Monday, October 20, 2014

Disneyland Road Trip - Day 6

For our second day we started out at Disney's California Adventure. We haven't been to Disneyland since 2005 and they have made a few changes. The most noticeable being the entrance to California Adventure. I loved how the monorail would go over the Golden Gate Bridge, but now it's been changed to more closely resemble the old classic Hollywood era.    


I had read up on the whole craziness of the Radiator Racers ride and heard from friends that have gone that it's an absolute must that you get fastpasses for that ride first. I had also read that you need to get passes to World of Color as well. We walked down towards Cars Land and the line for the fastpasses for Radiator Racers was so LONG. We decided to divide and conquer...Michael stood in line at Radiator Racers while the rest of us walked over to Grizzly River Run to get the fastpasses for World of Color. 


Since the line was so long we stopped for a minute to get a picture with Minnie. Believe it or not this was the only picture we got taken with any characters that can walk around. My kids just weren't into it. They didn't want to get autographs or stand in line waiting. I was actually okay with that....let's just get to the rides and have fun! 


Ga-Ga and Minnie look so cute! 

The divide and conquer idea was a good in my mind, but in reality it was awful. The line for the fastpasses goes way faster than you think and if you get to the entrance of the fastpass area and you don't have your tickets to the park they won't let you enter. So in the long run Michael had to go to the back of the line twice and I had to run from Grizzly River Run (getting fasspass for World of Color) like I've never ran before in order to get there in time so he didn't have to go back to the end for a third time. Needless to say nerves were frayed and it wasn't cool! Lesson learned...just stay together and wait! 


For some reason Jack woke up on this day and his leg was hurting. He and Ella kept switching back and forth between who was sitting in the umbrella stroller. 


Cars Land!!! This was what I was most looking forward to. Zeke is such a McQueen crazy boy I just couldn't wait for him to see Radiator Springs in person! 


Get your kicks on Route 66!!!


First stop was Tow Mater's Tractor ride. 


Zeke still wasn't quite sure what was going on. I wondered a lot during this trip what was going on in his mind. We just packed up one day and set off and I was wondering maybe he was thinking this was our new norm....life on the road! 


I wasn't sure if I would like this ride since I don't really like the scrambler, but it was so awesome! The funniest thing ever was hearing Larry the Cable Guy's voice during the safety announcements speak in Spanish!!! 


Cute little tractor tipper! 


Pa wanted to get a picture with Jack because they rode in a tractor together! 


As we were walking down the street we got to see Tow Mater on the move! He was movin' out so McQueen could move in. 


We loved meeting McQueen! Zeke was doing okay until he revved his engine and then he wanted me to pick him up. 


Next up was Luigi's Tires! The details in Cars Land were amazing. I could have spent a whole day just checking everything out! 


Standing in line for the tire ride! 


These were so cool. They were like bumper cars, but instead of rubber it was air. Tires were inflated and then all those hole in the floor blew up air and moved you. Then you leaned one way or another to make your tire move. It was a lot of work to get them to move, but so much fun! 


This was one of Pa's pictures....I'm thinking that they just rammed Pa because of Jack's reaction! 


Red drove on by! He was so shiny and pretty!


Flo's V8 Cafe! We ate there for lunch and I was bummed. I had heard about these cute kids meals that you could buy and get a McQueen car basket type thing with it, but I guess you have to specifically ask for them it doesn't just come with every kids meal. Those meals were $6 more so I guess it ended up being better since I would have spent a lot of money on 4 silly baskets! 


Radiator Springs.....A Happy Place!!! 

We wanted to take the older boys on The Tower of Terror so Ga-Ga & Pa kept Zeke and Ella for us while we went. 


This is before we got in the elevator. It was great! I love this ride! I could go on it over and over. Owen was so quiet and scared when we dropped. Jack was hilarious! He was so freaked out! I know it's probably not good of me, but I was laughing my head off. He was fine...he wasn't crying so I knew he'd be okay. It was just funny! Of course neither of them wanted to go on it again! I was so proud of them for going though! 


When we were done we met Ga-Ga & Pa in Bug's Land. Michael and the boys went on the Flea Circus Ride while Pa and I took Zeke and Ella on the Chew Chew train! 


I've always loved this ride, but it's so cute and even more fun when you have kids. 


It was also nice to be in the shade since it was scorching! 


After we went on the Ladybug ride....it's like the Tea Cups....Zeke did not like that ride, we went over to the garden hose and let the kids get cooled off. Ella really took advantage of this and she completely backed up to the hose and got her dress soaked! 


