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Visit Date: 12/07/12
Steps: 20,160
Parks Miles: 7.6
Time in Parks: 9

 

Trip Log:

Arrived at the Disneyland Resort just after lunch and was directed into the last row on the Goofy Level. Then hiked to the escalator. Arrived at the tram stop and found no trams in sight. So decided to hike to the parks. I was surprised that I made it to Downtown Disney without any trams passing me heading into the parks (saw a couple leaving). Headed for Disneyland first today. Arrived on Main Street just as the 1pm Christmas Fantasy Parade was making its way toward Town Square. Watched the opening of the parade then inched my way toward the hub. Made my way into Adventureland and saw Indiana Jones was operating so took advantage of the single rider line and went for a ride. After my ride continued on to New orleans Square and grabbed a Fastpass for Haunted Mansion in case I had time to ride later. Strolled along the Rivers of America and down the Big Thunder trail on my way to the Jingle Jangle Jamboree. Hung around for a few minutes then continued on through Fantasyland and out to Small World. Took some pictures of the Fantasyland Theater work then walked back through Fantasyland and the Castle to get pictures of the Fantasy Faire work. Made my way down Main Street, over to DCA, through Buena Vista Street and Condor Flats on my way to the Grand Californian. Took in a concert by the Dickens Carolers and wandered around the lobby for a while before heading to Downtown Disney. Walked through World of Disney on my way back to the parks. Headed for DCA and spent some time on Buena Vista Street then stopped to grab a bite to eat at Taste Pilots. After dinner made my way to Cars Land for the nightly lighting moment then on my way back to Disneyland caught the Tree Lighting on Buena Vista Street. Arrived in Town Square with about 10 minutes to spare before the Candlelight was to begin. Found a spot for the show. After the Candlelight made my through the mass of guests and into the park. Headed for Small World to catch the quarter hour projection show then into Toontown to see what was going on this evening there. Circled around and then made my way back to Main Street. Then headed to Tomorrowland. Strolled through and caught a couple songs from the Bolts who were performing at the Tomorrowland Terrace and then made my way back to Main Street to catch the processional part of the Candlelight and inched through the crowd and made my way back to DCA. Wandered through Buena Vista Street and down Hollywood Blvd to the Animation Building. Spent some time taking some pictures inside then headed to the Mad T Party at the top of the hour to catch the band. After their set roamed Bugs Land and Cars Land on my way to World of Color. Caught the first half of the show then decided I had better leave early to get to Disneyland in time for Believe in Holiday Magic. Arrived on Main Street with only a couple minutes to spare. Watched the show and snow then headed for the tram, garage, car, and home.

Other Interesting Stats:
* Moderate Walking Stats (meaning over 2.5mph): 13,626 steps, 120 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 all,

Spent a relaxing afternoon/evening at the Disneyland Resort on Friday. The crowds were on the heavier than normal side but felt lighter than last Saturday. The afternoon had mild wait times too for most attractions at both parks. When I did the park miles trip log yesterday realized this was my 40th day in the parks of the Disneyland Resort this year, its been a busy year at the Disneyland Resort and I have been lucky enough to be able to visit quite a few times to take it all in.

Jason

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

Thoughts and Observations:

  • Arrived at the Disneyland Resort just after lunch time and was directed to a spot in the last row again, about 2/3 the way down so not as bad as a few trips ago but still a long walk to the escalators. Reached the tram stop and there were no trams in sight. I paused for a second, saw the line and still no tram and decided to walk to the park. On my way over several trams passed me heading to the garage but none going to the parks. So looks like I made the correct call to walk for once.

  • I did not notice on Saturday, but because of the Candlelight the parade route has been shortened and instead of circling Town Square the parade makes a turn and heads for the backstage gate.

  • Indiana Jones has been closed for several weeks for scheduled upkeep and its officially opening date was set for Saturday the 8th. As luck would have it they had the attraction open in a soft opening state on Friday. This meant to no Fastpasses, but they were still doing single rider. The wait time when I reached it was a short 15 minutes, but since I was by myself thought I might as well go with the single rider option. In the end I think the regular queue would have been more quicker. On my walk through the queue and ride through no major changes or additions jumped out to me (I am sure there are some huge Indy fans that will correct me out there, I was trying to look around and take some pictures so probably missed something). There seemed to be some lighting upgrades, or maybe just fixes. Also think they added some more safety rails/ropes. The boulder effect at the conclusion was still not working.

