** After you read this report you may want to check out the pictorial updates in our Disneyland Resort Pictorial Update section

What a perfect day to visit the Disneyland Resort. The weather was great, the crowds were mild, and there were some new things to see. Add to that I somehow managed to get a parking spot right next to the escalators and not a 1/4 mile hike and you have the makings of a good day. Only bad part was hearing the Ducks score on the way home... still no victories this year, maybe tonight though...

We have moved our trip rundowns and mileage reports to our Park Miles section.

Disneyland Items:

• Overall the crowds were not too bad. Most waits were under an hour. Timing was everything again. For example around 8pm we road Roger Rabbit, about a five minute wait (including walking the queue), same for Small World. But the Jungle Cruise was about 20minutes.

• Haunted Mansion Holiday was great as usual. Its a fun tradition now at Disneyland through Jan. 4th. Every year there has been an addition or "plussing" of the attraction. This year its a spy game. You are asked to spot the 10 Oogie Bookie's throughout the exterior and interior of the Haunted Mansion. (Last year they revealed a new gift each week in the Doombogie loading area). See how many you can spot... on my first walk/ride through I spotted 6 of them.

• Kind of surprised they don't have custom holiday fastpasses for HMH. Its the regular logo on them. A message has been added about looking for Oogie's Tricks and Treats in the HM.

• Had a chance to stop by the Disney Gallery and see the Haunted Mansion movie items on display. Overall the display was ok. I enjoyed the Pirates one better... guess its because the movie looked more interesting to me. Not sure what I think of the HM one yet.

• Toontown's new skyline is lookin' good. Nice to see some of the little details being returned to the park.

• One other Toontown note. Noticed the Go-Coaster down for a while in the evening. Two CMs took a ride and then walked under with flashlights. The train was cleared and normal operations commenced.

• Still kind of sad no fireworks... Believe in Holiday Magic starts soon though...

  
  

DCA Items:

• We did not spend much time in DCA, maybe an hour total. The crowd seemed like a normal(read light) crowd.
• While going to take pictures of Tower we did the Hyperion climb up to the top. We noticed the escalator going from the second to third levels was still blocked off.
• Tower of Terror seems to be moving along. The exterior was just about finished and the courtyard was moving along. We saw the middle shaft being tested during our visit. I am still a little surprised the cars don't seem to go all the way up, just up to the top opening...
• It looks like there will be a short wall between the Hyperion and Tower, wonder if the Hyperion queue will be re-routed (speaking of which I noticed in early November the Hyperion is listed for Rehab).
• While walking the Pier we noticed the Maliboomer only had one tower working, kind of strange
• One of the longest lines we saw was for the Sun Wheel, the stationary car line went back past the counters

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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