That Was Awesome!

That was the phrase of the trip. Or was it, "That was cool!"  These were the two most common phrases during our recent trip to The Happiest Place on Earth.  The new attraction was Cars Land and the remodeled entrance to the California Adventure theme park.  Gone are the giant letters spelling out C-A-L-I-F-O-R-N-I-A. Gone too is the Golden Gate Bridge near the entrance to the park. In its place are stores and eateries.

We posted a clip of one of our rides on the Radiator Springs Racers earlier so I won't go into much details now.  Besides the racers, Cars Land has two other rides: Luigi's Flying Tires (apparently this ride included giant beach balls originally, but there were no beach balls for our ride) and Mater's Junkyard Jamboree.  Both very tame, easy going rides which we checked out once each.

In Hollywood Land, parts of our group checked out Muppet Vision 3D (which has a show running called "Prep and Landing" during the holidays with the Muppets on vacation), Monster's Inc. and the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.

In "a bug's land," the boys chaperoned by Cousin Bill flew on Flik's Flyers and bumped around on Francis' Ladybug Boogie.

On Paradise Pier, a couple of us screamed on California Screamin' at the end of the day when the wait time was down under 20 minutes.  Mickey's Fun Wheel has stationary cars and cars that swing back and forth.  Let's just say that we went the more adventuresome route and some of us rode on what is about an 8-minute ferris wheel ride with eyes mostly closed.  The rest of took in the sights as we swayed back and forth.  The longest line that we endured during our whole trip was the 75-minute wait for the Toy Story Midway Mania on Paradise Pier.  The final ride in this area that we rode as a group was Ariel's Undersea Adventure.

In Condor Flats, we soared on Soarin' Over California, a family favorite that includes sights of the Bay Area.

The last event in California Adventure for us was the World of Color show that includes Disney characters projected onto water spouts and sprays over the Paradise Pier waterfront.

In Disneyland, one of our favorites turned out to be the remodeled Star Tours.  According to Cousin Bill, this ride has something like 54 possible journey from the 11 random segments of the story.  We went on the ride three times and each ride was slightly different from the next. Cousin Bill and Auntie Susan went on their own once and repeated a journey so it's possible that one could experience the same journey more than once in one visit to the park.

In Adventureland, we went on the Jungle Cruise, climbed Tarzan's Treehouse and sat through a show at the Enchanted Tiki Room.  One of the highlights was the Dole Pineapple Whip before the show at the Tiki Room. 

In Critter Country, some of us who were splash-worthy rode on Splash Mountain.  Ryan wanted to be at the front of the ride so he could sort of get wet, although he made sure to cover his cast with his rain coat.   Those us who were less splash-worthy rode on the dryer, gentler The Many Adventures of Winnie of Pooh and got a workout on Davy Crockett's Explorer Canoes.

In New Orleans Square, the main attraction for us was the Pirates of the Caribbean which passes by the indoor Blue Bayou Restaurant, where we had a later reservation under Ryan's name.  Kimmie was the only one willing to try out the restaurant's famous Monte Cristo sandwich, which is a deep fried sandwich.  Cousin Bill and Auntie Susan survived the Haunted Mansion holiday edition on their own at the end of one day.

Frontierland kept us busy with Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (more than once) and the Sailing Ship Columbia. 

As the kids have gotten older, Fantasyland has grown to be a less popular part of the park.  However, "it's a small world" is still a favorite that we made it to once this time.  The Matterhorn does not have a FASTPASS option so lines were still quite long allowing us to make it through this ride once.  The only other rides in this area that we took part in were Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan's Flight and Storybook Land Canal Boats. Quite a change from past years, where we would spend a considerable part of our time just in Fantasyland.

We didn't even make it to Mickey's Toontown.

We probably spent the most time in Tomrrowland because of Star Tours and Space Mountain.  Other attractions in this area that we visited were Autopia and Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters.

One of the last activities for us was Fantasmic which apparently is now 20 years old.  Due to Cousin Kimmie's excellent knowledge of the park, we got spots for Fantasmic that were basically right at the railing straight in front of the show's stage.  The kids were amazed and had a great time.

I think we're ready now to move up to Disney World next time.

