home > Curent Page columns > Geek Speaks - Index
 The Geek Speaks:

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.

11/15/24 - First Day of Christmas Season & Tiana's Bayou Adventure Opening

Hello Everyone!

I spent a full day at the Disneyland Resort Friday for the kickoff of the holiday season. I arrived as the park opened and stayed through Believe in Holiday Magic! The weather was on the cool side in the morning but pleasant in the early afternoon before becoming breezy and cool again in the evening. The crowds felt on the busier side but wait times seemed about what you would expect for this time of year.

Thoughts and Observations:

  • As I exited the freeway the traffic from the Ball Road light was backed up to the overpass, which was still closed this morning. I lucked out and made it through the light with a few cars to spare. Traffic at the tollbooths was better than last visit, maybe 2/3 the way back only. Then once on the ramp to my level traffic stopped again. They only had one lane open so it was slow going. A second lane was opened about 10 cars behind me which was frustrating watching people whiz by.
  • Opted to walk through Downtown Disney to start my morning since I had some time before the park opened. Most of the Christmas decorations are up and are the same as recent years. Nothing too different jumped out at me. There is still more to come plus an ornament hunt game. There was no line at security and it was peaceful to walk through Downtown Disney. The Monorail had a couple dozen guests queue up and they were just opening the gate when I walked by.
  • Stepped into Town Square as the rope drop announcement played. Guests were queued up for the characters as well as several merchandise releases to start the season. I strolled to the hub then out to it's a small world holiday to start my visit. A few minutes into my wait the attraction went down. After some time they cleared the queue and issued those of us that stuck around a multiple experience pass to return later. I was quite a ways back in the queue and found this a pleasant surprise.
  • Made my way over to New Orleans Square to check out the area and visit the Haunted Mansion, I picked up an early virtual queue group this morning. While walking noticed my group was called. No push notification again. The only push notifications I seem to get in the app are for mobile orders. I checked the permissions and reset and all seems right but no luck.
  • The walls have been removed from around Magnolia Park. The new area feels more open. It is too bad they opted to remove the fountain. I found it interesting the popcorn cart is moved next to the Train Station. This helped to keep the queue out of the walkway and bottleneck but it makes it harder to see/find it. The new walls diving the area from the Haunted Mansion queue seem awkward to me. There are no large walls like that around so it just feels off. Speaking of off the lights in the new park are noticeably higher and different than the rest of the area. They seem out of scale/place and will be interesting when the trees grow back.
  • I was able to keep walking to join the Haunted Mansion queue. No delays to reach the foyer and stretching room. The new queue looks to be nearing completion, but no opening date has been shared yet.
  • The walls are also down from around the Carriage House gift shop at the exit to the Haunted Mansion. The new building seems too big and out of scale for the location to me. It is also rather plain still, maybe there is more to come.
  • Tiana's Bayou Adventure officially opened today. Virtual Queue spots filled nearly instantly. There were issues and it did not open with the park. I walked by after 9am and it was still not open. I saw nothing really going on for the opening, the media events were a few days ago. There were some pins for the new attraction but nothing was dated.
  • The new Louis' Critter Club shop has opened. There are some fun details inside. The shop is well done but a very awkward transition to the Pooh Corner store it is connected to and the exterior of the building does not seem to fit the Bayou to me. Overall it seems to me the Bayou Country name for the area does not work. The new attraction and two shops fit it but the existing shops, Winnie the Pooh, Hungry Bear, Meet and Greet, Canoes and carts do not say Bayou to me at all. Leaving it Critter Country seems like it would have worked for all as the Bayou Critters fit into the area ok.
  • I returned to use my re-entry for it's a small world holiday and only had a few minute wait, where as some friends who did not waited about 45 minutes to board a boat. The attraction is festive as usual with no major changes jumping out to me on a first cruise through.
  • Holiday Fun with Santa & Friends is open daily from 10am to 5pm in the Fantasyland Theatre. You can meet Santa, Disney friends, play some games, do arts and crafts and be entertained with a rotation of performers. While I was in the area I saw Chip N Dale, Goofy, Pluto and Clarabelle rotate through. They played some shorts, had a story
    telling session and the Dickens Yuletide Band performed. Overall this worked like the old Reindeer Roundup but was lacking the charm of that location. It works and is a pleasant experience but not as great as the old one to me. I would have liked to have seen the entertainment schedule available on the app. And the 5pm closing seemed really early to me. I did enjoy seeing the Dickens band on a stage vs an awkward location on Main Street.
  • A Christmas Fantasy Parade returns again this year and has had another cut. The Toy Factory Float is not being used this year.
