Hello all,

My main objective Saturday was to see the new Disney Dance Crew show and get some construction updates since its been a couple weeks. The crowds at the park seemed on the heavier side but since I do not visit that often on Saturdays, not sure if it was normal or not also this could be attributed to the generally miserable weather all week. The lines for most of the usual suspects were pushing an hour and there seemed to be a fair number of guests roaming the parks during the day, but unlike Fridays the crowd did not seem to build substantially into the evening.

Jason

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

Disneyland & DCA Thoughts and Observations:

• When I showed my pass at the parking structure toll booth they asked if I had any strollers or wheelchairs or would have a problem with steps. Not really sure where he was going with this I responded, no problems. They put a white piece of paper on my car and directed me through the Chip and Dale level and out to the Cast Member lot on the North/East side of the structure. Once in the lot was directed to the far side, nearest Ball road. It was a good hike from here through the lot, up to the second floor of the garage, across the garage, then down to the tram stop. Guess they were trying to ensure the garage did not fill up? They were parking everyone else on the 5th floor at the time and a couple hours later were on the roof. Overall it was ok parking out there but it took a long time to walk to your car and waiting for the left hand turn light at Disneyland drive to head to the freeway took forever! Have they been doing this for a while? It was my first experience out there.
  
  
• Disney Dance Crew has taken over the Backlot stage. This show is currently slated to run up to a half dozen times a day (check the park guide to make sure its on the day you are going and the times). As you saw in the pictorial update (and video) it is basically a dance show with hip hop inspired mixes of some Disney tunes. The basic story line is somewhat predictable. Two dance crews are brought together by Mickey to create one crew. After the show if you stick around Mickey comes out to take pictures with everyone.
  
  
• Hip Hop is not exactly my type of music or dancing so I cannot comment too much on that. The audience was fairly full and guests filtered into the area to check out the noise/show as it went on. I did see a couple families leave during the opening number, but not sure why. The audience dispersed extremely quickly after the show too. Its a relatively short, but high energy show, my video clocked in at just over 13 minutes. The show does feature the Disneyland Resorts first real use of the new generation of character heads. Mickey has blinking eyes as well as a moving mouth. I believe this is the same type of head that WDW has been using in some shows for a couple years now. I do not believe it is the newer/prototype talking Mickey, but I could be wrong. The Meet and Greet afterwards is a traditional Mickey head but he is dressed in his Dance Crew outfit.
  
  
• I was very impressed by the type of moves and the freedom of movement Mickey had, I can only image how hard it is to dance like that as Mickey. Overall it is an ok show but I do not see myself seeing it very often. It harkens back to the Lights, Camera, Action! show.. something a little more edgy and not sure if it will have staying power. It does have Mickey which should help.
  
  
• We had to pick up an annual pass for the lazygeeks son (he turned three recently - hard to believe no kids price for an annual pass for a 3 yr old, I never really paid that much attention before).. he went to DCA instead of Disneyland to have the picture taken and the process was extremely quick, no line at all. Wonder if we were just lucky or if DCA is usually this way. Seems like Disneyland always has a line. One thing to note is they do not scan the park pass, so if you go try to get a Fastpass, which we did for World of Color, the ticket does not work and you have to go to the entrance and have it scanned. We walked over to the Grand Californian entrance and they scanned the ticket for us.
  
  
• Stopped by ElecTRONica again and this time around the crowd was much more manageable, I would say nonexistent compared to what I experienced opening night. I am guessing Saturday was more the norm. It was much more pleasant to walk around than be in the middle of the mob/crowd of people. There were also quite a few more young children in the crowd this time around.
  
  
• The Laserman show was on a different schedule but I could not figure it out, or was not being performed. There were no CMs in the area that I could see (except the performers) when I walked by a couple of times and no signs. I wish they would at least post a sign with the show times somewhere.
  
  
• A new contributor to the site (who wants to be known as the invisiblegeek) will hopefully be sending in some columns soon... but to get started they have a brief report from the World of Color on Saturday. No new Tron segment/intro/teaser/finale/whatever you want to call it yet. Also no projection domes for the 9:00pm show, but the 10:15 show had them for the Under the Sea and Toy Story segments only.. Also noticed no Carnival of Color before the 9:00pm show, was that only for the summer?
  

Update:

• Last column/Disneyland Update I posted a question about the new narrator on the Mark Twain. A fan of the site, Kyle, dropped me a note saying it is Cory Burton.
• A quick update from Monday 10/25. The Retiredgeeks visited the park and took the following shot showing the Mural looks to be completely gone on the East side now.
  
  

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.

• Interesting Web Finds
  • The Muppets Kitchen with Cat Cora on Disney.com
    
    
• Disney Press Releases
  • 10/24/10 - U.S. Military Can ‘Let the Memories Begin’ in 2011 with Special Offers at Walt Disney World, Disneyland Resorts
    
  • 10/23/10 - Winter Issue of Disney Twenty-Three Gets Inside the Game Grid for an Exclusive Sneak Peek at Tron: Legacy
    
  • 10/20/10 - December 2010 Calendar of Events for the Disney Family Museum
    
  • 10/20/10 - The Villas at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel Sells Out of Available Inventory
    
  • 10/19/10 - Disney Launches Online Search for Child to “Unlock Imagination” at Disney Store in Times Square
    
  • 10/19/10 - Disneyland Resort Donates $200,000 to Help 20th Annual CHOC Walk in the Park Raise a Record $2 Million
    
  • 10/12/10 - Disneyland Resort President George A. Kalogridis Announces 2011-2012 Ambassador Team
    
    
• We post some announcements on:
  • Twitter - http://www.twitter.com/disneygeekcom
  • Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/disneygeek
  • Youtube - http://www.youtube.com/disneygeekcom
    
    

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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