home > Columns > Geekspeaks >
11/22/17 - Thoughts and observations from Wednesday at 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.

11/22/17 - Thoughts and observations from Wednesday at the Disneyland Resort.
Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I started off my holiday weekend at the Disneyland Resort on Wednesday, even though it meant my third visit in six days which I typically do not do. The parks were busy but not holiday busy, for comparison it felt less crowded than the Friday of Veterans Day Weekend. Wait times were moderate in the early afternoon with many still under an hour, despite what the Buena Vista Street line board said (not sure if it was an honest mistake or a cast member having fun but they had several attractions listed at 120 minutes including Little Mermaid and Maters, that were not). By night fall these crept up but still very few in the triple digit range. The big story of the day was the heat wave. The afternoon saw temperatures in the mid 90s, but as soon as the sun began to set these dropped quickly and by the time I left it was approaching 70 degrees and was in the 60s by the time I reached home.

Thoughts and Observations:

  • This afternoon the parking situation was smooth for me as was security and the tram wait. No real delays at any of of them. I think I lucked out and it was worse earlier and later in the day from what I heard from others.

  • Today I had a very small picture list and my primary objective was to enjoy the Holiday Entertainment at both parks. I was able to catch full sets from the Holiday Toy Drummers, Mostly Kosher, Dickens Yuletide Band, Disneyland Band and Dapper Dans. Plus some partial performances as I roamed the parks. The volume and variety of entertainment at the Disneyland Resort is great again this year. I do miss the Buena Vista Street Community Bell Ringers and Dickens Carolers at Disneyland though. The Disneyland Band's 5:30pm set includes a couple of Christmas songs. I would have liked to have seen the full set be Christmas.. the addition of You've Got a Friend in Me and Let it Go were a little odd with Jingle Bells and Little Drummer Boy.

  • Thanks to some good timing and MaxPass I enjoyed a couple of attractions in between the entertainment. I visited Radiator Springs Racers using single rider then FastPasses for it's a small world holiday and Star Tours. And went for a cruise on the Mark Twain too. I had FastPasses for Haunted Mansion and Buzz Lightyear and skipped them due to a long return at Haunted Mansion and visiting with some friends instead of Buzz. I used MaxPass to book the FastPasses and it did save me quite a few steps and I was able to get earlier return times too. My FastPass return experience was good today for both small world and star tours I was able to walk right on with minimal waits. Later in the day small world did back up.

  • Stopped by the Smokejumpers Grill for dinner since I was in the area and had not eaten there in quite a while. I ended up trying the chicken tenders. I thought it was a good change from the nuggets and I thought they were better tasting. The waffle-cut fries were good too. It was not crowded with only a couple people per register line, but it was still slow going. Once ordered it took a long time for a simple order too and once at the table my fries were already on the cool side. Not sure why the service is so slow here, even when it was not too busy.

  • I made a point to catch the Dickens Yuletide Band a couple of times this evening since they do not perform on Fridays when I usually visit. I enjoy the classic holiday music they play. The set locations were a bit awkward being in walkways more or high traffic areas. This is great for guests walking by to listen for a few moments or see them, but for those wanting to enjoy the concert it is a challenge.

  • I watched a couple of the it's a small world holiday projection shows. The show is the same as the past couple years, no changes jumped out to me. They were having some minor timing issues on Wednesday. For example the first one started before the clock sequence finished. Then the second one the audio was low in the area I was in.

  • The Wintertime Enchantment moments on Main Street are more complete now with the garland lights working. Also projections on the buildings along Main Street and the Castle are part of the show. Still no lights in the trees of the hub though.

  • Closed out my evening with World of Color - Season of Light. I had a yellow FastPass for the first show but opted to use standby for what I think is a better view, plus I was able to visit with some friends while waiting. My streak of seeing the Fun Wheel projections ended at two. This evening they tried to raise the screen but a problem developed and it was lowered and not used. The screen seems very problematic and I am happy to have seen two good shows this season.

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

Geek’s Blog Postings Recap October 15 – November 6, 2017

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
Back to previous page

 

Quick Note

Check out the geek speaks archive for past updates.

 

Interested in Helping out?

If you are a fellow disneygeek and interested in sharing your insights, pictures, thoughts drop us an email here we are always looking for contributors.