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Visit Date: 8/02/19
Steps: 19,334
Parks Miles: 9.1
Time in Parks: 9

 
Trip Log:

Arrived at the Disneyland Resort in the early afternoon. Entered the Mickey and Friends garage as usual and was greeted by short lines again. Ended up on the third floor and directed to the new Pixar Pals parking structure. Took a look around the tram plaza, elevator and walkway to Downtown Disney work before deciding to walk over to the parks. Strolled through Downtown Disney and eventually arrived at the park entrances. Decided to visit Disney California Adventure first this afternoon. Roamed around Buena Vista Street then Hollywood Land before making my way up the parade route, through the Wharf and out to Pixar Pier. Made my way around to the Pixar Pal-A-Round and went for a spin since it was about a 15 minute wait only. The Emotional Whirlwind was at 30 minutes so skipped it again as I continued my walk around the Pier. Passed throug Paradise Gardens and then into Paradise Park. Found a spot and enjoyed some of the Tale of the Lion King performance that was just starting as I walked by. Headed for Redwood Creek Challenge Trail to see what was going on there, walls are up around the campfire area. After taking a look around decided to pay a visit to Radiator Springs by way of the Wharf. Walked through Ornament Valley and then up Route 66. Grabbed an early dinner at Smokejumpers Grill then the plan was to use a FastPass for Soarin but the return queue stretched out to the main walkway so I skipped it and headed for Disneyland. Stopped by Disneyana and then the Disney Showcase to check out the Main Street Electrical Parade merchandise. Had some time so walked down to the Penny Arcade and visited Esmeralda. Then walked through the Candy Palace and Refreshment Corner. Stopped by the wait times display then followed the All-American College Band to Town Square for the nightly Flag Retreat. After the ceremony made my way up Main Street stopping at the Jolly Holiday & Plaza Inn before entering Tomorrowland. Circled the area and walked around the Matterhorn to Fantasyland. Continued to the Big Thunder Trail and then out to Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge. Walked around Batuu visiting the Black Spire Outpost and forest area before exiting to Critter Country. Strolled through New Orleans Square, stopping to see Fortune Red and look at some of the merchandise. Walked through Adventureland and back to Town Square for the 6:00pm All-American College Band performance. After their set visited with some friends on Main Street then caught the 6:45pm Castle performance. Had some time after their set so made another pass through Tomorrowland to get some water and see what was happening at the Dance Party. Returned to Town Square again for the 7:35pm All-American College Band set. After their set wandered around Main Street for a while and decided to grab a spot for the Main Street Electrical Parade. Watched the 8:45pm parade and then moved out to the street for Disneyland Forever. After the fireworks joined the masses exiting the park and eventually boarded a tram back to the structure, found my car and headed for home.

Other Interesting Stats:
* Moderate Walking Stats (meaning over 2.5mph): 14,202 steps, 123 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 relaxing day at the Disneyland Resort for me. My objectives were to enjoy the entertainment and return of the parade. The crowds felt about average for a summer day, so moderate. The weather peaked in the mid 80s with a breeze and cooled to the 70s before I left.

Thoughts and Observations:

  • Today I was directed into a spot in the new Pixar Pals Parking Structure. I entered the Mickey and Friends structure as always and was greeted by short lines, only 2-3 cars per toll booth. Then up the ramp to the Mickey level (3). Then instead of being directed into an aisle we kept driving over to the new structure and then into a spot. The arrival experience was pretty smooth and no real problems. Only oddity is there were two lanes but they were merging into one aisle to park vs parking two so that slowed things down a bit.

  • I started my visit walking around the tram plaza taking a look at the ongoing renovation then over to the Mickey & Friends structure to check out the elevator work and finally a look at the new walkway to Downtown Disney. All three projects are moving quickly. The walkway and plaza should be open in September. Landscaping was being installed along the walkway and most of the concrete work for it looked complete. The plaza they were working on more planters and installing more trees. The final tram stop has some concrete starting and conduit going in. It looks like the elevators may be longer than that.

  • Walked over to Downtown Disney and the security entrance on the north side, by the former ESPN/Rainforest, was closed and everyone was directed to the one by the hotels. There were no lines and this makes sense with no parking for Downtown Disney. Wonder if they will take this opportunity to redo that security checkpoint and integrate it with the new walkway. No signs of work when I walked by on Friday, just closed except to exit.

