Some of the information I had at the time may be incorrect and the corrected information is in the description below.
Mid-January is a weird time for the Disneyland Resort, kids are back at school, parents are back at work, kids have sports tournaments on weekends, and some parents have business conferences on the weekdays that actually increase the room rate per person in the room to discourage family coming along, and hours are cut for Disneyland as it closes at 9 PM on the weekdays. Weekdays are even slower for Disneyland as the holiday decorations and attraction overlays for Haunted Mansion & It’s a Small World are closed to be converted back to a regular attraction state. However, my days off right before January 18th, just a couple of days before the start of the Lunar New Year at California Adventure, and the start 100th-anniversary celebration of the Walt Disney Company’s founding in 1923, which starts on January 27th. The objective for this trip was to get a video of the Disneyland Resort & the attractions since people want to watch content on what is like during a certain period of time and the attractions during that time.
Downtown Disney & DCA Walk Through January 18, 2022 Update, Current Park Hours
I parked at Mickey & Friends parking structure at 11 am, along with many other guests, and we were all directed in two merged lanes, and went up and directed to the top floor, Minnie. I brought along with my GoPro Hero 8 on a gimbal for smooth filming while walking around the resort and filming on safe-to-film attractions such as the Mark Twain River Boat. Gimbals are okay as long they don’t extend like selfie sticks, and that needs to specify to the security cast member. To stretch my legs and probably was faster to walk from the parking garage to the downtown Disney security entrance between the former ESPN Zone and Star Wars Outpost. To get there take the Pixar parking structure escalader up to the second floor and walk on the pedestrian bridge over Magic Way, and walk the pathway along to the Downtown Drive parking lot, with Disneyland Drive to the left separated by a fence. I sped up this portion of the footage by six times speed.
It is January 18th when I shot the video, the holiday decorations were taken down and renovations were taking place. The space for Disney Wonder Gallery was temporarily moved to ESPN Zone and the Disney Home Store is closed but not relocated. I sped up the rest of the walkthrough of Downtown Disney by six times. La Brea Bakery called it quits with its cafes and shift its focus to baking bread for grocery stores and supplying restaurants. In wake of that, Disney got Earl of Sandwich signed back up for that location as the previous one was closed down with the demolition of the AMC theater.
Since it is a weekday after the holidays, it is considered the slow season with everyone back at school and work. California Adventure was still having regular operating hours of 8 AM to 10 PM on weekends with two World of Color showings, and close on weekdays at 9 PM with one World of Color show. Disneyland cut their hours from 8 AM to 9 PM, and due to that, Fantamic & the parades were not doing showings. Mickey’s Mix Magic was doing projections only on Mondays to Thursdays, then with fireworks on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. Reservations were wide open for single-day & Magic key holders on most weekdays, but reservations are usually out.
When I was there, Thursday, January 18th, is primarily many families with young kids, younger & older solo adults who have the day off, college students if they have semesters & have not started the semester yet, and even mom groups for a weekday out away from their families.
Disney California Adventure was getting ready for both the Lunar New Year Festival & Disney Company’s 100th birthday. Bunting was up at the Buna Vista Street shops with merchandise ready for sale at all retail locations. Then it was normal thereafter on the street when I was there. Then I went through Grizzly Peak, the area was normal but for Grizzly River Run refurbishment, the decoration was set up for a meet and greet with Raya from Raya & the Last Dragon movie at Redwood Creek Challenge for the Lunar New Year.
On the main promenade between Buana Vista Street & Pixar Pier is where they line up the festival food & beverage stalls and activities for the Lunar New Year. The food stalls were redecorated with lanterns and menu boards were swapped out from the Festival of the Holiday to the Lunar New Year food selections. Signage was up and finishing touches were being put on for the festival debut on January 20th. Paradise Gardens will have activities, meet & greets, and food.
At the time it was 60 degrees Fahrenheit or 15 Celcius at 11 AM, which is warm in the sun but cool in the shade. You would be fine in long sleeves and a light sweater, but bring an outer layer jacket if you are going to be at the parks past sunset as the temperature can plummet to 45F/7C.
Throughout the park, there were plenty of guests, even though it was past the holidays on a weekday. When I was back at work after my days off, some of my hotel coworkers from different departments saw me filming at the parks, but did not stop me since I was too concentrated on filming. However, I thought I saw one of my former college classmates, I tried to contact them but no answer via social media.
Continuing through Pixar Pier, there weren’t any decorations for the Lunar New Year or refurbishments. However, in Cars Land, Radio Springs Racers were down for refurbishment. The rest of Cars Land had their holiday decoration taken down and is back in a normal state. Everything else was normal at Avengers Campus and Hollywood Boulevard.
Coming up next is a walk through Disneyland!
AntSol Travel 