. Stand-by was posted at 90 minutes.

  • The lines through Disney California Adventure were long after the sunset. If you plan to visit the park on a Party Night be prepared for long waits for just about everything. For example the Beer truck in the Wharf had an extended set of switchbacks. I counted a good 75 guests in them. The Ice Cream shop on the Pier had around 40 guests in line. The Cove Bar filled its switchbacks as usual too. Attraction waits were long too, for example Little Mermaid spilled out to the extended queue. In Cars Land attraction waits were long as were food. Flo's line stretched out to Route 66. The Cozy Cone looked like a mass of people and finding the proper queue for the cone you wanted in the dark and crowd looked to be a challenge.

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

Geek’s Blog Postings Recap – September 21 - October 3, 2017

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.

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