California Adventure!

When we bought our tickets for this trip we found the best deal for us was the Southern California City Pass. It came with a three day park hopper ticket to Disneyland and CA Adventure.  I thought we would spend one day at CA Adventure and two at Disneyland but we ended up splitting it pretty evenly with just a little more time in Disneyland because we were trying to find more characters and it seemed there were a few more things we wanted to do there.  We also met up with my family there more. (My mom, sister Katie and her two boys Cade and Cameron, my sister Susanna and her husband Ryan and their girls Lisa and Lyra we missed my Dad and brothers/family)

We were not at all surprised that Cars Land was the favorite attraction in CA Adventure.  The big ride there is the Radiator Springs Racers so we went there first.  Jared and I waited in line during our Magic morning there and only had to wait about 30 minutes which was great.  We got on the ride and then Jared didn't like it!  There is a section where you go in a dark room which I thought he would be okay with since there were Cars there from the movie, but Frank scared him and he just really didn't like being in the dark room.  After we left the room he seemed happier but then we took off on the dips and they were a bit much for him. He told us later that "they made his tummy go crazy". Funny kid.  Since Jared did not want to go again Mark went by himself. I had gotten a badge to do the child switch which would have worked great but Mark just did the single rider lane.  We both thought the ride was fun and did it again the next time we were there.

After the ride

Jared's favorite ride (from both parks) was the tractors at Tow Mater in Cars land.  He loved it.  We went on it at least 3 times.  It was fun. Cars Land was pretty awesome. It absolutely looked just like Radiator Springs in the movie.  We loved walking around and seeing the buildings and cars driving around. They really did an amazing job. We went there first thing before anywhere else and I think Jared was kind of overwhelmed.  When we went back on Friday he seemed to enjoy it even more.  I am so glad he could go while he still enjoys CARS so much.  It was hard to not take way too many pictures because everything was so familiar and Jared was so excited.

(This is a lot of pictures from Cars land yet I have so many more!!)

We also enjoyed CA Adventures White Water rapid ride.  Unlike Jared I did not want to get soaking wet and happily used my .98 cents poncho from Wal-Mart.  My sister Katie stayed with Lydia so we could go together on the ride with Jared which was really fun. He was so excited.  Mark had really wanted to go on Soarin Over California and convinced Jared to go with him and Jared loved it. He really enjoys the movie PLANES and likes Jets so he loved how it felt like he was flying.  He even agreed to go on it with  me (love the child switch pass) We spent a little time in Bugs Land and Lydia loved the lady bug ride. She also loved the Little Mermaid ride.  We checked out the Mickey Mouse Ferris wheel and King Triton's Carousel.  The ferris wheel was interesting because one layer stayed still while the other layer could be swung and rocked. We got in the still line while my nephews Cade and Cameron got in the shake line. We got in close to the same time and they ended up right above us. It was cool to see them there.

 Jared, Lyra, and Ryan

 Jared did not like this ride, he almost refused to go with me!  Seeing the pattern here? Dark cave like tunnels are no good to him even if the rides characters are harmless.

Bug glasses in Bug Land. 

We also watched two shows and enjoyed the Parade. We watched Aladdin and the Magic Lamp and the Disney Junior Live on Stage show. We haven't watched too many of the Disney Jr. shows, none of us really knew Doc McStuffins but we had seen some Jake and the Neverland Pirates and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  Jared currently loves pirates so we will probably be watching more of Jake. He loves Captain Hook! (I am seeing a Peter Pan Themed Halloween in our near future with Hook and Tinkerbell) Both shows were great for Jared and Lydia. Lyda especially loved the Aladdin one.  She sat by my Mom and was so entranced. It was almost more fun to watch her then the show.  Waiting in line for it was awful (they packed you in so tight and it seems so long really like herding cattle) and then right when we sat down Lydia decided she HAD to go to the bathroom so I grabbed a re-admittance ticket and raced to find her a restroom.  We went down stars, outside to the bathroom (after we had to ask where it was then find it) and back in record time. We sat down and the show started like 30 seconds later.

Waiting and waiting, we did have great seats and Marmee bought the grandkids some grape lemonade which helped immensely. 

 She was fascinated by everything we watched. 

Lyra and Jared, they were inseparable whenever we were together. 

We also got to meet Pluto, Goofy, and Mickey Mouse. I thought it was so weird that we never saw Mickey Mouse in Disneyland (well except for the parade) but got to meet him in CA Adventure. But we are so glad we did.  I have said it before but Jared and Lydia loved all the characters.  They gave them high fives, hugs and lots of eskimo kisses. It was so so fun.  Both Lydia and Jared always laid there heads in the character laps when they came down to their level which sort of drove me crazy because then I couldn't ever get their faces but it was still pretty cute.  When they met Mickey they did it and said they were tired (To Mickey) so when I told them they needed to let the next kids have a turn Mickey put his finger to his mouth to shush me.  It was cute. Meeting the characters was great!

We stayed late the first night to watch their water show, Fantasmic and loved it. It was incredibly crowded and we had to wait forever but it was so cool.  They had Disney songs playing and projected lights and video on these water fountains that shot up high in the air. It was pretty awesome. Our kids were so tired but we did it.  We even got to see some of the Disneyland fireworks while we waited.  We had a lot of fun in CA Adventure.