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

Hello all,

What a great day at the parks, really the first "summer" day this year that I can remember visiting Disneyland on. The park looks incredible, the 50th celebration is in full swing, and there were several new things to see around the parks. The crowds seemed a bit on the heavy side, but still no really long waits for the attractions we wanted to visit.

Jason

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

Disneyland:

• My first stop was the Disneyland First 50 Magical Years display and film in the Main Street Opera House. I thought the displays in the lobby were really interesting and the concept art, model, and other items on display were great. The film was just ok, not sure why. The old footage from the 50s and 60s was great to see, but overall it just did not engage me. I thought the appearances by Donald were entertaining, but the film was still missing something. Not sure what though.. guess I will have to go back and watch it again to see..

• I found two kiosks to help locate your pictures in the Happiest Faces on Earth Photo Mosaics. My understanding is that the catalog is not complete yet. I found a handful of hits for my submissions, all in the Steamboat Willie one. Even with the directions I was unable to locate any of mine, guess it was because I was trying to do it quickly, next trip I will spend some more time on it. I know two of them are un-reachable because they are in the first and second row (which is way up on top under a curtain even). Also found it interesting that the new guidebooks feature smilie faces marking the locations of the mosaics around the park.

• The new exhibit in the Disney Gallery was great too. I really do enjoy the concept art, and the Gallery was not busy at all so it was a pleasurable trip. I did find it a bit annoying that in the large room the center cases had Walt Disney Classics pieces in them instead of display items.

• I am finding the hidden 50s to be a great challenge. I think we are up to just shy of 40 spotted and photographed now. I overheard several other guests doing the same.

• The Walt Disney Parade of Dreams was good. I think the show stops are a bit long and really lead to a long wait for the parade to arrive since we were near the end. The detail on the floats harkened back to the Disneyland of old. The music loops but each unit has a distinct soundtrack of its own too. So its not as repetitive as the past couple of parades.

• It amazes me at how rude some guests are. I know it should not since we have encountered quite a few over the years. We waited patiently along Main Street for the parade to arrive (on the sunny side of the street for nearly 45 minutes). As the parade rounded the corner the family sitting next to me decided to stand up. Not a problem, usually people do this, snap the picture and sit down or move to the back. Well this one did not do that. The rather large mother stood the entire parade with her body out in the street for most of it blocking the upcoming floats from view for myself and the other people on the curb. The children of the family were standing out in the street for much of the parade and several times Cast Members came by to push them back. This one family made viewing the parade more difficult for several of the groups around me. I manage to lean around and get some pictures, but it was just plain rude the way they acted.

• We caught Block Party Bash from the Sun Plaza. It was great to be in the middle and have the parade on three sides of you. The parade itself is a really up beat performance by the Pixar Characters and other performers. The Floats were interesting and really played to the movie images quite well. Overall the visuals were great. The parade still lacked something. We found ourselves about half way through the parade stop wonder what would be next. Since this was the big DCA contribution to the 50th celebration we found it a bit lacking. Also we were surprised not to see the Incredibles in the parade. We caught up with the parade again at the second parade stop by the Bay Area and the crowd was considerably thinner there and I would venture to guess much thinner at the third and final stop.

• Our last ride of the evening was on the Jungle Cruise. The attraction was down a couple times when we walked by, not sure what was going on or causing the problem. When we went on the golden vehicle was not operating and another boat had a tech on it with a flashlight. There were several changes to the scenes along the way, most not too big, but noticeable. It was dark, so it was hard to tell some of the changes, but overall the sets and animals all looked great and all seemed to be moving. What a great change. So now some of the changes that we noticed. The Baboon family now leads the way to the Gorilla camp. The camp scene itself is now much more engaging with guns firing, explosions, and some great sound effects. The gorilla that used to play with the alligator now is reaching for bananas on a box of explosives. Further along the rapids have been replaced with a new effect, piranhas. At the conclusion, Trader Sam got a makeover and now has a baby elephant with him. The spiel seemed slightly changed, but not too much.

• We saved the best for last. We caught the Remember.. Dreams Come True fireworks spectacular. I thought it would be hard to top believe, but the E-Ticket segment in the middle of the show is nothing short of incredible, a great trip down memory lane. Only compliant I have is I thought it relied too heavily on the Wishes music from Florida and would have liked to have seen the new theme song have fireworks vs. being just an exit tune. The new flight path Tinkerbell takes looks great too. Looks like a similar flight rig as the magic carpet in Aladdin uses, or at least that is what jumped to mind watching it go. The multiple launch points around the park really make the show impressive. Not sure if it was just our ears, but the sound track with seemed to be "surround" sound for the most part.. for example when the train announcement played we could have sworn it came from down Main Street, a very great effect. This will definite pack in the crowds for the for seeable future.

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