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11/21/14 - My thoughts and observations from Fridays visit to the Disneyland Resort and a second look at the Christmas season.
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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.

11/21/14 - My thoughts and observations from Fridays visit to the Disneyland Resort and a second look at the Christmas season.

Hello everyone,

Friday was a relaxing day at the Disneyland Resort. I had a very short photo list and the plan was to enjoy the holiday festivities at both parks. Thanks to a fairly light crowd I was able to visit several attractions and enjoy quite a few shows with minimal hassle. I did not pay that close of attention to the wait times around the parks but overall they appeared on the mild side. The weather was nearly perfect for mid November with the highs topping out in the low 70s and cooling down to the 60s by the time I left (50s by the time I reached home).

Jason

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

Thoughts and Observations:

  • If you read my trip log or looked at the pictures you may have noticed I hopped between parks quite a bit. It seemed that the show schedule lined up that way and thanks to a light crowd it was accomplished with minimal waits. I think the longest was pushing 10 minutes only. The new hand held scanners at the turn stiles do appear to slow things down, but at least there is no longer the double check with a second cast member for multi day ticket guests and their photos. Still seems there should be a more efficient way to handle this.

  • My first stop of the day was Disney California Adventure to gather a FastPass for World of Color - Winter Dreams. My assumption was I would be at the second showing of the evening but thanks to the light crowd I received a FastPass for the first show. I have said it before but I really wish Disney would let you choose the show you want to go to. I received the Yellow section for the first show. I would have much rather had Blue for the second. It seems they could have one FastPass machine set up for the 2nd show and give guests the choice. I looked at my schedule and I did not think I could check back for the second show availability because I was planning on heading to Disneyland.

  • On the way to Disneyland though I noticed FastPasses still available for the Racers so grabbed one. I was really surprised to see them still available for a reasonable hour 9pm after 1:30pm.

  • At Disneyland I made my way out to Adventureland and went for a trip aboard the Jingle Cruise. The posted wait time was 30 minutes and as luck would have it this turned out to be substantially off in a good way. It was only 15 minutes! This was my third trip of the season and the skipper this time was pretty good. Overall the holiday overlay has grown on me and I think the additional props this year really add to compared to last year where the skipper had to carry the entire show.

  • I stopped by the Jingle Jangle Jamboree next. Was surprised to see almost all of the seats taken for the show. I noticed the show times are listed in the times guide this week, wonder if that had anything to do with it. Or did I just choose a popular time of day to see it? I did hear a couple guests commenting on how they miss the reindeer in the ranch area and even heard one commenting on the pardoned turkeys that were staple of the ranch for several years.

  • It is nice now that the Haunted Mansion Holiday has FastPass again. I can visit without committing to a wait. Friday the line hovered around 30 minutes. FastPass return times were for a little over an hour out only. So I opted for FastPass and spent less than 5 minutes waiting. After riding I realized I had not spotted the Monkey Bride this year.. need to remember to look for it next trip. Has anyone found it? Any hints so I can grab a picture?

  • The receipt from dinner was over a foot long.. and all I order was a burger and fries.. the coupon for the 20% off merchandise at select stores in the morning is present again. Still do not understand why the Disney point of sale system cannot be programmed to give annual passholders a different notice since that is the regular discount that you can get anywhere any time. Guess some do not know so it drives them to the store? Or is the system that poor that they really cannot tell.. even though they pressed the AP button to give the dining discount?

  • I made my way over to DCA for the Viva Navidad! Street Party. I thought this was a sleeping hit last year and it is great to see it back again with no substantial changes. The only change that really jumped out to me is they now turn the float around upon entrance vs exit. The party is good during the day but after dark it seems slightly better to me. The lights add to it for me.

  • Noticed the Big Hero 6 Meet and Greet had less curtains Friday. I am assuming they were down during the day too, I arrived after it had closed. Wonder if this was to draw more guests or if it was deemed unnecessary.

  • Elvis, Scot Bruce, was performing at the Tomorrowland Terrace. He has added some Christmas to his set as he usually does this time of year. Always entertaining.

  • I stopped by the Mad T Party since I had some time before World of Color and according to internet reporting (rumors) its days are numbered.

  • I watched World of Color Winter Dreams from the Yellow section. I moved as close to the middle as the section allows. My number one complaint about World of Color has always been the limited viewing area where you can fully experience the show and this confirmed it again. I was in a FastPass section and moved as far toward show center as possible and it was still nearly impossible to make out what was on the front screen. This really seems to be a design flaw and they heavily rely on the animation and front screen in the shows. And only a small slice of the potential viewing area can experience the full show.

  • Do you visit our pictorial updates using a mobile device? If so we would like your feedback. I have created a beta of a more mobile version of our Disneyland Picture sets at https://disneygeek.com/mobile Please give it a try and share your thoughts.

  • Video featuring my pictures:

Interesting Web Finds/Notes:

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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