 

Cars Land Racers

Here we are on the new Cars Land racers at Disneyland.  The attraction actually has two variations.  There's one route that goes through the paint shop and another one that goes through the tire shop (so we hear).  We were able to go on the ride twice and both times it was through the paint shop.  Others in our party were lucky enough to experience both variations.  It just depends on which car you get.  The cars seat six people at a time.  If you're able to, definitely get FastPasses for this ride.  The options are to go late in the evening near closing time when the wait time might be down to under 30 minutes or go on as a single rider (which means that you get in the line for single riders and opt to get into what ever car has empty seats).

Spring Break 2009

Here is a slide show of our recent trip to Southern California. The main stop was Disneyland. This was the second time to the happiest place on earth for our kids. All the kids got to enjoy the thrill of the "big kid" rides, especially true for Naomi. Ryan even took in Splash Mountain with an enthusiastic, "That was awesome!" He got soaked and was very proud of it.

After Disneyland, we spent part of an afternoon at the George C. Page Museum in La Brea (aka the La Brea Tar Pits). They've unearthed an amazing number of animals from the tar pits.

We wound up the trip by unwinding in San Diego. Got to visit more family (Dorothy's niece lives in SD). We really basically spent most of the day at the beach in La Jolla.

On the drive back we stopped off at Disneytown to do a little last minute shopping.

Shampoo! Shampoo!

Sometimes what kids hear is more enjoyable than what is reality. During a slideshow of our trip to San Diego, a picture of the world famous orca from Sea World flashed on to the screen. "Shampoo!" yelled Ryan.

Of course, we're talking about Shamu. There are points in the Sea World show where the audience is encouraged to chant, "Shamu! Shamu!" to get the big orca to make a big splash. I think it would be immensely more entertaining to hear and see a stadium full of people chanting, "Shampoo! Shampoo!"

What's a Kid not to Like?

Pictures above are referenced below by number, with picture #1 the one in the upper left hand corner and picture #9 the one in the lower left hand corner.

Disneyland does not seem as large now as it once did. However, it's obvious that the makers of the theme park (picture #6 at the front entrance to Disneyland) have found a way to stay one step ahead of those of us that feel this way. Just make the place larger! They've added Mickey's Toontown since my last visit (okay, so it's been awhile since my last visit). There's also this "little" attraction called Disney's California Adventure Park right next door. Dividing the two is the "free" area known as Downtown Disney (picture #5) where the Disney resort hotels and associated restaurants like the Rainforest Cafe are located.

Perhaps, the park seemed smaller because we spent most of our time in Fantasyland, Mickey's Toontown (picture #1 is with Mickey in his House) and "a bug's land" across the way due to the age of our kids. The star attraction in our estimation was "it's a small world" to the tune of three helpings for us over the course of three days. The ride was trimmed to match the holiday season. Picture #7 above shows the "it's a small world" marquee. Every 15 minutes the marquee comes to life as toy characters march out of the marquee to announce the time. At night, a light show that changes the coloring of the marquee comes to life to announce the time. This was a convenient way to mark time during our wait for the holiday parade.

The centerpiece of Fantasyland is Sleeping Beauty's Castle (picture #4). We were fortunate to get a curbseat right in front of the castle for the nightly firework show. The last night we were able to view the firework show from the Main Street train station looking over the top of what seemed to be a 50-foot plus Disneyland Christmas tree (picture #2).

Not everything worked like a storybook. The Monsters Inc. attraction (picture #9 of us in the model taxis used to ferry us through Monstropolis) was running glitchy the day we were in California Adventure Park. Upon arrival we found that the attraction was closed until further notice. Our second time in line ended with us about ready to be loaded into our car when the attraction malfunctioned again. When we finally made it through the ride, the ride itself was slightly anticlimatic.

One pleasant surprise was the Sun Wheel (picture #3) in the Adventure Park. Ethan was a little nervous during the first revolution, but was down with the ferris wheel by the second revolution and thought that it was "really cool" when we got a bonus revolution when the operators forgot to stop to let us out. After that, whenever I referred to it as the "ferris wheel," he would correct me and say, "No dad, it's the Sun Wheel."

The Adventure Park also has its own parade with Pixar characters dancing to the beat of dance music such as "Y-M-C-A." Definitely did not have the draw of the Disneyland parade, but it did offer an opportunity for the audience to dance with cast members near the end.