home > Disneyland Resort > Pictures >Trip Summary For 2/12/11
Disneyland ResortPicture Set

Visit Date: 2/12/11
Steps: 32,302
Parks Miles: 12.2
Time in Parks: 14

 
Trip Log:

Started off this picture perfect Southern California day arriving in the Anaheim Resort area just before 8am and grabbing a quick breakfast before walking over to the Disneyland Resort (others took the car and I went with a group that needed to stop by the ticketbooths to upgrade some tickets). Hopped in a fairly long line to get into Disneyland about 20minutes before park opening at 9am. Made our way into the park and some of the group headed off to Indy and Big Thunday and I waited for the rest from the garage and took some pictures on Main Street. Dropped off some stuff in a locker then joined the group out by Big Thunder. Noticed it was nearing 10am so we headed for DCA. Grabbed Soarin then World of Color Fastpasses then joined the mass heading for Toy Story. After Toy Story some walked on the Fun Wheel with me and the others headed for Screamin. We all then circled around and went on the Swings and Zephyr. Walked through the Wharf and then the Blue Sky Cellar. Circled back to Condor Flats to use our Soarin Fastpasses and then wandered down the Backlot stopping at Off the Page and the Animation Building. The Lazygeeks family joined us and we headed for lunch at White Water Snacks. We took the long way down the parade route and around the Bay Area to the Grand Californian. After lunch it was back to DCA and we headed into Bugs Land. Went for a ride on the Chew Chew Train then continued on pass the Tower of Terror and through the Backlot. Decided to head back to Disneyland. Walked down Main Street and through the Castle. Some stopped in Fantasyland for a spin on the Carrousel and the rest forged on to the Family Fun Weekend. We celebrated Lunar New Year and took some character pictures. The group moved on as I stayed behind to get some video and pictures. I caught up with them as they were exiting the Jungle Cruise. We all roamed into Tomorrowland and ended up at Innoventions. Caught the Asmio show and then decided to walk out to Small World and Toontown. The Lazygeeks son ran around the play area a while then we headed back to Main Street. Some stopped off at Big Thunder, some went shopping, and I spent some time in the Gallery checking out the new exhibit. As the group was still re-assembling I decided to try and hike out to the Disneyland Hotel before the sun set for a couple construction shots and to check out the happenings at Downtown Disney. Once back from my excursion rejoined the group on Main Street as everyone was deciding on dinner. We ended up with some staying at Disneyland, I grabbed a corn dog on the backlot, others scattered around the Wharf. After dinner we headed back to the Backlot and to Electronica for a few minutes. Then decided to skip World of Color (since the group had not seen the new Memories show yet) and head back to Disneyland and out to Small World to watch the Magic, the Memories, and You. After the show walked through Fantasyland and around the Big Thunder Trail to the Rivers of America for Fantasmic. Watched Remember and Fantasmic then headed for Main Street, the tram, garage, car, and home.

Other Interesting Stats:
* Moderate Walking Stats (meaning over 2.5mph): 23,709 steps, 208 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:


Regular View 3 pictures per page

Choose how you would like to view the pictures:
My Thoughts & Observations:

Hello all,

Saturday was a picture perfect weather day here in southern California with a crystal clear sky and temps starting out in the 60s, climbing up to the 80s then falling back down to the 60s. The parks and Downtown Disney felt crowded on Saturday, some in my group had not been since the Candlelight weekend in December and they thought Saturday felt more crowded. The wait times seemed a bit less to me, but due to the work going on and closed attractions/areas I think the park did feel more crowded than it was.

Jason

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

Disneyland & DCA Thoughts and Observations:

  • The new sign for the Let the Memories Begin campaign that is located in the Esplanade was interesting. I liked the retro look to bring back the old Disneyland sign that was on Harbor. But with the construction and crowds it really made the area feel small/crowded to me due to its large size. The scale just seemed off for the current space.

  • Once into Disneyland it was interesting to listen to everyones reaction as they were greeted by all the construction walls on Main Street. Most took it in stride and just kept on going. I thought the new pavement looked great and they seem to be moving faster this year than last time around (or maybe its just a clouded memory by all the paving work at DCA that was really slow due to the new rails being put in over there).

