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

This was an extremely rare midweek evening visit to the park, but well worth it. It has been about a month since I was there and the Holidays are now in Full swing. It was weird to drive up to a Disney park again... after spending 9 days in WDW you kind of get used to the busses and boats...

We tried to do the Indy Cars at ESPN again. Both were running, but then they went down... this time we managed to actually sit in the car before it broke. We did find out the cards are good for 2 years.

Used our new AP... really disappointed its not a new design. At least its still plastic and not paper like WDW... I still can't believe I paid $500 and they gave me a regular paper ticket to use...

We have moved our trip rundowns and mileage reports to our Park Miles section.

Disneyland Items:

• The crowds were not that bad in the early evening but picked up as the evening went on, especially once DCA closed (6pm) and the parade 6:30pm. By Beleive the Main Street was filled pretty good.
• I was pleased to see some new entertianment in the park, namely the group out in NOS. I did not see the Dickens Carolers except before the parade, I am sure they were out somewhere.
• I was surprised to see a holiday menu at Club Buzz, but no holiday show or group scheduled to perform holiday music... I wish Barrage would come do their holiday show..
• Hopping between the two parks the number of times I did I really longed for the way they do security at the Florida parks, it seems so much more efficient. I wish Disneyland would do checks as you come off the trams so once your through you can go between parks without having to wait, either that or an express line for people without bags or APs or something to speed it up...
• The Christmas Fantasy parade seemed about the same to me. Nothing major jumped out that changed...
• Believe was great as usual and the snow fall effect worked perfectly this time, unlike last trip when it was too dry and windy

DCA Items:

• I was extremely dissappointed by DCAs holiday offerings. The park just seemed so dead. The crowd was its regular nonexistant. We walked on Soarin' (well had a fastpass but did not need it because there was no one in the standby line either), walked on Flik's Flyers and Francis's ride too.
• The new group that performs on the converted Monsters float is really good, but their show times are not listed and its hit and miss
• Aladdin was not running, but was listed in the guidebooks... oh well next visit we will have our thoughts on it then
• The Sand Castles in the entrance plaza were great to look at but could only hold ones attention for a few minutes. Its pretty much build out with not a lot of activity happening except upkeep and a childrens area with CMs. I guess earlier in the month when it was being built it would have been cool. I was surprised it was listed in the show schedule...
• We did not see any activity on the "ice rink" except setup for a photoshoot... nothing listed in the guidebook either

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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