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

Hello all,

I had a great opportunity to attend a preview of the Summer Nightastic events at the Disneyland Resort today. Before the festivities started I had a few hours and roamed the parks to see what was going on. Overall I thought the parks were fairly crowded given it was a Thursday in early June and there were reduced hours (DCA closed at 6pm and Disneyland at 9pm). Wait times for most of the E-Ticket attractions were pushing an hour. This was also the first time in quite a few years that I had been at the parks after midnight...

Jason

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

Disneyland & DCA Thoughts and Observations:

• Due to the late evening I had planned and Grad Nite (so no trams were to be running later in the evening) I parked at Downtown Disney and walked through the Disneyland Resort Hotels on my way to the parks. I thought it was interesting to see the new balcony/color test above the Fantasia store. I cannot remember a project where they have done so many test areas and left them out in public view for so long as these. Its been several months since the first rooms were tweaked and now another one.
  
  
• I went on the Fun Wheel and since no one was with me and the CMs were looking for small groups to put together I cut a 30 minute wait in half almost. I wonder if the longer than usual waits for the Fun Wheel are because of the new queue signage, the makeover, Annual Passholders wanting to give it a try, people curious about the construction, or just increased traffic in the area so more people wanting to ride? I kind of wish it would go back to the near walk on status, it made getting pictures much easier to have your own gondola and not have to devote 20-30 minutes to get the elevated view.
  
  
• Stopped by Innoventions again to get a view of the new planters/fountain area in Tomorrowland (wonder if its still called Cosmic Waves). I still think its ridiculous that they only seemed to be loading one or two pods. I just missed a pod and had to wait over 10 minutes for the next available one (which I think was the fourth or fifth one to come around, I lost track...). Seems they could load ones on opposite sides or something to make the waits not as long.
  
  
• Stopped by Peter Pan (but was not willing to wait the 30-45 minutes that were posted the times I walked by) to see what had changed since the latest rehab. The exterior looked great though. Currently Snow White is down and I read/heard that they will be cycling through the other dark rides in Fantasyland over the coming weeks/months.
  
  
• The reason for me being at the park on a Thursday afternoon/evening was to attend the Summer Nightastic media event. This started at 7:00pm at the Tomorrowland Terrace Dance Club (TLT Dance Club) with dinner and a brief concert. For the summer they have added a couple LCD screens as well as an MC that comes out throughout the evening to interact with the crowd and give away prizes. There are also some extra signs and props for the festivities. Other than that the club is still the same as its been (which is great). The menu has stayed the same too, I did not see any substantial changes there. For more information on the TLT Dance Club as well as a schedule of the radio stations and performers click here for the press release Looking at the schedule I was a little disappointed to see Scot Bruce (Elvis) was not on the agenda, guess for the Dance club they are shooting for a younger demographic...
  
  
• Magical was next on the agenda and we had spots near the center of Main Street near Coke Corner. The new show features a sound track that goes through several Disney films. As you saw in the pictorial update one of the new elements of the show is Dumbo takes flight during the Baby Mine segment. There are also still projections on the castle throughout the show as well as some great new spotlight effects. Magical uses less launch points from within the park than Remember did, but several Fantasyland attractions as well as Toontown are closed down before and during the show, so keep that in mind. I enjoyed the show and know I will see it several more times this summer, but I kind of missed the E-Ticket in the sky segment of Remember. I really enjoyed the tour of the park as a way to wrap up and end your day at the Resort. The Wishes segments of Remember always bothered me a bit (I am not a huge fan of the WDW show and when the song was re-used here it just never sat right with me). For all you Disney film buffs out there though I am guessing you will really enjoy this new show. The finale also features confetti which is shot off of the roofs on Main Street as well as the Small World Mall light Towers. From where we were it was hard to see this. (Note: I went back Friday night and watched from a better location so I have comments in the next Geekspeaks on that). For more information on Magical click here for the press release.
  
  
• Fantasmic was next. Unfortunately the new dragon is not ready for prime time and will not be in the show for the next few weeks. They said it will hopefully debut by mid-summer. So the new elements are the crocodile from Peter Pan as well as Flotsam and Jetsam. If you have not seen the show recently in the past year or so they have debuted many other tweaks to the show such as new HD projectors, different lighting effects, etc... Overall I thought the two new additions were great for us Disneygeeks and for the average guest they do add a little to the show to keep it moving along (I always thought with the Ursula unit gone the last several years that section dragged on a bit, but the eels do the trick nicely and are better in my opinion than the original figure. I was a little disappointed that Flotsam and Jetsam just make one pass from right to left and the move around a little but I was expecting more.. but then again given the tight time constraints, their size and the size of the river I guess you are really limited in what can be done. As for the dragon missing several of us commented that if you did not know there was a dragon during that segment and if the new one had not been hyped so much you would have still walked away with a great experience. For those that have never seen the show before I would guess they would walk away impressed and with a good impression of the show. The dragon will be a plus that puts it over the top, which is what you expect from Disney, but still its a great show. For more information on Fantasmic click here for the press release.
  
  
• Our last stop of the evening was DCA to see the Electrical Parade. I was listening very intently to the new soundtrack and it does seem crisper and cleaner but for most guests I do think they will pick up on the minor tweaks. The new lead float featuring Tinkerbell is impressive and extremely bright. I kind of missed the Blue Fairy though, guess I am a traditionalist. I would have really liked to have seen both the Blue Fairy as well as Dumbo Circus units still in the parade. It was great to see some that have been gone for quite a while, the Dwarfs Mine and Pinocchio units The Pixie Dust effect was interesting to watch how it was integrated (well really overlaid) onto the floats. They did add more movement and light to the units. The smaller enhancements throughout the parade were interesting to note too, such as the new skull on the Peter Pan unit or the cat on the Alice unit. I thought these all blended in and looked great. Wonder how much of this the average day guest or the once a year local will pick up on? For more information on the parade click here for the press release.
  
  
• I had a great evening at the Disneyland Resort and really enjoyed the opportunity to see all the Summer Nightastic entertainment. Based on what I saw and the heavy promotion of the event I would expect the crowds at the Disneyland Resort this summer to be heavy as usual.
  
  
• A couple other interesting notes that I could not take pictures of due to the nature of them or the timing:
  • As we were walking out of the park after Fantasmic they were setting up for Gradnite. This year they had several Honda cars parked on Main Street. Both in Town Square and the Hub. I thought this was an interesting marketing idea and it makes sense from the Honda perspective that these recent grads are part of their key demographic. But I thought seeing a modern car parked in Town Square, even for an after hours event, just bothered me... but then again I am sure if you add in the pounding music and thousands of high school grads it works perfectly.
  • DCA was hosting a Blast Off Party (or pre-grad night celebration) and there were some grads moving around the park, they were treated to the Electrical Parade and many seemed to really enjoy it. I thought the crowd looked rather sparse, anyone know the regular attendance for these pre-parties? I am guessing most of the kids were in line for attractions but the crowd was nothing like what you run into at the full Gradnite at Disneyland.
  • Learned they turned off the background music at the Grand Californian at midnight (or at least did when we were walking out that way). It was kind of weird to be walking along past the pool then it went silent.
  • Downtown Disney was very subdued also at that hour with just a handful of people walking through. I am guessing since it was a weeknight and the parks had closed hours before (DCA over 6 hours and Disneyland 3 hours by the time we walked through that also was a factor).

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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