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Visit Date: 12/04/10
Steps: 25,721
Parks Miles: 9.7
Time in Parks: 14

 
Trip Log:

Arrived at the resort about 7am and stopped by McDs for breakfast since the park did not open till 8am. Then some of the group took the car to the garage and the rest of us walked over to pick up tickets for those that did not have annual passes. Some of the group headed right into the park at 8am and out to grab Fastpasses for Indy, the rest of us waited for the tickets and then entered, closer to 8:20ish. Wander down Main Street and verred into Adventureland. We strolled out toward Haunted Mansion Holiday and realized it was closed, so made a u-turn and walked along the Rivers of America toward Big Thunder, struck out again with it being down already. So doubled back again and walked on Pirates. After Pirates those that had Indy Fastpasses used them and the rest of us went to see if Huanted Mansion was up yet, it was not, so walked through Adventureland and over to Tomorrowland to get Space Mountain Fastpasses for the gang then back to Adventureland to meet up with everyone when they exited Indy. We had a little time to kill so walked over to Buzz and waited about 5 minutes to ride. Then it was pushing 9:30 and time to head over to DCA. Walked through Condor Flats and most of the group went on Soarin. I kept going and got in line for World of Color Fastpasses then joined the herd assembling for the brisk walk out to the Pier at 10am when the park officially opened. At the rope drop followed the masses out to the Pier. Was going to get a Screamin Fastpass but it was down/not opened yet so carried on and got in line for Toy Story. The group rejoined me in line and we waited about 20 minutes. After Toy Story strolled around the Pier, some stopped for the Swings, I went on the Zephyr then found a spot to watch the Disney Channel Rocks show. After the show made a second loop of the Pier and went on the Fun Wheel (about a 20 minute wait). Finished the loop of the Pier and headed or the Wharf. Some waited for lunch at the Wharf Cafe and others hiked over to Taste Pilots, stopped at the Blue Sky Cellar along the way and back (which we did before they even ordered at the Wharf). After lunch it was back to Disneyland. Walked down Main Street right before the parade and into Adventureland. Hiked out to Haunted Mansion to grab a Fastpass and then checked on the line for Big Thunder, too long, so headed over to Tomorrowland to use the Space Mountain Fastpasses. After their ride took the Disneyland Railroad back to NOS to use the Haunted Mansion Fastpasses (had a little time so took a quick walk out to Critter Country). After our ride walked along the Rivers of America. Grabbed Fastpasses for Big Thunder and then strolled around the Big Thunder trail and into Fantasyland. Continued out to Small World, which had too long of a wait so ended up in Toontown. Walked around a bit then back through Fantasyland and the Castle to Main Street. Decided to wait for the parade to end then they did some shopping and I made my way down to find a spot for the Candlelight around 4pm. Watched the 5:30 Candlelight and then some used their Fastpasses for Big Thunder and we grabbed some corn dogs at the Stage Door Cafe and met the rest of the group at the Plaza Inn. After dinner they wanted to do some more shopping then we wandered over to DCA. Walked down the Backlot and did a tour of ElecTRONica before making our way around the Sunshine Plaza, through Condor Flats and out to Pier to queue up for World of Color. After World of Color walked down the parade route and out of the park. They ran into World of Disney and then we boarded the tram to head to the garage, car, and home.

Other Interesting Stats:
* Moderate Walking Stats (meaning over 2.5mph): 18,963 steps, 167 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,

Saturday I spent a rare full day at the parks due to some family and friends wanting to go that do not visit that often. We were expecting a fairly crowded set of parks due to the Christmas Season, it being Candlelight weekend, and just a weekend in general, but due to some cooler and threatening weather the crowd did not seem as bad as I would have thought for the day. Now maybe it was just some good luck on my part with planning but the crowd never seemed to be an issue for us as we navigated around the parks.

