We had the opportunity to experience Cars Land at California Adventure this week. Disney offered Annual Passholders one hour special event early entrance before the park opened to the general public. It was GREAT! Having this hour before the masses allowed us to take in the new land, photograph it and go on a couple rides.
If you're going to California Adventure this summer, and you would like to go on Radiator Springs Racers, I would highly recommend getting there at opening, rushing to the Fast Pass line or go on as a Single Rider. Otherwise, you're looking at a 3-4 hour wait. Who wants to spend a good portion of the day in line?
When we got in line with our Fast Passes the wait time was 210 minutes for Stand-by. By the time we got off the ride, Stand-by wait time was 240 minutes!! We don't even know how bad it got as the day went on. With our Fast Passes, our wait time was about 5-10 minutes. We rode alongside two gals who did the Single Rider line. They waited 45 minutes. Not too bad.
Here's the ride from our vantage point:
I will post more photos from our day. What a special day it was!
I hate to say I'm a "cheap date" because those words just sound wrong, but in actuality, I guess I am!
There was a time in our lives, before kids, where we would fly to San Francisco for our anniversary or plan some elaborate get-away. Those were the days of two incomes, a lot of time, and not a whole lot on the calendar. Now just getting away for a couple hours is a rarity, but a HUGE blessing!
I love our home life just the way it is and wouldn't change a thing! We're so blessed by our kids and the memories we're creating together.
For our anniversary this year we decided to head to Disneyland sans children and just wander around with no plans. Prior to heading out we ordered teriyaki chicken for the kids and ended up nibbling on it along with them. After eating we headed to California Adventure. It was a chilly SoCal night!
California Adventure has a TRON 3D experience we had not yet seen. It's a 3D movie trailer. After watching it I realized I remembered very little about the TRON movie. I wonder if I fell asleep while watching? Give me a bucket of popcorn, a cozy chair in the dark, and two hours and I'll probably fall asleep. Guess I slept through some of it.
This is the entrance to the Hollywood Backlot and Electronica.
Next we headed over to FLYNN'S. It's a video arcade filled with video games of the 80's. Here you'll find 40-somethings reliving the glory days of videoing while "Juke Box Hero" plays in the background. I did hear a song I hadn't heard since the New Wave days of the 80's. This is the mostly English version. It brings back memories and shows the wackiness of the early 80's.
My date exchanged a whopping $5 for video coins and we went to town! It's amazing how long $5 lasts when only two people are playing! We tried a number of games, but trying to find my Donkey Kong Junior skills proved to be just too hard. My sweetheart excels at Galaga. He's so cool! Centipede is my game. I hogged most of the coins for my favorite. My sweetheart just let me play. He's so good to me!
He takes this very seriously!
I was really bad at this game!
See my score? I almost got to post my initials!
Flynn's
He's really good at this one!
Tap-tap-tap...I wish you could see the instantaneous firing! It really was impressive!
After Flynn's we headed out to Downtown Disney where I asked my sweetheart to treat me to a dessert of Bread Pudding (totally not paleo) from Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen. We cozied up to a little table and shared our dessert together.
Happy Anniversary to us! This year was one of our best anniversaries yet! I think we just may be discovering contentment. It's not about having the fanciest or most elaborate celebrations. It's about being together, having family, and making memories.
We came home to a house that was immaculately cleaned by three smiling children. They're so good to us! I couldn't ask for more!
I know I said we won't be taking the summer off of learning, but we will definitely won't miss out on fun! To ring in the summer season we began our day with a wee bit o' learnin' then went to Disneyland! We love to have a reason to celebrate and we definitely need to pay homage to the longest day of the year.
Eating lunch at one of our secret Disney get-aways. No crowds, just us, peace.
Really trying for a "Cool" photo
We need to work on this
Back to cute...wait, did my girl close her eyes?
We still have a little guy on the injured list so a mellow, no jerky ride day was in order. We definitely wanted to go on the new Ariel's Undersea Adventure ride that recently opened up. In case you missed the construction, here it is.
