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11/16/18 - Thoughts and observations from Friday at the Disneyland Resort
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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.

11/16/18 - Thoughts and observations from Friday at the Disneyland Resort
Another full day at the Disneyland Resort with my large family group as our mini vacation that started yesterday wrapped up at the parks. The crowds today felt more mild than yesterday with wait times very moderate most of the day. It felt like a typical Friday.

Thoughts and Observations:

  • My day started off checking out of the hotel and on my way to park in the Mickey and Friends Parking Structure around 7am. No delays parking, except I hit every red light on Katella and Disneyland Drive on my way to the garage. I drove, parked, took pictures, road the tram, and joined the group in line to enter Disneyland by 7:45am.

  • My good luck ended there as I choose the park entrance line where it seemed every group had an issue and/or needed pictures taken and were having problems with that too! It is maddening to stand there and watch the other lines move right along and yours is stopped. Our group ended up in two lines and the other one was in the park over 5 minutes before mine!

  • Still made it to the hub several minutes before rope drop. It is always fun to be in the parks for opening and feel the energy/excitement as the park comes alive for the day. I do not get to experience it that often but always enjoy it when I do.

  • We made our way to Fantasyland with the portion of the crowd heading that way. As we entered the Peter Pan queue was already backing up to the castle as guests filled it up. The posted wait time was nearing an hour already. We walked over to Dumbo and were on the third flight of the day. Today it seemed as if capacity on many attractions was low to start the day. For example Casey Jr only had one train in service. Not sure how many boats in Storybook Land but there were gaps between them. At Autopia later in the morning only 2 of 4 tracks were in use.

  • Storybook Land Canal Boats are operating with a seasonal spiel. It is a nice little plus and the miniatures are all decorated for Christmas too.

  • The Matterhorn Bobsleds returned to operation this morning. There is a new queue configuration and entrance archway for it. The standby queue on the Tomorrowland side now features additional switchbacks. There is also better signage for FastPass return. Single rider signage looked the same.

  • Mobile Order still does not offer the option to select a plain burger, so I ended up using the regular queue to order since it was only a couple guests. While talking about mobile order quirks I forgot to mention yesterday that Stage Door Cafe still requires you to select a sauce when you order too, even with a corn dog. Seems that should/could be optional.

  • Caught parts of a couple Disneyland Band sets which are always fun. Their 10am concert in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle features Christmas music and the 12:30pm set is the march with Characters from the castle to Town Square still.

  • Took a quick walk through Downtown Disney to check out the holiday decorations. They looked to be the same as last year. There are some new banners/signs in the food truck courtyard and stage area on the west side but everything else looked to be the same. The new dining location construction is slowly moving along but sure seems to have a ways to go.

  • Spent some time at the Grant Californian checking out the annual gingerbread display and Christmas decorations. No major changes to either, but still nice to see.

  • Spent the evening enjoying entertainment at both parks including Viva Navidad in Paradise Gardens and then A Christmas Fantasy Parade at Disneyland. Viva Navidad is a great show if you have not had a chance to experience it and are at the parks I would recommend it. It is a very high energy show featuring a large cast. A Christmas Fantasy Parade appeared to be the same as always, no substantial changes jumped out to me.

  • Caught the 7:30pm Wintertime Enchantment from Main Street USA. These moments are another favorite of mine, and great to see each year. Next week once the garlands are up on Main Street USA it will be even better.

  • A preview of Ralph Breaks the Internet has moved into the Tomorrowland Theater taking over for the Pixar Shorts. The preview is approximately 10 minutes long and features several scenes from the film with Ralph doing the voice over/narration. I thought it was a nice change of pace for a preview and worked well. The preview is presented in 3D but I did not notice any other theater effects used.

  • It was nearing 9pm and by this point after two days most of my group had hit their limit and were ready to call it a trip. The park was busy but not overly crowded compared to say Halloween Time or what is to come for the holidays as I headed for Main Street and the exit.

Here are some recent posts to the Geek's Blog:

Geek’s Blog Postings Recap November 1-14, 2018

Disney Related Press Releases

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

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

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