Hello all,

I decided to start my holiday weekend off with a trip to the Disneyland Resort. I was anticipating heavy crowds and cold weather. The afternoon crowds were about what I expected but as the day went on the crowd seemed to thin out a bit. Not sure if it was the weather, the holiday, or just dumb luck that I was choosing the right places to visit but things were about normal and not holiday gridlock in the evening for me. Also surprised that parking was a breeze too, looks like the Toy Story lot is making a huge difference.

Jason

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

Disneyland & DCA Thoughts and Observations:

• I was kind of surprised that the entertainment schedule for Wednesday was somewhat reduced/closer to a normal Wednesday not a holiday/weekend. Meaning there were no Billys or evening entertainment in Tomorrowland or Carnation at Disneyland, no Dance Crew or HSM3 at DCA.
  
  
• A random question. Wonder how long its going to take Disney to update their cash register software so the Premiere passes will scan properly. They added a discount button for them a few weeks/months after the pass came out but I have never seen one scan correctly (mine or anyone elses) and the CMs always have to type in the entire number or figure out some other way to get the appropriate discount. Seems to me it would be a quick software patch, but guess not. Also talking about issues with the POS system, why do they bother to print the 20% coupon for Premiere and Premium passholders? Right now those two passes get 20% with their pass on merchandise, they do not need the coupon.. I guess you can argue it is to drive guests to the store early in the day but to me it seems more of an annoyance, sort of like when I get the ad that says you can upgrade your admission ticket to an annual pass, when I used my annual pass discount on the bill... 
  
  
• Took in the last performance of Aladdin for the evening from the Balcony. The Genie was on top of things and had quite a few timely adlibs, even poking fun at the TSA at one point. From what I could tell they made no noticeable changes to the show during the downtime recently.
  
  
• It was nice to have the Backlot connection to Tower open again. This seemed to help quite a bit with the crowd flow and the new rail/lights all look great. As you saw in the pictures the Hyperion looks the same, just some fresh paint and touch up work. Seeing the truck from the Farm area was a nice touch too. Glad to see it found a new home.
  
  
• Noticed they had times posted for Laser Man in addition to being listed on the time schedule. Great to see both! Also the CMs working in the area knew the show times for that as well as the dance crew that was performing this evening. Both huge steps forward for me.
  
  
• Caught a performance by Poreotics at ElecTRONica. This is a dance crew from Westiminster California that won the 5th season of Americas Best Dance Crew. They drew a decent size crowd and it was an entertaining, all be it brief, performance. The crowd seemed really into it. I was kind of surprised to see they only were going to do two performances and they were no signs or notices up, especially after the numerous tweets Disney had about them. You would have thought some in park promotion would be done too. I like the idea of bringing in additional/limited entertainment for the events, and even appreciated the pre-notice. In the past when groups would come in it would be up to dumb luck, for example the concert series I caught on Friday at Disneyland.
  
  
• I was wandering around the Pier commenting on how thin the crowd was for World of Color, not sure if it was because the word is out that the view is just not that good from the back and sides or because of the weather or what.. but I managed to find a spot under the swings right about show time with no problem at all. Unfortunately I did not think about the wind and for most of the show a light mist could be felt (hence the reason I did not take that many pictures). Looking at the viewing area it looked full as usual.
  
  
• As soon as the show finished and the lights came on they started the Swings and Zephyr on a test run and then opened both as soon as soon as the cycle finished. This seemed a little bit quicker than in the past, but I have to admit I have not really paid that much attention.
  

Interesting Web Finds/Notes:
Below are some interesting links, notes, and rumors I found/stumble across/or have been informed of since the last Geekspeaks column.

• Interesting Web Finds
  • Cars 2 Trailer (Youtube)
    
    
• Disney Press Releases
  • No new releases this week
    
    
• We post some announcements on:
• Twitter - http://www.twitter.com/disneygeekcom
• Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/disneygeek
• Youtube - http://www.youtube.com/disneygeekcom
  
  

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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