Trails 2 Travel

More Disneyland! On our second day of our trip we spent the whole day at California Adventure... I know what you're thinking.. a whole day?! (There are way less rides) well I'll have you know there are still tons of great places to explore, less wait time on lines (at least while we were there) and fantastic shows! So I didn't even have a problem not getting a park hopper on this trip.

We started off with Soarin fast passes which is the only way to do Soarin in my opinion.. that line is just painful for me. Then explored the Grizzly Rapids area (including walking right onto the ride) The best time to ride that ride is in the morning before it gets too hot.. trust me.

They have this really fun adventure park (which I say is a lore more fun for kids, but hey we still enjoyed walking around and even spotted Doug!)

This was also my first time being to Cars Land which opened a few years ago but I've been spending my time in Disney World and just barely made it back to explore this land! Have to say I ABSOLUTELY adored it! The shops, the restaurants, and oh the ride! I loved every bit of it!

The end of the Radiatior Springs ride where they tell you we're all winners when we make friends and it doesn't matter who wins the race. WHAT AN IDEA! I get so caught up in Life's "Rat Race" I sometimes don't have time to make friends to spend enough time with my current friends. I loved this sentiment. Winning in life is only winning when you can surround yourself with the ones you love.

I also spent some time trying to convince Braden we needed matching Mickey Ears.. but since he wouldn't take the bait, I went for a hat lieu of the Mickey Ears. Gotta say I love it! So cute and very disney without being over the top... I mean I can wear this hat anywhere!!

They outdid themselves with the backdrop for Radiator Springs.. I'm serious I could spend a whole day just admiring this part of the park!

AND our number one ride that we rode: The Hollywood Tower Hotel! It never had a wait time of over 30 minutes and was usually only like 15! We rode it 4-5 times which beats all the other rides we only got to once or twice. AND I do love this ride! It's thrilling (but not too scary) and so theatrical, even the line queue is a blast!

The first time we rode the Cars ride all the fast passes were already gone for the day (tip: the fast pass distribution is just barely past the parks entrance and main street. Go there first thing and get fast passes. They dissapear fast!)

We stood in like for about 70 minutes to ride it together. The second time was closer to closing and wanted to squeeze it in before the World of Color show so we did single rider which was still 35 minutes incredibly enough but way better than 70! And we still got in the same car! Yippee!

As I was walking to the restroom Big Red was out and NOBODY was taking pictures with him... I had to go give him some love :)

Holding onto my hat!

For lunch on the second day we stepped out for McDonalds for an hour or so to sit and relax and then back in we went!

I love the Grizzly Rapids area as well for all their scenic photo stops.. I mean how stunning is this! And all for a ride...

And then to the left the Backdrop for Cars Land as you walk down Main street. Such a fun environment!

Another HTH photo... I love all the people in this photo. Including the kid in front of Braden's face... so terrified.

They asked him when he got off if he liked it and he said "yes." when asked if he wanted to ride it again... "no" lol

More exploring! We also broke up the day with Aladdin in the late afternoon. Such an incredible show in just under an hour! I'd recommend getting there about 20 minutes before show start to get a good spot in line (without wasting too much of your time) and go for the mezzanine... It's cool being on the floor when they walk around but you notice so much more from up higher (your kids will see better) and when they take the magic carpet for a ride things get pretty.. .well Magical!

Also the Genie is still as hilarious as ever! SO full of pop culture references and humor I was in tears at times. A lot of it is even improv so every time I go I can count on it being a little bit different and maybe even MORE funny!

We rode Screamin twice (again once by ourselves and once doing Single Rider which usually cute the line in like half. Side note: You cannot take children under about the age of 12 I'd say... If they look young the workers will just tell you that you can't be seperated and have to go back to the other line)

We also did the sliding cars on the Ferris Wheel! Luckily I didn't get sick this time and the few was great! (For extra thrill, when you get into the car sit on the left... That's the side that slides out over the edge. You want to be on the down hill side of the car.)

I also read some blogs about the best snacks to eat in Disney so for dinner on our last night we splurged and got some cone snacks! We got the chilli cone queso and a cone with Mac n cheese with Bacon. They. were. DELICIOUS and pretty filling! We grabbed those and then took the scenic walk under a massive arch to the wharf for dessert... (hmm Ghiradelli ice cream sundays )