It's Good to be with Family - Part 3

Did you read Part 2?  If not, click here.

In the last blog, Jim, Leigh, Chris, and I spent a Sunday up in Hollywood, seeing stars and walking up a giant hill (relatively) to eat at Yamashiro, then having a great dinner with Dad and Risa.  We'd gone to bed on the earlier side of things, as we'd be up with the dawn the next morning - we were headed to Disneyland!

Leigh grew up as a total Disney kiddo, and while Jim and I were always aware of the movies and visited the Orlando parks a few times growing up (it helped to have family that lived super close), she's truly on another level.  She's been to the Florida contingent many, many times over the years, so when she and Jim booked this trip, heading to the California version was absolutely going to be on the itinerary.  Since Chris and I had just visited Disneyland proper about a year ago, and it's very much like the Magic Kingdom back home (just smaller), I opined that heading to California Adventures might be the way to go on this trip, and that's what we ended up doing.

Since we'd just have one day to visit, and the park would likely be jam-packed due to the recent opening of the Pixar Pier area and associated Pixar Fest, we decided to get there as early as possible, before the rope officially "dropped."  We'd purchased our tickets, parking passes, and MaxPass options through the app ahead of time; in researching things online, I found the Disneyland Daily blog, (which is fantastic), and we used one of their "touring plans," which gave us detailed notes on which FastPasses to grab at what time and what order to ride/see the attractions.  We'd made fixin's for breakfast burritos the night before, so when we woke up at home, we heated things up and wrapped them to munch on in the car ride over to the park.

Yet another freeway excursion in

Southern California.

When Chris and I came to Disneyland in December 2016, we didn't stay nearly as long as we wanted to, since by 7pm, we were both exhausted and ready to crash.  I knew that for this trip, we'd want to do something different, so we booked a room for the night at the Fairfield Inn, directly across the street from the parks; I'd likely just take a quick shower and nap combo there in the afternoon, but Jim and Leigh would stay the night (enjoying each other's company helps when you have a night off from each other every now and then).  For his part, Chris didn't have enough vacation time and worked all day in nearby Irvine (boo!).  Since we had a small suitcase and tote bag, before we parked in the Disneyland garage, we swung by the Fairfield, dropping those off to be held behind the counter, and we were able to do a pre-check-in, which would make things easier later.

Finally, we got to the official Disneyland parking garage, put on our first application of sunscreen for the day (it was sunny and around 85 for the day's high - pretty nice overall), and headed to the very first ride of the day - the tram from parking to the entrance gates to the park.

We made it to the garage!

On the tram!

Unlike when Chris and I went in 2016,

Disney no longer had the security check in the plaza

directly before the entrance to the park.

Instead, there was one right before you got on the trams,

and another as you entered Downtown Disney,

and this was soooo much better.

Leigh mentioned this change went into effect

in Orlando a while back, and I'm glad CA picked it up as well.

Since we had our digital tickets on our phones' Disneyland app already, it was quick work for them to be scanned, and we were in!

The lines behind us look decent-sized,

but they moved really quickly.

We grabbed a map as we headed through the turnstiles, and as we walked through Buena Vista Street, making our way to Grizzly Peak, I shared some of the random trivia I found online with Jim and Leigh (who kindly listened to all of it).  Since we'd all spent an extra $10 to purchase the MaxPass app, we used our phones to grab our first FastPass of the day, for the newest ride in the park - the Incredicoaster (it used to be called California Screamin', but it was recently revamped).  On our way, we made a new friend - the very helpful Officer Blue:

He had an awful lot of puns about

living with his mother.

Taking shots while wandering through Grizzly Peak.

Jim, to Leigh: "Get a picture of me with the wheel!"

"Did you get the wheel?"

"Be sure to get the wheel!"

I'd read on the Daily blog that "rope drop" occurs at several points within the park, and one of these was actually past the start of the queue for the ride Soarin'.  I've heard great things about Soarin' from friends who've visited the park in the past, so it was on my must list; even before the opening time of 8am, we were in line and ready to hop on our first ride of the day (well, second, if you count the tram).

The inside queue at Soarin' has a lot of cool

stuff to see - historical pictures,

parts of airplanes, and the like.

Soarin' lived up to expectations, and we next headed to Pixar Pier, figuring it would likely be packed as the day went on; on the way, we strolled through Pacific Wharf, peeking at the Boudin Bakery and the goodness at Ghirardelli.  

While I've seen all the classic Disney flicks,

my real jam is the amazing stuff

Pixar turns out.  They're the bomb, yo.

