We spent the day at California Adventure. It opened at 9, so we were there around 8:15 or so. As soon as we were let into the parks, I got in line for Fast Passes (FP) for Radiator Springs Racers (the line gets really long at park opening and the FPs are usually gone within a couple of hours) while U and the kids waited for rope drop to head off to Toy Story Midway Mania. Once the park opened, I got FPs for the Racers, Soarin' Over California and World of Color and then joined the others at Toy Story. That's sure a fun ride and Megan and Matthew liked it even though they didn't use the 3D glasses or shoot at anything (it's an arcade type game) because they got to see some of their favorite characters. We then rode King Triton's Carousel and Mickey's Fun Wheel, in a non-swinging car.
King Triton's Carousel
Mickey's Fun Wheel (which I don't find terribly fun....)
Sarah and I then headed over to Soarin'. That's my favorite ride so I was excited. U, Megan and Matthew rode The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Undersea Adventures and then watched Phineas and Ferb's Dance Party. Megan and Matthew wanted to participate but were a little unsure.
Once we were all together, we rode the Golden Zephyr. We then saw Goofy direct a concert (Instant Concert, Just add water) with the fountains in Paradise Pier. It's a cute little concert with the fountains choreographed to some music. We then met Goofy. The first of the character meet and greets. Which the kids LOVED!
After meeting Goofy, we all rode the Little Mermaid together.
We then had lunch at Cocina Cucamonga Mexican Grill. They were able to accommodate Matthew's allergies, which was huge! In fact, every place we ate at Disney was really good about the allergies. I was able to talk to the chef and come up with something that would work for him. I had looked at the menus beforehand, so had an idea what would work, which helped as well.
U and Sarah then went to ride Radiator Springs Racers. However, they were down (hadn't been up all day at this point) which meant we could then use our FP at any time during the day. Nice!
Sarah on entering Cars Land the first time.
See the Cadillac Range?
U, Megan and Matthew
We all explored Cars Land a bit. It is really cool and looks just like the movie. There are all sorts of little details, like the third blink of the stoplight really is a little longer.
Megan, Matthew and Stanley
We enjoyed looking around and then met Mater. The excitement was huge here as the kids LOVE Mater ("Maymay" as Megan lovingly calls him).
We then went to A Bug's Land. We rode Heimlich's Choo Choo Train. Megan and Matthew loved going through the food. We met Flik, rode Flik's Flyers and rode Francis's Ladybug Boogie.
Fun on Flik's Flyers.
With Flik.
Cute shot of Matthew and me.
We rode Monsters Inc. Mike and Sully to the Rescue. Fun stuff. Megan and Matthew LOVED seeing all the Disney characters and stories that they knew. They got so excited. It was fun to watch.
By this time, Megan and Matthew were ready for a break so I headed back to the hotel room with them. Our hotel was literally across the street from Disneyland, so it worked out well. Megan fell asleep on the way to the hotel in the stroller. When we got to our room, she decided that she'd had enough of a nap. No amount of conniving on mom's part could convince her otherwise. Matthew did take a nap.
U and Sarah went to ride Radiator Springs Racers which were finally up and running. Except that they broke down when U and Sarah were on the ride. They were almost at the end of the ride but they still had to wait to be walked off. However, they got another FP to use for the racers as well as a front of the line pass for 6 people for any ride in California Adventure. Sweet!
U and Sarah in their car after it broke down.
Here come the Cast Members to escort them off.
They then rode California Screamin' which Sarah loved. Upside down on a fast roller coaster, yes please.
They met Donald Duck.
They rode Soarin'. Then they went on Tower of Terror. Sarah didn't like the pre-show too much but she loved the actual ride. This was the one ride she flip flopped on--sometimes she loved it and sometimes she hated it. (She only rode it this once.) However, in the end, she decided it was one of her favorites.
Cool looking picture of U and Sarah at Oswald's Filling Station.
They then joined us at the hotel for a brief rest before we all headed back to the park. We ate dinner while watching the Pixar Play Parade. I love that parade! Such a catchy tune and lots of fun floats. The kids all loved seeing some of their favorite characters. It was one after another: "Monsters, Inc!," "Buzz Lightyear!," "Woody!," "Jessie!," "My fish!," (that's Nemo) and on and on and on.
The parade started with Sully & Co from Monsters U.
I love the excitement on Matthew's face.
WOW!!!
Megan was excited, too.
After the parade, we went to Cars Land. We rode Mater's Junkyard Jamboree, which is a super fun ride. You ride on tractors which whip around on tracks while Mater sings one of 7 songs. It was definitely one of our favorite rides overall (you'll notice it was ridden a ton!). U, Megan and Matthew then rode Mater's 3 more times and Luigi's Flying Tires once. A lot of people seem to not like Luigi's, but we did--maybe because we are physics nerds and understand how to get the tire to move where you want it to go.
Megan and Matthew playing around the tractor in front of Mater's Junkyard Jamboree.
U, Megan and Matthew in Radiator Springs.
Sarah and I rode Radiator Springs Racers. It was fun. You go on a ride through Radiator Springs and the environs and then race against another car at the end. We won!
We decided to use the front of the line pass to ride Toy Story. It's a ride that generally has a super long line if you're not there first thing in the morning so it was great to walk on. It is a fun, interactive ride and we all like it. We then rode King Triton's Carousel.
We then got in line for World of Color. I'd read that you should get in line 90 minutes early to get a good viewing location, so we did and were able to get a good spot. It was actually nice to have a little time to just visit and sit. Plus we had some snacks and activities for the kids to do. The actual show was really cool! It's like the Bellagio on steroids, with so many fountains and lots of projections of Disney movies on the water. We all enjoyed it and I'd love to see it again.
Playing with glow sticks while waiting for World of Color.
Definitely a super fun, busy day!
Ride/other attraction (shows, meet and greets, etc) count for the day was as follows:
Megan and Matthew 17/7
Sarah 18/7
Me 14/6
U 21/8
FP/child swaps used on Radiator Springs Racers, Soarin' Over California, Screamin' and Tower of Terror
What a busy, full day! I'm excited but tired just reading about it! It's great to see how much fun everyone was having.
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