  • One of the more interesting comments I overheard while roaming the park occurred while I was taking some pictures of the Fantasy Faire construction. A guest and his son came up next to me and the son was asking what the construction was. The father explained it was part of the new Fantasyland they saw on TV and then turned to the wife and said I thought it was open. Guess the one Disney concept is working.. some guests cannot differentiate between Orlando projects and Anaheim ones.

  • I stopped by the Cafe on Buena Vista Street to see if the gingerbread creation the parks blog referenced was out, no sign of it (and later stopped by Flos and the gingerbread Mater was not out either). Also noted in the cafe all the garland that stretched over the main counter had been removed. Anyone know why?

  • I stopped by the Grand Californian Hotel and took in a concert by the Dickens Carolers. They put on a great show. Their performance was about half an hour and they were taking requests from guests for Christmas songs the entire time. They knew almost all the requests, only a couple they had to pass on. I posted several clips on my YouTube Channel and in the update from Friday, here is a sample:


  • On the way back to the parks walked through World of Disney to see what was going on. I tweeted and posted a picture of a flag/banner they had for sale. It said Walt Disney World and featured Cinderella Castle with its Christmas lights on. I understand sharing some merchandise between the resorts and even the generic Disney Parks with one castle or the other but it just seemed poor to have a WDW specific item at Disneyland. Now if they would have had a series say of all the castle that would have been interesting and much better but just a single one for WDW by itself seemed odd.

  • The extended Candlelight season wrapped up its first week Friday. Things seemed to be running fairly smoothly. I watched the first show from a stand by area near the fire house before heading into the park and then caught the procession from for the second show and walked through Town Square. The crowds seemed to be inching along without much of a headache. Things were slow going but thanks to a small army of cast members it was pretty organized. Most of the guests around me seemed to be taking the crowd and delay in stride. Only heard one loud guest gripping a bit, actually heard more complaining about the one loud gentleman than the crowd/pace. Are my couple of experiences the exception or the rule? What are you all encountering? It should be really interesting what direction the show heads in next year. I would image it is costing the park a substantial amount of money to host it for twenty nights on Main Street. The man hours alone for set up/clean up and crowd control have to be high. I saw some posts/tweets that the rumor is they are looking at moving to the Hyperion next year. I for one do not like this idea. I think having the ceremony outside and open to all is a nice tradition. I see why this is an attractive solution from a logistics point of view, not having to worry about the weather, crowd control/impact on the park as much, as well as potentially better lighting and sound would be plusses. But the venue of Town Square I think adds a lot to the show. Watching the mass choir make its way down Main Street and then the moment when the lights come up and the trumpets announce the start of the show is a truly awesome moment that I never tire of. The EPCOT show just does not have this type of moment and I think moving into the Hyperion would create an even less impressive feel than the American Gardens Theater at EPCOT. It will be interesting see what happens, time will tell.

  • I finally made it out to Small World to catch the quarter hour projection/light show. I had heard this years show was a shell of its former self but what I experienced seemed even worse than the descriptions I had read. For those not familiar with the reference. During the holiday season for the past several years after the Small World clock chimes for the quarter hour the lights go out and a brief projection show occurred featuring some animations, lighting effects, and Christmas music. I have always found it to be a fun plus that most people do not know about until they stumble upon it, usually while in line for Small World or randomly walking by. Well this year the sound track seems identical but the projections have changed. Gone are the bright animations and instead you have a good portion of the show taken over by alternating green and red lights on the facade and then some projections that are really hard to make out, looked like clock gears. In addition to the revised content the quality/brightness of the projections seemed much worse than usual, but without knowing the content its hard to tell if it was the projectors or the content that were the problem, my hunch is both. Hopefully next year they bring back the old show or come up with a new better/one.

Interesting Web Finds/Notes:
Below are some interesting links, notes, and rumors I found/stumble across/or have been informed of since the last Geekspeaks column.

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

Stop by the Geek's Forum to discuss this and other Disney topics.. click here

Send comments, questions, any other email to: disneygeek@disneygeek.com

Pictures & Video From this Trip:


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