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Visit Date: 8/30/24
Steps: 24,229
Parks Miles: 11.09
Time in Parks: 10.5

 
Trip Log:

Arrived at the Disneyland Resort around 10am and was directed into a space on the Goofy level of the Mickey and Friends parking structure. I encountered no delays and was stepping onto Main Street in just under 20 minutes from parking. Strolled up Main Street USA and decided to visit Frontierland first. Went for a cruise aboard the Mark Twain Riverboat then once back on shore walked along the Rivers of America and out to Critter Country to check on the various projects. After spending some time there walked back through New Orleans Square, through Adventureland and onto Main Street USA. Caught a performance by the Disneyland Band then crossed over to Disney California Adventure and headed for Paradise Gardens to watch the premiere performance of the new Coco show at noon. Picked up lunch in San Fransokyo and Flo's then returned to watch the second performance of Coco. Met Walked through Grizzly Recreation area to reach Buena Vista Street. Returned to Disneyland. Pluto's Pumpkin Quest 2024 is underway in both parks and Downtown Disney so I spent some time on Main Street USA looking for pumpkins and stopped by Disneyana to pick up the Magic Key trading card. Also listened to a set b the Dapper Dans. Watched to 1:45pm Halloween Cavalcade then spent some more time on Main Street USA before seeing the 2:45 Dapper Dan set. Visited with some friends on Main Street then hung out in Adventureland with them for a while. Our virtual queue time came up for Haunted Mansion so we headed that way. On the way found a couple more pumpkins. After my visit to the Haunted Mansion I set off on a pumpkin quest walking through New Orleans Square, Frontierland, Fantasyland, Toontown and Tomorrowland. After successfully finding all 13 pumpkins returned to Disney California Adventure. Started my pumpkin quest on Buena Vista Street then continued to Hollywood Land. Passed through Avengers Campus to reach the performance Corridor then San Fransokyo. Circled Paradise Bay stopping by Paradise Gardens and a couple locations on Pixar Pier to look for Pumpkins. Made our way through Grizzly Recreation area and into the Grand Californian Hotel. Spent some time looking for hidden Mickeys in the Halloween Display before visiting Downtown Disney. Walked Downtown Disney looking for the 13 pumpkins there and managed to find them all before sunset. Returned to Disney California Adventure and decided to visit Cars Land for the nightly lighting moment, along with a lot of other guests. After the moment wandered around Radiator Springs for a while the walked through Avengers Campus and Hollywood Land on my way back to Buena Vista Street. Roamed around taking a look at the lights and decorations after dark before deciding to call it a day. Made our way to the tram, found our car and headed for home. (Walking time 3:54 today)


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 kick off my long Labor Day weekend at the Disneyland Resort. I had a short agenda to see the new Coco show and visit friends. The weather was great topping out around 80 with a slight breeze and cooling toward 70. The crowds were very mild most of the day but as you would expect as the sun set they grew.

Thoughts and Observations:

