Disneygeek - Geek Speaks - 11/18/17 - Thoughts and observations from a quick Saturday trip to the Disneyland Resort.

The Geek Speaks:

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.

11/18/17 - Thoughts and observations from a quick Saturday trip to the Disneyland Resort.

I found myself driving back to Anaheim as the sun was just about to rise. For me a quick turn around getting home just past 11pm from the parks then back on the road at 6am to head south again (I live approx 75 miles from the Disneyland Resort). The reason for this is several members of my family wanted to go to the park so I went to spend the morning with them, including my one year old nephew. It is always great to see the park with young kids. He is still a little too young to really enjoy it but watching him try and understand it's a small world holiday was great!

Thoughts and Observations:

Since we arrived in Anaheim just after 7am decided to grab some breakfast before parking, that was a mistake today. It took me just over an hour to get from Harbor Blvd to Main Street USA, by way of the Mickey and Friends Parking Structure. The traffic to reach the structure was stopped on the I5 overpass on Ball, so I circled around and took the Ball road by-pass on Disneyland drive to save several minutes. All lanes of the parking structure were open but it was backed up outside the structure to reach the tollbooths. I did not see any problems, just too many cars arriving at once. They closed off the Disneyland Entrance to try and moderate the flow. I also noticed the side entrance on Magic Way was open this morning. Once through the toll booth it was a moderate pace up to a parking level and into a spot. Then I spotted the really long security lines and opted to walk to the park. Security only had maybe 1/3 the tents/lines open. So it was artificially long. The tram load looked to be a 1-2 tram wait once through security, but I did not go that way so I am not sure. The walk to Downtown Disney and through it was not bad and security lines there were only a couple of guests long. The lines to enter Disneyland were out toward the Monorail beam. Over at DCA there were almost no waits.
Once inside the park it was a typical morning with short waits at most attractions. These lines continued to grow as you would expect as the morning went on.
It was Mickey's 89th birthday today. All guests entering either park were given a button to mark the occasion. Along Main Street cast members had signs you could pose with for pictures. There was also some merchandise and food to mark the occasion. At 11:45am there was a birthday moment/cavalcade on Main Street USA. I did not this listed anywhere nor any signs. But Cast Members were sharing the time with anyone who asked. Unfortunately I had to miss the event because my ride back North was around the same time. A contributor to the site did go and took a video, they guessed wrong and were on the back side though. The group assembled at Sleeping Beauty Castle then moved down Main Street USA to Town Square, stopping to sing and celebrate a couple of times along the path.
The reason I left was for the USC vs UCLA football game. I was there supporting my USC Trojans, who came away with the win. A Disney note from the game, the USC Trojan Marching Band's halftime performance was several songs from Guardians of the Galaxy and included some formations referencing the films. Here is a video if you are curious: