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Visit Date: 12/21/12
Steps: 20,462
Parks Miles: 7.7
Time in Parks: 9

 
Trip Log:

Started off my Holiday week with a trip to the Disneyland Resort. To my surprise parking for me was a piece of cake, exited the freeway and headed right into the garage and was directed to a spot. Noticed the entrance off of Disneyland Drive was closed and traffic there was backed up through the Magic Way light. After parking I walked over to Downtown Disney. Strolled through the Holiday Village and then headed for the parks. Wandered around Main Street USA, Town Square, the Market House, the hub and the Castle before heading up the walkway by the Matterhorn to Small World. Took some pictures of the Fantasyland Theater work on my way into Toontown. Circled the area and then walked back through Fantasyland and out to the Jingle Jangle Jamboree. All was quiet so continued on down the Big Thunder Trail and into Frontierland. Worked my way along the Rivers of America and over to New Orleans Square. Listened to the Jambayla Jazz for a bit then grabbed a Fastpass for the Huanted Mansion. Walked through New Orleans Square, saw the Bootstrappers too. Then inched through the crowd in Adventureland. Stopped by the Oasis and found myself alone in there with just a couple of cast members, a great change from the main walkway. Headed back to Main Street and stopped by the Disney Gallery to see the Realms of Fantasy exhibit. Took my fair share of pictures before going over to Disney California Adventure. Walked down Buena Vista Street and up the parade route to the Blue Sky Cellar Patio for some pictures. Continued up and saw a little of the Phineas and Ferb show before doubling back through the Pacific Wharf and into Cars Land. Strolled down Cross Street, past DJ, and continued on to Bugs Land. Walked down Sunset and Hollywood Blvds on my way back to Buena Vista Street. Caught the Community Bell Ringers and then crossed back to Disneyland for the Flag Retreat Ceremony on Main Street. Afterwards walked up Main Street, through Frontierland and out to the Ranch to catch the last Billies of the evening. As they performed took some pictures of the Jingle Jangle Jamboree and then walked through Fantasyland and the Castle on my way to Main Street to catch the Tree Lighting Ceremony. After the brief moment hung around Main Street a while to see if they were going to do the 5:15 Wintertime Enchantment, which they did not, before heading to dinner at the Village Haus. After dinner walked out to Small World just as the Christmas Fantasy Parade was reaching it. Decided to go for a cruise on Small World Holiday (only a 10 minute wait). After my cruise it was back to Main Street for a Wintertime Enchantment moment then wandered around Main Street for a while. Made my way to the Tomorrowland Terrace to catch the 7pm Elvis (Scot Bruce) set then back to Main Street for the 7:30 Enchantment moment. Walked out to Small World Holiday to take some pictures of the lights and video of the projection show then back to Tomorrowland to catch the end of the 7:45 Elvis set. Returned to Main Street for the 8:30 for the Wintertime Enchantment event before deciding to circle back to Tomorrowland to watch the 8:35 Elvis set. After the set inched through the crowd and back to Main Street to find a spot for Believe in Holiday Magic. Watched the show then headed for the tram, garage, car, and home to call it a night.

Other Interesting Stats:
* Moderate Walking Stats (meaning over 2.5mph): 13,679 steps, 123 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,

To kick off my holiday weekend/week I headed to the Disneyland Resort. I was expecting the parks to be very crowded. What I found were busy parks, but not unbearable. Then again I was not trying to visit attractions, I was just roaming around and enjoying the festivities and live entertainment. Wait times seemed like a summer day to me, not the holiday madness that will probably be coming over the next several days.

Jason

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

Thoughts and Observations:

  • It appeared that I lucked out with parking. I exited the 5 South and took the overpass directly into the garage and was parked within a few minutes of exiting the freeway, no delays at all. While walking toward the escalators I noticed Disneyland Drive was all backed up. It appeared they were not letting guests enter the garage from Disneyland Drive again and were directing them elsewhere (probably Toy Story). I walked over to Downtown Disney and the parking entrance there was backed up toward Disneyland Drive.

  • Does anyone know what they had been working on at the Disneyland Hotel, Fantasy Tower upper floor? More themed suites? Looks like whatever it was the project is wrapping up. The temporary exterior elevator/lift has been removed.