The Incredicoaster was down for maintenance, so we wandered along, checking out the other rides instead, while we waited to see how repairs would go (since the coaster loops around many of the other rides in the area and makes a decent amount of noise, it was easy to see if it was running).  Since the standby line at the Pixar Pal-a-round (the giant Ferris wheel) was nonexistent, we hopped right on, going with Leigh's recommendation to ride in one of the spinning cars.

I love most rides, but Ferris wheels

are not totally my thing.

Hence the anxious face.

The "spinning" cars came equipped,

just in case

(yes, for reals).

A shot of the Pal-a-round

from across the lagoon.

This really was a fun ride - 

you were way up in the air,

and the breeze was nice,

plus, you could get a good perspective on the area.

A video of Jim, enjoying the Pal-a-round

We next hopped on the Silly Symphony Swings and the Golden Zephyr, and Jim held our gear while Leigh and I tried out the Jumpin' Jellyfish.

When Inside Out first came out,

 a friend immediately proclaimed me Joy,

so I had to grab a shot with her.

Joy is voiced by Amy Poehler,

so that's a-okay with me.

On the Zephyr

Jim's shot of Leigh and I on the Jellyfish.

Click the picture to make it bigger.

Jim has all the things

By this point, the Incredicoaster was up and running again, and we enjoyed the ride, zooming through scenes from the newest movie, while trying to help Mom, Dad, Violet, and Dash catch Jack Jack.  

Our ride shot from the Incredicoaster - 

this was our second ride, in the afternoon.

We took a quick bathroom break, and found some other buddies to grab shots with:

Next, it was on toward what was probably our most anticipated area of the park - Cars' Land.  California Adventures has featured Cars' Land for a few years now, and I've always wanted to see it.  It certainly didn't disappoint!  Unlike the other Disney "lands," which are loosely grouped around one theme (like "Pixar Pier" has attractions from the Pixar movies), Cars' Land is totally immersive; the folks there have recreated the town of Radiator Springs from the movies down to the last detail.  

Part of the Radiator Springs Racers course

With the Stanley statue,

outside the Firehouse

All of the stops from the movies are there, and even the snack stands and bathrooms are set into locales from the films.  It's really impressive.  

Like other parks, there are character meet and greets in Cars' Land, and here, they were right on point:

Um, that's Mater driving through the streets

of Radiator Springs, you guys.

We saw Lightning McQueen, too!

I think we may have grabbed another FastPass by this point, this one for Radiator Springs Racers, so we waited for our time to come up in Cars' Land, checking out some of the other rides in the area.  First, we hit up Luigi's Rollickin' Roadsters, which had a short wait.  The queue for this one snakes through Luigi's tire store from the movie, and the outside gardens are lovely, too.

That topiary is the back of an Indy car

If you click on the picture to make it bigger,

you can see the top of the tire reads,

"Fettuccine Alfredo," one of the tire companies

in Cars.

The Roadsters ride is pretty cute - a bunch of cars with faces on them "dance" around to an Italian song, spinning riders around and getting them back into lines.  We didn't expect the ride to jerk us around quite as much as it did, so in the future, I think I might just spectate it a few times.  Like I said, it's pretty damn cute.

Watching the ride from our spot in line

Riding in our roadster!

I think we may have ridden the Radiator Springs Racers at this point, but honestly, I can't totally remember.  Whenever we rode it, it was amazing - first, you go through this night scene where you see Doc Hudson and Mater, as well as participate in some tractor tipping.  You then progress through a town scene where you either get new wheels at Luigi's or a custom paint job at Ramone's (the ride randomly assigns you - I think we got Ramone's in the morning, and our nighttime ride went through Luigi's); following that, you get paired up with another car full of riders, and you set off on your race through the outside section of the ride.  It was a ton of fun, and I'd highly recommend it (it very clearly uses the technology pioneered by the Test Track ride at Epcot, but it's a step beyond that).

Done with the rides in this area (we passed on Mater's Junkyard Jamboree), we wandered the Land a bit more, taking pictures and stopping for a snack at the Cozy Cone.

Jim and I split a bread cone filled

with bacon mac and cheese - 

it was pretty good!

At Fillmore's Taste In

Our next FastPass was coming due, so we headed through A Bug's Land to Hollywood Land, where it was time to take our first spin on the Guardian's of the Galaxy - Mission: Breakout! ride.  

There's one four-leaf clover inside

A Bug's Land, and we found it!

