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Visit Date: 1/13/12
Steps: 20,463
Parks Miles: 7.7
Time in Parks: 7

 
Trip Log:

Arrived at the Disneyland Resort in the early afternoon to some perfect spring weather, temps were in the upper 70s, and mild crowds. Took the tram to the parks and headed for DCA first to check in on the construction. Walked around GRR and out to the Pier. Went for a spin on the Fun Wheel and as I was finishing my loop of the area caught a little of the Phineas and Ferb show. Continued on to the Wharf and then the Blue Sky Cellar area before reaching Buena Vista Street. Walked through Condor Flats and over to Disneyland. Strolled down Main Street USA listening to the new background track a bit before verring off to Tomorrowland. Hopped on the Monorail and went for back to back rides to see both sides of the Buena Vista Street work. Once back in the park headed out toward Small World, unfortunately Soundsational was just wrapping up so had to wade through that crowd on my way to Toontown. Circled Toontown then walked back through Fantasyland and around the Big Thunder Trail. Strolled along the Rivers of America and out to the Huanted Mansion for a couple pictures. Walked back through New Orleans Square and Adventureland on my way to Main Street. Cuaght a little of the Flag Retreat then returned to Fantasyland via the Castle to grab some dinner at the Village Haus. After dinner walked out to Small World and went for a ride, the Holiday version is still running. Then wandered back through Fantasyland and the Big Thunder Trail to the Rivers of America. Took some pictures before heading to Main Street to find a spot for Soundsational. Watched the parade from in front of the Firehouse/City Hall and then headed for DCA. Walked through Condor Flats and out to the Blue Sky Cellar area to get some Cars Land shots. Notice more lights on so had the bad idea to hike to the Fun Wheel to try for a last minute ride. Made it out there as the last groups were being loaded and they would not let anyone else in line, so the mission failed. I walked back to the Blue Sky area and then through Bugs and out to the Backlot to catch Laserman. After Laserman returned to Paradise Park and took in some of World of Color from a couple alternate viewing locations before leaving a bit early to return to Disneyland for Remember. Found a spot on Main Street and only had to wait about 5 minutes for the show. Afterwards joined the masses heading for the exits. Hopped on a tram and headed the garage, car, and home.

Other Interesting Stats:
* Moderate Walking Stats (meaning over 2.5mph): 15,852 steps, 138 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:

Happy New Year all,

I had not originally planned on going to the parks this Friday but the perfect weather with the temps just about touching 80 degrees and no wind made it too tempting to pass up to kick off a three day weekend for me. The crowds felt like a regular day. I was expecting it to be closer to off season, but wonder if others had the same idea as me. Wait times were reasonable for most of the usual suspects in the 30-45 minute range creeping up to the hour range as the afternoon went on.

Jason

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

Disneyland & DCA Thoughts and Observations:

  • As you saw in the pictorial update almost all signs of Christmas have been removed from both parks. Just a couple little reminders like Small World Holiday, snow on the Castle and a Believe in Holiday Magic sign remain. They have really moved fast to put everything away.

  • One of my favorite times of year has arrived. I really enjoy watching all the projects around the parks, as is evident by the large number of pictures I take of them each year. Something that I do want to point out is most of the parks are operating normally and my pictures may make it seem like everything is closed or behind tarps/walls when that is not the case. I just tend to gravitate toward the change and work. There is a lot of work going on and it can create some challenges but most of the park is open and operating normally.

  • The parade route concrete work between Littler Mermaid and Paradise Park is causing some challenges for World of Color. If you go while the work is going on be sure to read your Fastpass carefully and follow the signs/ask cast members to make sure you head to the proper place. Here is a quick run down of what I noticed on Friday:
    • The Red section is currently gone
    • The Blue, Preferred, and Yellow section have been elongated a bit and shortened. The top tier is now a walkway so all three lost that space and instead spread out more. So Yellow currently occupies the space previously used by Red more or less and everything shifted to the right a bit to compensate for loosing the top tier.
    • They had the area set up as one way traffic with those walking toward the Zephyr walking nearest the Mermaid building and those heading back toward the park using the top tier of Paradise Park.
    • For the second show to line up for yellow they were directing people to the Jellyfish area, the other two were still along the parade route as they usually are.
    • Two new alternate (standby/open) viewing areas are available. The first is in the area surrounding the planter/random light house thing (still not sure what to call this) across from the Little Mermaid entrance. The second is the far side of the bridge that heads into the Pier. So the Blue is the water side, the middle a walkway, and the side nearest the Wharf alternate viewing. I watched the opening couple of segments from the one by the planter and it was ok. You could see the width of the show, sort of make out the tops of the projections and the audio was fine. You missed anything that was low because of the angle and number of guests in front of you. I did not try the far side of the bridge since it was full already when I walked by. I would venture to guess the same would hold true

  • Over at Disneyland a new music loop is now playing on Main Street. All the tracks have been re-recorded and a couple of new ones added. In addition to the classics you can now hear some from Up! I found the video below on YouTube if you are interested in hearing the new music. The Parks Blog also posted a story about the new recordings if you are interested. Overall I thought the new music worked well. It is a little more up tempo. The Up! Married Life segment works but it still seems weird to me..


  • The Matterhorn scaffolding is looking impressive and they still have a lot of the mountain to cover. Curious what kind of tarp, assuming there will be one, will go up if it will be a design or just a traditional green/plain one to cover the scaffolding during the painting. Also if they will be able to let Tinkerbell fly the entire time. She was Friday.

  • It was great to be able to see Soundsational under the lights. There is just this extra element that comes from the lights that I do enjoy. If you have a chance I would recommend seeing it.

  • Nothing interesting to report from the new park maps or time schedules. Did notice the Muppets lost their spot on the DCA time schedule.

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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