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

Hello all,

It felt like forever since we were at the Disneyland Resort, in reality it was only about six weeks. Over that time quite a bit of progress was made on the ongoing projects around Disneyland. As you saw in the pictorial update, the Castle is uncovered and looking great, work on the Matterhorn and surrounding walkways is nearing completion, and the new paint around the park looks great. Over at DCA not much had changed or gone on from what we could observe. The weather was perfect, started off in the mid 70s and dropped to the low 60s by the time we left. The crowds felt lite at both parks. Most e-ticket attractions were under an hour as we walked by. Haunted Mansion Holiday had a solid crowd, but nothing like years past.

Trip logs and mileage reports are in thePark Miles section.

Disneyland:

• It was great to hear the popping of pistols again coming from Adventureland as you entered the park. We road the Jungle Cruise just to see guest reaction and it seemed many on the boat realized the change and applauded..
  

• It was great to stumbled upon the window unveiling on Main Street for Bill Justice. I wish Disneyland would make these events more well known. Several old time imagineers(Marty Sklar, current head of Imagineering, to name one) that I recognized were present as well as some Disney Characters and other Disneyland brass. I managed to catch the last 5 minutes or so.. the first time I had ever been at one of these. Wish I would have known and arrived earlier for better pictures/report...
  
  
• The castle was unwrapped and the upper 4/5 are completed for the most part. The focus seemed to be on the lower portion along the water line and under water as well as the bridge area. Everything is bright and as one guest put it near us "sparkly". On the West side right before you head under the archway and into Fantasyland you can really see the progression. On your left is the old faded brickwork. above you it looked to be cleaned and maybe primed a little and on your right was the freshly painted and sparkling brickwork. What a difference.
  
  
• Haunted Mansion Holiday was going in full swing as it nears its first month of operation this year. The line seemed fairly constant around 45-60 minutes. Fastpasses were available as long as we could tell for about 60-90 minutes out. The interior or exterior do not appear to have any significant changes that we could tell. We did not see anyone leading the scarols this year.. too bad, we enjoyed that. The areas around the Mansion seemed extremely crowded as they have in years past and the crowd control of guests in the standby line and fastpass lines blocking the walkay occurred again.. wonder why they cannot figure out a way to clear this up.. seems there is plenty of space to...
  
  
• Many of the other projects around the park are moving along and nearing completion. The walkways around the Matterhorn look to be on the final legs. We couldn't tell but I thought I heard the tarps over Pirates will be down by Thanksgiving. The rest of New Orleans Square appeared to be done and decked out for the holidays.
  
  
• Speaking of the holidays. Small World and the Holiday version of Believe premier next Friday. Also many of the shops around Disneyland have holiday merchandise with the corner shop on Main Street on the east side already converted and exclusive holiday merchandise.
  
  
• We watched the Imagine fireworks show and it seemed different than the last time I saw it. The narration and music cuts seemed tighter and cleaner. Does anyone knowy for sure what's changed.. its been almost two months and with Disney World in the middle it might just be a mind trick..
  

DCA:

• As I said above, we did not notice too much going on. Some holiday lights were up and most of the lights out on the Pier were up and operational again. The crowd seemed like a regular DCA crowd, a lot of people around but no lines over 45 minutes. We were shocked by the number of guests entering the park as we went to dinner.. not quite sure what that was.. our best guess is it was the migration from Disneyland after the 4pm Parade of the Stars..

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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