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Visit Date: 02/12/10
Steps: 23,300
Parks Miles: 8.8
Time in Parks: 9

 
Trip Log:

Parked in the Mickey and Friends garage and then walked over to Disneyland Hotel to check out the progress on the rennovation. Walked around the Dreams Tower and then strolled through Downtown Disney on my way to DCA. Walked down the the Parade Route, through the winery area, and then out to the Pier. Spent some time taking pictures of the World of Color Progress as I worked my way around to the Fun Wheel. Went for a spin (after a 20 minute wait) and then continued on around to the SS Rustworthy. By the time I made my way to the Zephyr it was closed due to the wind (or at least guessing it was wind related) so I contined on and walked through the Wharf, Farm,and into Bugsland. Took the new path to Tower and then walked through the Backlot back to the entrance. Headed over to Disneyland. Roamed down Main Street and over to the newly opened Frontierland bridge to get some pictures. Circled the bridge and then walked through Frontierland and over to Pirates. Took some pictures of the River then found a spot for the Mardi Gras Celebration. After the show I wanted to take the train, but it was closed so I walked through NOS, Adventureland and over to Tomorrowland. Grabbed a Fastpass for Buzz then went to check out the Captain E-O progress. Not too much visible yet.. circled around the area and stopped at the Starcade to check out the new floor, then headed for Toontown. Made my circle there and walked back through Fantsyland, around the Big Thunder Trail, and out to Critter Country. Turned around and headed back to the Railroad which was now open. Had to wait three trains and then rode to Toontown. Hiked through the park and to Town Square for the Flag Retreat. After the ceremony headed for DCA again and dinner at Taste Pilots, then strolled around GRR and out to the Pier. Saw the Zephyr was running so walked over there and went for a spin. Then headed back to Disneyland to catch the Volunteers Cavalcade. Stopped by Great Moments to celebrate Lincolns 201 birthday. Then worked my way through the Street Party traffic jam/stopped walkways and into Tomorrowland to use my Buzz Fastpass. Strolled by Captain E-O again and then caught the end of the 80s All Starz set before heading back to DCA. Hiked out to the Pier to see what was going on with World of Color. It looked like they were setting up for some testing, so I hung around for a while. Not much was happening so walked over to the Zephyr and around by the Fun Wheel and Toy Story before finding my way back the area by Ariels. They started to do some testing so headed over to the bridge for a better view. Watched them cycle through lights and fountains for a good hour then headed for the park exit. Caught Disneylands fireworks as I was leaving then hopped on the tram back to the garage, car, and home.

Other Interesting Stats:
* Moderate Walking Stats (meaning over 2.5mph): 17,989 steps, 155 minutes.


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:

Hello all,

Friday kicked off the Presidents day weekend. With most people off on Monday and several schools having Friday off too I was anticipating the parks to be crowded. They did not disappoint. The crowds at both parks were heavy.. I would say Summer heavy, not Christmas heavy. The wait times we up near an hour for many attractions. There were longer than usual wait times for other attractions too, for example it took 3 trains before I managed to get onto the Disneyland RR in NOS.

Jason

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

Disneyland & DCA Thoughts and Observations:

  • I was pleasantly surprised to find the parking situation was smooth, guess I had great timing. I was directed to one of the first couple of rows on the 5th floor of the garage. Looked like the 3rd and 4th floors were filled. Also kind of odd the surface lot was almost completely empty. I guess they filled the outer lots first? It took me only about 15 minutes from when I got off the freeway till I was walking to the Disneyland Hotel. The Lazygeek visited on Sunday and said parking was slow.. it took him 40 minutes from the freeway till the garage.. he said there were just a lot of cars and everything was moving slowly..

  • I strolled around the Disneyland hotel and through Downtown Disney to see what/if anything new was going on.. not much in other location, but the crowds in Downtown Disney were fairly heavy for an early afternoon still.

  • First stop was DCA to check out the progress on the expansion projects. It was great to see some track going in for the Radiator Springs racers, it seems really early considering grading is still going on.. I have read one theory that said this is some test track to start debugging the system, so they do not have another Test Track on their hands (for those who do not know/remember Test Track took a couple of years of test/adjust before the official opening due to several problems. I have a theory of my own that they are installing track because they need to before the rockwork starts.. once the rockwork starts and the scaffolding/etc.. are in place it will be much harder to install the track.

  • The rest of the construction progress was not overly interesting. The Lazygeek sent me a photo over the wall on the backlot from Sunday, looks like several holes in the middle of the street and not much else happening right now.

  • I do not remember when I first heard it, but throughout the afternoon I heard announcements that DCA was to remain open for an extra hour, till 10pm.

  • While waiting for the Mardi Gras Celebration the park PA came on and announced that it was President Lincolns 201st birthday and to celebrate they suggested stopping by Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln. This sounded a bit odd in the area, but was great to hear.. I overheard several guests talking after the announcement and pondering heading for the show.

  • Last week Princess Tianas Mardi Gras Celebration premiered out in New Orleans Square. This show occurs several times a day and features the Princess, four dancers, and the band. She sings a handful of songs from the film. Great to hear live vocals and a live band, but the show just does not have the energy/life that the showboat show had. Since it is a solo vocalist the arrangements were not as engaging to me. The kids in the audience really seemed to enjoy watching her perform and the brief interactive portion of the show where they could dance with the gang.

  • I walked around the Captain EO theater and it looks like most of the repainting is done and they are awaiting the signage. Friday they were doing some limited Cast Member trails. I saw quite a few TDA CMs roaming around trying to figure out how to get into the theater. They had to enter backstage as the onstage entrances were all closed.

  • Stopped by Great Moments to celebrate Lincolns Birthday, the crowd inside was probably about half to two thirds of the theater, nice to see a solid crowd still attending and considering this was about the time the Street Party was rolling out onto Main Street I though that was a great crowd.

  • Speaking of the Street Party, I got myself stuck in the traffic right at the end of the 2nd stop (in the hub). I was heading to Tomorrowland and thought I could get through before the party ended but instead found myself trapped in the middle of the gridlock for a good 5 minutes or so. As I was stuck there ended up talking to some of the folks around me. One couple seemed quite lost and I asked where they were heading, they explained Main Street.. I asked where on Main Street/why and they were really looking for the park exit. I pointed to them that they needed to turn around and follow the mass going the opposite direction. It is very easy to forget the number of first time guests and non regulars and throw them into a crowd that is not moving in the dark and I can only image how frustrating/disorienting that must be. You have other guests pushing/intent on reaching their goal and then you have CMs trying to direct the crowd and if you are unsure it must be really easy to get twisted/confused. So moral of the story for all you regulars/disneygeeks out there, be sure to keep an ear/eye open and help those around you instead of running them over...

  • I spent a good couple of hours hanging around the Bay at DCA watching/waiting for some World of Color testing. I was not disappointed as you saw in the pictures. I was able to see some spot light tests, fountain, and projector testing. The bridge area that I was in had quite a few others just milling around and watching too. It was great to hear people stop by and wonder about what was going on then a half dozen others would turn and offer their insight/thoughts on the show. Someone nearby was taking video and posted it on YouTube:




  • Interesting Web Finds/Notes:
    In this section of the Geekspeaks column I will include links, notes, and rumors I find/stumble across/or have been informed of.

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

Stop by the Geek's Forum to discuss this and other Disney topics.. click here

Send comments, questions, any other email to: disneygeek@disneygeek.com
Pictures & Video From this Trip:


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