Clever readers may have noted that last week’s Disneyland photo update had some recent views of both parks.

A good reason for that was my visit from June 21st through the 23rd. Today’s effort will have a selection of observations from that time spent in Anaheim.

Plenty of Cars toys on hand including a better selection of die cast Cars than I’ve seen inside the Park before.

One nice thing about the long line for Nemo. The rest of Tomorrowland’s attractions have a shorter wait time. For Buzz, it was all of ten minutes on Thursday afternoon.

No question here. The Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage is a winner. But no attraction is worth a wait of more than two hours. After the initial hype passes, let’s hope that guests can enjoy less of a wait and more fun at Disneyland.

“Did you just say “Have A Nice Day”?”

Best line by an Imperial Storm Trooper. Another winner here and very popular with guests of all ages.

Weather was perfect. Best I’ve seen at Disneyland for summer days in a long time. Temperatures in the low 80’s to mid 70’s during the day and low 60’s at night.

Enjoyed some great meals during our stay including a fine dinner at Ralph Brennan’s Jazz Kitchen. I’ve read some negative reports from folks who have dined here lately, but I truly enjoyed our meal here. Other than a snafu with being seated at a table upstairs that had a view directly into the kitchen (which was corrected by seating on the open balcony overlooking Downtown Disney), the service was excellent and the food delicious. We had the New York Strip Tchoupitoulas - a grilled 12-ounce New York Strip, served with blue cheese Douphinoise potatoes (outstanding!), Abita beer battered onion rings, roasted red bell peppers & a green peppercorn demi-glace - and finished up with the Banana’s Foster prepared tableside.

Definitely not the usual view of “It’s A Small World” as seen from the Disneyland Railroad.

Overall, the Park wasn’t badly crowded for a summer Friday.

While I will always miss the real Royal Street Bachelors here in New Orleans Square, it was a treat to sit and listen to this gentleman play. And Queenie? Likewise, a treat!

Meanwhile, over in Disney’s California Adventure...

The Block Party Bash and the Electrical Parade still draw good numbers of guests for each performance.

Now for something I saw that rather annoyed me. I’ve been into pins at Disneyland ever since the 30th anniversary when the Gift Giver Extraordinaire had the series of lands pins as prizes. Since 1985, I have enjoyed collecting and later trading pins with both guests and Cast Members. It has been interesting to see what some guests will do to trade for that pin they need to fill in that missing spot in a collection. Some are polite and enthusiastic. Unfortunately, others are rude and dismissive, openly declaring their disdain for common pins and anyone who might want to trade one.

That seems to have sunk to a new low. At one point, when looking to trade a few pins on Friday afternoon at Disneyland’s Plaza Pavilion, one male trader (I won’t call him a gentleman) had a series of pin bags open on a table for other guests to search through. When I found a pin I wanted to trade for, I asked him what he wanted for it. Now, I was wearing a lanyard with at least ten pins on it, making it very clear that this was what I had to trade. Yet, this trader stood up and walked over to the nearby pin carts and proceeded to point out pins that he wanted me to purchase in order to trade him for the pin that I was interested in.

Well folks, I thought I had seen every kind of greed and avarice when it came to pin trading, but this was a new one. It was just disgusting to see the spirit of exchange so polluted. And this guy had been doing this for a while with Cast Members watching. Just bad form.

Speaking of bad form...

It’s 9 am on Thursday and this guest is already worn out, sound asleep on a bench outside the Opera House in Main Street’s Town Square. Or perhaps he just warming up for an audition to be Disneyland’s first homeless guy?

All in all, another fine time at Disneyland!