This ride, themed to coincide with the second Marvel movie of the same name, replaced the Tower of Terror ride.  I've never ridden Tower of Terror, but Leigh and Jim liked it, so they were initially a bit disappointed to see our CA version having a makeover.  That disappointment didn't last too long...

Me with the Collector statue outside the ride.

In the queue for Guardian's.

Me: "Take my picture with Jeff Goldblum!"

I honestly can't overstate how ridiculously fun this ride is.  The setup is that the Collector (Benicio Del Toro's character from the movie) has "collected" the Guardians and has them imprisoned; Rocket's already escaped (of course) and needs our help (because we're Terrans, and thus, only our handprints can open the cages or something) getting everyone else out.  

Rocket, delivering exposition

You get strapped into your seats, and as you pull back into the elevator shaft, a silhouette appears of Rocket above your car, ripping wires apart and taking control of things.  Rocket says something like, "let's do this!," he plugs he wires into Star Lord's (Chris Pratt's) famous Walkman, and classic rock floods the car.

Apparently, in the Tower of Terror ride, you got aboard and slowly traveled up the elevator shaft, with the doors opening every now and then and creepy things happening; from what Leigh said, the falls didn't really happen until you got to the top.  Well, color us surprised when we immediately shot up the shaft, dropped, and then headed right back up.  Every now and then, the doors would pop open and we'd see the Guardians fighting off giant monsters or bad guys (my favorite was when a huge ball of tentacles tried to eat Baby Groot until Drax came flying out of its mouth), just before the ride dropped you or shot you up once again.

It was seriously a hoot - the three of us were laughing and screaming and crying and grabbing onto each other and our stuff and just having the best time ever.  We got another chance to ride Guardians again that afternoon, and here's our ride photo - I'd like to stress that this is the SECOND time, so we already knew what to expect:

Be sure to click to make it bigger

and see our faces - 

we're in the front row on the right.

Truly, we didn't stop giggling for a

good 15 minutes or so.

We were getting pretty close to lunchtime, but we still had some time before our 12:30 reservation (yes, make reservations for dining if you want to sit down and relax inside the park for a meal - it is so worth the slightly higher cost to help you restore some sanity to your life).  It was back to Pixar Pier for us!

Snack time!

I'm not a huge fan of corn dogs,

but I'd read the ones here were good,

and it was the best corn dog I've had.

So there's that.

We had just enough time to ride one more thing before lunch, so we hopped on the Toy Story Midway Mania!, which moves you through a series of midway-style 3D games, while you try to knock over plates and pop balloons and get a high score.

Leigh had a higher score than me,

but I was a bit more accurate.

Jim, who was on the other side of the car,

had the highest score AND the lowest accuracy rating.

Checking out when to get our next FastPass - 

we initially pondered over whether the extra $10 per person

for MaxPass was worth it, but it was nice

to pick FastPasses using the app

(as opposed to having to wander around the park, collecting them).

I'd probably do that again,

plus it gave you access to your digital photos

from rides and whatnot (that's where those came from).

Finally, it was time to sit down and eat a real lunch.  Honestly, this was where I became a true believer of the Disneyland Daily blog; their touring plans said if we followed them, we'd be done with most rides before lunchtime, and they were spot on.  By this point, I think we had just a few items left to check off on the list (Ariel's Undersea Adventure, which we rode later, and the Monster's Inc ride, which we ended up missing), but we'd seen the majority of the park in 4.5 hours.  Damn, Gina!

After carefully consulting the online menus, we ended up picking the Wine Country Trattoria for lunch, and it was great.  Lots of good, lighter options, and a staff that was totally committed to helping Leigh get a lunch she could eat and enjoy (when we mentioned her restrictions to the waitress, she brought out the Chef, who took a bunch of notes, and then hand-delivered Leigh's meal to her - truly, they could not have possibly been nicer).  Leigh ended up having salmon with a green salad and green beans, while Jim and I split a caprese and a small order of bruschetta.

Our caprese

A big win for California Adventures - 

the park serves alcohol all over;

my sangria was delicious.

Well fed and rested, we headed back out into the fray.  It was starting to get pretty toasty and crowded, but since the line at Ariel's was mostly shaded and not too long, we hopped aboard.  This was where we also had our second ride on the Incredicoaster; as I mentioned earlier, it was having service concerns for most of the day, and when we came back at our FastPass time, the line to redeem those was at least 20 minutes long.  Still, since the park was at peak mania at this point, we just waited for a bit and chatted, and our second spin was just as enjoyable as the first.  I was starting to overheat (physically and emotionally), so we headed to the Pacific Wharf, which, not really having rides, was a quieter area of the park.  Jim and I grabbed a milkshake at Ghirardelli's to split, and we found a table in the shade to rest up and avoid the crowds for a wee bit.

