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

Hello all,

Overall it was a great Sunday at the parks. We spent the first few hours of the trip at Disneyland then the rest at DCA for the Primetime Preview Weekend. Disneyland was uncrowded due to it being a Sunday morning in an off season period. It was great they opened the gates 30 minutes early for Main Street shopping (they did not do this a few months ago when we were there for opening, my guess is because it was a 9am opening this time instead of 8am). It was also a surprise to see that Great Moments was open and you could watch the show before park opening and be done in time for the rope drop. Wish they would have "advertised" it a bit more, it only had about a dozen or so guests in the showing..

Trip logs and mileage reports are in thePark Miles section.

Disneyland:

• The projects going on around the park are in full swing with contruction walls everywhere and large sections of the park blocked off or covered up. Its great to see all the work being done.

• Learned that they do not open Snow White until an hour or so after opening, I wanted to ride to see if anything is noticable since it was down for rehab. The exterior looks fresh and touched up.

• The annual rehab project for Matterhorn this year includes replacing the pavement on the walkway from Tomorrowland to Fantasyland.. one of the few remaining spots in the park that does not have pavers yet.

• As you saw from the pictorial update the walls around Buzz have been extended out and the Pin shop closed to become the ride exit shop.

DCA:

• Ate lunch at Whitewater snacks and were shocked to see the increase in prices almost across the board now. With several other little changes, which are too bad. For example the price of softdrinks went up a little, and they removed the option to get a small size.. also the signs no longer say you can have refills (everyone seemed to be doing it and no CM comments). Why would they have to nickel and dime the guests more.. this was one of the most "economical" Disney places to grab a bite.

• Also note they were being much more strick as to who could use the Grand Californian's entrance into DCA.. wonder if this is a new policy or because of all the ABC stars staying at the resort. They were not going to let us use the entrance, even though we ate at White Water.. I would be very ticked if I went to a nice restaurant say the Napa Rose and they gave me a hard time about getting back into the park.

• We were kind of surprised that at around 10:30 there were no guests in the wharf area. We walked through, took the bread tour, and were the only people there besides CMs.

ABC Primetime Preview Weekend:

• The crowds seemed less than in years past. We were able to get good seats/places/etc.. without much effort or waiting in the hot sun. This seemed to be the case all day long.. even for the screenings in Golden Dreams lining up 20 minutes before the start put you in the first 50 people.

• For two Screenings (Complete Savages and Rodney) we were choosen to be in the "focus group" to be "dial people". Meaning we got to hold dials in our hands and if we liked what we were watching turn it to the positive, if not then the negative. It was interesting.. wish they would have let us see the results. The other positive was you got to go in first, which meant less waiting in the line in the sun.

• There seemed to be quite a few ABC stars and their families roaming both parks, even many stars who did not have any offical roles to play on Sunday stuck around from Saturday and were touring the parks. For the most part it looked like the regular park guests were leaving them alone too.. just some pointing and picture taking..

• Overall I was diappointed in this years showing. There was no Belushi, no live shows, several of the Q&As overlapped with screenings we wanted to see, no Sports offerings, only one photospot and that was in a traffic choke point area, the press area was complete blocked off from view or listening, no merchandise that we say besides some for specific shows, and it seemed a lot of the shows on Saturday and Sunday being left overs.. for example the photo location had 9 shows on Saturday and only four on Sunday. The Q&A was 5 Sat and 4 Sunday.

• I thought the kids area was much more developed and had a lot more to do this year than years past.

• We attended the Sunday parade and really thought it was lacking. First off all the cars were the same, no variety this year and it seemed short. Not even all the stars that were there for the day showed up for the parade for example the Growing Pains movie had three of the stars at the photo op, but only one in the parade.

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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