  • I walked through the Holiday Shopping Village at Downtown Disney. This was only my second visit and first during the daytime. They have tweaked it a bit since my first one. Some of the street signs and other props are gone and new oversized presents and an ornament that looks like an old one from Bugsland were out. The temporary kiosks were not really attracting many shoppers in my quick walk through of the area. I saw more cast members waiting around than guests browsing. Seems to me the Village needs something more to attract people. Maybe in the evening when the stage has performers it is more lively.

  • I spent a good portion of my trip at Disneyland today. I started off on Main Street USA which was almost back to normal after the Candlelight. The set pieces that interfere with regular park operations had been cleaned up already and just some lights, scaffolding, etc.. were left. Guessing it was all cleaned up by Saturday.

  • As I strolled down Main Street I paused at the Market House for some pictures because it was not overly crowded and it will be closing down soon. Starbucks is moving into Main Street. I think it is going to be interesting to see what changes to accommodate the high volume/demand Starbucks will probably attract. The current setup does not seem like it is going to be able to handle that. So the question is what will be leaving. Will Disneyana loose some space? Will they do away with the other merchandise in the Market House? Too bad the lockers could not go elsewhere and they could expand back that way. It had been a while since I spent any substantial time in the store (I am not a coffee drinker so it has never been a draw for me) and it was fun to take a moment to soak in some of the props and other items in the store.

  • Not much else of interest to note on my first circle through Disneyland. I did take some time to visit all the photo spots. I really thought there used to be one in Tomorrowland for the sub lagoon, but not on the map and no sign of one. As I passed through Adventureland I noticed the Oasis was open for pictures so took a brief detour there. When I first walked in I found myself alone with Aladdin and another cast member. No guests.. it was a great change from the crowd/pace of Adventureland just a few feet away. I always enjoy finding these hidden pockets/moments of peace at the park. It was one of my favorite reasons to visit the old Disney Gallery when it was above Pirates.

  • Speaking of the Disney Gallery, a new exhibit opened on Main Street last week, Realms of Fantasy. I spent some time looking at the artwork and photographing it for the update. I thought it was an ok display. I enjoyed seeing some of the concept art for the new Fantasyland in Orlando. I thought it was interesting the Disneyland Paris castle model stuck around for another exhibit.

  • Next up headed across the Esplanade to Disney California Adventure. The park was alive with activity, especially Cars Land. Nothing too interesting to report in my quick circle of the park. Still no signs of the gingerbread creations in Flos of the Cafe on Buena Vista Street. A quick factoid.. Friday marked the 75th Anniversary of the Premiere of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs at the original Carthay Circle Theater in Hollywood.

  • Caught the last Holiday Hillbilly show of the evening and thought there was a good crowd out at the Jamboree. Santa had a long line as would be expected a few days before Christmas. Did overhear a couple guests asking where the reindeer were this year but not too many. Speaking of reindeer had an idea for a fun photo op at the Jamboree if it returns next year... some reindeer from the parade.

  • Found my way to Main Street for the Tree Lighting moment. I had not seen it this year and wanted to see if anything changed. Unfortunately no. It was the same brief recording as they have had over recent years. I was hoping that they went back to a mini show/event like they used to have. Buena Vista Street has a nice event this year. For comparison below is the Disneyland Tree Lighting from Friday and a Buena Vista Street one from a few weeks ago:






  • I spent a good portion of my evening bouncing between Main Street for various events and Tomorrowland to listen to Elvis, Scot Bruce, performing. On Main Street I caught two of the Wintertime Enchantment events/moments and I just want to say again how much I like this small events. They really do plus the holiday festivities. I noticed that the Glow with the Show Ears also interact with these events. In this video you can see some interaction:



  • For the Holiday Week Disney is trying something new to promote Glow with the Show Ears. For Believe in Holiday Magic they have a roped off area just north of the walkway by Coke Corner on Main Street. Also for World of Color they have a designated area. I did not make it over to see where that was. For Believe you just have to show up with a pair of ears and they will let you in. For World of Color you have to have a Fastpass for the show and your ears. They had the area roped off a good three hours before and there were some guests in the area. I walked by about 15 minutes before show time and would say there were several dozen guests but mostly empty still. I really think this is a great idea. It gives a perk to those that purchase the ears and for those that do not it provides some great advertising. Seeing ears scattered around during the show you really cannot get the full effect but having a large group like this really ads to it. Hopefully the test goes well and the demand grows and the area grows. Wonder if Fantasmic will get an area too?


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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