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11/16/12 - My thoughts and observations from Friday at the Disneyland Resort
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11/16/12 - My thoughts and observations from Friday at the Disneyland Resort

Hello all,

Friday was a nice relaxing day at the Disneyland Resort, I used my time see a couple of the holiday offerings I had not visited yet and visit with some friends. I took a chance on the weather and overall it was good, had a few minutes of light rain an drizzle. Crowds were on mild side at both parks with only the Racers posting a long wait. Everything else was well under an hour the couple of times I checked at both parks. Even Small World Holiday had a short wait.

Jason

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

Thoughts and Observations:

  • Nothing like sitting in a long line waiting for a parking spot to kick off your trip to the Disneyland Resort. Why is it so hard for the parking garage crews to fill the last row? It took almost 10 minutes from when I started up the ramp till I was in a spot (and it was a miserable spot, I was three or four cars from the far corner of the garage). I know guests do not help and slow things down, but seems they can figure out a better way to direct the traffic/divide it up so you do not have to wait so long. They appeared to be waiting until the line reached the ramp before sending to a second floor. Why not communicate more with the CMs doing the parking and work to minimize the wait for all.

  • I think the advertising campaign this year featuring Mater as Santa Clause at the Disneyland Resort is a fun idea. The various banners/billboards/signs up advertising the festivities carry this along and I enjoyed seeing them.

  • As you saw in the pictorial update the Christmas decorations are now all up on Main Street USA including the traditional overhead garland. I always enjoy roaming the park during the holidays. And this year with the new DCA offerings there is plenty to see and experience.

  • Went for a cruise on Small World Holiday and was pleasantly surprised to find no wait at all really. Inside nothing new or drastically changed jumped out at me from last year. Did anyone else catch anything?

  • Spent some time at a much calmer Jingle Jangle Jamboree this afternoon and enjoyed another performance by the Holiday Hillbillies. I highly recommend stopping by to see what is going on. This afternoon I saw Minnie and Santa Goofy, plus some Country Bears out for pictures.

  • Over at Disney California Adventure I spent some more time on Buena Vista Street and Cars Land trying to take in and photograph more of the holiday decorations. If you visit the parks be sure to slow down and take in the sights a bit and not just run from attraction to attraction. I caught the 5:00pm Tree Lighting event on Buena Vista Street. I thought this was a great addition. Including the citizens of Buena Vista Street, the Community Bell Ringers, as well as Goofy and Mickey made for a large cast. Below is a video of the event in case you missed it in my update. The only awkward thing is the location and getting a good view. In order to see the tree you want to be back but to see the show you need to be closer. So it meant shooting with a wide angle lens and even then not getting the full field of view. I hope this event lasts and they do not go to the lighting moment/recording like they have at Disneyland.



  • The 5th issue of the Buena Vista Bugle hit news stands on Friday. This holiday edition talks about the festivities on Buena Vista Street, Cars Land, and elsewhere in park. If you are in the park I highly recommend picking up a copy, its fun read and a great souvenir. Also note if you would like a date stamp on it you can stop by the Chamber of Commerce and ask for one. The stamp is just a plain date but it will mark the day for you.

  • I bounced back and fourth between the two parks several times this evening and due to the light crowds the waits were minimal. The ID checking for the 4 and 5 day tickets really slowed things down. Wish they could figure out some sort of biometric fastpass for Annual Passholders to speed things up. That would really cut the waits for everyone if there was an efficient way to get APs through the lines.

  • We had 5-10 minutes of a light rain/heavy drizzle. I had some friends in line for the Racers and they said everything kept on going, no real slow downs, which was great to hear. Speaking of the Racers I walked by them several times and every time they were up and running this trip, so maybe the bugs are working themselves out of the new system.

  • I watched Believe in Holiday Magic from Main street again. I positioned myself behind a group that had Glow with the Show Ears. As I walked around there were very few sets of ears visible this evening. They really do not seem to be promoting them at Disneyland yet. For example it is not even mentioned at the bottom of the time guide where they talk about the Ears and Fantasmic. It was kind of fun to watch the ears respond and if they ever filled Main Street it would be a great sight!



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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Send comments, questions, any other email to: disneygeek@disneygeek.com

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