Jason

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

Disneyland & DCA Thoughts and Observations:

  • We started our day zero for two in terms of attractions. The plan was Fastpasses for Indy then off to Haunted Mansion and back to Big Thunder before using the Indy Fastpass, but due to some bad luck both HM and Big Thunder were closed due to technical difficulties and had not opened for the day yet. Over at DCA we ran into the same issue with Screamin. So out of the first half dozen or so attractions on our plan three had issues Saturday. How is that for bad luck!

  • Went for a spin on Buzz Lightyear, first one since it had the short rehab a few weeks ago. The only noticeable change was the new carpet in the entrance/exit area. This was nice compared to the bubbling floor, wonder if this is permanent or a placeholder? Also noticed the on ride photos all had the scores flipped. I liked how a ghost beat me (I was riding alone).

  • Over at DCA we joined the masses heading for World of Color Fastpasses and then out to the Pier as the park opened. Since Screamin was down the line for Toy Story grew quite quickly and for some reason was moving really slowly at the beginning. It did pick up the pace to what I would call normal eventually but there were quite a few long pauses in movement near the beginning. Another interesting note we were directed over to the handicap loading area since there was no one there.. first time using that area. It was nice to exit from there. It saved an extra stop/wait and the hike up and then back down the steps.

  • Caught the first Disney Channel Rocks show of the morning. Currently they are only running a couple of these (3 on Saturday) shows each morning/early afternoon. The crowd was extremely light for the showing we went to. From what I hear this is the norm. I am curious if this is because of the show itself or timing. Running it only an hour after opening seems a little too early. Seems like it would draw better in the mid afternoon. My guess for the timing is several of the performers also are in the Dance Crew show which is running later in the day. So assuming they are not alternating days betting several do one show in the morning then the other in the afternoon to make a full day of it.

  • I thought the use venue was great for the show, especially compared to the rolling stage they have been using for years now. The sound was solid and the views unobstructed. Also the lighting on the stage and use of the World of Color fountains were both great plusses!

  • As for the show itself, I think the concept makes sense. It allows them to highlight the Disney Channel shows and address that audience. The show itself is basically a set of musical numbers so if you are like me and not familiar with the music that much it was a little hard to get into it, but then again I am not the target audience in this case. I was disappointed with the quality of the vocalists in the show, they really did not enhance the experience for me, but I do like to hear the live singing vs lip syncing.

  • For lunch some of the group wanted bread bowls from the Wharf Cafe. The line was long as usual, but it was nice to see the attempt to speed things up... they had an express line for drinks and chowder only. In the end it still took a good half hour for them to get their food. I had enough time to walk around, take some pictures, stop by the Blue Sky Cellar, get my food from Taste Pilots, walk back, find a seat and eat about 2/3rd of my meal before they came out with their food.

  • One of my main objectives of the day was to see the Candlelight. We have always enjoyed the show and the Disneyland setting and arrangement are tops in my book compared to Disney World. This years narrator was Tom Skerrit did what I would call an average job. Maybe it was because I was at the first performance of the weekend? I still wish the narrator would look around more, I had one small shot of the front of his face and I was not that far off to the side (I stood in the street about the street car tracks in front of the rest rooms next to City Hall. I was about the 2nd or 3rd standing row behind the seats.
    FYI I heard that both shows on Sunday were cancelled due to the weather... that is too bad for all the performers and guests alike. That is the once challenge with doing the show two nights a year only, there is no margin for error or weather.

  • We strolled through ElecTRONica and I was really surprised at how dead it was. I was assuming for a Saturday evening that it would be on par with Friday nights but it felt less crowded on my brief walk through.

  • To cap off the evening we watched World of Color from the Blue Section, just to the left of the trellis where the programming trailer was parked. As with most first time viewers those in our group who had not seen the show were really blown away by it, but again it really re-enforced to me how good the show is when viewed from the proper location and on the flip side how reduced/lacking/not so good it is from most other viewing locations.

Interesting Web Finds/Notes:
Below are some interesting links, notes, and rumors I found/stumble across/or have been informed of since the last Geekspeaks column.

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
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