Tuesday morning we got up early and got ready to go. We had planned to be at the park when it opened but we just aren't morning people and it took longer than we had planned to leave the hotel but we got there not long after it opened. Again, we didn't really have a plan on where to go or what to do first except we knew we had to get a fast pass for Radiator Racers first thing if we didn't want to wait in line that long. So while Randy got the fast passes, we went and rode Mater's Junkyard then met up and rode Soaring Over California. We all really liked this one. Mia was a little more reserved the whole day because she was afraid we would take on her on more rides like Big Thunder or Splash Mountain so she was always whiny and kind of crying while we waited in line but then she was fine once we got going and she realized it wasn't that bad. I felt bad putting her through the anxiety of it but I knew she'd have fun once she got on the ride.
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| You can tell Mia's a little nervous :) |
Again, we just kind of worked our way around the park riding rides and meeting up with characters we came across. We did a little more walking this day because some of the rides were temporarily closed at times during the day so we had to crisscross the park a couple times to fit those rides in once they started up again.
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| We just missed Woody but we met Buzz |
Mia insisted on not riding Goofy's Flight School so I volunteered to stay with her while the boys rode it a couple times. It's like the Wild Mouse at Lagoon and it's not my most favorite ride so I was ok not riding. Mia and I went and rode a couple of the more tame rides that were nearby. Our Radiator Racers fast pass was up by the time we were done riding those rides so we headed to Cars Land. My boys love Cars so they were in heaven and they wondered around the streets and saw Radiator Springs come to life.
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| Oh Stanley! |
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| Lightning wasn't out but Mater was |
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| Again, we're missing dad but he's taking the picture |
Radiator Racers didn't disappoint. It was great. Mia wasn't a huge fan of the actual racing but she did alright. The rest of us loved it. Dad was anxious to ride California Screaming after that so we headed that way to use our fast passes there but we couldn't talk Halen or Alex into going on it so Randy went by himself. When he got back, Halen decided he would go try it so Randy took him. It wasn't Halen's favorite. :)
Afterward, we decided to go catch the Frozen singalong. We tried to get another fast pass for Radiator Racers as we walked by but of course they were gone. :( The singalong was fantastic. I wish the pictures we took of Mia's (and the boys) faces would have worked better but the lighting was too dark. They were all in awe and had fun singing the songs. It really was magical and we loved it when it started snowing.
After the singalong, we rode a couple more rides, one of them being Tower of Terror. The name itself made Alex a little nervous so Mia got nervous too. She was crying as we walked in and we did everything we could to distract her but just being in that atmosphere of the haunted hotel, had all 3 kids a little anxious. We finally got in and got seated together on the back row. Luckily it's kind of a loud ride anyway because Mia screamed the entire time. Alex didn't scream but he had hold of my arm pretty tight the whole ride and Halen made sure I had hold of his leg. I probably shouldn't laugh at terrorizing my kids but the pic from the ride is pretty funny.
We told the kids they didn't have to go on that one again if they didn't want but we were proud of them for trying it out. We decided that we better do something a little more lighthearted after that so we went to meet Elsa and Anna...which is what Mia had talked about doing for 6 months. I was surprised the line wasn't that long and we got to spend quite a bit of time with them. Just look at that grin!
As we left Elsa & Anna, we met Sofia outside so of course we had to stop and get a picture with her.
After a few more rides, Olaf was next. Instead of signing his name in their autograph books, he drew a picture of his head. The kids thought that was pretty funny. Mia was a little weirded out to have him touch her with his stick hands but he was really cute with her and the boys.
Back by Olaf was a "secret" meet and greet for Visa card holders and we thought we might get to meet someone really cool. Not saying that Stitch isn't cool but we were a little bummed that it wasn't someone else. The boys had seen Lilo and Stitch but Mia hadn't so she didn't even know who he was and she was a little scared of him. But he was nice and was playing with the kids cute.
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| Mia thought he wrote funny :) |
After a little lunch, we went back to ride Mater's Junkyard with dad since he missed it the first time then went over to a Bug's Life to ride those rides and ran into Flik so we stopped to take pics with him too. We've never seen the movie but we've read a few of the books so we at least knew who he was. :)
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| Alex loves bumper cars |
After Bug's Life, we went and rode Soaring Over California again then dad and the boys wanted to ride the Ferris wheel. Mia wasn't too interested so we sat by the lake and watched ducks and hung out while they rode. We saw on our app that Radiator Racers was "only" about a 45 minute wait which is pretty good for that ride and since we'd ridden about everything else, we decided we'd go wait to ride it. We stopped on the bridge to get a picture of the family but that didn't turn out how we had hoped.
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| This is kind of what we were hoping for but... |
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| ...got this instead. Apparently the guy didn't think Mia was part of our family :( |
On to Radiator Racers. We figured we'd finish with a little bit of time to wonder through Radiator Springs at night for a little bit before going over to watch the World of Color show. But we soon realized that that wasn't going to be the case. After waiting for about 30 minutes, we weren't even half way to the front of the line but decided to wait it out anyway.
80 minutes later, we finally got to ride. We probably wouldn't have waited had we known it was going to take that long, but it was still fun. The kids kept themselves occupied in line and that was by far the longest line we waited in the whole trip so I guess we can't complain.
Since the wait was so long, we didn't have a ton of time to see Radiator Springs at night so we stopped and took a couple pics and we walked back through to go find a spot for the show. Lightning McQueen was out then but we didn't even have time to stop and take a pic with him. We just had to get one from the road. :(
We had gotten fast passes for World of Color to have a designated area to watch but by the time we got there, the better places were taken so we were kind of in the back. Once the show started, we had to have Halen stand in the stroller, Randy put Mia on my shoulders and put Alex on his shoulders just so they could see. They by far had the best seat and Randy & I were dying to get them down when it was over. I'm not sure we enjoyed the show all that much but from what I did see and heard, was pretty amazing. Things we do for our kids. ;)
We filed out with everyone else after the show and stopped just outside the gates to watch the firework show that we had missed the night before at Disneyland. We couldn't hear the music or anything but it was still a good show. Then we headed for the car and the hotel. It didn't take long to crash that night either. We were looking forward to our "day off" the next day just to be able to rest our feet a little bit. But California Adventure was fantastic!
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