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Visit Date: 12/01/18
Steps: 20,008
Parks Miles: 9.4
Time in Parks: 14

 
Trip Log:

Arrived at the Mickey and Friends parking structure just after 7:30am. Took some pictures of the work and headed for the trams. No delays at the tollbooths, on the level or at security but the trams were backed up two to three trams deep and no sign of any trams, so I decided to walk. No wait at Downtown Disney security either. Took a look around Downtown Disney at the Christmas decorations and various projects as I made my way to the parks. First stop today Disney California Adventure. Roamed around Buena Vista Street and as I did booked a FastPass for Toy Story. Walked up the parade route, by Paradise Gardens and around to the Pixar Pal-A-Round. Went for a spin and with no line had my own gondola. Once back on the ground stopped by Bing Bong's and he is now in his store. Then used my Toy Story FastPass. While in line booked one for the Racers for later in the morning. The ring toss game did not work for our trams. I told a cast member as we exited and they gave us all multi-experience passes good on most attractions in DCA. Decided to finish my walking loop of Pixar Pier and made my way back to Buena Vista Street and over to Disneyland. Stopped by the Disney Gallery and took a look at the new Mary Poppins Returns exhibit and then made my way to Adventureland for a look around and then the Castle to catch a performance by the Disneyland Band. After their set walked through Frontierland. The plan was to go for a cruise on the Mark Twain but the top deck was not in use so instead walked out to Critter Country to take a look around then passed through New Orleans Square on my way back to Frontierland. Made my way out to it's a small world holiday to use a FastPass. Stopped by Toontown to check out the Star Wars work and while there grabbed a FastPass and went for a spin on Roger Rabbit's Cartoon Spin. Then returned to the Castle for the 11:40am Disneyland Band set. After their performance ordered some lunch at Smokejumpers and walked over to pick it up and eat. After lunch had a choice of using a Racers FastPass or Viva Navidad and I opted for the street party. After the show caught a set by the Pixarmonic Orchestra and then a performance by the Holiday Toy Drummers before returning to Disneyland to check out the Candlelight crowds. It was about 3 hours before show time and guests were several deep in many spots. I picked a spot on the City Hall side about 3 people back from chairs and sat for a couple hours. Stood up for the 4:15pm flag retreat then stayed standing for the Tree Light and then the 5:30pm Candlelight. After the ceremony walked down the middle of Main Street USA and decided to head to Tomorrowland to grab a bite to eat at Tomorrowland Terrace (or Galactic Grill.. not sure which name it is going by now a days). After eating watched a few minutes of Goofy's Holiday Dance Party then returned to Main Street USA to watch the procession for the 7:45pm Candlelight. My plan was to head to DCA and watch Phat Cat Swinger but as I passed through Town Square I saw a nice spot to watch the Candlelight so I stopped and watched the 7:45pm show too. After the show made my way up Main Street and found a seat at Center Street to let the crowd go by. Roamed around the hub then went and found a spot near the Cinema to sit for a while and post some pictures before finding a spot to stand for Believe in Holiday Magic. After the fireworks headed for the tram, parking structure, my car and home to wrap up a long day at the parks.

Other Interesting Stats:
* Moderate Walking Stats (meaning over 2.5mph): 14,648 steps, 128 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:
Today was a rare Saturday visit to the Disneyland Resort for me due to the Annual Candlelight Ceremony taking place this weekend. The weather was on the cool side with highs topping out in the mid 60s but plenty of sun so it felt nice in the early part of the day but as soon as the sun set it cooled off quickly to the low 50s. Crowds were moderate. I was actually expecting it to be more crowded but I think most annual passes being blocked out helped with that.

Thoughts and Observations:

  • I was pleasantly surprised to find no delays when I arrived at the Disneyland Resort just before 8am. Only one car ahead of me at the tollbooth and no real delays being directed into a spot either. Security had almost every line open and only a couple guests at each so it was very efficient. The good flow came to a halt with the trams. Guests were backed up probably 2 or 3 trams depending on your luck and there were no trams in sight. I looked around, waited a minute, and with no trams coming decided to walk. Security at Downtown Disney was uncrowded too as were the park entrances.

