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Visit Date: 5/16/08
Steps: 13,004
Parks Miles: 6.15
Time in Parks: 8

 
Trip Log:

Started off this hot Southern California day (the car said 100 degrees when I got off the freeway) heading for DCA. I was taking pictures of the work on the Sun fountain when I caught a glimpse of the new Monorail red going by the Golden Gate Bridge, so I reversed course and headed for Disneyland. Walked down Main Street, circled by the castle and then out toward Tomorrowland. The new Mark VII was just pulling out of the station so I had a few minutes and walked over to Buzz to grab a Fastpass and then back up to the Monorail platform to get some pictures. It is not open to the public to ride in yet, so pictures from the platform is the best I could do. After getting my fill of shots I walked around Matterhorn and out to Small World, then on to Toontown. Walked through Fantasyland and around the Big Thunder trail to Adventureland. Noticed no line for the Jungle Cruise so went for a ride. Once back headed over to DCA. Walked through the farm area and out to Fliks Fun Fair, made the loop and then continued on through the farm, wharf, and out to the Pier. Walked over to Toy Story Mania where some of the walls are down. You can now visit the gift shop as well as the new ODV structure and shade structures. Went for a trip around the sun on the Sun Wheel and then finished the loop of the Pier. When I got around to the Bay Area, Golden Dreams had just opened its doors, so I stopped by to see the show, and take in some A/C. After the show walked by GRR, grabbing some shots of the on going work, then over to the Grand Californian for the DVC work. Walked through Downtown Disney and back to Disneyland. Roamed Main Street for a while, grabbed some water, then found a spot for the Flag Retreat. After the ceremony it was over to DCA for dinner at Taste Pilots Grill then the Pixar Play Parade. After the parade walked down the backlot, hopped on Monsters since it was a walk on, then circled back and stopped in the Animation Building. Then it was back to Disneyland. Walked out to Tomorrowland and hiked up to Innoventions. Made the circle then walked up to see the Monorail again before deciding to take the train to NOS to avoid some of the parade traffic. Once I disembarked the train I realized there was no line for the Haunted Mansion so I decided to visit with the ghosts for a while. Then I continued on to Critter Country before walking back along the River and over to New Orleans Square. Walked through Frontierland and back to Tomorrowland. Stopped by the Star Trader, had some time to kill so used the Fastpass for Buzz, then caught a couple songs at the Tomorrowland Terrace, Stellar was performing. Saw Monorail Red was still out so grabbed a couple pictures as the sun was setting then headed over to DCA. Walked through Bugs again (the coldest drinking fountain I found was there) then out to the Pier. Walked by Midway Mania then doubled back and around to find a spot for the Electrical Parade. Watched some of the parade then headed for the tram back to the garage. Caught the fireworks from there before heading home.

Other Interesting Stats:
* Actual Walking Time: 3:01:39
* 71 steps per minute average
* 2.03 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 all,

Friday was an early taste of summer as the temperature crept up to the 100s in Southern California. My car read 100 as I got off the freeway, but it cooled down to a mild 94 degrees in the parking structure.. The crowds around both parks were mild. I think a combination of the time of year and the heat kept them at bay. Most wait times were well under an hour, except for Nemo, Splash Mountain, etc.. I managed to walk on several attractions (Jungle Cruise during the afternoon, Monsters Inc, Haunted Mansion) which was nice.

Jason

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

Disneyland & DCA Thoughts and Observations:

  • My parking lucky streaks ended at one... this time I was stuck on the far side of the garage about 10 cars from the end of a row, so it was a good hike to the escalators. Also I noticed that the parking prices had gone up another dollar, so its now $12 to park your car.

  • As you saw in the pictorial update the new Mark VII Monorail Red was out and cycling for the afternoon and on into the evening. They are still testing and the CM says they are day to day with it. Overall I thought the monorail looked good. I would call it an evolutionary, not revolutionary change from the old Mark Vs that Disneyland had. The monorail sounded a bit louder than the old ones, wonder if it has A/C in it? I noticed the windows were all open, and they only open a little, not like the old ones that opened quite a bit. My guess is this was done so you cannot stick anything out them. The horn sounded about the same, guess you cannot mess with the classic sound. At night it appeared the interior light package was not on, or at least I could not tell it was from the ground. I was surprised they stuck with the individual door buttons to close them. I figured they would have gone to a central control like WDW has. I talked to a couple CMs and they said they thought the paint job on the new Monorail Blue was a little better and you could really tell the color shift with the light. They said blue is still a ways away as they have cables everywhere and are still working on wiring it.

  • This was my first time on the Jungle Cruise during the day in quite a while. I walked by and saw no line so decided to give it a spin. It is a different perspective during the day... I enjoy both of course. The boat I was on was quite dead, not sure if it was the heat, the time of day or what, but the guests just seemed to star off into the jungle.

  • Since it was hot I stopped at several drinking fountains throughout the visit and based on my experience the one in Fliks Fun Fair nearest the telephones was the coldest of either park. The Toontown Goofy Water one was second.

  • I find it a little interesting that the new Toy Story attraction seems to have a bit of an identity crisis. On the merchandise it is Toy Story Mania. On the sign its Toy Story Midway Mania and in the guidemaps its Toy Story Midway Mania. From what I have seen Florida has similar issues too.

  • The Pixar Play Parade at the Disney Electrical Parade both started late (the Pixar Parade they made an announcement about the delay even), no reason for either and both seemed to run as usual once they stepped off.


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
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