Once we had our Fast Passes, we headed out to go on some rides. Along the way, we got the kids some pins for pin trading. This is something new for them, but they were very excited about the prospect. Because we booked our trip through AAA, we got some free lanyards and pins to start things off, so we let each of the older kids pick out a few more pins to start their trading off.
We went back to the Paradise Pier area first, since we knew we wanted to go on Toy Story Mania. We ran into Donald Duck on our way back.
Cam and Leah with Donald
Family picture with Donald
After Donald, we got in line for Toy Story Mania. It wasn't too long of a wait so we skipped the Fast Pass and just waited in line. Cam and Leah with their 3D glasses, ready to play!
Aaron was snoozing
So of course we had to put 3D glasses on him!
Cameron, ready to go! Both Cam and Leah loved this ride!
Right next door to Toy Story Mania was King Triton's Carousel. With Leah's new found love of carousels, of course she wanted to ride. She picked a fishy to ride on, Cameron picked a dolphin.
Aaron and I rode on the bench
Cam on his dolphin
Right next door to the carousel was California Screamin', the roller coaster. It is a great one, so of course both Tim and I wanted to ride. He let me go first and I went to the single rider line. It went pretty quickly until I got to the very end and then I had to wait for a while. Tim hung out with the kids and waited for me to be done.
They watched the fountain show while they waited for me.
The roller coaster starts off going right past where Tim was standing to wait, so he took a million pictures trying to get one of me. He actually got it! I am in the first car, second row - blue shirt.
This is what happens when an overtired girl has a Disney-sized meltdown!
After snapping the picture of Leah, Daddy turned his attention to the other stroller, which housed a much happier camper.
Trying to figure out what this place is
What a cute little guy!
Once I got off the coaster (amazing!!), Tim went to take his turn. He was back in about two minutes - the ride had closed for some reason and didn't have an estimated re-opening time. They also closed the Fast Pass ticket center so he couldn't even grab a Fast Pass. Boo!
We walked around the rest of Paradise Pier, deciding to skip out on the carnival style rides because of long wait times. We got to the Little Mermaid ride and it had a short wait, so on we went. Cameron and Leah were really excited to check out the ride.
It was so cute - you rode in a shell car and went through the entire movie.
Ariel
Kiss the girl! All of the favorite songs and parts of the movie. Leah especially loved the ride.
When we walked outside, we saw a hummingbird - we find them everywhere!
We also found Mickey
He took Cameron and Leah by the hand and walked away. I guess if Mickey is taking your kids, that is acceptable.
They didn't even look back to see if we were coming with them.
Hugs for Mickey!
We walked around the outside edge of the park, going past the Grizzly River Run ride. We were hoping to go on that one but the wait was really long and the Fast Pass time wasn't until much later in the day. We kept going and stopped at Soarin'. This is one of Cameron's favorite rides in Epcot, so he knew he wanted to go on it for sure. Again, poor Leah was too short so she and Aaron had to wait outside. First Tim and Cameron went on, then Cameron and I went on. What an amazing ride!! Of course, Cameron loved it.
We headed over to A Bug's Land next so that the kids would have lots of ride choices. Tim and I took turns staying with Aaron while the other one went on rides with the older two. They were smaller, more basic rides, but both Cameron and Leah had a blast. After the rides, they were a bit warm so they headed over to the splash park.
Ready, set, go!
Leah got soaked, she was not quite as fast as Cameron.
Well okay, Cam got pretty wet too. Luckily it was another WARM day, so they didn't mind being wet.
Leah loved being able to go on all of the rides in A Bug's Land (instead of having to wait outside of the rides while Cam went on with a grown-up, like happens so many other times).
We decided to go to a character meal while we were in Disneyland and chose to have lunch at Ariel's Grotto. It was a late lunch, around 3 in the afternoon. It was also a princess character meal, so of course we knew that Leah would be excited. We hoped Cameron would enjoy it too, but unfortunately that didn't work out so well. He was gracious at first, saying he wanted Leah to have a special fun time because she couldn't go on as many rides as he could. At some point on the walk over to the restaurant, he decided that he was not in the mood to play nice anymore and refused to be in any pictures or interact with the characters. He did eat the food and enjoyed the color sheets and activities that they had at the restaurant, but wouldn't take a single picture or be in a family picture. Oh well, you win some, you lose some!
Cute Aaron waiting for our lunch reservation
Leah with Princess Ariel
She had so many big hugs for the princesses and it was awesome that the princesses were more than happy to scoop her up and return the big hugs.
Leah and Cinderella
Leah and Aurora
Leah with Belle
Hugs for Belle!
Leah was very excited to meet Snow White, but then was a bit shy when she came over.
She got over her shyness pretty quickly.
At this point in the meal, Aaron had woken up so we had him pose for a picture with Snow White. She thought the "little prince" was very sweet.
Our dessert tray - the kids loved it!
The one picture we got of Cameron for the whole meal
After lunch it was actually late afternoon and getting towards our Fast Pass time for Radiator Springs Racers. We watched another fountain show and then headed over to Carsland.
