California Adventure – Part I

With day one finished, we were pretty excited to begin our second day at the Disneyland Resort. Today, we decided to start out in California Adventure to experience the new Cars Land before the crowds arrived.

My Mama bought a few new outfits for our trip. Doesn’t she look nice?

 

We were at the gates when they opened. In fact, we were early and got to stand in line with the other excited people. Staying at the Grand California Hotel sure has its perks.

We went straight to Cars Land, knowing that later today would be too busy. I guess people wait in line for over an hour just to get a Fast Pass to their most popular ride, Radiator Springs Racers.

 

The decorations for the waiting was sure cute. They did an incredible job on the entire Cars Land! There was already a line for the most popular ride. All of the early park attendees also had the same bright idea of coming here first.

Here is the entrance sign to Radiator Springs Racers. Isn’t this cute? Even though it’s just a month old, they’ve purposely made it look ancient.

This was our longest wait today…about twenty minutes. Soon, we were next in line to ride!

Aren’t these cars cute?!

The gentleman behind us helped us through with our visit to Cars Land today. He knew it was our first time, so he tried to give us a game plan for our day in California Adventure. He was really nice. But he kept saying “we” like he was going to come with us! Luckily, we parted ways after this fun ride.

 

So we were both pretty excited about going on Radiator Springs Racers this morning. Neither one of us had ever been on it. In fact, this is my first time to California Adventure! I know, I’m slow.

The ride was so cute and fun. It had a story, and then you got to ride on a roller coaster! I am glad we did it first this morning, because we didn’t want to wait later in the day to go again.

 

On our way around Cars Land, we decided to ride Luigi’s Flying Tires next. They are giant tires that we sit in to steer to for a ride…like a giant air hockey table.

Other than getting this awesome picture of my Mama, we were sorely disappointed with this ride. In reading reviews online, most people agree with us! But I love this picture. After throwing the ball, we didn’t have anything left to do for the rest of the ride. And the tires hardly moved at all, despite our best efforts.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but we don’t think it will last long. My Mom says that Disneyland had a similar ride when she was a kid, and they got rid of it, too.

Next we went on Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree.

It was actually really cute. It swung us around and around, though, and I was ready for some breakfast for my empty stomach afterwards!

We grabbed a a few pastries on our walk towards the Pier to ride Toy Story Midway Mania next.

 

Which is a 3D shooting arcade game. Let’s just say that I creamed my competition. And that I have terrible accuracy!

 

I love roller coasters, so California Screamin’ was next on our list! Again, our early park entrance made for short lines and no crowds. We wanted to get all of the busy ones out of the way first.

 

I saw this awesome Yoda backpack while we were waiting in line and asked if I could take a picture of it. It looked like he is just hanging out on her back. Cracked me up.

And this is how wonderful my Mama is…she doesn’t even like these rides but went on them with me and then told me later. She was all about me getting to experience everything! Isn’t she awesome?

I really loved California Screamin’. It had lots of drops and turns but was smooth and didn’t induce headaches. It was one of the best roller coasters that I’ve ever enjoyed.

Next we passed Paradise Pier on our way to The Tower of Terror. Just like yesterday morning, we wanted to get the busy ones done before everyone else showed up for the day.

We walked through A Bug’s Land to get there. Can you see the tower in the distance? This is my family’s favorite ride, so I was pretty stoked to finally go on it in person instead of just hearing about it.

The wait time was 13 minutes, but Mom says that is as low as they ever go with their clock. Kinda haunted, huh? The Haunted Mansion does the same thing, so I knew that we were in for a treat.

We had absolutely no line. It was heaven, though I wish I could have had more time to explore all of the incredible props for the ride! It is supposed to be a hotel from the 1930s that was struck with lightning, throwing everything into The Twilight Zone.

Once again, every detail was covered. This place rocks.

And soon, we were at the elevator door for the ride. We got front-and-center for my first time on. And I’m so glad, since it made me scream even more!

After The Tower of Terror, we hopped on the street trolley to get a nice view of California Adventure.

 

Our trolley driver took us all through Buena Vista Street, which is where all of the action happens in California Adventure. We even passed the Hyperion Theater, where we would return this afternoon to watch the live-action play of Aladdin.

I loved this studio backdrop. It looked like the street went on forever, but it was only a painting! Lots of people stopped here for pictures.

We even passed the 5 & Dime singing group in their car. I love jazz music, and this lady’s voice was amazing.

On our walk to Soarin’ Over California, the park was starting to fill up.

 

After we rode Soarin’, which is by-far my favorite ride in California Adventure, we got some Fast Pass tickets for the same ride later in the day. We plan ahead, Mama and me.

We also decided that a few little pastries simply weren’t enough to tide us over. We each got a delicious breakfast burrito and orange juice to enjoy for our second breakfast of the day. They were yummy! What are we, hobbits?!

 

I was excited for The Little Mermaid ride because Mom hadn’t been on it yet, either. It had the same carts as The Haunted Mansion that just kept going. I knew that we were in for a treat.

It was really cute. We had no line and got right on. It was worth the wait.

This is one of my favorite pictures from our entire trip. We were just getting on The Little Mermaid ride and were pretty excited.

And, like all things Disney, everything ended well. I loved the music and all of the animatronics for this ride. Very well-done!

That’s enough for today. Tomorrow, we will finish up our day at California Adventure. We even head back to Disneyland a few times, so don’t miss it!