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Visit Date: 5/31/19
Steps: 22,453
Parks Miles: 10.6
Time in Parks: 9

 
Trip Log:

Arrived at the Mickey and Friends parking structure just after lunch and was greeted by no waits at all to park. Spent some time looking at the Pixar Pals Parking Structure construction then walked over to Downtown Disney. Strolled through the area stopping at World of Disney before making my way to Disneyland. Spent some time roaming around Main Street USA and the hub before entering Tomorrowland. Stopped by Alien Pizza Planet to take a look around then the Star Wars Launch Bay to check out Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge Merchandse. Decided to go for a round trip voyage on the Disneyland Monorail then walked through Fantasyland and took the Big Thunder Trail to Frontierland. Met up with some friends at the Hungry Bear and visited for a while. Then set off back through New Orleans Square and Aventureland. Paused in Town Square for the nightly Flag Retreat then crossed the Esplande to Disney California Adventure. Explored Buena Vista Street a little and ended up at Smokejumpers for dinner. After eating walked back through Carthay Circle and took the parade route out to Paradise Gardens and then into Pixar Pier. The Pixar Pal-A-Round queue was short so went for a spin to check out the Inside Out and Marvel projects. Once back on the ground continued through Pixar Pier. I was too early for my Toy Story FastPass so skipped riding and finished my loop of the Pier. Passed through the Pacific Wharf and into Cars Land. Luigis had a posted 5 minute wait, it turned out to be closer to 10. Then decided to give single rider a try for Radiator Springs Racers, turned out to be only a couple minute wait with about 10 people in front of me only. After winning my race took Route 66 to the Blue Sky Cellar and took a quick look around. Then continued on back to Carthay Circle and into Hollywood Land. Walked down Hollywood Blvd then Sunset before circling around and returning to Buena Vista Street. Decided to return to Disneyland. Stopped by the Main Street Opera House then spent some time on Main Street USA before returning to Tomorrowland. Visited the Tomorrowland Theater and saw the Toy Story 4 Sneak Peek and then used a FastPass for Star Tours. Walked back through the hub and Fantasy Faire into Frontierland Land. Worked my way through the Fantasmic crowd and out to Critter Country to take a look around. As I was walking back to Main Street Fantasmic was underway so stopped and watched about half the show. Made my way to Main Street USA and found a spot for Mickey's Mix Magic. After the show headed for the tram, garage, my car and home.

Other Interesting Stats:
* Moderate Walking Stats (meaning over 2.5mph): 15,172 steps, 132 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!

I was unsure about going to the Disneyland Resort on Friday. With Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge opening I thought parking could be an issue. I kept an eye on the reports coming from the park throughout the morning and all signs pointed to a very smooth experience. The plan the Disneyland Resort team put in place with the reservation system as the cornerstone worked to avoid an overwhelming response and gridlock. Parking and the parks crowds seemed less crowded than usual even. I think many annual passholders and others were aware of the opening and choose to stay way to avoid the potential crowds. Wait times were near walk-ons all morning for many attractions and throughout my visit in the afternoon the wait times reflected an off season day vs a Friday evening. Hopefully the rest of the reservation period goes this smoothly for the park. The next milestone will be the June 24th opening with no reservation requirement.

I was unlucky with my Star Wars Galaxy's Edge registration and the first available time slot I could make it to was on Monday afternoon, so I had no reservation nor way to visit Batuu this trip, so instead my focus was on catching up around the parks, visiting with friends and enjoying the mild crowd. Overall Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge has little impact on my day. I did make sure to avoid Critter Country around the beginning of a time slot for reservations but other than that there was no real impact as I walked through the parks. I think that will change once the reservation period ends and once regular summer Disneyland crowds arrive. If June follows the pattern of Friday it may be a great time to visit the park if you are ok not visiting Galaxy's Edge. It is hard to predict three weeks based on a single data point though.

Thoughts and Observations:

  • My parking experience today was the best in a long time. The overpass was open, I choose a line with no one in it and even the correct ramp lane to be directed into a spot without having to stop. Unfortunately I was on the far side of the 5th floor, but no delays and hassle more than made up for it.

