My mom and dad came on Tuesday night to watch the kids for us while we went. We were so grateful that they were willing to come and watch our kids for almost four days. We left Wednesday morning and drove straight to the beach. We went to the tidepools at Little Corona Beach and arrived right at low tide. There were so many hermit crabs in the tidepools that it was a bit hard to walk around without stepping on them. And I found a little starfish, about one inch big.
That night we stayed with Christy and Tennyson. In the morning we drove over to the parks and spent our first day at California Adventure. Both days we were there were very hot--close to 100 degrees. This is supposed to be the "off" season for Disneyland, but we found that there were a lot of people there. I don't think that the time after spring break and before summer can any longer be called an "off season." We were able to do everything at California Adventure that we wanted to, but we did stand in lines longer than what we would have liked.
Our day at California Adventure went like this: When we got in the park, Nate and I split up to get fastpasses for Radiator Springs and World of Color... along with every single other person in the park. Then we rode Luigi's Flying Tires (which is a waste of time, and we didn't even wait in a line for that one) and Mater's Junkyard Jamboree. That one was fun, but Nate didn't try to keep himself from squishing me and at one point, he hit me so hard I could have sworn I felt my whole rib cage crack. I think I will only ride that one with the kids when we go back. Then I got fastpasses for Soarin' Over California while Nate went and got in line for Toy Story Midway Mania. I've decided the line for that ride is never short, no matter what time of day you ride. After that, we went on Soarin' and then Radiator Springs Racers. Then we escaped the heat and watched Aladdin, which is like a shortened Broadway production. I highly recommend watching it. After that, we had a late lunch and then went on Goofy's Sky School and California Screamin'. I really like roller coasters, but don't like that they give me a headache. We wanted to watch the 3-D show, It's Tough to be a Bug, but they had replaced it with a sneak peak of the upcoming Disney movie, Maleficent. We went ahead watched it anyway because we were still wanting to be out of the sun.
California Screamin'
Then we did Monster's Inc. and the Animation Academy, where we drew the Steamboat Willie Mickey Mouse. Then we did Toy Story Midway Mania and Soarin' again before we ate dinner. I was glad to find a place where we ordered Teriyaki Chicken with rice. I get really sick of burgers and fries or things similar to it when on vacation and can't cook my own food.
Then we went and got our places to watch World of Color. We had never seen this show because it is late at night and we always went back to the hotel to put kids to bed. I really enjoyed it, but my feet were not happy about standing in place for another 30-40 minutes at the end of a very long day.
The next day we went to Disneyland. We made sure that we got to the park an hour early so we could be one of the first ones in line. At the turnstile we lined up at, we were about fifth in line and were then able to be right up at the rope that keeps everyone on Main Street until opening time. It was SOOO worth it. We have the book "The Unofficial Guide to Disneyland" and we followed their touring plan. We were able to literally walk onto the first three rides we went on, and then not wait in many long lines.
Space Mountain the first time
Space Mountain the second time--we took this picture just for our kids because we knew they would think it was gross. :)
Here's a complete rundown of our day, starting when the park opened at 9:00 a.m.:
Peter Pan--no line
Star Tours--no line
Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters--no line
Space Mountain (and grabbed fastpasses to come back later)--15-20 min. wait
*all this was done by 10:00 a.m.
Matterhorn--20 min. wait
(got fastpasses for Thunder Mountain)
Space Mountain, using fastpasses--6 min. wait
Winnie the Pooh-- 3 min. wait
(got fastpasses for Splash Mountain which was in super high demand for some reason... oh yeah, it was stinkin' hot outside!!)
Thunder Mountain, using fastpasses--5 min. wait
Lunch at the Golden Horseshoe while watching the Laughing Stock Co. show.
Nate became part of the lunchtime entertainment! He doesn't know this, (but will find out when he reads this) but I may or may not have kind of pointed at him when the Sheriff came down looking for "eligible husband" replacements for himself to marry the lovely Sallie May--who was actually a super ugly guy dressed as a girl. I have a video of it, but blogger won't let me upload it. The show was really funny and the comedians were pretty good on their feet--most of the show is impromptu, based off of the dating show type answers given by the contestants.
After lunch we did:
Haunted Mansion
a bit of the Disneyland Railroad
Roger Rabbit Car Toon Spin--we waited way too long in line for this, but had no choice because we were already holding fastpasses to other rides. So we waited for at least 40 minutes on very tired feet.
Splash Mountain, using fastpasses-- 5 min. wait
Tiki Room
Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters--10 min. wait. Nate scored 511,000 due to the lucky fortune of getting stopped in front of Zurg and his hidden spot worth lots of points.
Star Tours, using fastpasses--15 min. wait
Captain EO 3-D show--the 80's were such a strange time. That's all I can say about this one.
Walked through Innoventions
Browsed shops on Main Street
Shopped and bought kids presents
Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters--15 min. wait
Space Mountain, using fastpasses
Thunder Mountain, using fastpasses
Haunted Mansion
Watched fireworks from Fantasyland behind the castle--so we could then ride rides in Fantasyland without having to wait 40+ minutes for them.
Pinocchio's Daring Journey--3 min. wait
Snow White's Scary Adventure--10 min. wait
We left the park between 10:30 and 11:00.
It doesn't seem like it when you look at what we accomplished in one day, but the park was super busy and packed. We passed by rides that had super long wait times that we didn't wait for at all. We were only able to do this because we followed the advice in that book I mentioned. We are believers. When we go again with kids, we will stick to the touring plans as best as we can. The book claims their plans save 4+ hours of standing in line. I was very skeptical, but I'm sure it saved us that much time.
To summarize, in our one day we went on 20 rides, watched 3 shows and fireworks, and went shopping. We rode Buzz Lightyear and Space Mountain 3 times each and Thunder Mountain and Star Tours twice. Oh, I guess I should mention that Indiana Jones, Small World, and Pirates of the Caribbean were all closed. So sad. Just so you know, we didn't leave them out on purpose.
And now our feet may be irreparably damaged. We are way more tired after going without kids because we were able to push it harder and faster and not take breaks. We walked so much!
When we got home, the kids were super excited to see what we bought for them.
We got Arie an Anna/Elsa doll (from the movie Frozen). You can see Elsa in the picture, but Anna is underneath, so all you have to do is turn the doll upside down and the dress flips over and the doll becomes Anna. So the doll has two heads... I'm not sure that makes sense. She loved it and started singing "Let it Go."
Damon got two cars (from the movie Cars): Mater dressed as Darth Vader... or Darth Mater, as we call him around here, and Lightning McQueen dressed as Luke Skywalker. They even have lightsabers. They are pretty cool. (You can see Kelton holding Arie's doll which has been switched to the Anna side.)
Kelton got Star Wars bowling. The headpin is Darth Vader, the other pins are Storm Troopers and the two balls are the Death Star and a thermal detonator. Kelton was really excited.
Natalie put in a special request, and we honored it. She wanted a Woody doll to match her Jessie doll that she bought last year. (You can see that doll in the picture above.) The dolls are pretty cool because they are made to be just like the ones in the Toy Story movie. They even have a pull string on the back.
3 comments:
So fun! Glad you had a good time.
Sounds fun (and exhausting)! We haven't ever followed the touring plans, but using the tips from the book definitely made a difference in our trips.
Wow, we're talking strategy with you next time we go!
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