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Visit Date: 5/20/11
Steps: 24,344
Parks Miles: 9.2
Time in Parks: 10

 
Trip Log:

Started off this great California afternoon heading for DCA to check out the progress. Walked through the entrance and spent some time in the former Sunshine Plaza area. After taking my fill of pictures wandered through Condor Flats and around GRR. Grabbed a Fastpass for World of Color and then continued on to the Pier, stopping for some Mermaid shots along the way. Made my way out to the Fun Wheel and went for a spin then up on the Swings followed by a walk on to the Jellyfish. Once back on the ground wandered around the Mermaid building for a while then strolled through the Wharf and up to the Blue Sky Cellar. Stopped by to see the new artwork and pictures and then continued on down the parade route and over to Disneyland. Made my way down Main Street USA and out to Tommorrowland. They had recently opened the queue for Star Tours for a Sneak Peek so waited about 45 min and got to ride Star Tours. Then headed to the Hub, through the Castle, around the Big Thunder trail and New Orleans Square on my way to Critter Country to catch the Billies who were performing outdoors due to some work on the Horseshoe. After their set walked back along the Rivers of America and into Adventureland. Walked through Tomorrowland, around the Matterhorn and out to Toontown. Circled around and then back through Fantasyland and out to Main Street. Made my way down to the Disney Gallery and spent some time looking at the Mary Blair exhibit that opened last week. Decided it was time for dinner so headed back to DCA and walked down the parade route and out to the Pier. Decided to give the recently re-opened Corn Dog Castle a try for dinner and then stopped by the Grand Californian on my way over to the Disneyland Hotel to check out the progress. Took my fill of pictures before strolling through Downtown Disney. Headed for Disneyland and hopped on the train to New Orleans Square. Got in line for Pirates, about a 15 min wait. After Pirates made one more pass of the Star Tours area before returning to DCA. Wandered down and around the Backlot, by Tower, and through Bugs. Found myself out on the Pier and took some pictures as the lights started to show. Decided to give a newly opened viewing area a try for the 9pm World of Color, lined up along the parade route in front of the Little Mermaid. After the show got in line to use my Fastpass for the 10:15 show which I watched from an upper tier. After World of Color joined the masses heading for the exit. Took the tram back to the garage and headed home.

Other Interesting Stats:
* Moderate Walking Stats (meaning over 2.5mph): 17,734 steps, 153 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,

I go away for a week to Orlando and when I come back I am greeted with a lot of new and updated things to see at the Disneyland Resort. I really enjoy this time of year when the resort is gearing up for the summer season and opening its new slate of attractions. The crowds on Friday seemed a tad above normal but with my full plate of updates to see I really did not spend too much time visiting attractions so they really did not effect me.

Jason

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

Disneyland & DCA Thoughts and Observations:

  • I renewed my Premiere Pass while at Walt Disney World since it expired while I was there and was happy to see that the renewal caused no problems. My pass worked perfectly at Disneyland. (Others have reported some problems going from resort to resort), still does not swipe for the dining discounts so the CMs have to type in the number every time.

  • As you saw in the pictures they have updated the DCA guidemap to include the completed Paradise Pier work. It is all labeled as coming soon, but great to see it on there. Guess the maps were printed before the decision to open Corn Dog Castle since it too is labeled as coming soon. Also surprised to still see the covered seating area in the former Sunshine Plaza.. guess that will come out when the stores are taken out in a few months.

  • The time guide now features Mickeys Soundsational Parade since it premieres on Thursday. Two other interesting notes on it were the Billies out in Critter Country and no Dance Crew at DCA on Friday, so they were running Disney Channel Rocks into the afternoon out on the Pier

  • All the construction at DCA is moving ahead at full speed. The Sunshine Plaza seems much larger or at least more open now with the covered seating area gone. Speaking of larger the walkway by the Pier in front of the Little Mermaid seems gigantic now. It has been years since you could walk through that area without a construction wall and it really made it feel wide open and a little odd now. Hard to believe by July the Pier may be wall free for a while once they open the dining area. It has been a long time coming.

  • Friday the Corn Dog Castle and Seaside Souvenirs both opened. As you saw in the pictures no substantial changes to the structure of either. The overlay on the souvenir stand was great to see and it fits the area perfectly. With all the trees in the area now the Corn Dog Castle did not even look that bad to me, it still seems a bit out of place compared to everything else in the area but really not too bad. Also the new seating area for it was nice.

