Disneyland Day 5

Tuesday morning, we were up and to California Adventure bright and early for an 8 am open. We first went to Toy Story Midway Mania on Paradise Pier. It was crazy to see all the people flooding into Cars Land while there was a little trickle of people coming towards Paradise Pier. We were certainly happy to be part of the trickle!

We rode Toy Story two times in a row.

Then Megan, Matthew and I rode King Triton's Carousel two times.

Sarah and U rode California Screamin'. While in line, Sarah became friends with a girl there celebrating her 8th birthday. When it was time to ride, the two girls rode together while U rode with the girl's mother.

We then all rode King Triton's Carousel together and went on Ariel's Undersea Adventure.

Sarah bonding with a dolphin. You will notice she looks tired. This might be a trend during the day.

We went over to the Animation Building. It is such a nice quiet place to have a little downtime while watching Disney film clips in the Animation Courtyard. U took the kids to Turtle Talk with Crush and then to the Animation Academy where they learned to draw Minnie Mouse.

Sarah's drawing

U's drawing

I rode Soarin' Over California two times and then went back to the Animation Building. While I waited for the others, I explored the Sorcerer's Workshop and the Beast's Library. According to the magic book in the Beast's Library, the Disney character I most resemble is Elastigirl (aka Mrs. Incredible). Note: this is not due to my flexibility.

We then were able to meet Buzz. When we got in line, it was Jessie, who the kids were super excited about meeting. She traded places with Buzz a bit before our turn. Jessie and Buzz did a little dance while they traded places which was fun. The kids were still super excited about meeting Buzz.

We then went to Redwood Creek Challenge. We had never been here before. It is a really good area for the kids to run around and explore. There are slides, rope bridges, tunnels, a rock wall, a small zip line. U and I helped Megan and Matthew as they traversed all the rope bridges while Sarah zoomed on ahead. We definitely enjoyed our time in here!

Go Wilderness Explorers! (Megan is very interested in her "Wilderness Explorer" sticker.)

Matthew exploring.

Matthew liked playing with Dug, the dog from Up.

Zip line fun!

Megan enjoyed the slide.

So did Matthew.

Megan conquered the rock!

Matthew climbing.

I was there too :)

We then met Red, the fire engine, in Cars Land before taking a break at the hotel.

I headed back to the parks before everyone else to ride Soarin' Over California one last time. Can you tell I really like that ride? I got perfect seating for my last ride--top row, center section. Pretty awesome!

I met U and the kids over at Disneyland. We took a few pictures at the front of the park.

We ate dinner at the Hungry Bear. Megan, who had only taken a very brief nap on the stroller ride to the hotel, slept through all of dinner.

We then rode the Pooh ride three times. Yup, we love that ride! We then rode the monorail from Tomorrowland to Downtown Disney and back. Matthew, in particular, was excited about this since he had seen it running during our whole trip and wanted to go on the "train."

We then went back to California Adventure. U and Sarah were going to use the child swap on California Screamin'. However, they weren't letting people in the line due to World of Color starting soon and needing to close the ride for that. Thankfully, a really nice Cast Member at Goofy's Sky School let them use the FP line since they weren't able to ride Screamin'. Definitely made Sarah's day!

Megan, Matthew and I rode Mater's Junkyard Jamboree while we waited for U and Sarah. Then we all rode Mater's one last time. (Mater's and Pooh were definitely some of our favorite rides that we could all ride together. And they were both rides which usually had short waits!)

Megan, Matthew and I on Mater's.

Daddy with his two buddies on Mater's.

Playing with the tractor.

We watched a little of World of Color. I love that show and definitely look forward to seeing it again.

Picture at Grizzly Falls.

We then went to Disneyland to watch the fireworks (and Tinker Bell). For some reason, Dumbo didn't fly, though. But we were glad to see Tink fly, especially Matthew, who probably would have thought they weren't really fireworks if Tinker Bell wasn't in the show :)

While we waited for Fantasyland to open back up after the fireworks, Sarah took a little nap.

We sailed through Neverland on Peter Pan's Flight. Our whole family ended up being in one ship (they were really trying to get the line moving). Matthew took a nap while in the line for the ride.

We went on King Arthur's Carrousel so that Sarah could have one last ride on her horse.

We then sailed on it's a small world. It was pretty to see the ride all lit up on the outside!

We decided to call it a day. It was around 11, so it was a super long day!!! But super fun:)

ride/attraction count
Megan and Matthew: 15/7
Sarah: 14/7
Me: 18/7
U: 14/7

FP/child swap used: California Screamin', Goofy's Sky School (with CS child swap), Soarin' over California