Made in the shade

The Fairfield let me know we could officially check in at any point after 2pm, so we headed to do Goofy's Sky School (with FastPass - not my favorite ride - way too jerky) and our second round with Rocket and the gang at Guardian's.  

Riding Goofy's

I said adieu to Jim and Leigh and hiked the .5 mile across the road to the hotel, collecting our baggage on the way to the room.  I took a much needed shower and immediately crashed out asleep, napping for a good 45 minutes or so (it was blissful).  By that point, Jim and Leigh were heading to the room for showers and changing as well, and Chris was on his way from work to us, as we'd be meeting him, Dad, and Risa for dinner at Catal (in Downtown Disney) at 7pm.  

While I was napping,

these two were exploring Cars' Land again

and the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail.

Around 6, Chris made it to the area, and he swung by the Fairfield, picking me up; together we headed to the Downtown Disney parking lot, and after going through security (which was again really quick), we wandered around, checking out the Lego store and picking up some new flip flops at Sanuk.

A life-sized scene from Beauty and the Beast at the Lego store.

As everyone else would be arriving pretty soon, Chris and I stationed ourselves at the bar at Catal; Chris had a few beers, while I downed some iced tea, both to truly wake up from my nap and keep me going, as we planned to head back into the park after dinner.  Dad and Risa got there right on time, and while Jim ended up just sleeping in the room for the rest of the evening due to a stomach, Leigh was still able to join us.

Leigh, about to head back through HER security checkpoint.

We had an awesome dinner at Catal; Chris and I ate there on our last Disneyland trip, too, and everything was great.  It was actually Risa's birthday on this day, so with the help of our waitress, we were able to surprise her with a slice of cheesecake complete with a candle to mark the occasion.  Once again, I have no pictures of this gathering, because I'm lame.  After visiting for a bit, Leigh and I wished everyone adieu, as it was back into the park for us!  We wanted to make sure we caught the evening parade, the Paint the Night spectacular.  

One of my first (and still fondest) theme park memories is seeing the Electric Main Street Parade at the Magic Kingdom growing up (I think it was the time I went with Uncle Jim and Aunt Kim, just the three of us), and as my frequent blog readers know, I love almost everything with lights and fireworks.  We found a decent spot to watch the parade across from Ariel's, and entertained ourselves getting nighttime pictures while we waited for things to kick off.

The Incredicoaster and Pal-a-round wheel

The entrance to Pixar Pier and the Lamplight

Finally, the parade came into view, and we enjoyed seeing all of our favorite characters, dressed up in lights!

Genie and Lumiere were these cool giant puppets

the performers wore as huge backpacks.

The thought and design that goes into these

is really incredible.

Mack the truck from Cars,

through a crowd of people

Slinky Dog was really neat - 

as you can see, his coils changed colors

and patterns as he progressed down the road.

The Incredibles float was one of the larger,

more complicated ones.

The glowing orb at the top has Violet inside it,

and you can see Dash "running" along the track

around the float.

Every now and then, Jack Jack would pop out

of a building as one of his many manifestations - 

on fire one time, as a monster one time, etc.

Once the parade ended, we hightailed it back to Radiator Springs, to ride the Racers one more time before we headed home.  

Since we'd had showers and cleaned up,

we had the official Disney photog grab a shot of us.

The ride wait said 75 minutes, and it was about this long; technically, Disney is required to allow you to ride if you're in line when the park closes, so we knew we'd get on, even if it took a while.  This was by far the longest wait of our day (hooray, MaxPass!), but it was nice to spend some one on one time with Leigh, just catching up and chatting.  I'd read that riding the Racers at night was awesome, and it really was - the same ride as before, but the lights on the course were super fun once the sun went down.

Woohoo!

We headed out of the park around 10:30, and Leigh rode the tram with me to the parking garage, where we collected the car.  I dropped her off at the Fairfield to see how the patient was doing, and I hit the road for the relatively traffic-free 20 minute drive home.  I made it without issue (thanks, all that iced tea!) and I greeted my sleepy husband and dog at home, getting into bed around midnight.

Overall, it was a long day, but it was a great one!  While I don't feel the need to head to California Adventures again right away, I'll surely be back!  Coming up in future installments of the blog, Jim and Leigh's own CA adventures continue!

Later!

Amy