California Adventure

Sunday we went to church (I wore one of my new outfits!) and visited with Peter’s Aunt and Uncle, who so kindly allowed us to stay at their house.  Okay, well, Peter visited with his Aunt.  His Uncle was really busy with church meetings, and I slept most of the day; I was so tired.

 So Monday we had to decide if we were going to go back to Disneyland proper or go to California Adventure.  Peter kind of left the decision to me, and I decided we would go to California Adventure since I had never been.   I am so glad we did!  While we absolutely loved being in Disneyland—it’s just magical!—we realized that most of the things we enjoyed doing most, we did in California Adventure.

As we were driving to the park, I told Peter about a restaurant called Ariel’s Grotto where the Disney Princesses come visit while you’re eating breakfast or lunch.  It was kind of pricey, I didn’t think we would actually go there, but Peter said, “Well, why don’t we see if they have any reservations available”.  We had tried to get into one of the nice restaurants at Disneyland on Saturday, and they said they were booked until like 3 days later, so I figured, yeah, right.  They aren’t going to have any spaces available.  So, Peter called, and they had two lunch spaces.  We took one!

Starting Our Day, Riding the Tram

We rode the tram from the parking garage to Downtown Disney.  We wondered a Disney store for a bit, then headed into the park.  We weren’t sure what to do first, but we decided to head toward the Hollywood section.  The first thing we ended up doing was Turtle Talk with Crush from Finding Nemo.  It was actually pretty cool because Crush really asked questions to specific people he pointed out by what they were wearing and responded to what they said.  He also answered questions from the audience.  It was more fun than we expected!

Turtle Talk with Crush

Photo with Max from A Goofy Movie!

I'm in Hollywood!

We continued wandering and ended up watching a show in the main roundabout with Newsies and Mickey Mouse that was pretty fun! 

We were hungry, so we got a Mickey Mouse pretzel!  It was so cute!  

 Next came Tower of Terror.  I thought this was going to be really scary and that things would jump out at me, but it was a lot shorter than I expected it to be.  Peter even said it seemed shorter than he remembered.

Peter making a creepy face while waiting for Tower of Terror

Outside Flo's in Car Land

 One of the best things about California Adventure was that there were very few people there.  I’m not sure if it was because it was a Monday or if everyone was just at Disneyland, but lines were really quite short.  We rode several of the cars rides, and the line for Luigi’s Flying Tires was longer than most, so we had time to take a few pictures.

Took this picture because we stayed the night in Barstow

I’m not a huge fan of Little Mermaid, but her ride was pretty fun, and it actually made me want to watch the movie.

We also saw some Toy Soldiers do a little show.

We went to the Aladdin musical, and it was very good.  Genie was funny (although he didn’t have quite the comedic timing of the Black Stache at the Shakespeare Festival), but my favorite part was “A Whole New World” where Aladdin and Jasmine fly on Carpet above the audience!  We realized they actually have two actors each for Aladdin and Jasmine because the characters don’t have time to get between the carpet that flies above the audience and the stage in between scenes.

Waiting for Aladdin to Start

The Stage

Next we wandered to the boardwalk area, where we rode California Screamin’.  We also got to take a picture with Buzz, although we had waited in line for a picture with Jessie.  The poor little girl in front of us had waited in line for Jessie twice, and both times Jessie left just as her family got to the front of the line.  The photographer made a note, though, that they were to go to the front of the line next time Jessie was there for pictures.

Finally, it was time for lunch with the princesses!  I was both excited and nervous.  I knew we were paying a little more for this meal, so I really wanted it to be worth it: I wanted to really meet the princesses and for the food to be good.  When we came down the stairs we got a picture with Ariel (since it was her Grotto lol).  

Then we sat down to eat.  There were only a few menu choices, so we were able to order relatively quickly.

