California Adventure

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One of Mom's requests for this trip was to go to Disneyland. Jeff is not a fan of Disney, at all. He doesn't like the marketing, the hype, the people. He has mentioned many times that he'd rather just sit in the car and read a book. Despite that, he agreed that sending me alone with the boys wouldn't be nice, or make any sense. So, today was the first day. We chose to go to California Adventure first, for reasons I no longer remember.

After entering the park, we headed straight for Cars Land, figuring that would be where the boys would have the most fun. We saw a line for fastpasses for Radiator Springs Racers and asked if it was really worth it. We were assured it most definitely was, so Jeff stood in line for that while the boys and I headed off looking for a ride. We first found Mater's Junkyard Jamboree, with only a thirty minute wait or so. I was struck by how detailed everything is, rust on signs, all sorts of different "artifacts". Jeff was able to join us, thankfully. The tractor Liam and I rode in was a lot of fun; we were slammed every which way, but the ride was quite short. Our second stop was Luigi's Flying Tires. That was a forty minute wait, but pretty entertaining with all the photos on the wall and tires and such. Cole had been requesting to see Finn McMissile for weeks, and was happy to see an autographed photo on the wall. Cole and Jeff bumped into Liam's and my tire frequently, which annoyed Liam, but it was fun. It was again quite short.

Our fastpasses for the Racers wasn't until 3:30, so we headed for "a bug's land". Thankfully, the lines were much shorter. All of us hopped on Tuck and Roll's Drive 'Em Buggies, where Liam exacted his revenge. He and I then hopped on Flik's Flyers while Cole went on Francis' Ladybug Boogie. We skipped the Hollywood Tower of Terror because of the wait, although Cole repeatedly told us he wanted to go. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue was out of order, so we happened upon MuppetVision 3D. It was part live action, part movie, and the boys were fun to watch. By the time we were done there, we were able to go on Mike & Sulley, after a half hour wait, of course.

We had lunch at Carthay Circle Restaurant, which was probably a mistake. It took nearly two hours to eat, mostly waiting for our food, and cost a fortune. It was good, but not that good.

The afternoon seemed to fly by. Liam and we went on Soarin' over California, which was beautiful and long. It was then our turn for the Radiator Springs Racers. It started out pretty slow, doing the Lightning and Sally drive through the scenic areas. Then, we raced. Cole was a little freaked, I think, but Liam and I had a blast. It's really two bad we could only do it once. People without fastpasses were waiting 2 1/2 hours to ride, though, and there was no way we were wasting that much time. We worked our way to Paradise Pier, and rode the carousel and Mickey's Fun Wheel (even Mom!) and finally California Screamin', which Liam had been asking about most of the day. I love rollercoasters, and that was one of the best I've ever been on. It was long and fast and curvy. Liam named it his favorite ride of the day.

The final piece was Worlds of Color, the water and light show over Paradise Bay. We had great seats (standing area, actually) thanks to our lunch. It was truly spectacular. The colors were intense, the water incredibly high. It was late, but I'm very glad we stayed. On the way out of the park, we also caught the fireworks from Disneyland. Someone had mentioned earlier in the day that they couldn't be topped, but we've been to DC on July 4, so we knew she was wrong. They were fine, better than St Peter's, but not even as good as Mankato's.

The boys want to return. I had a lot of fun, although it would be nice to be here with fewer people. It's a Sunday, though, in June, so not unexpected. Jeff said he had more fun that he thought he would. I guess that'



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Miles: 0
Highest Gas Price: N/A
Low Temperature: 61 (Anaheim, CA)
High Temperature: 70 (Anaheim, CA)

Conversation of the Day:
D: The boys were really good today, except for Cole. He kept picking on me.
M: Grandpa's been better, has'nt he?
C: No, I think Grandma should go with us on vacation. Grandpa, you better be good or I'm going to up the phone. You know what I mean. I'll call your mother.

Geocaches Found: 1
New License Plate States Seen: ?
Projects Completed: 0

We learned that flex passes are really important.
We forgot just how many people there are at amusement parks.

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Photos

Radiator Springs Racers
Do you now how much it costs to get one digital download?

Lightning McQueen!
We were fortunate enough to see him driving up the road so we could get in line for his picture. I don't remember the line thing from the last time I was at Disney World. Of course, that was 25 years ago.

Flo's V8 Cafe
It might have been nice to eat there, but we didn't really have a chance to sit down, aside from the two hour lunch.

A Character I Don't Recognize
It was a short line.

Minnie
Cole didn't want to meet her, so Liam did.

Dessert
This was absolutely the best part of my lunch, and I had to wait an hour and a half for it.

Mickey's Fun Wheel
Cole was worried about going on, but he was going to protect Grandma, since she hasn't been on a ferris wheel since getting stuck on one as a teenager. He didn't do all that well on the protection detail, and Mom has a bruise to show for it.

Pirates
There was fire during this one, too, so it got pretty warm.