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Visit Date: 6/28/19
Steps: 19,157
Parks Miles: 9.0
Time in Parks: 9

 
Trip Log:

Arrived at the Disneyland Resort in the early afternoon and spend a few minutes looking at the soon to open Pixar Pals Parking Structure then walked around the recently opened tram stop area before boarding a tram to the parks. Made my way to Disney California Adventure first and strolled up Buena Vista Street and the performance corridor to Paradise Gardens Park. Continued around to Pixar Pier and took a look at the Inside Out Emotional Whirlwind that officially opened this morning. The wait was 30 minutes so I skipped it and instead waited under 15 minutes for the Pixar Pal-A-Round. Doubled back to Paradise Gardens then finished my loop of Pixar Pier. Walked through the Wharf and Cars Land then out to Hollywood Land to take a look around. Had a FastPass for Soarin so headed that way. The return line was really backed up so I skipped it and instead stopped by Smokejumpers to get something to eat. Then made my way over to Disneyland. Stopped by the Disney Gallery to see the Huante Mansion 50th Anniversary exhibit then the Main Street Cinema to see its current configuration (the store is gone and benches are in). At 4:30 made my way to Town Square to watch the nightly Flag Retreat Ceremony. Then walked up Main Street USA and into Tomorrowland. Took a look around, stopping by the Star Wars Launch Bay and then continued on around the Matterhorn and out to Fantasyland. It was nearly 5:15pm so walked through Fantasy Faire and then back to Main Street USA to catch the All-American College Band performances on Main Street. After their set I walked through Frontierland and took the Big Thunder Trail to Galaxy's Edge. Wandered around the streets of Black Spire Outpost for a while and then strolled through the forest area on my way to Critter Country. Took a look around Critter Country then walked back through New Orleans Square and Adventureland to the hub. Found a spot for the 6:45pm All-American College Band set in front of the Castle. Then roamed around Main Street USA before finding a spot for the 7:35pm set in front of the Train Station. After their performance returned to Disney California Adventure and made my way out to Paradise Gardens Park for a performance of the Tale of the Lion King. Made a quick visit to see the Inside Out Emotional Whirlwind after dark and then walked quickly to Hollywood Land to see the 8:45pm set of the All-American College Band at the Backlot Stage. Returned to Disneyland and found a spot around 9:15pm for Disneyland Forever on Main Street USA. After the fireworks joined the masses exiting the park and headed for the trams, parking structure, my car and home.

Other Interesting Stats:
* Moderate Walking Stats (meaning over 2.5mph): 13,5020 steps, 117 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 spent a relaxing afternoon/evening at the Disneyland Resort on Friday. The weather was mild, toping out around 80 and cooling down to around 70. The crowds in both parks were on the moderate side too. Wait times were under an hour for just about everything the entire visit. They seemed to vary a bit as the day went on but if you watched, timed it right, and used FastPass they were not bad overall if you wanted to visit attractions. My goal was to see some of the newly opened things and enjoy the entertainment.

  • Disneyland News item - Disneyland announced that the Main Street Electrical Parade will return to Disneyland on August 2nd for a limited run and on July 17th Soundsational will be ending.
  • WDW News item - The Disney Parks Blog addressed two rumors saying neither is accurate and both the Country Bears and the Enchanted Tiki Room were staying put at the Magic Kingdom.

Thoughts and Observations:

  • I choose unwisely for my parking lane today. I went to the far right booth and there were four CMs inside. One in the front half and they were working both lanes and three in the back half talking to each other, maybe training. I was three cars back and the first car had several questions and the line stopped for several minutes as the CM answered the questions. Then on the ramp up to the level they merged everyone into one lane and it was a bit slow around to a spot.

  • The new Pixar Pals Parking Structure opens Sunday, June 30th. This should ease the parking headache some. The new headache may become the trams and traffic leaving the structures. On Friday they were testing our a queue configuration for the trams loading in the evening. It was similar to before. It was a little slower for me but overall probably faster for most guests. The new structure looked complete and crews were setting up cones and doing other finishing work inside. The construction focus has shifted to the central portion of the original tram stop as it is being demolished and will be rebuilt to match the new with pavers, planters and trees.

  • The new security bag check and tram load area has opened on the first floor of the Pixar Pals Parking Structure. This new space feels very open and features lighting, background music and some seating. There were several lanes open and the process was quick and efficient for me on Friday.