By this time we were able to use our fastpasses for Radiator Racers. We headed back to Cars Land to find a place for Ga-Ga to hang out with Zeke while the rest of us went on the ride. I love the signs behind Jack and I they say...mind your speed....as you go...sheriff's old...but he's....not slow! 


Ga-Ga had a great view of the cars racing! This ride was everything it's hyped up to be! Awesome!!! 


When we were getting ready to leave Cars Land we ran into DJ from the movie. He was playing some cool music so we followed him. 


All the cute waitresses came out and danced to fun old songs. I was right up front and they were teaching us the moves. My favorite was the song 'Workin' at the Car Wash'! It was so fun!!! 


So long Cars Land....for now! 

We wanted to head over to Disneyland for a little bit so that's just what we did. We hadn't been able to do the Jungle Cruise or Pirates the day before so we wanted to check those out. It was SO hot that we first stood in a seriously long line to get Dole Whip Floats, but it was so worth it. I should have bought 6 instead of 2! They were so yummy! I had never had one, but was told it was an absolute must! So glad I took that advice! After the Dole Whips I had my first meltdown...yes the adult had a meltdown. I think heat, busyness and children can drive you to that pretty quickly. Owen has a way of driving me to the brink and he sure did. I didn't act appropriately though so an apology was quick to follow. Being a parent is so humbling!   


The Jungle Cruise was a perfect ride to go on after getting angry. I dare you to ride that ride and not laugh! 


The people they have working on this ride are hilarious! I love how Disney really does go the extra mile! 


Zeke man was pretty tired by this point! He had taken a little nap in the stroller on our walk from California to Disneyland. 


Not sure what he's looking at here, but he thinks it's pretty cool! 


One of the many wonders of the world....The Back Side of Water!!! Ohhhhhh! 

After this we all went on Pirates and had a great time. I had to continuously reassure Jack that everything was just pretend and the pirates weren't really shooting cannons. I think he's imagination was running wild!  

Again we took the older ones with us to go on rides. Ella got to go with us this time. She was getting into the whole rides thing by now. 


Splash Mountain was so much fun! Jack was more afraid of it the second time around. I had to hold onto him from behind the entire time. If I took one hand off to move my hair out of my face he'd start yelling at me to hold him again. All the kids loved this ride though! 



 On our way to the other side of the park we stopped in Frontier Land to ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. This is my all time favorite Disneyland Ride. They've even updated it a bit so I love it even more! 


While Ga-Ga & I went shopping in one of the western stores Michael took the older kids to play the shooting game. 


We had told the kids that they would each get $50 to spend at Disneyland. They each earned a bit more for being so well behaved in the van on the trip down. One of the things Owen picked out was a Sheriff gun set...I'm kind of thinking this game had something to do with that. 


We wandered over to Tomorrow Land and went into Innoventions. I haven't gone in there in years and it's always changing. This time they had this whole superhero section. Michael stayed with the older kids so they could play this game related to Iron Man while Ga-Ga, Pa, Zeke and I went downstairs to check out the dream house displays. 


We didn't really wander far. I found a nice comfy chair to sit in and an awesome cast member turned on the movie Cars for Zeke. It was a really nice time to relax. That is until I got a call from Michael saying that he couldn't find Jack. Thankfully....it was totally a God thing... Pa's batteries in his camera had died and he was determined to go find a place to buy them and he "accidentally" found Jack. By the time Michael called me he was already safe with Pa and on the way to the bathroom. Praise the Lord we never actually truly lost a child! 


After that craziness we headed back to California Adventure to eat dinner and watch World Of Color. 


I didn't really know much about World Of Color other than get the passes to see it. So that's what we did. Later I found out from my friend Starr that we should have just stood on the bridge up to the pier, but oh well. It was still absolutely beautiful! I would watch this over a fireworks show any day! 


The show didn't start until 8:15 and we got there an hour early to get a good place to stand. There is no sitting if you want to see. This is where the Dollar Tree glow sticks came in handy. I had bought them a year ago and meant to buy more just in case some of them didn't work, but I never got around to it. Thankfully only one didn't work and we gave that one to Zeke and he didn't seem to mind at all! 


The kids were tired, but suckers, bubbles and the glow sticks kept them in good spirits. I think it was around 10 minutes before the show started when Owen started saying lets go! 


Since this day was so long Ga-Ga did end up renting two more strollers so each child had a place to sit. It was nice! Plus they came in handy when the show started...Owen stood on his stroller and he could see just fine. The rest of the kids got the royal treatment and were held! Needless to say we were all pooped by the end of the night! 

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