  • The Disneyland Monorail is now closed 11am to 6pm daily. So if you are staying at the hotels or planning to use it to reach Downtown Disney plan accordingly. Last summer the Monorail was closed many afternoons due to the heat. The Disneyland fleet does not have air conditioning and on hot days the cabins become unbearable and they have to reduce capacity and eventually shut down at certain temperatures. This year they have instead just decided to be closed during the heat of the day every day. From a cost/staffing perspective this makes sense but if I was a guest paying the premium to stay at a Disney Hotel and use the monorail I would be disappointed and frustrated.

  • At Disney California Adventure work on the Marvel Project is moving along with more steel rising up in the area near the restroom. They have assembled most of a new building building there already. Not a lot of other visible progress on the project from the couple limited angles we have. Disney will be sharing more details of the project at the upcoming D23 Expo.

  • The Tale of the Lion King show on the Palisades Stage has had a large cast reduction. All the dancers that performed on ground level have been removed from the show. So only the cast on the stage is left. The show has a slightly different feel now. Some of the energy is gone. The dancers were hard to see from many of the viewing locations but if you were able to see them they did bring a lot of movement and energy to the production.

  • I thought maybe with the Main Street Electrical Parade returning they would add a second World of Color to help draw some of the crowd to DCA. They did not. There is still only one World of Color at 10:15pm every night. I really do not understand this. For families that is insanely late for a show kids will enjoy.

  • Ate dinner at Smokejumpers Grill. The plan was to use a gift card but the line was to the door so instead mobile ordered and had my food in a couple minutes. All the indoor seating was full so I ended up outside on the Buena Vista Street side. The umbrellas on this side look to have been replaced recently. They looked really new and felt larger (more shade). The area looked nice and there was a slight breeze so it was pleasant to eat out there.

  • My plan was to visit Soarin after eating but the FastPass return line was out to the main walkway and that was substantially longer than my patience and time would allow this afternoon so I skipped it.

  • The big news this week is the return of the Main Street Electrical Parade to Disneyland. Currently the parade is announced to run through September 30th. Will be interesting if they extend the run or stop it during HalloweenTime. The Parade last rolled through the park in 2017. To celebrate the return there is an assortment of merchandise available including artwork, shirts, hats, tumblers and more. Also there are a selection of treats and food items available at many of the dining locations on Main Street. Guests were claiming curb seating along Main Street more than 3 hours before the parade. By the two hour mark most seating along the route had been taken and some second and third rows too. I ended up waiting about 45 minutes for a second row standing spot. I did not notice any changes to the parade. It seemed the same as it was during the last run.

  • The 2019 Disneyland Resort All-American College Band only has one week left in their season. Next Friday will be there final day. Today they altered their set play lists a bit due to guests already lined up for the parade in Town Square. Also a tweak at the Castle set, not sure why on that one.

  • While in Tomorrowland I stopped by the Tomorrowland Terrace and asked for a cup of ice water. They gave me a small, clear, plastic cup of ice. Sort of like you would get in a hotel room almost. And then I had to fill it up at the water station near by. Filling it up is standard but the small cup was new to me. Going to a generic cup for water makes some sense but it was so small a slightly larger cup would have been better.

  • The tram queue testing seems to have wrapped up again. Friday when I left only the Downtown Disney side load stations were open so all guests were being funneled to the two stops. It was about a 3 tram wait at the first stop and a 2 tram at the second. I went to the second. Of course the tram before I was to board has an issue and the driver exited and walked the tram for some reason then restarted it. So it took a while to leave the parks. I really miss the walkway along the tram route. It would be nice to see that return as an exit only option during peak times. Walking through Downtown Disney and around is a much longer and more crowded walk at that time of night.

  • The Pixar Pals Parking structure seemed a little on the dark side to walk around compared to the Mickey and Friends. Not sure if there are less lights or just more being blocked or just a general feel but there seemed to be spots with a big shadow in the structure as I walked to my car.

  • Leaving from the Pixar Pals parking structure is a little more effort than Mickey and Friends. First up if you plan to use the restroom there is none in the structure. You have to walk over to the Mickey and Friends one. Then when you leave you are directed back tot he Mickey and Friends and then merge into the exit traffic there and have to drive all the way around the structure to reach the ramps. This really seems inefficient. Seems there should be a better path to reach the ramps that does not involve so many aisles merging and passing by so many guests that are coming out from behind columns. Then to top off the delays the 3rd & 4th floor ramp was being forced onto Disneyland Drive and to the Ball Road light which was backed up too. So it took me over 30 minutes longer than usual to exit the park this evening between the parking & tram delays.

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

D23 Expo 2019 Summary Page - Links to all the announcements so far and will eventually contain links to all of our coverage

Geek's Blog Postings Recap July 3-30, 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
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