Disneyland trip - California Adventure

As I'm sure you've guessed if you've been following my instagram, I just got back from a short trip to Disneyland.  We've spent the last month and a half fixing up my Mom's house in Arizona, so we decided to go to Disneyland as a reward for all our hard work.  We only stayed for two days, so we visited one park each day.

First, we went to California Adventure. I had never been to Cars Land before,  and I absolutely loved it! It looked just like the movie, which looks just like my hometown. It was especially gorgeous at night with all the neon lit up. Our favorite ride was definitely the Radiator Springs Racers. The cars were fast and the views were awesome. And besides, our car won! We also enjoyed the other Cars Land rides. Mater's Junkyard Jamboree was hilarious! Those little tractors really do whip around. And Luigi's Flying Tires were crazy fun to try to "drive". We had breakfast at Flo's V8 Cafe.  I especially liked the Cars waffles from the kids meal. And the restaurant is so cool. The left side has several of Flo's records from her days as a Motown singer. The right side is Doc Hudson's office and has car replacement parts as well as his trophies from the Piston Cup. They were huge! In the afternoon,  Bean had the mac and cheese meal in a Lightning McQueen car. It wasn't a ton of mac and cheese, but it was more than enough for her. I tried a Chili Con Queso Cone from the Cozy Cone, and it was pretty good. While we were eating, we saw DJ's Dance 'n' Drive. I especially liked the carhop costumes. They were so 50s. My Mom and Bean had chocolate ice cream cones from the Cozy Cone in the evening, and they were huge!

We also got a surprise chance to ride the Grizzly River Run. It wasn't supposed to open back up until Friday, but they got the refurb finished early,  so it opened just as we were walking by. Wow, is that a wet ride! I would say it's at least as wet as Kali River Rapids in Disney World! After we Were soaked,  we wandered down the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail so that Bean could earn her Senior Wilderness Scout Badge. She loved the rock wall and the towers with the netting to climb. She managed to finish just in time for the Wilderness Explorer Ceremony, where we got to meet Russell.

On our way to Paradise Pier, we stopped to watch the Phineas and Ferb Rockin' Rollin' Dance Party Parade. It was really cute, with lots of songs from the TV show. And the dancers were dressed as Fireside Girls; too cute! Bean convinced me to ride California Screamin' for the first time. She loved it, but I'm still not sure I like roller coasters with loops. The other Paradise Pier rides were fun. I really liked the Silly Symphony Swings, which reminded me of the ones I used to ride at Lake Fair as a child. None of us enjoyed Goofy's Sky School, it was way too jerky and rough. The Jumpin' Jellyfish were fun without being fancy. We all liked the Golden Zephyr and King Triton's Carousel. We also rode the Little Mermaid - Ariel's Undersea Adventure, which is so cute.

Toward the end of the night, we headed toward the front of the park. My Mom rode Soarin' for the first time and loved it. She can't wait to ride it again this fall when we go to Disney World. Then we watched the last Aladdin - A Musical, of the day. It was hilarious! The jokes the genie told were somewhat inappropriate at times,  but they were over most kids heads and actually really funny.  It was one of the best shows I've ever seen at a Disney park. We stopped by the Mad Tea Party for a minute. I loved the costumes and the music,  but it was much too loud. Then we rode Monsters, Inc. Mike and Sulley to the Rescue.

After taking one last peek at Cars Land before we left (I just had to see all the neon lit up), we headed toward Buena Vista Street, where I got the cutest Olaf marshmallow for Bean. (We discovered later that it was dipped in caramel before the white chocolate. Yum!) While I would have liked to see World of Color, the crowds were just too big. Next up, our day at Disneyland.