** After you read this report you may want to check out the pictorial updates in our Disneyland Resort Pictorial Update section

Friday was a cold day here in Southern California. It got all the way down to the 50s... which for us is freezing.... the morning/early afternoon it also rained. The afternon and evening did clear up though and it was a nice time at the parks. The crowds were light because of the weather. The lines were not bad for the most part.

Disneyland Items:

• Disneyland after a rain is always nice. The park is usually not that crowded and its a nice time to be there.
• Not much happening in the park since last week. The new Height check system signs were still up. I did not see anyone using it (but it was cold so most kids were bundled up).
• Cosmic Waves was still closed off, and upon a closer look we noticed how bad of shape the ground is in over there (check out the pictorial update to see). Which is really too bad considering its only a couple years old.
• We had the worst luck getting on attractions at Disneyland. Pirates was broken when we went by.
• Innoventions was actually down too the first time we went by (it was not even spinning). We stopped by again in the evening and it was spinning and people were coming out, but there was no cast member to let us in. After waiting for two entrances to pass we gave up and moved on. Our guess is someone took down the ropes and it was actually closed for the evening at this point.
• We got in the wrong line for Small World... meaning the other queue was sending two to three boats to the one in our queue. They had some problems with a couple wheel chairs, then a bad boat... don't know the story, but they made everyone get out and put a red flag on it. This made what should have been a 5 min or less wait turn into a 15 minute wait.
• We also had the worst luck with lines getting into the park too. It seemed we always choose the line with the person who did not know what to do or was trying to use a weird ticket or something. It was just one of those evenings. How I wish they would have a special gate(s) for AP people. It would move so much quicker and they could probably have one person watch two turnstiles or something so it will save some money too...
• Believe drew a good size crowd on Main Street and it got its usual overwhelming applause. Its such a good show.

DCA Items:

• DCA's usually light crowd was even lighter because of the rain. You could pretty much walk on anything you wanted all afternoon.
• The One Man's Dream film now playing in the animation building was pretty good. It still seems slightly out of place in DCA, but it works I guess in the animation building. The lobby area had some nice pictures, but that was about it.
• The Monster's Inc "show" really disappointed me. I thought it had several funny one liners, but it really seemed like an afterthought to us and it really did not fit into DCA that well. How I wish for the old days of quality shows and parades...
• The crowd for Luminaria was extremely light. Only one or two deep in most spots around the Bay.
• Blast seemed to draw a good size crowd, its a great show. Check it out if your in the park, its worth your time.

Other Items:

• My AP still has a problem with FastPass, namely it would not give me one saying I did not use the ticket to get in the park (which I had). My guess is it is because I just got my renewel in the mail. I should have used my new pass, but I did not think it was valid yet (found out it is though, the Lazygeek used his with no problems).
• I am still very disappointed that Disneyland and the Disneyland Resort in general is not doing more for Walt's 100th birthday. It seems like the park Walt built and walked in would honor him. Why couldn't they do a dual promotion of both US Resorts or something. That would be an awesome idea. But instead WDW gets the great promotion and Dland gets nothing, then a last minute substitute from WDW.
• I am still gripping about the stupid parking garage set up, but at least this time we were parked on the end in the far corner (a horrible walk), but easy to get in and out and we did not have to drive around the garage. Also I noted that they were not parking cars along the exit road anymore so you do not have to back up into traffic. Wonder if someone else complained too.
• I also like how they now have cones up to make it easier to get over to the overcrossing lanes.
• At Downtown Disney there were various groups out performing. I really enjoy them and think they add to the area. Hopefully this program will continue on after the holidays.
• We really liked the walkway over to the Paradise Pier Hotel from DCA. Once it grows in it will be great (except you still have to cross the street, but oh well).

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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