  •  Festival of Holidays has returned to Disney California Adventure with a number of new food and entertainment offerings following the same footprint more or less than previous years.
    • This year the entertainment groups rotate more frequently with several new ones joining the line up. Friday's groups were not high on my list. For example Tina and the Sounds of Celebration set was missing Christmas music. The first handful of songs were not Christmas or Holiday. Also this year Viva Navidad Street party is only on weekends
      most weeks. In its place there is are new Encanto and Coco shows on weekdays.
    • The Holiday Toy Drummers have returned and perform daily. The set is identical to recent years but still entertaining to watch.
    • Mickey's Happy Holidays has returned again too. It runs a trio of times daily from the gate by the Little Mermaid to Hollywood Land. I would recommend against watching it near the start. They walk out nearly single file then form up in front of the Little Mermaid. So if you are the beginning you see a single file line go by.
    • I was disappointed not to see the Viva Navidad Street Party. The show really adds to the festive feeling of the celebration. The new Encanto show does not fill that void.
  • Deadpool is extended for the holiday season and has a new show - The Story Time with Deadpool Holiday Special. I stopped by two sessions Friday and heard Twas the Night Before Christmas and a Christmas Carol. The crowd was smaller than previous Story Time shows but that may be to it not consistently showing on the schedule for some reason.
  • Mirabel's Gift of the Season takes place on weekdays in Paradise Gardens Park in front of the archway between Goofy's Sky School and the Jumpin' Jellyfish. The show features the Encanto characters and a few dancers. They perform music from the film. I was expecting more of a holiday/Christmas tie in with some music to match. The story does
    center around gifts and preparing for the holidays but the holiday portion seemed shoe horned in. The show with a few dialog and set tweaks could run anytime and actually would fit better outside the holidays in my mind.
  • I thought they missed an opportunity to plus the Buena Vista Street Tree Lighting and use the cast from the show that starts 10 minutes after the lighting to make it a grander event during the week than the basic recording.
  •  A Musical Christmas with Mariachi Alegría de Disneyland & Miguel! is a new show that takes place in Carthay Circle on weekday evenings. I thought the show was good. It offers holiday music and story telling. The staging for the show is terrible though. It is very hard to see and the rush to get a spot for the show is less than ideal. The problems
    stem from the show taking place in Carthay Circle. The band utilizes the stage five and dime uses with the rest of the performers on ground level. There is no sitting option so everyone has to stand which makes the situation less than ideal to begin with. But then add in the group processes in from Hollywood Blvd and they allow no standing there so
    they can means as soon as they pass it is a free for all to grab the spots. Hopefully they will adjust this and find a better solution so more guests can enjoy the show. I think a larger area blocked off for the show would help.
  • I went to pick up a virtual queue spot for World of Color at noon right as they were released. I received one but did not pay attention to it assuming it was for the first show, since it was right at noon. A friend nearby who got theirs at the same time said it was the 10:15pm show. I checked and saw the same. Everyone I talked to had 10:15. This
    seemed odd. The first show never fills up that fast. Later in the afternoon someone said they received a notice of a show time change. I looked and had no notice but my virtual queue changed to the 9pm show. Seems Disney had a technical problem. I found it annoying they did not notify me though. An e-mail and notice in the app would have been
    helpful or I may not have noticed the change and potentially missed the show.
  • A new Moana 2 pre-show debuted Friday evening. It features some music and clips from the upcoming film to promote its release. I always enjoy these uses of the show platform and the little plus it brings to those waiting. Like previous pre shows it runs a few minutes before show time and leads directly into the show. I did not see any mention of it on
    the app though which I thought was a missed opportunity. It should have said it on the virtual queue page to remind you to get there earlier and more promotion for the film.
  • World of Color - Season of Light returned Friday and is entertaining as always. I did not notice any significant changes in my first viewing of the season.
  • As I exited DCA it was a couple minutes until the start of the fireworks and no lines across the Esplanade at Disneyland so I thought I would give it a try and see what I could see. As I passed through the train tunnel the show started. I walked up to near the Christmas tree and it was too crowded and late to try and squeeze in so I doubled back
    and watched from Town Square with an obstructed view (the Christmas Tree blocked the center of the show). The train station itself was closed so had to watch from ground level.

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
Back to previous page

 

Quick Note

Check out the geek speaks archive for past updates.

 

Important Notes

Hey, think you may be a disneygeek? If you think you have what it takes to be a disneygeek, you may be able to become a special guest columnist! If you want information on becoming a special guest coumnist, write to us here and we will get back to you...