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Visit Date: 3/14/08
Steps: 18,166
Parks Miles: 8.31
Time in Parks: 8

 

Trip Log:

Started off this mild afternoon heading for Calfiornia Adventure. Walked down the parade route and out to the Pier area. Walked around by Screamin and then around Toy Story Mania (the walkway is open again). I stopped by the Sun Wheel and the line was longer than what I had the patience to wait for so I kept on going past the Orange Stinger and back to the Bay Area. Strolled by GRR, stopping to take some pictures of the new bridge, then continued on through Condor Flats and down the Backlot. Made the loop and then waited to see if there was any shot of making it into the 2:30 Playhouse Disney. There was not, I was too late. So I walked over to the Grand Californian to take pictures of the work going on there, then out to Downtown Disney, and over to Disneyland. Wandered down Main Street USA, stopping for pictures at Bob Gurrs new window, then the Lineboard before finding my way into Adventureland. The Jungle Cruise line was too long for me, so I continued on to NOS. I noticed the Mark Twain was in port so I headed over there and went for a trip around the Rivers of America. Once back on the mainland I headed for Fantasyland by way of the Big Thunder Trail. Circled through Fantasyland and then out toward Toontown. Walked through Toontown then doubled back to the train station and hopped on to get to Tomorrowland (and by pass the parade). I next headed up to the Monorail for a round trip ride then decided it was time for dinner so walked past the Matterhorn, through the Castle to Fantasyland and grabbed a pizza at the Village Haus. After dinner walked back through the Castle and out to Main Street. Strolled down the street behind the Disneyland band and then stopped to watch the Flag Retreat. After the ceremony it was time to head over to DCA and find a spot for the Pixar Play Parade. I watched it from the Esplanade and then cut through Condor Flats, around GRR, and along the Parade route and managed to beat it to the end of the parade and was able to watch it again from near the Maliboomer. After the parade walked over to the Sun Wheel and went for a trip around the sun. After my trip I walked by Toy Story mania and then around to the Bay Area. I decided to head back to Disneyland, so walked around GRR, through Condor Flats and over to Disneyland. Walked down Main Street and checked out the line board and then went to Tomorrowland. Caught a part of the Steller set at Tomorrowland Terrace before going into Innoventions. Then headed back through the hub and over to Adventureland. Went for a trip through the Jungles on the Jungle Cruise and once back in civiliation went back to DCA for some night shots of the Toy Story work. After taking my fill of pictures it was back to Disneyland. I looped through Tomorrowland and then through Adventureland and out to NOS to find a spot for Fantasmic. After the show I joined the masses exiting the park and hopped a tram back to the car and headed home.

Other Interesting Stats:
* Actual Walking Time: 3:09:41
* 95 steps per minute average
* 2.62 mph average


For Comparisons to other trips or more park miles click here to visit our park Miles Section.

Note: These totals may be skewed because the pedometer is zero'd when we start and then left alone and read when we leave. So attractions, and other things may cause extra "steps" to be counted. The pedometer that we use basically measures up/down motion as a step, so if your standing in line and moving up and down it may be counting steps, etc.. so the total distances traveled and steps may be off.. so use these as rough distance comparisons between trips and they may not be accurate in terms of actual distance traveled.

Pictures & Video From this Trip:


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My Thoughts & Observations:

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

Hello everyone,

Friday was a pleasant afternoon/evening at the Disneyland Resort. The weather was on the cooler side and the crowds seemed a little lighter than I was anticipating. I would have thought with it being Spring Break Season and ok weather it would be much more crowded. For example Nemo was under an hour for a good portion of the afternoon. Over at DCA there seemed to be a lot of people walking around, but the attraction lines were just a bit above average (wonder if this is because of people using the second day of their 2fer promotion).

Jason

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

Disneyland & DCA Thoughts and Observations:

  • The tram I took to get to the parks today was one of the newly retrofitted ones with the speakers on the cars pointing outward. It does make it much easier to hear the CMs and the tram announcements as its pulling into the stop.

  • I stopped by Playhouse Disney a couple times and the lines were quite long and I was too impatient to wait, so on a later trip I will have to pay a visit to check out the new show. If anyone has gone and has some pictures/thoughts to share drop me an email so I can post the information.

