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Visit Date: 9/06/13
Steps: 26,023
Parks Miles: 9.8
Time in Parks: 9

 
Trip Log:

I arrived at the Disneyland Resort just after lunch. Temps were in the mid 90s already and only a mild breeze occasionally. Opted to take the tram to the parks. Made a quick detour to see the progress on Starbucks then headed for Disneyland. Stepped onto a quiet Main Street USA and wandered around making my way to the hub. Walked through Fantasy Faire, Frontierland, around the Big Thunder Trail, and into Fantasyland. Strolled through the Castle and Tomorrowland. Decided a visit to Innoventions was in order for some A/C and to see the Infinity exhibit. Then roamed Tomorrowland before walking around the Matterhorn and out to the Small World Mall and Toontown. Circled around and then back through Fantasyland and into Adventureland. Decided to go for a cruise on the Mark Twain. Once back walked along the Rivers of America out to the Haunted Mansion then back through New Orleans Square. I misread the time schedule and thought the Billies were performing so walked back through the Big Thunder Trail only to realize they had the day off. Walked through the Castle and down Main Street USA on my way over to DCA. Roamed Buena Vista Street then stopped by the Blue Sky Cellar. Circled around through the Bay Area and by GRR on my way to grab dinner at Taste Pilots in Condor Flats. After dinner walked down Hollywood Blvd, through the Mad T Party area and then down Sunset, by Tower, and through Bugs to reach Cross Street. Saw no line at all for the Flying Tires so went for a spin then a Race using single rider for the Radiator Springs Racers. Walked around Cars Land a bit then down Cross Street to the Wharf. Spent some time in Paradise Park then walked onto the Little Mermaid. Made my way back down the parade route to Carthay Circle. Strolled through Condor Flats then the Grand Californian to reach Downtown Disney. The plan was to walk down and catch a Monorail back to Disneyland but the line was longer than my patience so turned around and hiked back to the park. Walked down Main Street USA and into Tomorrowland. Paid what I think is my final visit to Captain EO then headed for Main Street and the Disneyana store to see what was new. Cut through the Disney Gallery and noticed some new Tiki items. Made my way back to Tomorrowland to catch part of a set from Tomasina before heading for Fantasmic. Had some time to kill before the show so went out to Critter Country then back to find a spot near the Tom Sawyer Island dock. Watched Fantasmic and then made a quick walk to Main Street for Magical before heading for the tram, garage, car, and home.

Other Interesting Stats:
* Moderate Walking Stats (meaning over 2.5mph): 18,935 steps, 162 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,

Since I had not been to the parks in three weeks, which for me is a long time, I decided to go and deal with the heat. Driving down to Anaheim the car showed over 100 degrees a couple of times, but cooled down to a nice 97 as I entered the Mickey and Friends structure. Seems between the heat and it being a short off season between Labor Day last week and the kick off to Halloween next week the parks themselves were very quiet and if you did not mind being baked a little by the sun it was a very pleasant day. Waits were well under an hour for everything, even the Racers. Most of the usual suspects were in the 30-45 minute range throughout the afternoon.

If you were interested and did not see, the reason I was away from the Disneyland Resort for three weeks is because I spent a week in Hawaii at Aulani. I really enjoyed the trip and am slowly making my way through the pictures and posting them. I have a summary page that will include links to all the sections I post as they are ready. Or you can visit DGeeksTravels section for pictures from Hawaii, Alaska, and other trips I have taken.

Jason

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

Thoughts and Observations:

  • As you saw in the pictorial update Halloween is taking over the parks. Next Friday, the 13th, is the kickoff with a Limited Time Magic event to mark the occasion. Then in a couple weeks the Halloween Parties start. New this year will be some Halloween festivities at the Mad T Party over in DCA.

  • As I stepped onto Main Street I noticed several people dressed quite differently then it dawned on me that today was Dapper Day. So there were groups of Dapper guests roaming around and taking a lot of photos. I was impressed with how they were handling the heat in some of their choices, I am sure when they put together their outfits they were not thinking it was going to be pushing 100 degrees. It looked like they had a fairly large showing for the event, it seemed everywhere I looked there were participants posing for pictures or just enjoying the park. It was fun to see the Mark Twain full of guests just enjoying the cruise and waving to guests along the banks. The lines to get onboard were some of the longest I can remember seeing. Too bad Disney did not have anything going on that could have played this up.

