California Adventure Day 2

Califorina Adventure Day!

 

We started off Day 2 bright and early by going straight to Radiator Springs.

We thought if we got there early, we could beat the crowd. Boy were we wrong. Everyone in the entire world had the same idea. Right off the bat, Radiator Springs shut down. People didn't know if we should stay in line and see if it would start up again or leave and try it later. Joanna and David were going to try and meet us there, but there were a bit behind us. We decided to head over to Tow Mater's ride. That way we would be nearby if the RS opened up again.

This was a twirly ride. Lots of fun.

We ran into Lightning McQueen making his grand entrance on Route 66. The worker tried to not let us take a picture. Oh well.

Next up- Luigi's Rollicking Roadsters. This ride was BRAND new and had just opened up that week. It was fun. The premise is that Luigi is having a family party and they're dancing in the parking lot. The cars are not on any kind of track but they dance in sync. It was really cool to watch. Glad we could experience it.

When we exited Luigi's there was a huge crowd bustling towards Radiator Springs. This was it. What we had been waiting for! We got in line. It was still a pretty lengthy line, but apparently it's one of the worst lines at Disney Land so I think we lucked out with a 45 minute wait or so. 

Gemma was once again, feeling very posey.

Lots of hugs and loves!

Time to get on.

This ride was so amazing! Definitely one of our favorites on the whole trip. It takes you through a beautiful cruise under waterfalls and then you go inside and see a lot of Cars themed movie scenes.

Finally you get to a stretch where you race. And it goes FAST! Super fun!

A very well-rounded ride if you ask me. A little something for everyone. 

Time for A Bug's Life Land.

I was pretty bummed because the bugs theater was under reconstruction. But- we rand into Flick!

Of course we had to ride Heimlick's Rollercoaster. Candycorn!

So cute!

Hmmm. . .look's like we can be best buds in the happiest place on earth!

Time for Bumper Cars! Not gonna lie- I'd say this is the most pointless ride of the trip. But the kids seemed to love it.

I might have been overdoing it with theatrics to "appear" to be having more fun then I was.

A little ridiculous, but all in good fun.

Seriously- why can't they love each other like this, always?!:)

 Time to meet up with the Layton's again and have some fun! We started with Toy Story! So exciting to see cousins here!

Gemma's all 3 D'd and ready to go! Such a cutie!

Even things like water fountains can be so much fun with a cousin like Spencer.

Here it is- the iconic California Adventure picture! Love this family!

We grabbed lunch at Fisherman's Warf, or Ariel's Grotto- one of those. Some of us had Mexican, some bread bowls and chowder, some sub sandwiches. I'm not gonna lie, my stomach was feeling pretty upset so none if it was too spectacular in my opinion.

After lunch we had fast passes for Radiator Springs again. So fun to fill up the car all with family. Seriously- we loved this ride.

After RS, it was time for Tower of Terror. We had fast passes again. Gemma was brave and decided to go along with Kodee and the cousins. Jaxon wanted nothing to do with it. That was not a high light of his life last time we came to Disneyland.

The few, the brave, the chosen. . .

Gemma was getting more and more scared as we climbed up the stairs.

Here's the drop. Obviously I was little worried about Gemma. Kodee loved it.

They were feeling pretty shocked about the whole thing- but kindly posed in front of the tower.

After Tower we had a little down time. We said goodbye to the cousins and we went to the Crush Turtle Talk. Love it. Gemma and Kodee both spoke to him much of the time. It seems like Gemma told him her favorite food was vegetable and zuccini and he said veggies gave him the "bubbles" it was pretty funny.

Next, while we were indoors in the heat of the day we checked out this cool animation station called the Sorcerer's Workshop. We were able to make cartoons and learn a lot about how animators animate.

Next up we went to Ariel's ride. It was awesome.

The kids were very entertained in line, but the line went so fast- like seriously FAST we walked right on. It was pretty funny because they were really wanting some screen time.

We got some yummy soft serve ice cream after Ariel. 

Then we headed over to the other side of the park. 

One of my favorite pics of the trip. They had these cool Disneyland 60 Anniversary picture booths that you could take pictures creating illusions. They're getting crunched by the Grizzly Rapids Bear.

Hanging out while mom was getting fast passes. . .

This ride was SO MUCH fun! Seriously! I'd never ridden it before. It was terrifying and made me laugh so hard. You seriously felt like you were going to fall off into the sky, there were no borders. But it was WAY too short.

Time for California Screamin'! Such a fun, fast, CRAZY coaster. Loved it!

Kodee doesn't look scared at all:)

If you look closely you can make out a bit of the top of Kodee's head, second row.

While Ari took the boys for a second ride on California Screamin' I ran the girls over to the Golden Zephyr. That was fun. As I took this pic, I fell backwards through the railing that was much like the door you see behind the girls. Quite embarrassing.

 

This next part was quite possibly the funniest, scariest, most memorable family experience ever. So you know the beautiful Mickey ferris wheel that's in all the pictures? That looks so fun right? We decided- since we were spending the whole day in California Adventure, it was time to ride the wheel. One line goes to stationary carts, while they other line goes to carts that slide around. Me being the fun personality I am thought the sliding carts looked like a grand old time. As we neared the ride, Ari kept looking at me like, I'm not sure this is such a good idea. "Oh it'll be fine," I say. Finally we get on the cart. Not so bad we think. They load the others and we start heading up. About halfway up are cart makes a hugh SWOOSH down towards the center and then starts rocking precariously back and forth. We all scream as if it's the last moments of our lives. It doesn't even look like the doors are latched. We are literally on the floor of the cart hanging on for our lives, saying a family prayer. The swooshin would not stop and we were SO HIGH. Poor Lottie. No seatbelts, nothing- what are they THINKING! When we made it back down to the safety of Earth I begged the worker to let us off. She tried to refuse us but I said, "LISTEN- WE MUST GET OFF! This is way too crazy and scary for these kids. . ." Finally- she obliged. Lesson learned. NOT FUN.

I wish we were able to get pictures of the real terror of the moment. This was before insanity hit.

 

Time for the Symphony Swings. Kodee and mom loved this ride. I, once again felt like I was going to die. These swings were HIGH and felt very precarious. Gemma didn't like the looks of them either. 

California Adventure is kind of scary. 

 

 

So... Gemma and I headed over to the Jumping Jelly Fish. They were very colorful, fun, not too high, and not to scary. Perfect for Gems.

She insisted on posing for pics everywhere:)

Ari was getting hot dogs/chili dogs for everyone. I took the opportunity to run over to the Cozy Cone to get a Carmel Appel Marshmallow slush. It was one of the food items apparently everyone raves about. It was disgusting and tasted almost alcoholy, fermenty, even though I was assured it wasn't. Not our cup of tea, that's for sure. Route 66 its pretty at night though. . .

While watching World of Color, Lottie found herself a little bed. We had fast passes to get a good color section to watch the show, but the crowds were quite pushy, and workers quite ornery. Still- a delightful show.