  • My parking luck held again and I had no delays from the free way to being directed into a parking spot. The same cannot be said for the LA Freeways I used to reach the park. I also had no delays with security or the tram so it was under 20 minutes from parking to Main Street USA.
  • I looked at the wait times, almost all were on the short side but nothing jumped out to me as a must ride this morning so I opted for a leisurely cruise around the Rivers of America to start my visit. I always enjoy my time on the boats. Its a little escape from the crowds of the park usually and a change of pace. I am really going to miss the Liberty Belle at the Magic Kingdom once the bulldozers move in to start the Cars attractions. I am still very disappointed that with the so called blessing of size they found no better solution than destroying the Rivers of America to make way for the new additions. That seems so short sighted to me and removing the "theme" from the park.
  • The Haunted Mansion queue area had incremental visible progress since last week. No major changes jumped out to me as we cruised by. On the other side though the steel for the new gift shop at the exit is taking shape and you can get a feel for the scale of the new building. It is going to do a good job of blocking the adjacent mountain from the Haunted Mansion exit. The steel is right up against the construction wall which forms a narrow walkway that is the current exit path.
  • Tiana's Bayou Adventure had logs cycling through the attraction. It is always a little odd to see them going over the fall with no water on the drop. The flume is filled but the waterfall is turned off. They seemed to be at regular intervals and flowing smoothly the time I was in the area. Winnie the Pooh, Pooh Corner, and the Meet and Greet area have all reopened. The most noticeable change is the entrance to the Winnie the Pooh attraction has been tweaked with a new barrier set up so you no longer walk right in, you have to enter from the side. This should help with traffic flow, especially when the queue backs up as it should stay against the fence vs out in the walkway. Speaking of the walkway the main pathway through the area was redone but some sections near the entrance plus the meet and greet area remained the same. I thought this may be a chance for them to tweak the area's configuration. Tiana's Bayou Adventure queue building has most of the scaffolding removed offering you a good look at it. The Hungry Bear looks like it is ready to open, the big project there is the kitchen renovation so no visual indication of how close that is to being complete.
  • Bayou Country is starting to take over the area. A few sets of trashcans now sport the new logo.
  • Pluto's Pumpkin Pursuit has returned and this year is at both parks and Downtown Disney. Game Boards are $9.99 plus tax and available in a number of locations. There are 13 pumpkins in each quest. I would have liked for them to have created some different pumpkins for the parks. All three sets are the same.
  • A new version of the Coco Show at Disney California Adventure premiered today and will run through the Halloween season. The Storytellers of Plaza de la Familia Celebrate The Musical World of Coco! takes place several times daily in Paradise Gardens Park. The show features a couple of storytellers accompanied by dancers. Miguel still takes part in the show in puppet form. The Mariachi Divas are no longer part of the show. The show was enjoyable and if you had never seen the original show it was well done. The pacing seemed a tad awkward with a pause for audience participation and a slow down in the middle. I prefer the original show as it felt more lively and moved at a quicker pace.. The new version suffers the same challenges as the original though given the venue choice and show times. The audience and performers are all on the same level so seeing is a challenge more than a couple rows back. The new version does try to address this by having some performers stand on a box/stage for portions of the show. The show times are all mid afternon between noon and 4:30pm so you are in the direct sun with no shade if you want to see the show..
  • I do want to note that this past week Disneyland announced plans for the holiday season. Viva Navidad Street Party is slated to return but seeing it will be a challenge. It will be performed on Saturday and Sundays only most of the season and will run daily starting on Dec 21st, which is the first day of the holiday block out for all Magic Key Passes. This is disappointing as I enjoy the show and it means a lot of guests will not be able to experience it this year.
  • I used the Virtual Queue again to visit the Haunted Mansion. When I arrived the morning queue was filled already so I had to wait for the noon release. We picked up a group which was called mid afternoon. We had no substantial wait. A bit of a slow walk to get scanned in but other than that moved right through with no problem. Also noteworthy was I did not get a push notification that my group was called today. I thought that was odd/annoying.
  • Out in Fantasyland the walls are down by the Fantasyland Theatre and the pavement project looks complete. It is plain black asphalt. Not sure how much of an improvement that is over the previous slurry style walkways in the area.
  • Stopped by Disney's Grand Californian Hotel to see the finished Halloween display. The culinary team did a great job and it is a highly detailed piece to look at. There are 13 hidden Mickeys to search for too. I found 11ish (not sure if a couple count or not).
  • New concept art for Downtown Disney projects was released today. Here is a link. Opening dates are not specific but several have winter as the time frame.
  • I arrived in Cars Land in time to see the lighting moment. Route 66 was incredibly busy, the most I have seen in a long time for the lighting moment. I have never been a fan of the Haul-O-Ween version. I would have preferred a different song. The crowd returned to normal in the area within 15 minutes of the ending of the moment.
  • I closed out my visit spending some time on Buena Vista Street taking in the Halloween sights. The area takes on such a different feel for the season and was fairly busy with guests entering the park still at 8pm.

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

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