  • The afternoon was really a catch up for me. I wandered around Disneyland then over to DCA to see what was going on in terms of projects. There were a couple of closures for the brief off season and some of the ongoing projects are moving quickly toward opening, such as the new Starbucks on Main Street, others like Big Thunder are not showing a lot of visible progress.

  • Disney Infinity has taken over the XBox display and is at all the stations. There were a fair number of guests in Innoventions but hard to tell if Iron Man, Infinity or the air conditioning drew them in. I would have liked to have seen something more on the development of the game and explanation of it vs just consoles to try it out.

  • I happened to be in Toontown while the Magical Map was going on and the sound from the show is quite loud back there and does over power the area, especially on quiet afternoons like today. Too bad they did not enclose the theater. I did note they were still letting guests walk into the show during the princess medley.

  • Paid another visit to the usually quiet Court des Anges and seems with word of its impending closure is out and combine that with Dapper Day and there were more guests than usual paying a visit to this small retreat. If you have not heard the rumor/internet buzz is the courtyard will be closing soon and be converted into the new entrance for Club 33 which will be undergoing an expansion early next year. I was really disappointed to hear this and wish Disney would have figured out another way to expand the club without loosing some of the heritage of the area. I think the courtyard is one of the unique Disneyland locations. A corner of the park that is usually not as crowded, a mini escape, with great detail. Plus it is a space available for various promotions. Disneyland seems to be loosing these pockets of the park that really made it what it is. I always tell people when they visit Disneyland to be sure to take some time to just look around and absorb the park. Pay a visit to a quiet spot or two. But over the past decade or so these spots are becoming less and less. A couple quick examples - Disney Gallery location above Pirates, Plaza Gardens or Fort Wilderness. Oh well should be interesting to see what parts of the rumored changes occur and the impact it has.

  • I headed across the Esplanade to Disney California Adventure next. There was a Limited Time Magic promotion this week was Celebrate Oswald the Lucky Rabbit at DCA in honor of his premiere 86 years ago (9/5/27). This consisted of merchandise at Oswalds and Elias & Co and a special sundae at Clarabelles. I thought they could have done more.. maybe a photo op? At least a backdrop if not a walk around character. Or a special edition of the Buena Vista Street Bugle with the news. In the end guessing most guests had no idea about the promotion unless they were looking for ice cream and saw the sign.

  • Stopped by the Blue Sky Cellar to see the two new displays. First up was one with the Market House renovation/conversion to Starbucks. Thought it was interesting to see the footprint and how it will look. Seems really late in the process to put up the display. This went up about 3 weeks ago, I think the day after I last visited, and guessing the location will be open by October. So that is a two month run or so? The other new display features the expansion at Aulani. I would have really liked to have seen this before my visit. Just to have an idea as to how the pieces fit together. Again that opens mid October so it is late in the process too. The rest of the Cellar is unchanged and features the Fantasy Faire. Seems like it is time to look ahead at what is coming. Or maybe further back and do something for 60 years of Imagineering. I do think it is a positive step that they are updating the Cellar though.

  • The billboard in Condor Flats features a nod to the Disney Planes film. Thought this was interesting. No real reference to seeing it in theaters or anything. Just two characters on the sign. No merchandise in the immediate area either, you had to go to the other end of Condor Flats for it. I thought a meet and greet or photo op may have been in order.. they could have used the extended queue area (the temporary entrance/exit walkway.

  • About 5pm I entered Cars Land and it was really really quiet.. the Flying Tires had empty Tires.. I went for a spin since I could just walk right on. Even the Racers had a short wait. It was posted at 65 but the guests next to me said it took just over half an hour in standby. I did single rider and waited maybe 5 minutes. The mist/fog before the photo near the finish line was sort of on too. It was not working that well but I saw/felt some moisture as we cruised through there.

  • Paid what may be a final visit to Captain EO. Which I somehow timed to pass through and walked right into a seat, sat down, and the show started. Found it funny since I was thinking it would be good to see the preshow video one last time.. but decided I did not wait the 15 minutes for the next show. Rumor is the attraction will close next week. Saw conflicting versions that had it closed for renovation to closed forever. So time will tell. I would like to see something new and unique in there. Hoping they do not bring in the Laugh Floor or something else that has been around. Note this is not listed on the closure listing on disneyland.com but that has been known to be wrong in the past.

  • To close out the evening I took in Fantasmic then Magical. Fantasmic has most of the elements/effects that were not working last time I saw it in the show this evening. Only major missing piece was the croc that follows the Columbia. This was my final viewing of Magical for the summer season. Next week Remember Dreams Come True returns.

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
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