  • Out in Tomorrowland you are greeted by more walls for more paving. I thought it was interesting they shut down the Space Mountain Fastpass to try and manage the traffic flow better. I forgot to check but I was curious what this did to wait times. Did anyone happen to be at the park the last few days and notice? My hunch would be the wait times were less than usual for the size of the crowd since the line was able to keep moving with no Fastpass returns.

  • We ate lunch over at White Water Snacks since we had not been there in a while and were looking for a quiet place to invade (there were 8 of us). My meal turned out to be much better than it had been the past few trips, but overall the experience was not the best. First off the service was slow as usual with it taking quite a long time, forgot to time it but I would say a good 15 minutes at least, to have our food come up after ordering. One of the orders, the nachos, came out cold with the cheese solidified. We ended up using the microwave vs waiting on this one. Then another order had a childrens hamburger and as you saw in the pictures calling it a hamburger was generous and at the price we thought it was bordering on ridiculous. It was $6.50 for the kids meal, 50 cents more than the chicken nuggets and there was not much meet in the burger. I always thought you got two of the tiny burgers. The nuggets came with four. You did get a ton of grapes though and they were fresh.

  • Walked by the Carrousel and was disappointed to see the new hand holds and especially the steps. They really stood out to me. Also I guess I am too much of a traditionalist. Seems if it worked well for 55 years why change it. Betting the answer was lawyers, but possibly guest experience. I know it was not aesthetics.

  • Spent some time at the Family Fun Weekend, this week was Lunar New Years. There was a smaller selection of characters this week, just three groups. I thought there was a healthy crowd, more people than the first few weeks but less than the Character Days. I do not know how this compares to the Saturday crowds, also this was the second weekend for this theme. The rest of my traveling group had not been to a Family Fun Weekend before and they were not overly impressed. They made one circle around, took a character picture and then went to sit in the shade and wait for me (before they abandon me as I waited to video tape the show a second time) for the Jungle Cruise.

  • Stopped by the Gallery to check out the new exhibit titled Magic on the Waters. Great to see it timed with the new Disney Cruise ship launch. I thought it was a fun exhibit and need to go back to spend some more time reading the information (this trip I was rushed to get the pictures and rejoin my tour group, one of the compromises of a large group).

  • Walked through Downtown Disney to check out the Romance of the Big Band Era promotion that was going on this weekend. There were plenty of people roaming around and enjoying Downtown Disney (which I should point out just turned 10 years old too). I walked through a little too early for most of the entertainment as it was still just setting up. Also the pedicabs were just getting starting. They were cycling a few empty ones. Anyone around later in the evening, curious if they caught on and how it was with the larger crowds.

  • I was pleased to see the park guide listed all the entertainment choices for the Fun Weekend as it was the expanded four panel version again. Also noticed that the Pixar Pals section no longer says which one is performing that day. Just has the times and location. ElecTRONica listed Laser Man but no mention of the guest dance group (nor did I see any signs when I walked through).

  • Speaking of ElecTRONica there is a promotion going on with Gowalla.com where you can get a virtual ElecTRONica token and if you redeem it in front of a CM in Flynns Arcade you get a commemorative arcade token as well as a voucher for a free can coke (or other coke product) from the End of the Line Bar. Luckily some of our group had smart phones so we gave this a try (I do not). I thought it was a nice promotion and a great souvenir. They are numbered too, I got 259 out of 2500. This runs through the end of the month or while supplies last.

  • The group shocked me and opted to see the Magic, the Memories, and You over World of Color, kind of painful to watch out Fastpasses for the Blue and Yellow section go to waste at the last minute... I think this had more to do with them wanting to see Fantasmic and not wanting to walk through the firework masses on Main Street. Anyways I gave the show a second visit, third viewing. Again I thought it was ok but not overwhelming. Part of our group was lazy and watched from further down the Small World Mall and they said it was hard to make out the pictures from back there. The rest of us were near the front and had a good view with no problem and you could have shown up 5-10 minutes before the show and had your choice of locations almost, so it has not caught on yet. I thought the alignment seemed off in several spots, but it may just have been the angles.

  • Watched Fantasmic and was disappointed with the problems. There was no croc during the Peter Pan segment and the dragon did not show either. Plus the Mark Twain is out for some annual work. Still a great show but disappointing not to see some key elements. Keep in mind the show turns 19 this year, kind of scary to think of that, since I remember when it premiered!

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
Pictures & Video From this Trip:


Regular View 3 pictures per page

Choose how you would like to view the pictures:
Back to previous page