The Coffeys: Happiest Place on Earth: California Adventure

So, we started our family vacation in the second park...basically because it was chosen for us. The extra magic hour for Disneyland is only on Tuesdays and Thursdays...while for the California Adventure park is on Mondays and Wednesdays. We figured if we followed this, we would be able to get in early the next day into Disneyland. We totally forgot that there are about 4,000 rooms in our hotel...plus two others across the streets....ugh. Again, the extra magic hour only works if you wake up early enough to make it into the gate line by 6:30...so about 5:30am....screw that, it's my vacation.

Truth be told, the second park is not nearly as full as Disneyland. When we first go there, around noon, there was the army green men (from Toy Story) putting on a show in the center of the park....and it didn't feel like a lot of people were there. There were basically two areas we concentrated on...the rest was either boring...or really for adults.

Cars Land- I had been curious about this. I wanted to know if it was as amazing as everyone said it was. AND. IT. WAS. The minute you pass the "cars land" sign...you are immediately taken into the radiator springs' main street...and it looks exactly like the movie. It amazes me that the colors were right on point...even on the rocks in the background. Disney is known for doing such a good job of hiding all the background stuff...you never see the actual buildings or the you hear the highway nearby...all you see is the mountains from the movie, and the soundtrack playing. Most of the stuff is shops. Filmores' was a healthy snack shop (probably cause he's a hippie) and Sarge's surplus store was a souvenir shop. Luigi's tire shop and tow mater's junkyard were the rides and the big one that EVERYONE came for was the Radiator Springs Racers. And I mean it...they were willing to wait 90 min in line for..including Dom and Spencer. The fast pass had sold out so they had to wait in line, and Dom couldn't wait...he also could not comprehend that he had to wait in line for a VERY long time. When they finally rode it, he said "mama it was scary, I don't want to go anymore". Poor kid...I was left behind because Ethan was not tall enough to ride, and it was a super long wait for me. I waited for an hour looking at shops, then finally decided to go ride something. By the time they got out, I was in the middle of line for Luigi's ride....so they just skipped the line and joined me...lucky birds. The next day we came here, I made sure to have a fast pass as soon as we entered the park for the racers ride...I was not leaving without riding it, even if I had to do it solo. Here's how that works....a fast pass is a little piece of paper you get when you scan your entrance ticket into a machine...only one per ticket. You can only hold one fast pass per ticket per 2 hours. Sometimes, the rides are such in high demand...that you can stand in line at 9 am and get a fast pass to return at 2 pm....so, that sucks...you're screwed right? NO....at the bottom of your ticket...if it's a long wait...it will tell you when you can get another fast pass...in that instance, you are allowed to have two. Not all rides have them, maybe about 5 per park. The racers line was about 15 min long and by the time I got to the machine (about 9 am) they were already handing out 2 pm rides. The cast member said, the machine ran out of tickets around noon. YIKES. The whole purpose of the fast pass is that you don't wait in line, you can still go somewhere else, and then come back and skip the line- it seriously takes you like 10 min to go in, ride and come back out. It's awesome....but it only happens once every like 6 rides. Also, I discovered that one ride is disconnected from this system....apparently everyone knows but the tourists- it's the buzz lightyear astro blasters in Disneyland...for some reason, that is disconnected and you can get ANOTHER fast pass at the same time. That's why we rode it so much...and the wait time was like an hour....so we could easily get a bite to eat and then go ride it.

The only disappointing thing that I found...was that pretty much every souvenir I encountered was something I could have easily bought at the Disney store. I felt so gypped....came all the way out here for cars bath toys from the Disney store? Dom kept picking up the $6 cast iron cars...again, from the Disney store...but the package said "Disneyland'...seriously??? who keeps the package? I seriously only found like 4 things that I was satisfied with.....so sad. The thing that is truly unique to the parks, are the characters (mickey) ears...but Spencer kept saying they were so expensive to never be used again....so we didn't buy any. But they were so cute. Get ready for picture overload....

