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

Hello all,

The rains cleared and we were finally able to make it down to the Disneyland Resort. We spent all day (well 8:30am -> 10:00pm) at the parks. It was our first full day in quite a while. The crowds were heavy, which was to be expected with the several weeks of rain and then the great weather. Still by taking advantage of the early morning, having a light agenda, using fastpass, and some luck we still managed to see everything we wanted to and then some with the longest wait being 15 minutes all day for us. Most waits for the few open E-Tickets were over an hour. With Indy being 70 minutes and Soarin' too.

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

Disneyland & DCA:

• The longest line of the day we waited in was the line to get into Disneyland. It stretched almost to the center of the Esplanade and moved a snails pace. Once queued up we counted the open gates and then the lines and noticed there was a difference, there was a much shorter line that broke off just beyond the monorail tracks. So we walked up and got in that one (cut the wait time in a third almost). We were surprised that it took almost 5 minutes before anyone got in line behind us, kind of strange, but it just goes to show that if you look around you may surprise yourself with what you find.

• We noticed that there are now new park tickets. They feature one character on the front as well as the 50th logo and it says coming soon. The back was the same more or less. The park guide maps are also new. Disneyland's features a stylized old Disneyland sign and a picture sketch of the Matterhorn (I believe its the same as the old attraction poster), along with the tagline "Race Thru Alpine Passes and Ice Caverns in Matterhorn Bobsleds".. then at the bottom it says Fantasyland and says "Part of the Disneyland 50th Anniversary Magic"... DCA's has some artwork depicting a plane flying over the golden gate with the sun in the background. it lists the "lands". Overall they look great!. Two other notes. Buzz is listed in a balloon saying coming in Spring and Space Mountain is labeled to Open in 2005. Also their is a full panel ad for Annual Passes featuring the new campaign. (If anyone is interested I can scan them in and post them to the site, just drop me an email disneygeek@disneygeek.com).

• Many of the painting projects are wrapping up and just as many are starting. Tomorrowland has some of the tarps down and the new "Blue" paint scheme is clearly visible around the Buzz attraction. I think it looks ok (not a fan of blue due to my 10 year association with USC) but it looks better than peeling gold. At least its clean and fresh looking.

• As you saw in the pictorial update there is now a gold railing on the upper level of the castle that is broken into three section (one on each flank and the middle). It really stands out. We were with several people who had not been to the park in a while and they all commented on the railing wanting to know if it was there before because it looked "strange".. best way to describe it was out of scale and that it drew your eye for some reason..

• We caught the first showing of Billy Hill and the guys were on a roll. Laughed more than I had at the last half dozen shows combined. Also interesting to note, they held the show for about 5 minutes (well for a couple then Billy came out and stalled) until a group of "VIPs" came in and were seated in the front... may have been a tour group, but not sure.

• As you saw in the pictorial update Buzz looked just about ready to go on the outside. Overheard some guests with printouts talking about an invited preview, but never saw anyone enter the attraction in our several trips by. We did see Tony Baxter roaming around Main Street, so maybe there was some truth to the murmurs.

• We saw the final moments and the conclusion procession of the Sleeping Beauty Royal Celebration. The crowd seemed rather large for the show. Actually if the other performance plus the Mickey character show had the same crowd I would venture to guess more guests saw them than saw the Parade of the Stars when it was still running.

• Talk to a couple CMs at Indy and they all said that the single rider line is gone for good. That's too bad, I thought it was an ok system and was sure better than waiting in that slow moving standby line.

• Was sitting in the Plaza Inn's dining area munching on a corn dog and all of a sudden the closing spiel started.. it got as far as "Disneyland has concluded its normal...." then was cut off. Kind of funny, most did not seem to notice it.

• While waiting to enter Innoventions noticed on the CM white board by the load platform that there was a note to "not advertise" the Segways anymore... that was kind of surprising. Wonder if they are phasing them out or because of the long wait times.. anyone know?

• I finally got to talk to Stitch on his videophone in Innoventions. I thought it was an ok experience. Stitch talked a little too fast at times and I had to concentrate to listen. I could only image how hard it would be if two or three people were there and not just one. The photo card that directs you to the website for your picture was a nice touch. As with many of the cool things in Innoventions the capacity is so low and no one really knows what it is so cannot believe it stays running.

• Caught the new talking trashcan in Tomorrowland, well managed to hear him say goodbye and wheel away. There was a good size crowd of guests around watching...

• Caught a set of Elvis and a set of Stompy Jones in the evening. Both were great as usual. Elvis drew a healthy crowd over at Club Buzz, which was good to see.

• Fantasmic was crowded, but not overly crowded. I was surprised to hear the message that the show was full.

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