  • The Inside Out Emotional Whirlwind opened on Pixar Pier Friday morning. I stopped by early afternoon to check it out. Not sure what to say about it. It is a lightly themed spinner in a small area. What they did sort of works for the area. I would have much rather preferred this to be an entrance to a more grand attraction vs a very low capacity spinner. On Friday the wait varied form 30-60 minutes the couple of times I was in the area. The load/unload time is extremely long for this very short attraction, just as it was in Flik's Fun Fair. There is audio but it is hard to hear at times because of the Incredicoasters circling the area. I did not go for a ride because the wait times were beyond what I was willing to wait.

  • Walked around Hollywood Land for a while and there were a handful of Marvel Characters moving around the area. Some were coming and going from their meet and greets but along the way they were interacting with each other and guests. Others seemed to be free roaming. I think free roaming characters foster much better interaction and are more interesting. I know one of the trade-offs is no guarantee of face time like you have with the set locations and queues, but it seems like an experience you can remember and talk about more.

  • I had a FastPass for Soarin Over California and hoped to visit before dinner but the return queue was backed up out the door and the queue. So I skipped that too. The return queue seems to back up fairly frequently in recent years.

  • The Disney Gallery opened an exhibit today for the Haunted Mansions 50th Anniversary. It features concept art and models from the mansions creation. I still find the current Disney Gallery space a little awkward, but I am really pleased they keep bringing in new exhibits. I especially enjoy these trips back into the vault to see some of the inspiration and creation process for the parks attractions.

  • The Main Street Cinema is now merchandise free (they removed it the day after my last visit) and features benches arranged around the perimeter and center raised area. When I visited about half the benches were full. I was pleased to see Disney react so quickly to change back. The area seemed brighter to me, I think they either had the curtains open or maybe some were removed? But it seemed you could see in from the street a bit and inside it seemed brighter to me.

  • Stopped by the Star Wars Launch Bay. There were not that many guests moving about. The character meet and greets were open and were basically walk ins. No real waits. So if you are looking to meet a couple Star Wars Characters in air conditioning keep this in mind. Wonder how much longer the plan is to keep the Launch Bay with Galaxy's Edge now open.

  • Last Monday the reservation only period for Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge ended. There was an initial surge of guests the first morning but since then the land has been able to accommodate guests with out the need for boarding groups. Wait times seem to be in the 45-60 minute range for Smuggler's Run most of the time with some spikes and dips based on time of day, etc.. The rest of the parks were on the extremely light side all week. As the week went on the crowds picked up. Overall the rollout of Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge from a crowd and ops perspective appears to have gone extremely smoothly. The crowds should pick up as word gets out that it is not grid lock in the parks. Also to aid this Disney has opened some cast member block out dates as well as added a bring a friend promotion for annual pass holders.

  • I made a quick walk through Black Spire Outpost in between College Band sets. This was my first time using the Big Thunder trail paths and the transition worked really well into the new land. The crowds inside did not seem that bad. You could walk around and visit the stores and dining locations without any real queues outside, except for Oga's and the workshop of course. The Smuggler's Run queue was posted at 45 minutes. I enjoyed taking a second look at some of the details and look forward to visiting again in the near future.

  • The outdoor vending location in Critter Country has expanded and now includes a new stand and frozen beverages in addition to churros. The new stand has some new signage and a new bird nearby too. Wonder if this is a re-themed element from the former one in New Orleans Square?

  • I stopped by Paradise Gardens Park to take the final showing of Tale of the Lion King to see how it looks under the lights. The lights bring a different dynamic to it and the cooler temperatures made it much more pleasant to watch. The one challenge is they were already setting up ropes and sections for World of Color so it was a bit award and viewing options were more limited.

  • My goal today was to enjoy the All-American College Band and I made it to all of their sets. The group this year is fun to watch and plays a nice mix of music over their various sets. Having the concert set at 8:45pm on the Backlot stage seems a little awkward and not ideal. They had an ok crowd in the area for it.

  • I returned to Disneyland just after 9:00pm to close out my evening with Disneyland Forever Fireworks. The crowd on Main Street was thin by Friday night standards with a lot of space even at show time. I drew a fairly unlucky spot with several kids popping up on shoulders in my direct line of sight to the castle. It always reminds me how much I enjoy the way Tokyo does it. The snow looked especially good tonight with the laser/lights. Not sure if the wind was just right or if they tweaked something.


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 May 22 - June 11, 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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