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

Hello all,

This was a gray day at the Disneyland Resort. The skies were cloudy for most of the visit and there were light sprinkles for 45 minutes or so around 8ish. The crowds were modest, but not as bad as expected.. maybe the gray and chance of showers kept them down. Most of the e-tickets had waits under an hour. Again timing is everything. I walked by Pirates around eigth thirty I was able to walk right on, there was no wait at all. Over at California Adventure the park seemed to have more people than usual, but still no really long lines.

Trip logs and mileage reports are in thePark Miles section.

Disneyland:

• Upon entering the park the first thing I looked at was City Hall and the Firehouse and they both look great. The colors are bright and everything is bright and shiney.. what a difference compared to how it used to look. Can't wait to see the rest of the street once its done. They still have some detail work to finish, no border lights yet and the inside of City Hall is not open yet. The Firehouse and the bathrooms have both re-opened and they appear untouched for the most part.
  
  
• I went to check out the promotion for Home on the Range. They have re-opened a small portion of the Big Thunder Ranch and call it - A Little Patch of Heaven. Little is the correct term. The area is only the immediate area around the cabin and the old entrance to Festival Areana. The rest of the areana and the old dinning area are still walled off. Work is going on around both, so maybe the ranch will expand or something new someday... I thought the tie ins to the film were slight at best. They had a couple signs up and that was about it. They did have one horse, one cow, two birds, and I think it was four or five small goats. As you saw in the pictorial update the area consisted of a small pen for the horse and cow. A larger area for the goats to roam around and be with people and then the cabin that had activities for kids. I thought the cabin looked the way I remembered for the most part, but its been forever so they may have changed things and I did not notice or remember. The idea to have a kids area made sense to me, my only reservation is that is such a small area. Only a couple tables and chairs. Also note the hours of this area are really limited. The sign said it opened at 10am and it was closed by dusk.
  
  
• Caught the last showing of Billy Hill (5:30). I was surprised to be able to just stroll right in and have a large selection of tables at around 5:15. The show seemed to be lacking something. Maybe it was the audience or maybe it just did not click... there were only three Billy's and only two with fiddles and one guitar... no bass. I did hear a couple new groaners... Why don't planes land at Peter Pan's home... there is a big sign that says NEVER LAND... hahahahaha.... I don't remember the others.
  
  
• Had to wait until my 9pm return time to ride Indy. I grabbed my fastpass around 3pm, what a long wait and they said no single riders.. The standby line was stuck on 75 minutes all evening. The CMs said it was really 45 but the sign was broke. The first big change I noticed in Indy was a postitive one. They were controlling the queue differently. I am sure this is being done for "safety reasons" but I thought it added to the show. They were holding the standby line outside and joining it with the fastpass line right at the temple door. Nothing new here. You were able to meander through the queue and down to what I call the dig room (the large rotunda room). They had everyone circle up there and the line was held by the entrance to the screening room. At this point handicap access joined the line too. We were let into the screening room and held again. This was done to allow for the entire safety film to play. Usually you only caught bits an pieces of this or you were stuck in there watching it over and over and over as the line moved slowly. This time it really kept the line flowing and I am sure is done intentially to make everyone view the safety film. Then it was through the rest of the queue up and over and into loading gates and then the jeep. One other note. I overheard a CM say the elevators had a problem, so those requiring it were loaded through the exit. The journey itself was great. Effects I have not seen working in years are back. The air pressure in the dart room is back so you can actually feel it. The new digital projectors have a great clear picture. You are actually able to make out the bugs and rats. Everything seemed great and as good as new. No "ice" machine as you enter the main room though, guess that is gone forever...
  
  
• Caught the last two thirds or so of Fantasmic. Still no Mark Twain in the show. The finale seems so weak to me without it. Wonder what's going on. The Twain is out all day for guests with no problems. Then at night its parked in the harbor. Anyone know the story here?
  
  
• My goal was to catch Believe from the Hub, which I failed at since I stopped for Fantasmic. I did manage to find a seat in front of the castle near the trolly tracks, so it was a great view though. The show was great as usual and the audience really enjoyed it. Two notes. One is the giant Mickey did not get shot off, just an empty sky during that part. Secondly there seemed to be a few extra heart shaped effects in the show...

DCA:

• I saw the "Chinese" performers out from of Golden Dreams with Mushu. I missed the start of the set, so I all I saw was them dancing a bit and taking pictures. There seemed to be no real "show". Also it seemed kind of strange to just come upon them with no real reason for being there. It just seemed strange. It appeared they were using some old items from Eureka!

• Road Soarin and manage to get in the first row in the middle. Always a great trip. I was in the theater to the right as you walk in. There seemed to be a lot of dust and specs on the film. Alot more than the last trip.

• I caught a little of the Road Trip Band. Its great to see some varieties in the band and they are now playing a lot more surfin and "beach" music. Not as much "modern". Or at least this seemed true for the sets I have seen the past few trips.

• On the way out of DCA for the evening I was stopped by one of the survey CMs. One of the first questions always seems to be what type of ticket option did you use. Usually once you say an Annual Pass you are pretty much thanked and they move on. This time they did not. The questions focused on what I spent for food and merchandise. How long did I spend in the park. What I did, how clean the park was, and value thoughts. Also they asked a couple questions about "Character Interactions". Overall I thought it was a fairly good survey.

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

Send comments, questions, any other email to: disneygeek@disneygeek.com