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8/15/14 - My thoughts and observations from Fridays visit to the Disneyland Resort.
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Welcome to the disneygeek.com Geek Speaks section. In this section I will post my comments on trips to the parks or other Disney related events.

8/15/14 - My thoughts and observations from Fridays visit to the Disneyland Resort.

Hello everyone,

Summer is coming to an end at the Disneyland Resort. The All-American College Band wrapped up its season, more Halloween merchandise is out in stores, and Fall props/decorations are starting to appear. The weather was on the warm side, topping out about 90 degrees and cooling down to the 70s only. The crowds were relatively light with the longest wait at Disneyland most of the afternoon only at 40 minutes. Most were shorter. As usual as the evening went on wait times crept up. This calm is going to be disappearing soon with the return of the Southern California Annual passholders who have been blocked out all summer, but for now enjoy it while it lasts.

Jason

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

Thoughts and Observations:

  • I made a very quick pass through Disney California Adventure. Nothing to note from this abbreviated visit.

  • Friday was the last day for the 2014 All-American College Band so I devoted a good portion of my visit to enjoying all their sets one last time. If you have not seen the band or want to enjoy some of their music here is my summary page with links and videos. If you are tired of hearing about them do not worry I probably will not mention them again until next June. Note the band turns 45 next year and they are planning a big reunion so hopefully some fun concerts for us to enjoy!

  • On my way to Disneyland from DCA was talking with some friends and we were all commenting on it is still hard to get used to ongoing renovations taking place during the summer. For years you saw next to no work during this time of the year. But with the constant crowds and events there is no longer an extended slow time and as odd as it sounds summer is relatively quiet most of the season. Even with a large section of the turn stiles to Disneyland blocked off I have not noticed any huge delays.

  • From the Monorail the sub lagoon looks to be inching toward its September 27th opening. More props installation and other work is being done. Curious what if anything they will have changed once the attraction reopens in a little over a month.

  • I do not know why but it still amazes me that guests will wait in line for several minutes at a food location and when it becomes their turn it is like they have never seen the menu before. Also they seem to have no idea how to queue up on both sides of a register. This happened with a couple of groups in front of me as well as next to me at the Village Haus on Friday.

  • Stopped by the Music of Nashville just to see what was going on and it was fairly sparse again, I would say no more than 75 guests in the audience. Interesting note this week a good number did raise their hands saying they were fans of the show. Past weeks its only been a couple. After seeing the show several times now I wish they would have given the bands a little more freedom. The show is the same exact script and song set every time and there is very little room for ad-libbing. Only another week left in its run if you want to catch them.

  • I also stopped by the Golden Horseshoe and caught most of a performance by Miss Lilly. There were quite a few empty tables and even several that did not seem to be paying any attention to the show. I noticed they now had show times listed on the stage and they are back in the times guide too.

  • Speaking of the times guide the All-American College Band did not make the Disneyland one this week for their final day, but they did the DCA one. I forgot to mention Disneyland.com made a tweak recently (want to say a couple weeks ago) and now the entertainment section lists all the live groups performing around the parks. It was great to see the more complete information available.

  • Last Saturday, the 9th, the Haunted Mansion celebrated its 45th anniversary. I went for a ride to commemorate the occasion, plus it was only a 5 minute wait. Only a couple more weeks until it closes for the annual switch over to the Nightmare Before Christmas version. To mark the occasion Disney released some limited edition merchandise, open edition merchandise, as well as commemorative prints at four dining locations. I was surprised to still see T-shirts available this week, usually those seem to disappear quickly. The open edition merchandise continues to roll out and fill the shelves. Based on the comments I overheard they sure seem to be a hit with guests. Curious if the comments translated into sales. The commemorative prints are an interesting idea. If you spend $30 on food at one of the locations you can purchase that locations print for $5. I did not notice any on display. Just a couple relatively small signs at each location promoting the event. Seemed like a very low key promotion.

  • Went for am after dark trip on the Jungle Cruise. This is always a little challenging since the jungle is not lit well.. the skipper we had was ok. She had a couple jokes I had not heard before but overall she seemed rushed. I did not time it but it sure seemed like we sailed through faster than usual. The two jokes that stuck out to me... in the hippo pool to scare off the hippos she reached for the gun then opted to profess her love for the hippos and ask about a commitment. She commented how that scared her last couple of boyfriends away. The tribes chants were translated to be Let it Go! instead of the hokey pokey.

  • While walking through Frontierland/Adventureland a little after 9 made the comment how we thought it was odd you could not hear Fantasmic but chalked it up to maybe the wind blowing away or something and headed for Main Street for Magical. They announced the show was going to be delayed for unforeseen circumstances. In the end it was delayed nearly 20 minutes. I heard from others in the park it was because Fantasmic! was delayed. No one seemed to know why it was delayed. Was anyone at DCA Friday night? Curious if the ripple carried over to World of Color and if it was delayed too. Also of note neither Tinkerbell nor Dumbo flew on Friday.

  • Recently we launched two new test features here at disneygeek.com check them out and then share your thoughts:

Interesting Web Finds/Notes:

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

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