Hello all,

There is a quick turn around from Halloween which ended last Sunday and Christmas which starts next Friday at the Disneyland Resort. In this brief time the parks are redecorated to the appropriate season and the entertainment switches over. Today marked the debut of Tianas Showboat Jubilee which celebrates the upcoming Princess and the Frog film. The crowds at both parks were light with most waits under 30 minutes most of the day. I walked by Space Mountain a couple of times and saw times of 15 and 20 minutes. Haunted Mansion had a posted time of 13 minutes the couple times I was in the area. Even Indy had a 15 min time posted in the mid afternoon. Over at DCA much the same except for Toy Story which had its normal 30-40 min line.

Jason

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

Disneyland & DCA Thoughts and Observations:

• With the anticipated lower crowds I was not expecting parking to be a problem. I exited the freeway and headed across Ball road to find the entrance to the garage blocked off by Anaheim PD, which seems to be the new normal in the early afternoon. We were directed down the street, around DCA and this time instead of heading straight to the Pumba lot or Gardenwalk we were directed to the right and down toward the Buzz Lightyear lot (which is down Harbor past Katella). The problem with this was traffic was backed up in all lanes past Katella due to the necessary left to enter the lot and the jam up at the toll booths. I grew impatient and decided to take a left on Katella and see if Pumba or Gardenwalk were open, neither was so I opted to go back around and try the garage and as luck would have it I managed to get in. I was directed to a great spot (one of the three spots right near the escalators on the 5th floor). As I rode down the escalator I noticed cars on floors 3 and 4. Floor 2 appeared to have some CM cars on it since they were really spaced out. So my question is with no evening party and fairly light crowds why the parking hassle?? As I left the park it appeared the roof was not full but the other floors appeared to all have cars on them.The time from when I left the freeway until I was on the tram was about 30 minutes.
  
  
• Also kind of odd as you parked you were handed an advertisement for annual passes.. the odd thing was I used my annual pass to park and there was no one else in the car... guess they are pushing them as gifts? Or just not paying attention. But to me with the parking mess seems they do not have to be as aggressive with the AP program.
  
  
• First stop of the day was Disneyland to check out the holiday preparations. The park is slowly transforming, with a week left. I was surprised not to see more preparations for the Christmas parade taping.. since it was to take place on Saturday and Sunday.
  
  
• Debuting this week was Tianas Showboat Jubilee out in New Orleans Square. As you saw in the pictorial update this features a procession through New Orleans Square, along the Rivers of America and out to the Mark Twain. Then the Mark Twain pulls around for a show stop in front of NOS. Including the procession the show is a good 20 minutes. It features a half dozen or so songs from the upcoming Princess and the Frog film. I was impressed by the show. It had a lot of energy, a good size cast, and was entertaining. I thought it also worked great in the park due to New Orleans Square (I am curious how WDWs works since they do not have NOS to draw from.. I will find out in December when I visit...). The show runs 3 or 4 times a day (depends on the day) and I am guessing once the film is out it will have healthy crowds at each showing. This show only runs through January 3rd. It was also great to see a live performance show again with the actors actually singing.. its a great touch and they sounded good.
  
  
• As you saw in the pictorial update there was a good number of Disney brass, Imagineers, and Feature Animation folks in attendance at the show. It was fun to people watch a bit and see their reactions. I was really surprised to see Iger at the show without an army of suits following him. Also how approachable he was, I saw several guests say hi and the one ask for an autograph which he graciously did, even though the show had started.
  
  
• Back over at DCA there were no signs of Christmas in the Sunshine courtyard but the Christmas tree was up on the Pier, across from Screamin. I thought the location looked great and was nice to see. The downside is it is not a focal point and sort of out of the way. Should be interesting to see what else goes up and if this will be a new location for future years or just temporary? I am guessing once Buena Vista street is done there will be a spot there.
  
  
• I had read online that they were experimenting with doing away with the single rider line for Toy Story. I was really disappointed to hear this, and Friday I can confirm the line was not up when I went by. I thought the single rider line helped with overall capacity, kept the line a bit shorter, and was great for those who do not mind riding alone, like myself. Also I enjoy talking with other guests. Hopefully this experiment fails and it returns, if not guess I will be riding even less.
  
  
• I thought the new park guides were interesting. First the cover choices... the Cars Meet and Greet for DCA seemed odd.. Princess and the Frog over at Disneyland made sense. I would assume these are temporary and will be holiday ones starting next Friday.
  
  
• I managed to make it out to Downtown Disney to catch some of the Splash performance. This is an art group that does animal faces with a conservation theme. It was described as choreographed speed painting. I thought it was extremely impressive and fun to watch. They drew a good size crowd too. They were performing in the large space between ESPN, the Movie Theater, and Rain Forest. I believe they are back in a few weeks again, if you see them on the schedule they are worth checking out.
  
  
• It was fun to see Remember again. My understanding is they are going to a four show rotation for the fireworks. Magical will have the Summer, Halloween Screams and Believe in Holiday Magic for the holiday seasons then Remember filling in the rest of the year.
  
  
• Interesting Web Finds/Notes (and some Press Releases):
  In this section of the Geekspeaks column I will include links, notes, and rumors I find/stumble across/or have been informed of.
  
  
  • Official Disneyland Christmas/Holiday site
    
    
  • Video Finds:
    • Tianas Showboat Jubilee - Disney Parks Video
  • Disney Parks Release on Disneys effort for flu awareness
    
    
  • We have started to post some announcements on:
    • Twitter - http://www.twitter.com/disneygeekcom
    • Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/disneygeek
      
      

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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