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Visit Date: 9/30/16
Steps: 13,272
Parks Miles: 5.0
Time in Parks: 9

 
Trip Log:

Arrived at the Mickey and Friends Parking Structure just after lunch and was directed into a spot on Donald. Stopped to take some pictures and watch the Star Wars construction then hopped on a waiting tram to head to the parks. First stop Disneyland. Wandered around Main Street USA and made my way through Adventureland and out to New Orleans Square. Picked up a FastPass for Haunted Mansion then continued on to Critter Country to check out the Star Wars work from there. Walked along the Rivers of America and into Frontierland to do the same. Met up with a friend in the hub and we walked through Fantasyland and out to Toontown. Walked back through Small World Mall and around the Matterhorn to Tomorrowland. Stopped by the Star Wars Launch Bay and then headed for Main Street and over to Disney California Adventure. Strolled up Buena Vista Street and down Hollywood Blvd to the Backlot area. Made our way to Stage 12 for the AP Days. Visited with another friend there and then walked by Tower of Terror and through Bugs Land. Took the parade route out to Paradise Gardens and stopped by the AP Days there too. Then walked back toward the Bay Area and turned to walk through Grizzly Recreation Area. Returned to Buena Vista Street then back to Disneyland. Paused in Town Square for the National Anthem and Flag Retreat then continued on into the park. The plan was to grab a quick bite at the Village Haus but it was closed already for the Halloween Party (it was only 4:30pm). So walked through Frontierland and out to New Orleans Square. Picked up a Haunted Mansion FastPass (since I missed my earlier window) and then out to the Hungry Bear for food. Got a text some friends were in the park so met up with them after eating and we all grabbed a set of FastPasses for the Mansion then they wanted to eat so it was back to the Hungry Bear to visit. After they finished eating we returned to the Mansion for our ride. Then walked through New Orleans Square and into Adventureland. Hiked the Tree House and then walked through Frontierland and out to the hub. They were staying for the Halloween party which was just about to kick off. Once 7pm came and the party started I made my way toward the exit . Received a text that more friends were making their way into the park so waited for them in the Esplanade (it took them a considerable amount of time to make it through security, just over 20 minutes. Once they finally entered we headed for DCA since Disneyland was closed. They had not eaten so the plan was Smoke Jumpers. The line stretched out into the walkway so we abandon that and made our way through the masses and out to Paradise Gardens. The line there was out the door and around the corner but it looked to be moving and they were hungry so we waited. Turned out to be much shorter than expected and we were seated at a table and they were eating in under 15 minutes. After they finished we wandered around Paradise Pier a bit and then I headed to World of Color to use a FastPass someone picked up for me earlier in the day. They continued on to Bugs Land and Turtle Talk. After World of Color I joined the crowd exiting the park and watched the Halloween fireworks from the tram as I made my way back to the parking structure. Found my car and headed for home.

Other Interesting Stats:
* Moderate Walking Stats (meaning over 2.5mph): 10,407 steps, 90 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 everyone,

Friday was a pleasant afternoon at the Disneyland Resort then a very crowded evening. While the sun was up the parks were both mild in terms of crowds moving around and wait times. For example Haunted Mansion seemed to be 30-45 minutes and FastPass return times were about the same. I had no problem picking up FastPasses. But as the sun set and Halloween Party guests arrived Disneyland became more crowded and come 7pm when Disneyland closed DCA became extremely crowded with long waits for food and even restrooms in some cases.

Thoughts and Observations:

  • Started off my visit checking out the Star Wars Themed Land construction. You can now clearly see the entrance tunnel from Fantasyland and from Frontierland. Walls, paths, and some rock work are also starting to take shape around the site as they move full speed ahead to get the Rivers of America reopened next year. For the main portion of the new Star Wars area dirt is being moved around and some utility work but not much else is visible beyond the one basement yet. I stopped by the Hungry Bear for dinner and they were bringing in dirt and compacting it for the new walkway along the rivers edge. The dining area was vibrating and it was quite loud. Surprised they were working during a meal time in that area. As I was leaving the park, around 9:45pm, crews were working well into the evening on a Friday.

  • Walking around Disneyland this week several smaller projects dealing with crowd control are wrapping up or underway. These including relocating the canons in Town Square to be inside the planters and out of the walkways, curb work at the hub end of Main Street, as well as removal of turn stiles from the Tiki Room and Haunted Mansion. I saw a permit was filed recently for demo work to begin on the 2nd floor of Innoventions. It was for removal of all non-load barring walls. Friday I walked through the Launch Bay and could not make out any changes up above.

  • Did an afternoon walk through of Disney California Adventure. The back lot area has had some more of the Party infrastructure removed, the arches as you enter. Most of the light and sound rigging is still in place. Wonder if that means a new party is moving in. Seems if they were just going to remove it that would have happened already, or are they just really taking their time?

  • APDays wraps up this week. I stopped by for some water and to pick up the button of the week. The line to see the character was fairly long again and nothing else was going on so I did not spend much time. I stopped by the Paradise Gardens location and they had a RunDisney table and some stickers for the new iOS app too. Overall I thought the promotion this time around feels lacking compared to the first one. The Stage 12 area and Paradise Garden area both feel really small. Also there are just not a lot of activities happening in either place.

  • Every year I mention/complain about the impact of the Halloween Party on regular day guests. I am not a fan of it, I think it causes a lot of disruption and makes for bad show for regular guests. I understand why they run the party with the mix in vs clearing the park and setting up but I think it would be a better guest experience to have a gap between the two for set up. As soon as Soundsational finishes its run at 3pm party set up kicks into gear. Decorations, barriers, and other items come out. Also locations start to close. For example the Village Haus was closed by 4:15, Toontown closed at 5pm and other locations close down well before the 7pm park closure too. The other negative impact of this is what happens at Disney California Adventure. With Disneyland closing at 7pm on a Friday night the park gets extremely crowded with many food lines and even restroom lines stretching outside. The walkways are also very crowded.

  • I had some friends join my later in the evening after work with their family and they were pleasantly surprised by the relative ease to park in the Mickey and Friends Parking structure. It took them approximately half an hour from exiting at Harbor to park the car and text saying they were walking through DD to meet me. Unfortunately they ran into a massive backup at security and it took half an hour to get through the checkpoint. So in the end it took about 70 minutes from Harbor Blvd exit to reach Buena Vista Street.

  • The original version of the World of Color show has returned to Paradise Bay. I had a blue FastPass for Friday and found an ok spot right before show time. The show no longer has the Brave segment, features the Stranger Tides Pirates and it uses a couple of the effects from the Celebrate version, the rest is the original show. The projections looked better than ever on Friday. If you plan to visit be sure to check the times guides. There are 2 shows on Friday, and two different schedules for the other days.

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Disney Related Press Releases

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

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

Send comments, questions, any other email to: disneygeek@disneygeek.com
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