Our California Vacation: Part 7 - Disney's California Adventure

This is the second park of the Disneyland resort.  This park has less character/movie rides and more thrill rides.  Gabe and I were very excited.  The others were nervous, to say the least.  We started off our morning very similar to our Disney day.  California Adventure has a 50's theme that we really liked.  It was just cool and calm. The park wasn't officially opened yet, so we wandered through the many shops just in time to get towards the front as they opened the gates.


We stumbled upon a familiar blue monster and, as usual, Brayden was the only one that wanted to go say hello.  Then we hopped on Monsters Inc the ride.  Hollywood Tower of Terror was just across the street, but no one would ride it with me.  We headed to A Bug's Life instead.  It was really cute how you truly felt like you were in the movie.  Every little detail made you feel like you were a teeny tiny bug, just like in the movie.  Blades of grass two stories high, lightning bugs as street lights, match boxes as the seat to our little car..... it was just really cute and fun.

After riding everything (twice) in Bug's Land, we came around the corner to the area I was probably most excited about.  CARS LAND!  As you turn to face down main street of Radiator Springs, it quite literally looked exactly like the movie.  This was another moment when I had this overwhelming feeling of this is Disney.  This is that feeling everyone is always talking about.  I felt like a kid and I like I was standing inside my favorite movie.  

  We did everything Radiator Springs had to offer.  Billy even rode the Cars ride, which he insisted was a "roller coaster".  It was yet another ride that turned him a little green.  In fact, I don't think he rode anything else the entire day.  He was done, done, done, done, done.  We decided to just take it easy after that.  We strolled through Radiator Springs.  Saw a few "friends" and just soaked it all up. 

Everyone talks about some of the amazing food at Disney.  We tried several of the must-haves, but our favorite was a big, giant loaf of sourdough bread at the Wharf.  It was delicious and just the carb snack we needed to get us through the other half of the park.  This thing was the size of a person's head.  Brayden's head, to be exact.  We nibbled on this thing for quite some time.  Even after all five of us had our fill, there was still plenty to put in the bag and save for later.  It was delicious and I highly recommend it if anyone ever goes for a visit.

After our snack, we went to the area of the park known as the boardwalk.  It's filled with lots of really fun, traditional-type amusement park rides.  Including the craziest ferris wheel I think I've ever seen.  The thing was taller than I can even begin to guess and had two riding options.  You could either sit in a stationary bucket, like we did.  Or you could sit in one of the buckets that rolled back and forth along a track.  So as the whole thing slowly spun, some of the buckets would roll to the outer edges of the wheel and sling you out like you were gonna go right off the edge.  Then you'd roll back towards the center of the wheel.  Not cool. 

We rounded off the day with multiple rides on some of the kids' favorites.  We even dragged Billy onto a water raft ride down Grizzly mountain.  I know you're not supposed to get angry while at the happiest place on earth, but I do believe that Billy was angry with me.  He did not enjoy that ride anymore than he enjoyed the 'roller coaster' in Cars Land.  He fussed at me and told me I lied to him about the "small drops" down the river.  You would think that I shoved him off the side of a 4 story building the way he tells the story. 

It was very cold that evening, so we headed home before closing.  We had dinner in Downtown Disney and rode the bus home for yet another very peaceful, relaxing nights sleep.  I've said it before and I will say it again.  Disneyland was AMAZING!