  • The Pixar Pals Parking Structure is expected to open by the end of June. Crews were busy working on the structure, tram stop and the bridge over Magic Way to Downtown Disney. The projects looks to be coming together quickly and hopefully they make their targeted date. The parking will definitely ease the burden traffic troubles for those visiting.

  • Play Disney Parks App Issue with Esmeralda and Fortune Red. Both were unavailable and no indication in the app of a problem.. just not there. Did they retire them?

  • The Project Stardust work in the hub appears to be complete with the walls all removed. The number of small changes really add up to some big impacts I think. The most noticeable change is on the western site where they have worked to remove the bottle necks coming from Adventureland and Frontierland to Main Street. This will be most noticeable in the evenings when Main Street is full for fireworks and Fantasmic ends. On Friday the walkways felt oversized and rather large with the moderate to light crowd in the park.

  • The new Adventureland Sign that spans the entire walkway had been installed since my last visit. It works for the area and makes it feel much more open. With the light crowd it was hard to judge the impact of the change.

  • The refurbishment of Sleeping Beauty Castle has also been completed with all the walls removed. The new color scheme is much bolder than before. Overall it seems ok but there are some elements like the added stars that seems a tad out of place. It looked like they were still fine tuning some of the lighting and landscaping work. The moat filter system also appeared to not be working. The water was not clear and had a smell to it.

  • The guest relations podium and line board have moved across the street and are on a small walkway that leads to the Plaza In. The podium is on the south side and the wait time board has been converted to a digital display and is on the north (castle) side. The digital wait time board seems a little awkward and the casing seems on the large side for the size of the displays, but it is nice to see a board back and being digital I am assuming it updates more frequently from the data that is used for the app.

  • Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge merchandise was available in several shops throughout Disneyland as well as World of Disney and the hotels. The open edition/generic land merchandise was available outside the park. Inside the park they had opening day and limited edition merchandise available at several locations including the Emporium, Star Traders and Pooh Corner plus the 2nd floor of Star Wars Launch Bay. This plan seemed to work well. I walked through the Launch Bay in the early afternoon and there was no line and a fair number of shoppers. The cash register area had several times more cast members than guests when I went to check out. I was surprised that so much of the Launch Bay space was sectioned off for queue space and storage/stocking space it appeared vs shopping space. The shopping area itself felt rather small.

  • Alien Pizza Planet scaffolding is down, the interior work looks complete and the exterior it appears all is done except to finish installing the sign. The exterior received a new sign and graphics and inside the big change is the beverage station moved outside the registers along the back wall. This opened up the ordering space quite a bit. When I visited it felt busy with most of the tables taken.

  • Out at the Hungry Bear Restaurant in Critter Country there is a new sign on the pathway to/from Galaxy's Edge and the back dining area cover is complete so it matches the main dining area. The new sign looks great and blends as if it has been there all along.

  • Nothing of note to report from Disney California Adventure. The big changes are in the coming week with the return of Soarin Over California and the arrival of the Lion King summer festivities next week.

  • A sneak peek of Toy Story 4 has moved into the Tomorrowland Theater. The addition is minimal, a new sign and some posters in the queue. No preshow video just a title graphic and opening date. The preview itself includes a couple of scenes (Flashback to Bo Peep leaving and then a look at where Forky came from) followed by a series of trailer clips. They use some minimal in theater effects, some lighting and wind is all I noticed. It is presented in 3D. I went to a showing in the evening and it was about 2/3 full so there is definitely interest. Also noteworthy is the old entry queue has been removed. Instead that area is more open and looks to be set up for stroller parking. You enter just from the Space Mountain pathway now.

  • The Get Your Ears On Celebration for Mickey's 90th Birthday is quickly coming to an end. Decorations have been removed from the Esplanade and Main Street. The characters are back in regular costumes, no more celebration outfits. Mickey's Mix Magic runs through Thursday night. Come Friday it will be replaced by the return of Disneyland Forever. The Get Your Ears on Dance Party in Tomorrowland looks like it will be staying around into the summer, it is on the Disneyland.com calendar as of now.

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

Walt Disney World (May Trip Summary & Links to All Posts)

Geek’s Blog Postings Recap April 24 - May 21, 2019

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
Pictures & Video From this Trip:


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