  • I decided to give the Corn Dog Castle a try for dinner. No big surprise the corn dog tasted the same as before. Still not a big fan of the Disney branded chips that come with it now, but that seems the norm everywhere. Also sticking to my notion that the corn dogs at the Corn Dog Wagon in Disneyland still taste better. Not sure why since they are all the same but there is just something about them. Maybe its the atmosphere??

  • Over at Disneyland the big news of the day was Star Tours. In the morning there was a special preview flight for those that were awaraded a ticket for themselves and a guest from the Disneyparks blog contest (I lost). Then in the afternoon they threw the doors open for a couple hours for the general public. I managed to time it right and get in line for this preview. It took me just under an hour from when I got near the line till I was in the gift shop. I would say it was probably a 45 min wait or so. They were not using Fastpass for the preview so the line kept moving. Also to note they did not have any photo restrictions, where as at Walt Disney World for the previews they were not allowing pictures and had CMs stationed in the line to stop you from taking pictures.

  • So how was the attraction, a common question I keep getting. Let me start off with a disclaimer. I am not a huge Star Wars fan. I have seen the films and been on the attraction a couple of times over the years but that is about it. Overall I thought this was a nice update to an aging attraction. The higher definition digital film/screen made a huge difference and really immersed you in the experience. I did not notice the 3D that much, so unsure if it was a positive, but it did not hurt the experience at all, so I would give it a thumbs up. The simulator ride itself was much smoother and more fluid than the original which made for a more pleasant experience. It seemed less intense too, but it may have just been the sequences that I encountered or my fading memory of the original. Since I was only able to ride once I cannot comment too much on the variations but Disney says there are over 50 and it would take you over 6 hours to ride them all. I could see several possible branch points and I would think the changes would be seamless. My experience consisted of an encounter with Darth Vader and a trip to Hoth.

  • The new queue is done like an airport/spaceport with a heavy dose of modern travel experiences included from luggage screening to life form screening. I thought the overlay was a nice touch and made for some interesting scenes to experience as you waited. Also the large screen in the first room looked incredibly sharp and the new commercials were fun to see too.

  • The Billies are temporarily displaced back to Critter Country while the Golden Horseshoe is having some work done. They said they will be back inside next Friday. The set was a little awkward due to no sound amplification and no real stage so they were just out along the walkway. As they said during the show they search for a shady spot to perform. I enjoyed the show and those around me did too. It let them interact directly with the audience more which was great!

  • Last week the Disney Gallery opened a new exhibit, the Colors of Mary Blair. For those of you who do not know Mary Blair was a Disney Animation and WED concept artist for years. If you enjoy the style of Small World, Sleeping Beauty or the large mural in the Contemporary Resort at Walt Disney World you know and like her work. The exhibit in the gallery includes both film and attraction concepts. I really enjoyed seeing the Western River Expedition concepts. If you have some time I would highly recommend stopping by the Gallery on Main Street to see the artwork, its a great way to spend some time (and on those hot days the A/C is great!)

  • I decided to wait in the line and go on Pirates, it had a 20 minute posted time but only took about 15. They have made two tweaks for the new film that opened Friday. The midst screen in the cave now features Blackbeard and on the exit/lift hill you hear Blackbeard warning you and he does mention Stranger Tides.

  • I watched the 9:00pm World of Color from a newly opened alternate viewing area (that translates to non-Fastpass area). They are allowing you to line up along the parade route on the Mermaid side. This is by far the best non-Fastpass viewing area I have experienced so far. You can hear the show well and see quite a bit of it, including the projections since you are square on. On Friday you were able to get a decent spot within a half hour of the start of the show. I would guess once word gets out about the view it will mean an earlier arrival will be needed.

  • As you saw with my videos and pictures they have made some tweaks to World of Color. The Pirates segment has been expanded and now runs from the Old Mill (its old starting place) all the way to the Stampede. So the Hellfire and Night on Bald Mountain segments are not running. Also I noticed Tangled is now in the So Close medley right before Lady and the Tramp. The last tweaks I saw were some colored lasers and projections during the finale on Screamin. Overall I think these are all great additions to the show and I think it is a positive sign that they continue to adapt the show as it was originally pitched even though there is no need to since it is still drawing nearly full houses every show. The new Pirates segment is interesting and it incorporates some clips and dialog from the new film. The World of Color programming team seems to have really hit its stride and pushed the show platform and effects with this new segment. The new fire sequence at the end is amazing! I did think it was a bit hard to try and follow some of the dialog and what was going on, I had the same issue with the Tron encore, so maybe it is just me.

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:


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