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Hello all,

What a great evening at the Disneyland Resort.. the weather had a hint of fall in it, the park was alive, and the crowds while much heavier than expected were not too bad. We did not realize Monday was Columbus day so upon arriving at the park we were greated with crowds much heavier than two weeks ago and it took us a while to figure it out.. But still most of the E-Ticket attractions had waits around an hour throughout the evening, with Space Mountain being the exception. Timing again is everything.. managed to walk on several attractions (Jungle Cruise, Monorail, etc.. and using Fastpass got on Haunted Mansion twice, the line was only 30 minutes or so most of the evening without Fastpass anyways).

Jason

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

Disneyland (and a couple DCA notes too):

• Several of the projects around the parks were moving forward. The widening of the walkways around the hub is ongoing.. not sure if its helping much but it does make the park look more open (not sure if that is good or bad). Not much visible progress on the Subs. Some other painting and just general rehab work was going on around the resort which was great to see as always.
  
  
• Caught the car give-away in the afternoon (it was held at 4:30pm). Everyone enterting Disneyland is given a game piece (only one piece per day, on re-entry you do not get one). Friday there were 4 semi-finalists who were each given two deluxe annual passes and the chance to win the car. The ceremony consisted of an MC who came out and talked a bit about Space Mountain, a bit about Tomorrowland/Disneyland, and then the salespitch for the Civic they were giving away. A spaceman also comes out to act as a "prop". He has a box which has the keys. Each semi-finalist comes up, is introduced, then chooses a key. They are then asked to come back up and try their key. One sounds the alarm and a new Civiv pops out of the Space Mountain display.
  
  
• The Haunted Mansion was all decked out for the holidays already as the Nightmare Before Christmas has taken over again. Not much new this year inside from what we can tell.. a couple notes.. the floor in the lobby appears to be new and looks great. On the ride itself we did not notice anything too new besides the Gingerbread house. Also Madam Leota is not floating during the holidays.. too bad.
  
  
• Caught the Flag Retreat, it was great to see all the CMs out, more than we have seen in a while actually. I wish they would figure out a way to have a live band instead of the tape.. too bad one of the Main Street bands could not perform.
  
  
• Another wish while thinking about it.. according to the schedules they are replaying the Dedication every morning at the park, at 10 or 10:30.. I wish they'd do it in the afternoon too or instead (seems to me you can do it at the time it was actually read in the late afternoon). I think its something the larger afternoon/evening crowds would enjoy... plus as a greedy note I would like to see it and usually cannot make it in that early..
  
  
• When we stopped by Innoventions we learned that there is no longer internet access available, only Virtual Magic Kingdom on the first floor.. so I am guessing it will be a while till we return.. I think its about time for some new exhibits, as we walked around there really is not that many innovations present.. which is really disappointing.. also as I have said before I think another way in to by-pass the talk would be great too.. it drives me crazy to stand there waiting as two empty pods pass by waiting for the one that is open to come.. either that or open all the pods, that would be ok too.
  
  
• There seemed to be a new traffic pattern leading up to Remember. As you entered the hub area you were directed to go in a clock-wise direction and use the hub as a round about.. this really made it go smoothly. About 30 minutes or so before the show was to begin we were coming from Tomorrowland and heading for Main Street to look through some shops and it only took us 5-10 minutes or so to work our way around, a great improvement.
  
  
• Caught Remember from further down the street, close to where we always used to watch Believe from, near the Disneyana store.. the show is good from there, but definitely not as good as when your in the hub area. Being in the middle of the effects is a much more immersive experience (even though it was cool to watch the hub be surrounded).
  

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