Our Disneyland Trip: Day 5 - A California Adventure

I had to make an unexpected trip to CVS this morning for Bethany. It was about a mile walk. This caused us to get to the early entry for California Adventure a little later than we wanted. I knew that Radiator Springs Racers would already have a long line then so I changed our tactic. I think a lot of people try to ride popular rides on early entry days, but this makes their lines just as long as they would be the rest of the day. Instead you should ride the next tier of rides that will be moderately long later in the day, but will be short during the extra hour.

We went to Soarin' Over California first. I haven't ridden it yet and I was excited about this one. Bethany was very apprehensive about it, but I convinced her to go on it. I could tell she was a little stressed at the beginning of the ride when the seats lifted off. After a minute though, she relaxed and enjoyed the remainder of the ride. Soarin' is a great ride because it provides thrills for all without any physical stress put on the body. I love the pine smell and orange smell. Of course the orange smell makes me sad because it reminds me of Horizons.

Eli and I took another spin on California Screamin'. It is a really good coaster. We also rode Toy Story Midway Mania and Goofy's Sky School twice before the park opened for everyone else. So we got 5 rides done including 3 popular rides in that extra hour. We probably wouldn't have even got on Radiator Springs Racers in that time.

We stopped for the Phineas and Ferb show on the street for the boys. Amazingly Jonah joined the other kids dancing along with Phineas & Ferb. The other highlight was the 40 year old dad who was singing along and groovin' to Squirrels In My Pants. He was hilarious.

We rode The Little Mermaid ride next. It follows the tradition of the Fantasyland dark rides, but one thing really bugged me. It jumped from "Kiss The Girl" to the finale without really resolving the conflict. Other than showing an angry Ursala in the background of them kissing, there was nothing. Bethany needed a hot beverage so we stopped at Ghirardelli so she could get a hot chocolate. It was the most intense dark chocolate I've have ever tasted. It was almost too strong. For Bethany to say that, it really means something. While she was getting her cocoa, Eli and I went to get Fast Passes for Radiator Springs Racers. We were just about to get to the machines when they ran out of them for the day. I was stunned. Honestly I hate Fast Passes. I have many reasons why I do, but I won't get into that now. I use them though because it puts us at a disadvantage if we don't use them. Now we were stuck without doing Racers today without having to wait at least an hour. I am going to plan a way to get on tomorrow.

Next we headed to the area of California Adventure that I was looking forward to, Buena Vista Street. It did not disappoint. The architecture was classic SoCal from the 1930s. The details just oozed from every corner. I could just sit there and take in the atmosphere all day. My favorite building was the corner of Elias & Company. Bethany enjoyed the inside of Elias & Co. more than the facade. I think that was the store she has spent the longest in during the whole trip. I just relaxed in the little plaza outside of the store taking in beautiful Buena Vista Street. The boys didn't really like either of our pleasures. I always loved Hollywood Blvd at Hollywood Studios until they put up that stupid, awful hat at the end of it. The Main Streets are definite classics. EPCOT Centers airy entry plaza before they made it a cemetery always set up the park nice. Animal Kingdom's Oasis is different and refreshing. But I now think Buena Vista Street is my favorite entrance area in all Disney theme parks.

I was surprised by Hollywood Land a little. I was under the impression it was all fake facades, but the main stretch was very reminiscent of the amazing Hollywood Boulevard in Florida. The area around Monsters Inc. ride and Muppetvision was a mess though. I can see why they are thinking redoing this area. The Monster Inc. ride was good. I loved the ginger smell in Harryhausen's and the door rooms were well done. We caught a break and were able to watch the full Muppetvision preshow (which is just as funny as the actual show). The Tower Of Terror is definitely inferior to the Florida ride. The ride loses a lot without the 4th Dimension room.

After a decent lunch in Paradise Garden and a spin on the Silly Symphony Swings, we returned to the room to take advantage of one of the benefits of staying at The Grand Californian. The boys and I put on our swim trunks and returned to the park to ride Grizzly River Run. We left our room and were in line for the ride in less than 5 minutes. This was one time I hoped to get soaked on a rapids ride. Unfortunately I just got wet and not soaked. The boys and I then jumped in the pool for a 20 minute swim.

For dinner, we tried two rice bowls from The Lucky Fortune Cookery. The Tofu Teriyaki was ok, but we enjoyed the Beef with Orange Sauce much better. Dessert was another stop at Ghirardelli's for more chocolate goodness. I am glad we don't have one of these near us. We would go broke.

We wanted to see the neon turn on again in Cars Land before Eli and I rode Screamin' again. He drove us crazy all day begging to ride it again. We got a front seat again and the picture was too good not to use our ride photo voucher on it. We finished the night by using our Fast Passes for access to a World Of Color viewing area. After waiting half an hour the show started and neither boy could see a thing. I tried to hold them both up, but they are too heavy to do that now and that only lasted about a minute. Eli was trying to jump and see what was going on. First of all, everyone was holding up cameras taping the thing. Secondly, most of them saw these two little boys trying their hardest to see the show and were completely indifferent to their plight. I was pretty mad. We decided to just leave. When we reached the top of the viewing terraces, The stroller parking area had some space and we stopped to watch the remainder of the show from here. The boys were able to see it much better here. So really we wasted over a half hour of our night when we could have just showed up at the last minute to watch the show from the stroller parking area. The show itself is nice, but it is no Illuminations. Not even close.

We darted out of there quickly at the end of the show and were back in our room in 10 minutes. I love staying this close to the parks.