home > Disneyland Resort > Pictures >Trip Summary For 1/16/15
Disneyland ResortPicture Set

Visit Date: 1/16/15
Steps: 24,167
Parks Miles: 9.1
Time in Parks: 8.5

 
Trip Log:

Arrived at the Mickey and Friends garage just after lunch and was quickly directed into a spot on the Goofy level. Decided to walk down the stairs and across the Pinocchio lot to the Disneyland Hotel. Roamed around the RunDisney Expo for a while and ran into some friends. Strolled through Downtown Disney and headed for the parks. First stop this afternoon Disney California Adventure. Took Buena Vista Street to Carthay Circle then continued on up the parade route to Paradise Pier. Paradise Bay is partially drained so took some pictures then walked through the Wharf and Cars Land on my way to Hollywood Land. Stopped by Olafs Snow Fest then returned to Buena Vista Street on my way to Disneyland. Made my way up Main Street, around the hub and into Tomorrowland. Went for a round trip voyage on the Monorail. Once back in Tomorrowland walked along the Sub Lagoon and out to Small World then Toontown. Doubled back through Fantasyland and took the Big Thunder Trail to the Rivers of America then walked through New Orleans Square, by Haunted Mansion and to the construction wall for Critter Country. Turned around and hopped on the Disneyland Railroad, taking it to Toontown. Disembarked and walked through Fantasyland and Sleeping Beauty Castle to Fantasy Faire. Caught a performance at the Royal Theatre. After the show decided to grab a bite to eat at the Village Haus then wandered around the hub and eventually into Adventureland then back to Main Street USA. Returned to Disney California Adventure. Ended up at the Animation Building and spent some time there enjoying the film clips. Went outside to see what was going on at Freeze the Night and roamed around there for a while before taking walking over to Fliks Fun Fair and then into Cars Land. Wandered around Cross Street and Route 66 for a while and eventually into the Wharf area. Walked down the parade route and through Bugs Land to Hollywood Land. Met some friends and spent some time at Freeze the Night and talking with them then strolled up Hollywood Blvd to Carthay Circle and Buena Vista Street. Returned To Disneyland for the rest of the evening. Walked up Main Street USA to Tomorrowland to catch a group I had not seen before performing at the Tomorrowland Terrace then back to Main Street for Fantasy in the Sky fireworks to close out the evening. After the show joined the masses heading for the trams. Returned to the parking structure, found my car and headed for home.

Other Interesting Stats:
* Moderate Walking Stats (meaning over 2.5mph): 18,212 steps, 161 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:


Regular View 3 pictures per page

Choose how you would like to view the pictures:
My Thoughts & Observations:

Hello everyone,

To kick off the long weekend I paid a visit to the Disneyland Resort on Friday. Overall the crowd levels were less than I had anticipated. With the holiday weekend and the Star Wars half marathon events going on I was expecting the parks to be crowded. There were a fair number of guests around but even with so many attractions and areas closed the wait times were not that long the few times I checked.

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

Thoughts and Observations:

  • The runDisney Expo/registration was taking place at the Disneyland Hotel. I started my trip walking around. I was surprised by how calm it was. Maybe I was just lucky and it was the calm before the storm or after? I had no problem walking around the merchandise area or the expo booths, where as at the Marvel race there was a line to get into the merchandise area. Nothing too new or different jumped out at me. I took some pictures of the merchandise and did a quick walk through then headed for the parks.

  • As you saw in the pictorial update Paradise Bay has been partially drained and they are already working on the World of Color fountains. The rest of the water will be drained in the coming days/weeks. It appeared they are cleaning the fountains as they are draining. I always enjoy seeing what goes into putting on a show and this is a great example. I found it interesting to note that Disney has abandon the idea of trying to hide the work or the idea of good show. There are no barriers or other attempts to make the area look better. They put up some safety barriers but that is it. Everything else is exposed for all to see (and smell). Speaking of smell, overall the area was better than I was guessing it would smell. I remembered the last time and the odor seemed much stronger.

  • The other big Disney California Adventure project this off season is Condor Flats. You cannot see much progress from ground level but from the Monorail you get a great view. The rocket engine tower has been removed/destroyed and it looks like much of the concrete is going to be redone too. I am looking forward to seeing how this area is re-imagined.

  • I stopped by Olaf's Snow Fest to take a look around since I did not make it inside last week. I did not play in the snow nor visit Olaf since both of those waits were longer than my patience. I was impressed by the interior of the show building and it sure looks to be more than a couple month temporary installation. The selection of merchandise and food was larger than I had expected too. The snow area seemed to be a hit with kids and their parents. I did overhear an interesting conversation in one family where the father was questioning why they want to wait in line for snow when they left home for vacation to get away from the snow for a week.

  • I spent some time in the Animation Building and managed to catch one of the new Frozen segments, In Summer. I understand there are two but I left to meet some friends before I saw it. A follow-up to a comment last week I made on the Animation Academy. Noticed why they had the queue set up the way they did. They are now using the entrance for both the entrance and exit so there is no queue space for the next show. They queue up in the lobby. After the theater empties those guests are moved into the regular queue then inside.

  • The Royal Courtyard is back at Disneyland. On Friday only two merchandise cabinets were in the space so you could see the courtyard again. I would guess more merchandise racks and registers are will be returning at some point, but for now it was nice to be able to walk around the courtyard. The number of quiet Disneyland spaces keeps shrinking.

  • Noticed with the closure of Critter Country that means the dessert package for Fantasmic is unavailable. All the print pieces reflect this. So if you want to see the show you have traditional FastPass, standby, or three dining choices (Blue Bayou, River Belle Terrace and the On-the-go at the Oasis). I still have not tried any of the options.

  • I made a second pass at some of the Frozen Fun. On a second viewing the Royal Theatre Show at Disneyland was still funny and I would highly recommend it to anyone. I spent some time at Freeze the Night and was disappointed to see the ice carvings were not that different this week. Olaf and another sculpture were the two I saw. I did not circle back to see what was created in the 8pm or 9pm hours. It looked like they were sticking to more or less the same schedule as last week. Ice Breakers/main stage at the top of the hour and 40min after. The ice carving starts at the 15 or 20min after the hour and runs most of the hour. They sung Let it Go at 8pm. Anyone know if they do this at any other times?

  • They had FastPasses still available for Anna & Else after 7pm on Friday. Seems like the new /expanded location is handling the crowds nicely and more guests are having the opportunity to visit them.

  • Do you visit our pictorial updates using a mobile device? If so we would like your feedback. I have created a beta of a more mobile version of our Disneyland Picture sets at https://disneygeek.com/mobile Please give it a try and share your thoughts.

  • Video featuring my pictures:

Interesting Web Finds/Notes:

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

Send comments, questions, any other email to: disneygeek@disneygeek.com
Pictures & Video From this Trip:


Regular View 3 pictures per page

Choose how you would like to view the pictures:
Back to previous page