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Visit Date: 1/04/13
Steps: 22,527
Parks Miles: 8.5
Time in Parks: 9

 
Trip Log:

Arrived at the Disneyland Resort just afternoon and was directed up to the roof of the Mickey and Friends Garage to park. Took a tram to the parks entrance and headed for Disneyland. Wandered down Main Street USA and around the hub taking some pictures. Strolled through the Castle, Fantasyland and around to the Big Thunder Ranch. Made my way to the Jamboree to see what was happening at the Dia De Reyes (Three Kings Day Celebration). I spend some time taking pictures, enjoying the entertainment, and relaxing in the area before venturing back out to the crowds and Frontierland. Inched my way around the Rivers of America and pushed through the crowds to get a Fastpass for the Haunted Mansion Holiday then walked through New Orleans Square and over the bridge by Pirates to reach Adventureland and its crowds. Eventually made my way to Main Street and headed for DCA. Spent some time on Buena Vista Street before strolling down the parade route to Cars Land. Walked down Route 66 and spent some time taking random pictures of the area before making my way to the Wharf. Decided to do a loop of the Pier so walked by Ariels, Duffy, Donald, Screamin. As I was walking toward Toy Story an Instant Concert started so stopped to watch then continued my circle by the Fun Wheel, Paradise Gardens and then back around by Little Mermaid. Walked by GRR and into Condor Flats. Saw it was not crowded in Taste Pilots so grabbed a quick bite to eat. Then walked through Carthay Circle and down Hollywood Blvd. Turned on Sunset and walked through Bugs to get to Cross Street and arrive in Radiator Springs. Hung out there taking some random pictures until the lights turned on at 5:00pm then returned to Disneyland. Made my way out to the Jamboree to see what was going on this evening, it closes at 6:00pm so caught the last performing arts group of the day. Then returned to the Haunted Mansion to use my Fastpass. After the Mansion walked through Adventureland and to the hub. Decided to walk by Small World and do a quick loop of Toontown. Paused for the Small World projection show before making my way to Tomorrowland. Listened to two songs from Instant Replay before returning to Main Street. Caught the 7:30pm Wintertime Entchantment from near the Christmas Tree then made my way over to DCA. Wandered down Buena Vista Street and through Cars Land. At 8:00pm caught the Mad T Party Band then roamed back through Cars Land before making my way to Paradise Bay for the 9:00pm World of Color. Left the show a bit early to make sure I had enough time to make it to Main Street for one last viewing of Believe in Holiday Magic for the season. After the snow finished falling headed for the tram, my cold car, and home.

Other Interesting Stats:
* Moderate Walking Stats (meaning over 2.5mph): 15,490 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:

Hello all,

To kick off the new year I paid a visit to the Disneyland Resort on Friday 1/4. The parks were still crowded with wait times reaching triple digits on Indy, Space Mountain and the Racers. Many of the other usual suspects were nearing the hour mark most of the day too. Disneyland felt very crowded in the mid afternoon but as the sun set the crowd seemed to thin, guessing the cool weather helped. DCA was much the same story.


Jason

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

Thoughts and Observations:

  • I arrived at the Mickey and Friends garage just after lunch time and was directed up to the roof, but no delays going through the toll booths or being directed to a spot so I counted it as a decent parking experience. I was about the middle of the floor too so did not have as long of a hike as the last several visits.

  • First stop of the day was Disneyland. This was my last chance to see the Christmas decorations and enjoy the festivities. It was hit and miss at what was still around on the entertainment front. For example over on Buena Vista Street the Bell Ringers had finished their run and at Disneyland the Holiday Hillbillies are done. But World of Color still had Prep and Landing at DCA; Believe in Holiday Magic as well as the Wintertime Enchantment events were going on at Disneyland.

  • I made my way out to the Big Thunder Ranch Jamboree to check out the Dia De Reyes, Three Kings Day Celebration that had kicked off this morning. This is the second year for the event and great to see it in a larger venue, last year it was in Rancho Del Zocalo Park (the small park near the Big Thunder Entrance). They have bundled/listed this years event as one of the Limited Time Magic events for the year, so seems we are going to see some of the same themed weekends/types of events just under a different masthead, which seems awkward if you want anyone to know what they are but nice to see the events coming back. Due to the larger venue there seemed to be more activity this year including more chances to see the characters. I did not try any of the food so cannot comment on it, did anyone out there? There was a healthy crowd there both times I stopped by. Not quite the large number I saw for Santa and the Holiday festivities but larger than past events in the Jamboree area.

    Here is a video of the street party: 


  • Walked by Big Thunder with the hopes of grabbing a few more interesting pictures before the construction walls go up but due to the crowds really could not find any angles that were interesting/different. For those who have not heard come Monday the attraction will close down for a major overhaul. There will be new track, paint, and trains. It is expected to take about 9 months so we will not see the mountain return to service till the fall.

  • As I made my way around the Rivers of America and into New Orleans Square I choose poorly on my timing and it seemed to be near the peak of the lines for Pirates and Haunted Mansion. The Mansion line filled the fountain area and the Pirates line wrapped all the way out to near the Haunted Mansion and even went up on part of the bridge over the regular queue. Tip to anyone visiting.. if you see either that line that long keep on walking and try back later. For example when I went back to use my Fastpass around 6:00pm both were back to regular lengths and I would venture to guess by the time Fantasmic rolled around both were very reasonable to visit.

  • While walking through Adventureland noticed more of the character pillows, guess that is what they are, posted a picture in the update. Anyway when they first started selling these the selection was jungle animals and it worked in Adventureland. Now the concept of fitting in with the show has completely gone away and they sell Rex, Stitch, Mickey, etc.. pillows. I thought this was kind of sad to see. There was not even an attempt to make them look like they belong in Adventureland. It appeared to be generic merchandise you would find at any Disney Store anywhere.

  • Hung out in Cars Land for a while enjoying the Christmas lights as well as the nightly lighting. They were still having problems and a couple of the areas did not come on as they should have, namely some of Sarges and Cozy Cone lawn area. Too bad the event always seemed to have hiccups... should be interesting to see how it expands and gets tweaked next year.

  • For World of Color I stood somewhere I had not before. They had a Standby section opened up on the main walkway level behind the blue section. Guess it can best be described as near the drinking fountains.. I showed up less than 10 minutes before show time and managed to be two or three deep only. The view was ok from there. Partially obstructed due to the light towers but still well worth the wait time I put in and you did not have all those people walking in front of you like the stand by area in front of the Little Mermaid.



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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