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11/13/09 - My thoughts and observations from Fridays visit to the Disneyland Resort as the Holidays kicked off.
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Welcome to the disneygeek.com Geek Speaks section. In this section I will post my comments on trips to the parks or other Disney related events.

11/13/09 - My thoughts and observations from Fridays visit to the Disneyland Resort as the Holidays kicked off.

Hello all,

Friday marked the kick off of the Holiday season at the Disneyland Resort with decorations, entertainment and more at both parks. I was expecting fairly heavy crowds at both parks and as the day went on that expectation came true, but it was not as bad as it could have been. Most wait times were reasonable throughout the day as you saw in the line board shots. Even the crowd for Believe on Main Street was a little less than expected. The street was full, but not jammed in like I have seen before.

Jason

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

Disneyland & DCA Thoughts and Observations:

  • The day started off on a good note with the Ball road overpass being open so I was able to exit the freeway, head on the overpass and directly into the garage where I found only a couple cars in line and was directed up to the third floor and right into a spot (it was a longer walk from the far row, but less driving). It appeared the third floor was the only one with guest cars on it (well the 1st floor had some too and the outside lots), but the other floors looked open so far. I noticed they were directing cars that stayed on Disneyland Drive around to the other side of the resort for parking, hence the reason there was no line or jam up at the garage... again some great parking luck!

  • First stop of the Day was DCA. I was disappointed to see no real signs of Christmas beyond the Golden Gate bridge, the garland by the train and the soundtrack in the Sunshine Plaza.. no Santas Beach Party, or any other holiday decorations in the center/focal point of the plaza. As you saw in the pictorial update Santa is now out at the Pier. This seemed a bit awkward and out of the way, but it does look nice and uses the space nicely. I did not see anything else new or different for the holidays this year at DCA. Most of what I noticed were things that were missing from years past.. ranging from the Bay Area decorations to the Sunshine Plaza ones.

  • Next up headed over to Disneyland which is decked out as usual to be the Merriest Place on Earth. No substantial changes for this year popped to mind as I strolled around and took in the sites, sounds, and attractions.

  • Small World Holiday has some slight tweaks due to the new US scene at the end as well as the Disney characters staying out. The soundtrack changed slightly as the transition room before the finale is gone and the US scene is there. Having the Disney characters out for the Holiday make-over worked ok, I am still not a huge fan of them, but I do not think they distracted from the show. I did think the curtain tunnel worked to build up to the finale room, where as now you just go from room to room as you do for the regular attraction. Having the curtain tunnel really set the finale up nicely I thought, even though the room itself was a loss and out of character.

  • The Christmas Fantasy Parade is back and no substantial changes. The two changes that popped out to me were the addition of the three sleds in the Winter Wonderland segment with Pooh and friends. Also no sign of the Genie and his sleigh.

  • I caught parts of two of the Showboat Jubilee shows on Friday and both seemed well attended and everyone was having a good time

  • Grabbed dinner at the Hungry Bear, and reminded myself again why if I want a burger its worth the walk over to DCA and Taste Pilots.. the one I received at the Hungry Bear was lacking and just not that good/fresh/inviting to me.. but I do enjoy sitting along the riverfront, relaxing and eating..

  • Caught the Flag Retreat on Main Street and there was a larger than usual crowd, which was great to see!

  • A couple Holiday program reminders since they are not in the time guides (on nights when the park is open late, not sure on nights when it closes early):
    • The Tree Lighting (and Small World lighting I believe) take place at 5:00pm
    • There are two snow events (not sure what to call them, I see on the website something called: Wintertime Enchantment Holiday Lighting, but it lists four shows not two). Normally these are at 5:30pm and 7:30pm and both are visible from Main Street/Castle area as well as Small World.
    • Every 15 minutes except during the parade after dark Small World has a brief holiday projection display (it happens right after the clock sequence except during the snow events then it happens following that).

  • As I mentioned in the pictorial update there are new guide maps and entertainment time schedules out for the holidays. The two interesting notes on the time schedule are no mention of the Reindeer Roundup and the addition of the tips for continued health and safety. Also kind of surprised no mention of the Princess and the Frog characters Meet and Greet on the sheet. On the DCA side again no mention of Santas time schedule and they are still advertising the Blue Sky Cellar as new at the top. In the guide maps noticed that Lincoln is not listed as Coming Soon anymore, its a regular listing in preparation for the opening. In the DCA map thought it was interesting the Golden State masthead is no longer on the section, maybe a misprint. Also the Christmas tree is now in the proper location on the map.

  • Also noticed on the Disneyland website calendar they no longer list the 50 Magical Years as under refurbishment starting December 17th. So wonder if that confirms Great Moments returns then too??


  • 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.

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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