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11/05/10 - My thoughts and observations from Fridays Disneyland Resort visit including the Tron Encore to World of Color
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11/05/10 - My thoughts and observations from Fridays Disneyland Resort visit including the Tron Encore to World of Color

Hello all,

Friday marked one of what seems to be rare off season weekends of the year. Halloween wrapped up last Sunday and Christmas does not kick off until next Friday so the parks are in a transition from one season to the next. This lead to ideal crowd conditions with minimal waits all afternoon. Add in that the weather was picture perfect topping out in the mid to upper 80s and cooling down to the 60s in the evening. And this was a perfect trip to the Disneyland Resort.

Jason

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

Disneyland & DCA Thoughts and Observations:

  • The afternoon started off on an interesting note. Again the parking CM stuck a yellow piece of paper on my windshield and I was directed away from the regular traffic flow. This time onto the first floor (Chip and Dale section) of the garage. It has been quite a while since I last parked down here. It was kind of nice for a change. Wonder how I managed twice in a row to be directed elsewhere for parking?

  • There was no wait at all for the tram, walked up and walked right on. Unfortunately the tram seemed to be having some issues and it took us quite a while to make it to the tram stop, the tram actually stopped and was reset at one point even.

  • As I mentioned above the crowds were perfect in the early afternoon. Soarin was about 10 min, just barely out the door. Screamin was the same, Toy Story was under 20 minutes too. The Fun Wheel was a near walk on for both the swinging and on swinging sides. Over at Disneyland we literally walked right onto Pirates and never had to slow down except to tell the CM how many in the party. Haunted Mansion was about a 10 minute wait. Even Splash Mountain was well under an hour and given the hot afternoon that was unexpected. As the afternoon faded away and the evening came the crowds picked up but still not that bad.

  • This was my first time on Toy Story in quite a while (maybe last time was the World of Color Premiere? Hmm.. I cannot remember) anyways they now have safety lights that blink as well as new gates to make sure you stay on the load/unload platforms. This seems to have slowed down the process slightly, since in order to unload they have to wait for the gates to close. Since it had been a while I realized my skills had deteriorated... how I miss the single rider line, that really helped to keep me in my rhythm.

  • Made it back to the Backlot stage to take in a performance of the Disney Dance Crew. This time I sat in the middle and actually watched the show, last time I was photographing and video recording the show so I really did not have a chance to watch it. Overall I walked away with the same impression.. its ok but not something I will actively seek out and watch over and over again.

  • Christmas decorations are popping up around both parks. It was nice to see DCA taking a stab at decorating. I was guessing we would see very little this year with so much construction, but there were some of the regular decorations near the entrance and out in the Pier area. Wonder what else will be put up this year. Over at Disneyland the park was partially decorated as you saw in the pictorial update.

  • Caught the 6:40 ElecTRONica show that leads to the transition to the Backlot. It was a little awkward now that the stage is so far toward the front of the park and you can barely see the Backlot while watching the stage show, but it did seem to draw a good size crowd and pull them toward the Backlot. ElecTRONica seemed about the same to me, but the music seemed a little softer, or maybe I am just used to it but the first night it seemed deafening and Friday it was much more bearable. I still do not know why they cannot post show times for Laserman. Friday the first show was at 7:40pm.

  • Quick note on the time schedule I thought it was interesting that the ASIMO show received top billing on the Disneyland side right now. It is bulleted as Amazing Robot Show! I like the idea of highlighting an offering that many may not know about. Great to see!

  • I had a Fastpass for the 10:15pm World of Color show, in the blue section, but decided to see what I could see from a standby area for the 9:00pm. I found a decent spot in the second row (behind a relatively short group) near the Zephyr. I had not watched the show from here before but looking at the angles thought this may be the best chance of seeing the projections without a Fastpass. I was sort of right. It is probably the best non fastpass area to watch the show from but you still could not make out the projections that well and things were a bit off to look at. So after the show I used my Fastpass and re-watched the show from on the bridge leading out to the Pier. The view was night and day between the two sides of the Viewing area and I was pleased I stuck around but again frustrated or maybe better described as disappointed that the only way to really experience World of Color you have to have a Fastpass and be in the viewing area.

  • The reason I stuck around for two World of Color showings in the same evening was to try and photograph the new Tron Encore that started running nightly last week. The new sequence starts right after the regular shows finale. The World of Color sign is displayed then Tron begins. After the segment the sign returns the regular post show sequence is played. I thought the transition was a lot less awkward than I was imagining. It seemed to flow fairly smoothly from the show into the addition and then back to the traditional exit.

  • The new segment itself was impressive (when watched from the viewing area). They really seemed to have fun and push the World of Color platform a bit now that the programming team knows what it can do. They had quite a few effects packed into the couple minute addition as well as some great projections on Screamin. Overall I would give the use of the show technology a huge thumbs up. The segment itself was ok. I am not that big of a Tron fan so I was more drawn to how they using the technology vs the segment itself since it really did not draw me in. After listening to some of the comments around me it seems that many did not get the Tron part. Either they did not figure it out or catch that it was Tron or they just did not care. They seemed to enjoy it but it definitely did not wow those around me for the two shows I saw Friday.

  • I would really like to see a Holiday tag added but I am assuming since Tron just rolled out nothing is going to happen this year.. maybe/hopefully next year. I think they Holiday tags are a great touch, my favorite is the Peace on Earth finale that is added to EPCOTs Illuminations show for the Christmas season.

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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