Mickey ferris wheel
We walked over to Cars Land, the newest land at California Adventure. It was really neat, with all of the familiar spots from the Cars movie. We stopped to get a family picture in the middle of town.
Then we headed back to the ride that we had raced to get FastPasses for that morning - Radiator Springs Racers. The rid is kind of like Test Track at Epcot - you ride in car through Radiator Springs and in the end you race against another car through the desert. It was really cool. First Cameron and I rode, then Tim and Cameron took a turn.
Unfortunately, Leah was too short so she couldn't ride. It didn't phase her one bit though - she held court with a ton of other too-short-to-ride kids, with her newly purchased bubble gun as the main attraction.
It was hilarious, she reveled in the power of the bubbles. She told the other kids to jump for the bubbles, they jumped while she made the bubbles come out. She told the other kids to run in a circle, they ran in a circle and she made the bubbles. It was so funny! Also it worked out really well because even with FastPasses, the wait was quite long for each ride. She kept herself amused and Aaron snoozed while the others were riding.
Once we were done on that ride, we headed over to Luigi's Flying Tires. This was a ride that everyone but Aaron could go on. It was kind of like bumper cars, except you use your body weight to move the cars. To go forward, everyone has to lean forward; to go to the right, you all lean to the right. It was really fun and Cam and Leah loved it! First they went on with me.
Then they went on with Tim.
Aaron was very cute while waiting for his brother and sister to be done with the ride.
Saying hello to a tractor friend
The other ride in Cars Land is Mater's Junkyard Jamboree. You sit in a little cart pulled by Mater and swing back and forth as it goes in a circle. Tim rode with Cameron and Leah first, unfortunately he was on the other side of the ride so this is the best picture I got (Tim in yellow).
When it was my turn to ride with the kids, I made sure we strategically picked the closest tractor to where Tim was standing with the camera.
Here we are, mid-swing, on the ride. It was another great ride - I love how Leah has her hands up in the air on this picture, she had a blast.
Picture of two of my cutes in front of a waterfall
At this point, it was getting towards dark and we headed over to our World of Color viewing area. Earlier in the day we had stumbled upon a place where they were handing out FastPasses for World of Color. Since it was a show we wanted to see, we figured we might as well grab some. It turned out to be a great move because we had a really nice spot to view the show. We got there an hour early (as soon as we could for the FP) and staked out our spot right against a railing. After that, Cam and I went to ride on The Little Mermaid ride again and to get snacks for everyone. While we were doing that, Tim took some pictures around the bay.
Toy Story Mania with Screaming Eagle in the background
Mickey Ferris Wheel
Cam and I brought back ice cream and drinks for everyone, then settled in to wait for the show to start. Once it started - AMAZING! What a cool show. It went through a bunch of favorite Disney movies, with colored fountains moving in time to the music and portions of the movie showing on water screens. I'll post videos in a separate post, but here are a few pictures from the show.
Little Mermaid
Part of Your World
The fountains and music were so beauitful
Ferris Wheel with a water screen in the foreground
The colors were so beautiful
All three kids really liked it. Aaron especially seemed to enjoy the colors. I'm not sure how much he could actually see, but he stayed focused and interested on the entire show. Cameron loved it, of course, since he knew most of the stories. And Leah was entranced with the show...until, all of a sudden, she wasn't. She feel asleep randomly in the middle of the show and was out like a light for the rest of the night.
Once the show was over, we stayed in the viewing area for a little while until the crowds cleared out. On our walk out of the viewing area, one of Cam's favorite parts of the day occurred - a person stopped us after seeing Cameron's lanyard and asked if he wanted to trade pins. Up until this point, Cameron had only traded with cast members (who have to trade with anyone that asks). He really enjoyed that, but was hoping to find a "real person" to trade with. To be approached by someone and asked if he wanted to trade just made his day. He spent a while deliberating over which of the other guy's pins to trade for and in the end picked a Canadian flag Mickey head. The guy picked one of the pins Cam was willing to trade and shook Cam's hand when it was all done. Cameron LOVED the whole transaction and I think he is officially hooked on pin trading now.
Rather than leaving with the crowds, we walked the long way around Paradise Pier. We hoped that a few rides might be open that we could go on with a short wait. We guessed right and ended up going on several rides that we had skipped earlier in the day.
Paradise Pier at night
Tim and Cameron on the Jumpin' Jellyfish ride
More Paradise Pier at night
We got around to Toy Story Mania and found it to have a 15 minute wait. Since it was so short, we decided to do it once more. Cameron and I went first and the two of us had a blast. We hurried out to let Tim and Cameron take their turn, only to find that the ride was closed. Poor Tim, he got boned out of two great rides today - sorry!!
More pretty lights on our walk out
One final look at Disneyland on our way out
What an amazing day we had - we love Disney!!!
1 comment:
Loved your write-up and great pictures! I felt exhausted after reading it all, as if I'd gone on all those rides with you! Sounds as though it went especially well because of your great planning.
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