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10/14/12 - My thoughts and observations from Sunday at the Disneyland Resort including the annual CHOC Walk in the Park
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10/14/12 - My thoughts and observations from Sunday at the Disneyland Resort including the annual CHOC Walk in the Park

Hello all,

Sunday was a long day at the Disneyland Resort for me. I left home a little before 4:30am to make it down to the Resort area before 6:00am so I would be there and in position for the CHOC Walk which kicked off at 6:40am. I ended up roaming the parks then till around 6:00pm then headed for home. The crowds right after the walk were fairly high with both parks opening at 10am and 16,000 walkers plus regular Sunday guests all trying to get in at the same time. The ticket window lines were equally long due to the participants taking advantage of their discounted ticket offer plus the normal crowds. As the day went on and the temperature rose the crowds in the parks seemed to even out to feel like an average day. Some lines would spike, like Splash Mountain and the Racers, but everything else seemed to hold constant. I was surprised that Haunted Mansion was pushing in the 45-50 min range for a good portion of the day.

Jason

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

Thoughts and Observations:

  • I started my day at the 22nd Annual CHOC Walk. This year over 16,000 people participated and raised over $1.8million for the Childrens Hospital of Orange County. The walk has raised $19 million since its inception. This was the first CHOC Walk I have attended. There always seemed to be a scheduling conflict but this year some friends convinced me to walk with them. All participants were expected to raise a minimum of $50, many going well over that. It was very odd to pull into the Mickey and Friends structure just after 5:30am and see cars streaming in and cast members handing out parking passes and waving you through quickly. The process went extremely smooth for me, but I heard slowed down a bit closer to the start time due to some backups on the surface streets around the park. Due to the large number of people, short time frame they were arriving, and early hour the trams were shut down and you had a nice pre-walk walk to get to the park. The walk started in DCA this year, which was a first. The route took you through Cars Land, around the Pier, and GRR then over to Disneyland to circle the park and took you backstage to reach Downtown Disney and the finish line. The opening ceremonies took place in Carthay Circle in front of the fountain and the mass of walkers filled Hollywood Blvd, Buena Vista Street, and looked to go past the turnstiles. The opening ceremony featured several speakers and of course the Disney Characters. Below is a video of the event in case you missed it in my pictorial update:



    After the opening ceremony the walkers began the course and this process took quite a bit of time to get people started. There were 850 teams participating and many had banners, signs, or t-shirts to identify themselves. Most were walking for children who have spent time at CHOC. As the teams crossed the starting line the DJ announced them, and many were noted to have been around for years. The same thing happened at the finish line with the Disneyland Ambassadors announcing and talking to the groups as they crossed. The course itself led to some bottlenecks in places where walkways narrowed and/or turned but with patience everyone made it through. Along the route there were several spots for pictures with characters and other well wishers.

    I thought it was a great event and fund raiser. Since it was my first one I have nothing really to compare it to, but I thought the number of walkers, energy level, and atmosphere led to a great experience and I am glad I took the time to participate and attend this year. I also found it humorous that the course was approximately 5K, but by the time I had finished my walk pictures I had logged nearly 4.5 miles on my pedometer due to my back tracking and criss crossing the route.

  • This marked just the beginning of my day though... the walk was over for me around 9am and for everyone by 10am when the parks opened. I spent the next 8 hours continuing to do laps around the parks to get caught up and do a regular park update, plus visit with some friends.

  • As you saw in the pictures Earl of Sandwich is inching along... think it safe to say they missed the summer opening now that fall is firmly here and they are still marching along. With exterior painting going on things should be wrapping up and guessing we should be within weeks of opening, but who knows with the pace of this project. The other big Downtown Disney news is the new ice skating rink to promote the latest fairy film. The rink is not open yet and they are still putting the finishing touches on it, but Saturday there were cast members skating when I walked by. Wonder how the rink is holding up this week with temps in the 90s, guessing that is putting some stress on the system.

  • Made my way to DCA first to take some pictures and make a loop of the park. Stopped by the Beasts Library to check out the updated books. There are some new questions and characters. On my first try it did not register that I selected boy/male so I ended up with Mrs. Incredible. On my second try I received Marlin. Others in the group received Tinker Bell and Ursula (the Tinker Bell match stumped us a bit because it did not seem to meet what was selected but she did it twice and got the same result).

  • After lunch I headed over to Disneyland for the afternoon. Spent quite a bit of time at the Halloween Carnival at the Jamboree and it was the most crowded I had seen the area. There were guests everywhere, but the waits for character photos were still reasonable, except for the Villains tent which boarded on Princess time it seemed. I did not see a wait time but I would guess it was well over 45 minutes some of the time, the pace seemed slow. Took in two sets of the Haunted Hillbillies which were great as usual. I also really enjoyed seeing all the new carved pumpkins.

  • In my roaming of the park I ventured out to Toontown to take a few pictures of the wrapped up construction. I thought it was interesting that Minnie is now in the back of her house and the house has become the queue. Before she was usually in the front as the house was the exit. I was disappointed to find the Goofy Water fountains gone. For two reasons.. one I was thirsty and there was no water and second I thought they were fun. Hopefully they are just being worked on and will be back soon.

  • Headed back to DCA to wrap up the evening. The park seemed a little calmer as the temperature began to cool down. I grabbed something to eat at the Pacific Wharf around 5pm and there was no wait all. Was disappointed to find Ghirardelli handing out pumpkin spice chocolate (I really like the caramel or milk chocolate ones).

  • Ventured into the Redwood Creek area to meet some friends and was surprised to see the two of the areas closed off. Wonder if this was heat related or are they working on them? The large slides and the tunnel you crawl through were closed. Everything else, including the small slides, were open.

Interesting Web Finds/Notes:
Below are some interesting links, notes, and rumors I found/stumble across/or have been informed of since the last Geekspeaks column.

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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