  • Downtown Disney has some extra Christmas decorations, they look to be the ornaments from Bugs Land. The second Starbucks location will be reopening soon, no word on the other vacated businesses from the west side. Walking through the new dining locations on the north side seem to be progressing very slowly and I do not see them opening Fall 2018 as planned.. but guess they have about 3 weeks of fall still so anything is possible.

  • First attraction of the day for me was the Pixar Pal-A-Round. There was no line so a it was a very pleasant experience and a fairly clear morning too. Always a nice way to start off the day with no wait. I was able to take advantage of several FastPasses and experienced a couple of attractions with no wait and had the option on a couple others that I passed on to enjoy the entertainment.

  • Stopped by Bing Bong's Sweet Stuff and the Bing Bong figure is now on display. It is a static figure with some lights that blink and audio plays of some lines from the film every 30-45 seconds. Overall I was disappointed with the figure. I was expecting more with how long it is has been since the store opened.

  • Toy Story Midway Mania had an odd glitch that I had not encountered before. Everything was working properly and we pulled up to the ring toss game and it did not start. Everything stayed stationary until we moved on to the next game. You could shoot but it never started. I told a cast member upon returning to the station and they scanned park tickets and gave a multi-expereience FastPass to everyone who stopped from my tram.

  • The Disney Gallery is receiving a new exhibit for Mary Poppins Returns. It appeared to be a work in progress still on Saturday morning with equipment still in the space. It features some concept art, props and a costume from the film so far, will be interesting to see what else, if anything joins the exhibit. It seemed poor show to have it partially done and open to guests. It is interesting these items did not find their way into the lobby of a sneak peek for the film, they seem more on par with that than the gallery. Unless the plan is to run that in the Opera house, I hope not with two other theaters available.

  • I showed up about 3 hours before the Candlelight and found a spot. I had hoped to watch from the Opera House side but there was nothing available when I arrived so I ended up a couple rows back on the City Hall side. All in all it was not a horrible wait, the wi-fi was spotty at best though. The guest narrator for the evening was Chris Pratt (from Guardians of the Galaxy). During the first show he went off script and tried some comedy. Most laughed but it seemed a little out of place given the type of event it was. At the second show he did less of this and it seemed better to me. I ended up finding a stand by spot in the back for the second show by chance as I was leaving the park so I took in both performances on Saturday.

  • For dinner I ended up at Tomorrowland Terrace since Tomorrowland was where I was heading. The lines only had a couple guests in them and mobile order had several guests waiting so I decided to do the regular line. That was a mistake. I choose unwisely.. both groups in front of me had issues with their order. Then came my turn to order. I just wanted a plain burger and fries. The cast member cheerfully said it would be $14. I was baffled and asked how that could be. Seems they choose to ring up a plain burger and fries as a specialty burger plain.. after some discussion and a voided order it was changed to a plain cheeseburger at $10.53.. then it took a second cast member to clarify no cheese. In the end it came out correct but it took a lot longer than it needed to for a simple hamburger! If the app had a plain option I would have gone that way.. but you still cannot order just a plain hamburger.. you have to get the lettuce and tomato. You can get it without cheese and the sauce, but why not plain! It also still bugs me that at Disneyland you pay for a cheeseburger whether you want the cheese or not.

  • Tomorrowland Terrace hosts Goofy's Holiday Dance Party now. It is a basic character dance party featuring a DJ and rotating group of characters. In the play list are a mix of holiday as well as dance songs. The holiday theme is minimal and seems out of place in Tomorrowland. Most of the guests there did not seem to mind though as the dance floor was full and most appeared to be having a good time. The first group of Characters were Max, Goofy and Pluto. Then Peter Pan and Wendy joined them. I did not spend any additional time so not sure if there were others that joined in. The party ran from 7pm to 11pm.

Here are some recent posts to the Geek's Blog:

Geek’s Blog Postings Recap November 15-30, 2018

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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