The main entrance

another entrance to cars land

This is a cool "picture spot in the back alley of the shops

That's DJ

The cozy cone motel....they only sold churros and ice cream there

The street view from the back

You had to walk the entire street and then take a right to see the
race ride.

There's Spencer and Dom in the Luigi ride...that I stood in line
for.

Don't be fooled...he loved it.

Filmore's hut...full of organic goodness

Mater's Junkyard

Sarge's surplus hut

Mater's ride...had all kinds of memorabilia from his car toons...
have you seen them on Netflix? we only watch them at least three
times a week.

anxious to ride the first time

he also loved it!

Main street from the front...you can see the photographer to
the left of the pic...we shoulda used her.

Met Mcqueen...he actually blinks and talks...and moves

Red showed up after Lightning had to refill his oil.

The "Stanley" statue at the end of the road...and the fire house

Luigi's tire shop

A Bug's Land- it's based on the movie "a bug's land" but it's technically "flick's fair"...it's a bunch of kiddie rides....and some of them were good. Dom loved the bumper cars (they were roly polys) and there was a chew chew train (Heimlich the caterpillar), and there was the ladybugs dance (basically the tea cups but in ladybug form....Dom really loved that one!). Dom made me ride the train like 6 times...there was hardly any lines for that one (can't imagine why)...it probably went 2 mi an hour and it described all of Heimlich's favorite food (they were gigantic..making you feel tiny like an ant)....at the end? candy corn...yeah, fascinating lol.

this was the smallest of all the spaces...but the one Dom really enjoyed...next to radiator springs. He still refuses to watch the movie, but he knows the story and the characters...go figure. The rest of these pics are on my phone, I will upload later.

flik's flyers

The bugs were hiding in the greens

Everything Else- Pacific Wharf was full of expensive restaurants...we just walked thru. Actually there is a ghirardelli fountain shoppe where they sell everything chocolate and it smelled delicious...but it was oh so expensive for chocolate...even for me. They also had a bakery tour and you could see them baking sourdough bread and got a sample at the end...it was really good...Dom hated it...

By the time I found this guy...he was leaving!

Pacific Wharf- just restaurants

The Paradise Pier had only one "family ride"- the toy story one. They had not fast pass for it, so you had to wait in line...60 min. So we only did it one time, when we actually made it in early for the extra hour they kept telling us about...and that was the only time we did it...the rest was the mickey fun wheel and the roller coaster (cali screaming)....not for little kids...and we didn't really care for them. The other land...i can't remember the name, had more like swings in the air, and things like that...Dom didn't care for them, and I didn't care for standing 45 min in line, so we skipped them...they had like 3 of them over there...different themes but they all did the same thing. There was a Triton carousel and a little mermaid ride. I made my boys ride it like 3 times...lol...it moved so fast, there was hardly any line, and they had AC inside..

i really loved this ride...but it would suck to wear that uniform...
(see the man on the left)....poor guy.

There was a Monsters Inc Ride kinda by itself in a corner....

I loved that it said "award weiners"

Mickey gave a little show

The Incredibles showed up to make superheroes

Dom got picked...he got so nervous lol

How cute are the mickey ears???

There was also a Hollywood land....where they had the tower of terror...my favorite ride, probably because it's merges with the twilight zone...and it remind me of my childhood with my dad. Anyways, I rode it by myself with a fastpass, and it was awesome. They also have a disney junior live show with puppets- Jake, Doc, Mickey, and Sofia....worth it if you have prek and small kiddos. And there was animation area...which I found out on the second day....that's where the Frozen Princesses and Olaf were. So, I waited an hour in line with the boys, while Spencer rode the Races ride (again) by himself...and then he relieved me...so I could go do the racers AND the tower of terror with my fastpasses...they were so close in time, I barely made it by a minute!...by the time I got back, Spencer had told me that the photographer had taken the pictures with HER camera, not his...so I have no pictures of this event! I'm so mad...cause I waited in line for so long. I can see them online, but I have to pay $12 to own them...aargh. Dom actually gave Olaf a warm hug....ugh, I may just give in, cause it's the best pic of Dom with a character. By the way, the award weiners are amazing...worth the $6.