The sign read a 45 minute wait, but it went much more quickly. We had snacks. I checked Facebook. We chatted. The kids got on each other's nerves a little bit. I think that was because of the heat. It was a surprisingly 80-some degrees yesterday and we were overdressed.
Nice view while waiting in line
Ariel's Undersea Adventure
Riders sit in colorful clam shells. The seat reminded me of the seating on the Haunted Mansion ride sans the scary creatures and music.
Tile work- the beauty of Disney
Ariel
Eric and Ariel...Happily Ever After
After our Ariel ride we stopped by two of our other favorite California Adventure stops. Free sourdough bread and tortillas. Mission Tortilla was closed, but the kids got their sourdough slices. This is a great stop for families wanting a quick snack, while avoiding the high cost food. It's also a GREAT history of sourdough field trip for homeschool families! After, if we are still hungry and haven't packed an adequate lunch I may buy the family a chili bread bowl at Boudin's at the Wharf. The cost is around $7-$8, but one chili bread bowl can feed our whole family. So if you're trying to stay on budget, it's an option I recommend.
Next year, CarsLand opens. Watching the construction from behind the decorative barriers is very exciting! There are great things to come to California Adventure.
Here is one of the many barriers keeping the secret between us and the new CarsLand.
Trying again for "Cool"
Still Trying!
At this point in our day we were SO HOT!! We were so overdressed! This means it's time to frolic under the spraying water at BugsLand. I have to admit, my kids think I'm baby stalker. I can't help it! The littles are so cute! I really miss having my own teeny tinies running around. That season went by so quickly!
One running having a blast. The other pretending to not want to get wet.
So happy!
Soaking the head
Looking like he wants to get into the fun!
Adorable, if I do say so.
Wetting the head some more
And so how does this thing work?
We sat there and played and tried to cool off a bit. Then...these two twin girls came on the scene. OH MY WORD! They were the cutest babies I've seen in a LONG time. I wish I could have captured their faces when they first saw the water coming down. Their parents were precious too! I don't know if I've seen prouder parents in a LONG time. Their love for their twin girls was so apparent. It was melting my heart. Of course I had to tell them! They were all smiles, beaming. Super Cute!
This is EXCITEMENT!
The water kept coming down and she didn't know what to do. She was frozen.
Maybe I need to have a babysitting service. In my spare time.
Getting more wet.
Now Soaked.
Super Soaked!
This is where all the water is coming from.
Love Her!
Soaked
The kids were cooled off and I continued people watching. I then observed something that actually made me laugh out loud. Our middle son was sitting on the bench relaxing when a grandma with three grandsons sat down. The three boys were Biz-zee and Grandma was trying to speak to them in a way that sounded like she meant Biz-Ness! Our middle son couldn't help but have a front row seat to this conversation going down. The three biz-zees were not listening to Grandma. Our son's expression was priceless! It was a "What the heck are you doing?" kind of look followed by a "What in the world is Grandma going to do with these three?" Sometimes I just love kids watching kids trying to figure each other out.
Okay, I'm trying to ignore this Grandma and the three Biz-zees
I'll just watch the kids playing in the water
Oh great! Grandma has her hand up. (looking toward the biz-zees) Are you listening to Grandma?
She's still hand directing.
Really, you're not going to listen to Grandma?
Oh my Biz-zees! What are you doing now?
Uh Oh!
Enough of those Biz-zees. Time to hydrate. We then went in search of water fountains. I have my favorites. There's one by Grizzly River Run that I love. Super cold water! But we were in Bugsland
Excuse me, Can't you see I'm on the phone.
Yes, I'll hold.
Party Line
Did you hear that?
Really? Seriously?
We can be so easily entertained.
Onward.
Even though we've been to Disneyland/California Adventure many times we've never been in the Disney Animation Sorcerer's Workshop. What a treat that was!!! There are so many wonderful learning activities for kids AND it's air conditioned!
drawing an animation scene
Seeing Crush interact with the audience was GREAT!
All in all, we only spent just over three hours at California Adventure yesterday. Three hours in the heat multiplies to about 6 hours. Needless to say, I had some happy, tired kids. What a great start to summer!
