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Welcome to the disneygeek.com Geek Speaks section. In this section I will post my comments on trips to the parks or other Disney related events.

4/18/25 - Disneyland Resort

Hello everyone,

I started my Easter weekend with a visit to the Disneyland Resort. It was my first visit since my Walt Disney World trip. The parks were busy as you would expect for a holiday weekend. With all but the Inspire Keys blocked out the mix was mostly tourists and locals using one of the various discount offers. The crowd seemed to max out earlier in the day and then settle in a bit as the cool evening proceeded vs a typical Friday that starts out mild and builds after sunset when people get home from work and school. The weather was not great topping out just over 60 and cooling down to just below 60. The few moments of sunshine mid afternoon were pleasant but when the breeze picked up and clouds blocked the sun it was cool.

Even though it is Easter weekend there was very little Easter or Spring around the parks. The Eggstravaganza is ongoing through Monday and there were a few things in the stores but nothing else. No meet and greets, no decorated eggs, and no photo ops outsite the Eggstravaganza. The Spring Time round up that took place in the Big Thunder Ranch for a number of years was a great celebration for the spring and Easter. Here is a look back at the 2015 Springtime Roundup and the 2014 Springtime Roundup at Disneyland.

Thoughts and Observations:

  • My day started off on a positive note. I picked a good lane with no cars at the tollbooth then a decision to change lanes going up to the parking level worked out in my favor saving time in a long line of cars and I was directed into a new row on the Goofy level of the parking structure ending up close to the ramp that connects to the Pixar structure and close to the escalators.
  • I walked to Downtown Disney to start my visit. I happened to walked by the section of the Pixar parking structure that was blocked off and walled off after the car fire a few weeks ago. No signs of what they were working on or if it was just general clean up. At Downtown Disney I drew a good line with a minimal wait and a friendly security team working. Always a pleasant way to start the visit talking some football and cameras.
  • There are three big projects moving along in Downtown Disney. The first is the conversion of the former ESPN Zone into a few stores. The exterior work is progressing with new elements being added now as you will see in the pictures. Across the lawn the new Earl of Sandwich is moving along with the steel skeleton in place and scaffolding going up as they frame out the building. Across Disneyland Drive the former Tortilla Jo's demolition is very visible now with teams removing the facade and other elements now revealing the steel skeleton. They are slowly disassembling this building to retain the basement infrastructure.
  • As I walked around Disneyland I saw three popcorn buckets for sale, two for Season of the Force and Powerline Max. Sales seemed to be spotty with some being seen but no lines and not large numbers like some other buckets. Something that did seem to be selling or at least stood out as your walked around were large Winnie the Pooh hats. Seemed everywhere we looked we saw groups with the hats on. They were selling for $40 each.
  • The pavement project in the small world mall area continues with more walls and disruptions in the area. The walkway nearest Fantasyland is walled off so moving to and from Toontown is more congested as usual. it's a small world is still closed for renovation and will not be reopening until May so that helps. It was extended from April 25 to May 9th now.
  • I noticed at a few of the dining locations there is a new campaign to try and get guests to sort out there trash. The trash cans have new graphics, color schemes and there are food scrap carriers and additional signage to try and educate guests. The results seemed mix based on some observations. It will be interesting to see if this catches on or just creates more challenges.
  • Speaking of challenges for guests. I was walking through the Hungry Bear and I noticed a long line to order. It wrapped around and then started down the ramp. I noticed they only had one register open. There were a couple of cast members helping with the line. To me it seems it would be a better guest experience to have them working registers to shorten the wait time vs telling guests how to line up and wait.
  • The Disney California Adventure Food & Wine festival concludes on Monday. The lines at the marketplaces seemed on the light side. The entertainment had some people watching but it was not busy. My choice in days did not line up this year with the groups I wanted to see at the festival. Also I found it odd there was nothing on the Hollywood Land Backlot Stage on Fridays for the festival.
  • I decided to give Soarin' Over California one last flight for the season. I used the single rider queue and it worked out great for me with an under 15 minute wait. My friend who went with me was not as lucky having to wait one additional cycle and drew a seat next to someone that was larger than their seat so they were forced to share their space with them. I do enjoy this original show so much more than the Soarin' Around the World. I would like to see them re-do the film and update it with higher quality film though.
  • One of my goals was to get a better viewing angle for Shadows of Memory: A Skywalker Saga in Star Wars Galaxy's Edge. I was planning on finding a spot about half an hour before show time. We happened to be out there early about 45 minutes and found a seat to watch the crowd build. My original plan would have yielded the same spot which was near where I wanted with no problem. The show does look better ground level than from the elevated spot I watched it from opening night. Interesting the dining package does not return until May so if you camp out you can get a view on that terrace (that area was busy well before 8pm with guests waiting. I did like the 8:30pm vs 9:00pm show time. This gave time for those there for the projections only to move out before those wanting to see the fireworks arrived.
  • Closed out my evening on Main Street with Mickey's Mix Magic. We found a spot a few minutes before show time with no problem near the Cinema. The area in front of the castle and hub were crowded as usual well before 9pm but further down the street was open right until show time.

Here are some recent posts to the Geek's Blog:

Disney Related Press Releases

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

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

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