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10/13/23 - 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.

10/13/23 - Disneyland Resort

Hello Everyone!

Friday was my twenty-third visit of 2023 and turned out to be a relaxing day at the Disneyland Resort. I had nothing major on my agenda so I just roamed the parks taking in the sights and checking out the ongoing projects. The weather was perfect topping out around 80 and cooling to the 60s with a slight breeze. The parks both felt crowded walking around. The wait times were slightly above average but not overly busy. I did notice a number of return backups, especially at DCA.

The big news out of Disneyland this past week was an increase in ticket, Magic Key and parking rates. Here is a post with the new rates and a table showing several recent years.

Also Disneyland announced that the new lawn and stage area of Downtown Disney will open this year. Here is the full release.

Thoughts and Observations:

  • My visited started off on a good note with no delays with parking, security or the tram. Also I lucked out with an ok spot in the structure next to a pole even so plenty of space on one side.
  • Shops are set up in the parking structure tram stop area again. This time a couple carts/displays on each side of the security area, one near each set of escalators. The assortment of merchandise is fairly limited but I did not guests taking a look both on the way in and out.
  • The Adventureland Treehouse looks to be nearing completion. Teams were installing safety netting and painting when I walked by. There is still some scaffolding up, but the last sections of stairs and walkways look to be in. No word on an opening date from Disney but it seems like it will be sooner rather than later at this point.
  • Tiana's Palace has had long queues stretching out and around the dining area on my previous visits. When I walked by today there was no visible queue, guess before 11am there is not a huge demand. So I took my first walk through the renovated restaurant. It had some nice references for Tiana but it really did not seem engaging.. especially if the goal was to get children who are fans of the film energized. I could see parents wanting to eat there and the kids being disappointed. The interior looked ok but lost a little of its charm compared to the original. I did not eat anything so cannot comment on the food.
  • Further up the walkway Tiana's Bayou Adventure work is inching along. Visible progress is hard to tell with the scaffolding and walls obscuring most of the tiny exterior portion of the project. The peak is moving along with more of the old facade removed and the support structure being re-worked.
  • The past week Walt Disney Imagineering started play testing a new type of droid in Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge. They had a trio of mini robots out in Black Spire Outpost. I stopped by several times today and had no luck seeing any.. hopefully the droids will make more regular appearances.
  • The CenTOONial Park work is slowly moving along. The closure is slated to run another week until the 23rd. At that point the walls are shifting and Goofy's yard will be closed for renovation. I walked through the area and there are a number of things needing to be worked on it. It seems the new Toontown was not really built to take the daily abuse of a theme park environment. It will be interesting to see how the area continues to evolve.
  • After the lessons of Toontown I am surprised to see the turf work being down the way it is in Downtown Disney. The new lawn is being installed and from the Monorail you can see it is not level and there is some relief. It will be interesting to see how that area does compared to Toontown.
  • I stopped for a bite to eat at Flo's around 2pm. I was surprised at how crowded the dining areas were. The outside patio was nearly full. Several times I saw people come out and not find a table. On previous visits there would always be open tables, and on a good number I was nearly alone out there mid afternoon.
  • I walked through Avengers Campus a couple times and no luck spotting characters from Loki.. maybe next trip.
  • Genie+ was priced at $35 per person on Friday and that did not seem to slow the demand. The system seemed oversold to me, especially at Disney California Adventure where the return lines were long at a number of attractions as I walked around. It seems to be a less than ideal service if you pay that much and have to wait in lines that stretch well outside their queues. And those backups meant for a fairly miserable experience for those in the stand by queues. For example Soarin' had only the near portion of two sets of switchbacks full for standby. That would be a short wait under normal circumstances but thanks to the return backup the posted wait was 120 minutes. So that means the ratio was set for very few standby parties per cycle.
  • Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway has shifted to be part of Genie+ now vs an Individual Lightning Lane purchase option. I was curious the impact this would have on the Standby wait. Most of the day the wait seemed to be posted between 45-60 minutes a couple times dipping to the 30s. I decided to play the odds and give it a try to see how the mix was. I went on a dip with a posted wait of 35 minutes and a return time open of a couple hours out. Turned out to be only a 13 minute wait to reach the pre-show. The mix was relatively smooth during my experience and we did pause a couple times but overall kept moving.
  • it's a small world closes for the annual holiday transformation in a little over a week on Oct. 23rd. Exterior work is already underway with the light strands installed and bulbs being added. Inside some areas look like they could use some TLC, but guessing not much will get done as the change over to the holidays is scheduled to be a little over 2 weeks with the reopening on November 10th.
  • The tables that had been on the bridge in Critter Country the past couple visits appear to have been moved to the walkway near Pelican Landing. This makes more sense and offers a better dining experience.
  • In Downtown Disney as part of the Celebrate Hispanic and Latin American heritage and culture there is a craft area that is scheduled to be open noon to 6pm near the stage. I was sitting there Friday waiting for the 5:30 SCAREolers set and the cast members starting cleaning up. The area was cleared and cast members were long gone by 5:45pm. I found this odd that they closed so early. Is that normal now a days?
  • The Magic Happens Parade at Disneyland is set to go on hiatus after this weekend. There will be no parade until A Christmas Fantasy opens on November 10th. I opted to watch the 6:30pm parade to see it under the lights. It was not completely dark but it was dark enough for the lights to have impact. I think the night time viewing offers a different feel to the parade. I did not see Hei Hei out.
  • Stopped by Tomorrowland while the Villains Dance Party was going on. The dance floor had a good number of guests and most seemed to be having a great time. I still miss the live bands though!
  • The Heartbeat of New Orleans - A Living Mural premiered during my last visit. I stopped by again today to see it. There were a good number of guests in the area but most just seemed to be there hanging out, not there for the show. All three screens were used today, but only fountains on the center screen. I opted to watch from the far screen nearest the Haunted Mansion. During the Band set that immediately followed the same was true with just the center fountains in use.
  • Main Street USA was jammed as usual for Halloween Screams. I timed it wrong and choose poorly and was in a less than ideal spot, especially for shorter members of our group. The crowd filled in a little quicker than I had anticipated so I was back further and then bad luck with tall guests joining the group in front of us.
  • I had no delays exiting and was able to board the first tram that pulled up when I reached the boarding area. No issues leaving the structure either. But interesting to note the on ramp meter was in use and traffic was backed up several dozen cars to get onto the freeway. This is the first time I remember seeing this after the fireworks.. wonder if it is something new or a random one off.

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

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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