I waited anxiously for our food and the princesses.  Then, the herald came out and announced the first princess!  It was Belle!  Yay!  We really would get to meet them.  And Belle is one of my very favorite princesses.  I was so excited I could barely eat.  I didn’t want to have anything in my teeth when I got my pictures with the beautiful princesses.  I think I was at least as excited as any of the little girls in the room :D

Ariel’s Grotto was definitely a highlight, and someday I want to take my little girls (if I have any) there.

When we left Ariel’s Grotto we crossed the street to a little store.  While we were wandering, a phone rings.  A cast member says, “Jessica?”  I turned automatically, assuming she meant someone else, but then she looks at me and says, “Are you Jessica?”  I said yes, and she told me the phone was for me!  Who could it be?  It was Goofy wishing me a happy birthday!  I guess I should explain: I was still wearing the Happy Birthday button I got in Disneyland on Saturday, and it had my name on it.  I assume the cast member saw it and pressed a button so I could get a phone call from Goofy.  It was really cool, though.  If you ever go to Disneyland and you’re celebrating anything, go get a button!  They have ones for birthdays, anniversaries, and even ones that just say “I’m celebrating!” (The girl who served us ice cream Saturday night gave Peter one of those).  It is the best because all of the cast members wish you a happy birthday—the princesses wished me a happy birthday, too.

Next we went and rode Toy Story Midway Mania where you get to shoot at targets and earn points.  We actually really enjoyed this ride.  I would have enjoyed it more except by the time we got through the line, I needed a potty break so very badly I could barely concentrate on anything except hurrying along.  Then we rode Mickey’s Fun Wheel, which has normal Ferris Wheel seats and seats around the edge on runners that slide with the movement of the wheel.   Of course, we rode the moving seats!  The most fun part, though, was they sat us with another couple and we talked and got to know them a little bit.

Then I staked out a seat for the parade while Peter went to get some fast passes.  While waiting I called my mom, and I returned a call from Peter’s dad, who was calling to wish me a happy birthday.

Then we rode Grizzly River Run, which is a white water rafting ride, and once again, we timed it so we rode the wet ride as it was cooling off!  It was all right, though, and the ride really was fun.  We then went over and rode Soarin’ over California, which is quite cool.  They make you feel like you’re parasailing over all of California, and they even include scents!

We had a little time before the evening show, so we decided to go to the Animation Studio.  We kind of hemmed and hawed about whether we wanted to do it, but once we did, we wished we had come and done it sooner so we could have done it more!  It was so cool.  We decided to come back fifteen minutes after we finished the Minnie workshop for the Pluto workshop.  It was awesome.  Neither of us are artists, but our pictures really look like the characters we were supposed to be drawing!

My Minnie

Peter's Minnie

We bought churros because Peter had wanted one since we got to Disneyland, and then we went to get seats for World of Color.  While we were waiting, we heard some girls behind us (who were clearly from California) say that they liked World of Color so much better than Fantasmic.  We, as lovers of Fantasmic, both thought that maybe they were just ‘too cool’ for Fantasmic.  Then we actually saw World of Color.  It is my new favorite show, I think.  It was amazing!  The light the water with colors so it looks like paint, and they mix the fountain show with projected video of Disney Movies.  It was so cool.

(Btw, these pictures are not in order since we had two cameras and we were both taking some pictures)

I have several videos of World of Color, but I'm going to go ahead and post this and upload them later.

Finally our Disneyland trip was over.  We did stop to buy a few souvenirs, since we had been trying to decide what we wanted all weekend.  I was very happy with what we got.

We left Tuesday morning (which was my actual birthday), and I was kind of sad to leave.  We stopped by Chick-fil-a to get breakfast, but we missed the window for breakfast!  I was going to be upset because I really wanted some chicken minis.  But luckily, they still had some!  Yay!  Someone was watching out for me so I’d have a happy day on my actual birthday, as well as the birthday weekend J

Then Peter drove all the way home, bless him.  I planned on switching, but we never did.  It was such a good birthday present.   I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I have the bestest husband!  Thanks, Peter!  I love you!

After Fall Break, we were, of course, all rested up and ready to go back to school!