Wednesday August 31st. Disneyland California Adventure day!
We had no plans for breakfast that morning so we headed to Panera Bread just half a block (or less) from the HOJO for breakfast. We don't have these in Canada so thought we'd give them a try. M'eh. Honestly, for the price. Very m'eh. Could've gone to McDonalds and had a cheaper and just as good breakfast
By the time we were done it was about 9:15 so we decided to head off to the line ups. The friends we were meeting were already in DCA as they had EMH but since we didn't have hoppers, we couldn't get in early; the gates opened at 10am that morning. Security was a breeze, very short lines but the lines to get in through the turnstiles....oh my goodness, I've never SEEN such lines at DCA!
But you know what? They moved quite quickly.
It was already hot and I was already sweating
Through the turnstiles and we stopped to buy DD8 new ears (she ended up with the sparkling diamond ears that I have, only I wasn't wearing my ears that day, so we kept trading them lol). DD5 wanted a new hat but I don't think we ended up buying one for her as she kept dithering around.....
As for dh....remember from the day before, his hat was full of puke? Yeah, he needed a new hat, too lol He ended up getting one later in the day.
So we headed for for Grizzly Peak as we wanted to ride Soarin' first. This is where our plans never met up with our friends. Originally we were going to head to Carsland but decided on Soarin' first. Well honestly...if you don't have plans....you just DON'T meet up! We didn't want to do the Frozen show, they did...and so on......in the end we never ended up meeting up with our friends til 3pm! But I digress.
So rope drop....10am and we all trample off to Soarin. We ended up getting inline for the ride because the line was so short - everyone was headed to the fast pass station!!!! Crazy people lol So in less than 10 minutes we were in and listening to Patrick Warburton do his speil and then it was time....the new Soarin'!!!
I LOVED IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Honestly....I teared up. I really and truly teared up. My dh thought I was nuts
The kids loved it, he liked it but I was the one who was nearly a sobbing mess haha!
Once we got off we headed to the fast pass and got a return time about an hour later. Then we headed straight to Carsland. The wait for RSR was less than 30 minutes, in all my times coming to DCA I have never seen a wait so short for this ride!! And we have never ridden it without a fast pass! So we headed straight for the line and I took some photos as we have never been in the line before lol
Now you'll notice we don't take a lot of photos during park days, we are just too busy having fun I guess! So be prepared, besides Carsland I think the only other photos I have are from the WOC dessert party!
DD8 looking very grown up
After riding RSR we headed back to Soarin to ride with our fast pass.
Then we went back to over to Carsland and grabbed a fp for RSR. Return time was 3:30-4:30. During the day we grabbed another FP for Soarin' so we rode it 3 times that day!
In Carsland we tried our the new Luigi's Rollickin' Roadsters
It was pretty much like Maters Tow Yard. Oh well. We rode Mater's next.
After Carsland I can't quite remember what we did lol A few more rides I'm assuming. We were texting with our friends and like I said, it was hard to get our schedules to match up. They had the FP for the 11am Frozen Show (or perhaps 11:30). We had a 12:30 lunch at Carthay Circle. We had planned to meet up right after our lunch but again....that never happened!
DH went off to do something (I think he went to grab Fastpasses for something) while the girls and I waited in the shade as it was nearly lunch time.
Lunch was excellent, the restaurant was nicely themed, the service was fantastic, we were seated in a very quiet area away from the crowds so that was nice. And no, I have no pics of our food
I do know that we started with the fried biscuits with apricot butter - they were heavenly!!! I could have slathered that butter all over my body!!
I had a glass of the Fess Parker Chardonnay and dh had The Derby (Bulleit Bourbon, fresh Grapefruit Juice, and Honey.) It was strong!
For lunch the girls had salmon (DD 8) and orecchiette pasta (DD 5) while I had the Wagyu beef and truffle ravioli (soooo goooooddddd!!!) and dh had the skuna bay salmon. I think the girls got ice cream for dessert(?) but we were quite full from lunch and passed on dessert. It was a lovely meal and although a bit pricey (more than we would spend on lunch, I would call these dinner prices!) I would go there again.
After lunch we headed over to the Paradise Pier Wharf. By then our friends were having a late lunch so we were going to try and meet up with them soon. We rode Ariel's - which broke down twice! - Jumpin JellyFish, the Zephyr, Silly Symphony Swings and then finally TSMM. This one had the longest wait of the day, at nearly 45 minutes (posted). I think it ended up being closer to 30 minutes so not bad at all! DH also scored himself a new baseball cap while we were over here at these parts.
After TSMM we *finally* met up with our friends in Carsland at the Cozy Cone motel where we we all quenched our thirst. My friend K was there with her friend and her oldest son, D - her mom was back at the Grand Californian with her 6 year old twins. After quenching our thirst we rode RSR with our fast passes while the other 3 went on as single riders. After that we went back over to Grizzly Peak where we all scored fast passes for Grizzly River Run EXCEPT for myself and one of K's twins lol
Yep....I'm a wuss. So I took her younger son P and went to the Redwood Creek challenge trail and let him run off steam while I sat in the shade and waited for the rest of the group. Not 10 minutes later and K's mom joined me - seems there was a problem with the fast passes and they ended up being short one so she sat out. We had a nice chat and caught up while we waited for the rest of the group. Eventually everyone joined us and the rest of the kids went to play while the adults relaxed for a bit. It was about 5pm by this point and we were all a little peckish; we had planned on not eating dinner since we had the dessert party that night so we all went to the Starbucks on Buena Vista street and caffed up! The Pixar Parade was just starting so eventually K and her group went to watch and that is where we parted ways until meeting up at the end of the night
Oh well, best laid plans that weren't actually .....um....laid? lol
We headed over to Hollywood land and rode Monsters Inc then went over to Bugs Land and did all the rides there....my kids are actually too old for Bugs land now I think! But oh well, it was a good time killer. Eventually we meandered back over to Paradise Pier, riding Ariel's again and a couple other rides before it was time to check in for our dessert party! It was getting a bit chaotic at this point and we were a little confused as to where check in was. Just as we found a CM to ask, we saw our sign! And we were at the end of a very long line
Dang it. Well we need not have worried, there were plenty of tables and luckily, there were still low top tables available so yay!! The sun was going down and it was getting quite crowded:
I can't tell you how happy I was NOT to be sitting on the darn concrete this time but instead to be at a table - with CHAIRS!!!! And a fantastic view!
Soon our food arrived.
DD5 was very pleased with her plate
DD8 was tired of having her photo taken, eventhough I'd barely taken any that day!
DH and I
The girls each got a light up cup, which lights up and glows along with the show! They were HUGE (photo does not do justice)
DH and I both ordered the blue cocktail
Group shot minus DD5 who was tired according to her lol
The show was fantastic and again, instead of taking photos we just watched and enjoyed. Plus we took lots of photos when we saw it last October ;-)
To be continued....