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

Hello everyone,

Well I decided to brave the holiday madness and go to the park the week between Christmas and New Years... I did this for two reasons. The first is to see some out of town company and the second is because its Disneyland I its hard for me to pass up a trip! The crowds were heavy to start the day and into the afternoon but they seemed to thin as the day evening approached. I arrived a little after 9am and was parked in the last row of the third floor of the garage (the Lazygeeks gang arrived around 10:30 and they were almost directly above me at the far end of the 4th floor). I heard by 11am they had stopped selling single day tickets but I never heard anything about restricting entry, even though they were prepared and the hand stamp rule was in effect for everyone. (Interesting note here DCA was stamping your hand as you entered).

Jason

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

Disneyland & DCA Thoughts and Observations:

• It was nice to see them loading at both tram stops on the left at the garage, this made for a much shorter line and kept things moving. I was a little surprised that the far parking lot entrance, the one off Magic Way (I think its Magic Way, the street by Downtown Disney) was closed. Everyone entering the structure had to use the main parking booths.
  
  
• I stopped by DCA for less than an hour right at opening to grab some pictures and see what was going on, it was a great time to visit as usual with minimal waits on everything. This was the first time in a long time that I had been in the park for the rope drop. There seemed to be a problem with the announcement. I was standing right under one of the speakers and I could barely hear the announcer. The announcement went along with the Year of a Million Dreams campaign and I could not hear the song but it was different than the last time I had heard the opening (last time they were playing the California track off the original CD).
  
  
• The Sun Wheel only filled four or five cars and that made for a quick trip with only one stop to unload the group in front of me and then my car. By the time I left though Soarin was already pushing 45 minutes and I would assume Screamin and Tower were not far behind as the line to get in was fairly constant.
  
  
• By contrast I made it over to Disneyland around quarter to 11 and Main Street was packed with people heading into the park. The line for the train at the Main Street station stretched all the way down to the street. The other attractions were filling up fast with some, namely Pirates stretching forever. We stopped by a little after 11 and the line for Pirates was outside its queue and stretched down to the Golden Horseshoe. Eventually they got the extended queue set up and you would wrap around the the river and Fantasmic viewing areas.
  
  
• We roamed the park today with the Lazygeeks son, who is just over 5 months old, and it amazed me at how rude and oblivious other guests are of strollers and babies. I never really paid much attention to it, but it was amazing how many people ran into the stroller or just did not want to move or keep moving so we could get by. I overheard several other guests saying the same thing. We overheard one woman near the castle actually yelling at a group of people for running into her stroller. One other interesting note is we went on Cartoon Spin and they current rule there is the child must sit on the seat no matter what.. no holding the child. Last note he loved Small World Holiday... he looked like a bobble head following the lights, animation, etc.. around, it was great to watch!
  
  
• Speaking of Small World, if you wanted to ride before the long rehab, you only have a couple more weeks.
  
  
• We stopped by the 50 Magical Years film to warm up a bit and kill some time while waiting for Believe to start. Wonder when Great Moments will be coming back? Or the offices in the to the display area?
  
  
• I was a little surprised that with the park as crowded as it was there was no band at the Tomorrowland Terrace or anything going on at Plaza Gardens. I would have thought both would be active with the expected crowds.

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