  • I went for a ride on the Disneyland Monorail to see if I could spot the new one back in the round house. I was able to catch a brief glimpse of it but my picture did not come out. It was all the way back in the round house.

  • As you saw in the pictorial update I was able to catch the Pixar Play Parade from two locations (this was done by walking rather quickly from one spot to the other and I made it with less than a minute to spare...). Overall I thought the parade was good. I would not call it an instant classic or anything along those lines, but I did think it was entertaining. This is the first parade in a while at the Disneyland Resort that does not have a stop in it. Its a traditional parade in that respect. I thought the crowd that assembled for the parade was pretty good too, it will be interesting to see if it can hold the people or if this was a combination of Spring Break and the Premiere that lead to it.

  • A word of warning to people watching the parade, heed the pre-parade warning that you will get wet. There is quite a bit of water, bubbles, etc.. that come toward you, not to mention beach balls (which managed to hit me a couple of times). Some of the water is controlled by CMs and they are fairly careful if they see you have a camera, but other streams come from the floats and those seem to be random. Overall I do not see the thrill of getting wet all the time, I guess in the 100 degree weather of July and August it may be nice but for those of us who enjoy taking pictures it makes it a real hassle to worry about the water and we end up not enjoying the parade or focussing on it as I found myself planning a shot, un covering the camera, snapping pictures, then covering it again. I would like to see a toned down version.. maybe one where only the first couple rows get wet.

  • I managed to time it right and get to the Sun Wheel before the masses from the parade arrived. When I walked down the ramp there were about 3-4 carloads in front of me. By the time I got on the line had stretched up the exit ramp quite a ways. I also found it interesting the CM asked if I'd be ok if they put another group in with me, what was interesting is usually they never ask.. they either just pair you up or let you go. (Of course I said no problem)...

  • I had heard/read of some changes to Fantasmic so I stopped by to see the show Friday night. The light towers have new lights and overall the lighting effects during the show are great. The lights seem much brighter, sharper, cleaner and there are some new projections onto the stage that are great plusses. With every plus comes a minus it seems and the finale fireworks have been scaled back a bit and I miss all the shells that would go off, but I can see how eliminating them would help with the smoke problems and probably save some money too. Here is a link from a fan of the site that took some video last week: YouTube Video of Fantasmic Finale;

  • The tram stop for the Mickey and Friends trams was probably close to the most crowded I have seen it. The line was stretching back down the ramp toward World of Disney. The reason for this seemed to be the trifecta of DCA closing, Fantasmic letting out, and Remember being canceled all about the same time. I decided to walk so I started down the trail and I noticed they were letting you board at the second tram stop (the one closest to Naples) so I hopped on a tram with no wait at all and saved myself the long walk.

  • Monday I came across the 2007 Theme Park Attendance Report by Themed Entertainment Association/ Economics Research Associates (Click here for the PDF) The report shows Disney parks in the Top 8 spots World Wide with Florida's Magic Kingdom leading the way followed by Disneyland and Tokyo Disneyland. The Disney Parks:

    1 MAGIC KINGDOM at Walt Disney World, Lake Buena Vista, FL, USA 17,060,000
    2 DISNEYLAND, Anaheim, CA, USA 14,870,000
    3 TOKYO DISNEYLAND, Tokyo, Japan 13,906,000
    4 TOKYO DISNEYSEA, Tokyo, Japan 12,413,000
    5 DISNEYLAND PARIS, Marne-La-Vallee, France 12,000,000
    6 EPCOT at Walt Disney World, Lake Buena Vista, FL, USA 10,930,000
    7 DISNEY'S HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS at Walt Disney World, Lake Buena V 9,510,000
    8 DISNEY'S ANIMAL KINGDOM at Walt Disney World, Lake Buena Vista, FL 9,490,000
    13 DISNEY'S CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE, Anaheim, CA, USA 5,680,000
    21 HONG KONG DISNEYLAND, Hong Kong, SAR, China 4,150,000
    Note: The Disney Studios in Paris did not make the top 25.

    On the water parks side the two Walt Disney World parks took the top spots:
    1 Typhoon Lagoon, Orlando, FL 2,080,000
    2 Blizzard Beach, Orlando, FL 1,910,000



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

Pictures & Video From this Trip:


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