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11/17/23 - 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.

11/17/23 - Disneyland Resort

Hello Everyone!

Friday was a relaxing day at the Disneyland Resort for me.   It was my second pass through the holiday offerings so I had no must sees and just enjoyed the day with family and friends.   The crowds were moderate, especially compared to last week. Wait times were average.  The weather turned out to be perfect, after saying rain all week, it turned out to be upper 60s to low 70s and sunny most of the day.

Thoughts and Observations:

  • Parking was much better this week.  No real delays and drew a spot near the middle of the structure vs the far corner.
  • I stopped by Mickey's Toontown again to see if anything had changed and it appears the Christmas decorations are all up and done, no changes.  That is disappointing that they did not decorate the new buildings.
  • While passing through Black Spire Outpost I spotted a merchandise cart near the marketplace.  This is the first marchandise cart I recall seeing on Batuu, they are normally held at the entrance in Frontierland or Critter Country. Is this the start of the end of the restriction?  Is it a trial balloon?  Or a one time exception for Life Day?    Speaking of Life Day I thought it was odd they were selling 2022 ornaments.  Was that on purpose or a mistake?
  • Adventureland Treehouse had a good number of guests cycling through it today but no queue was needed and the number of cast members working the attraction was closer to normal too.  I stopped by and there was no need for any sort of spacing of guests.  There was a slight backup as some guests took longer than other but overall it moved it an ok pace.
  • Caught the Disneyland Band performing in Frontierland.  They no longer stop at the flag pole (its been quite a while since I last saw them perform there so this may have stopped a long time ago).   The set included a visit from Princess Tiana who dances around in front of the band with the audience.  Also it featured one Christmas song, the Little Drummer Boy. Neither really fit with Frontierland but were nice to see.
  • The Little Mermaid Ariel's Undersea Adventure was added to the Genie+ list this past week.  I view this as unneeded at best and a step backwards.  Most of the time there is little to no wait for the attraction because of its high capacity.   To accommodate the return queue guests now enter through the extended queue on the opposite side of the attraction.  This leads to a rather temporary feel and not a great experience.  Plus the extra confusion having the entrance so far from the formal entrance.    The stand by line seemed longer than usual and moving slowly but the park was not busy either. It will be interesting to see if this suffers the same fate as Monsters Inc.. meaning long stand by lines when there should not be any.
  • Ate lunch at Flo's around 1:00pm and was really surprised to find the dining room nearly empty.  There were guests in line and some mobile orders but plenty of seating today.
  • The Avengers Assemble Holiday Show is back again this year featuring Hawkeye and friends/foes.   The finale of the show with a large number of Avengers on the balcony makes for a nice photo op too.  I still find these shows a challenge to see and photograph because of the angles and railings.
  • Watched the 2:10pm Disneyland Band set in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle.  I thought the choice of music was interesting.  A Pirates of the Caribbean Movie Medley, Christmas Medley of Winter Wonderland and Let it Snow and the finale was their Star Wars Medley.
  • The Port of San Fransokyo sign was lit up this week. It has a blinking pattern that cycles through. It does look ok at night, but during the day it still looks like an after thought to me and is not integrated into the design well.
  • The 5:30pm Phat Cat Swinger set ran into some technical difficulties when the Wish preshow for World of Color audio started playing over top of the band. The band left the stage, it was sorted out then they returned and continued their set.
  • The Gingerbread House in the lobby of Disney's Grand Californian Hotel is complete.  The structure is the same as previous years with different design elements and hidden Mickey's.   I did not see any sort of schedule for holiday entertainment posted.  The lobby is decorated with the tree, wreaths and garlands up.
  • Downtown Disney is also mostly decorated now with the same trees and props as recent years making up a bulk of the decorations.  There was nothing in the new lawn area.   I stopped by after dark to see how the area looks and it had some guests but not a big crowd.  The band performing did not seem to be a draw.  Will be interesting to see the holiday line up and if it gets more crowded.
  • We wrapped up our day at DCA with the 6:45pm Phat Cat Swinger set.  I always enjoy their sets and appreciate different selections at each set. I still do not understand the big rush for the World of Color set up.  The dining area maybe because that starts at 8. But the main viewing area they seem in a rush to get the ropes up and its nearly 2 hours before show time still.

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

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.

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