We escaped DL, and made it to the area between DL and CA...I really enjoyed CA as a park. It was really pretty and I think they were pretty creative of how they connected the lands...my memory is kind of fading, so I am sure someone will correct me if I am wrong, but we went over to TOT so that Ry and Amanda could ride. I felt like I had the kids talked into it, but they decided it was not for them, so I took them over to do something else...here are a couple of TOT pics...
The girls in front of the sign...looking scared.
While the others rode TOT, I wanted to go ride the Monsters, Inc dark ride. I loved Monsters, Inc...I thought it was a great film and I think they did a great job with the attraction...and, of course, theming the trash cans. I love this about DL and WDW, if you go through my flickr pages, I try to take pictures of the themed garbage cans...
Here's a Monstropolis can...
Anyhow, we get to Monsters, Inc...down...yep, the ride is down. Luckily, a few doors down, I see a Mickey fountain, and right behind it MuppetVision! We all loved Muppet Vision AND there was no line, which means extra AC for us...After MuppetVision, once we left the MuppetVision theatre, they opened Monsters, Inc...once again, no line. Awesome.
You can see the entrance to Monsters Inc to the right in this picture...
The ride pretty much follows the movie, the end of the attraction takes place in the giant room with all of the doors which was very cool...as an added bonus, they have an "interactive" Roz at the end of the ride that makes comments to the riders...Claire loved that she "hit" on me...she noticed I was alone, and told me that she was going to be hiding in my closet that night...
We re-grouped with the others and passed Soarin' and the Grizzly River Run...actually we literally passed on Soarin', we love the attraction, but with the wait time being so long, we decided we would catch that next time in WDW...Claire really wanted to hit Grizzly River Run, unfortunately no one else wanted to get wet, so we skipped it for now, but would double back and ride it later (just Claire and I)...we headed toward the midway area so that we can ride Toy Story Midway Mania. On the way, we got to see the area where they are putting the Little Mermaid attraction....
Of course, before we could get across to TSMM, we got caught behind a...PARADE...it was the Pixar parade, and believe it or not, it was pretty cool...
As we crossed across the bridge, we found the beer place!!! Now, I rarely feel the need for a beer, but it was one of those times...Ry and I had a beer, while Karen and Amanda drank a margarita. Claire and Bella sat quietly while we had our adult time...after our timeout, we walked towards TSMM...as it turns out, Karen and Amanda went and rode California Scream'n while Ryan and I took the girls to TSMM. On the way, I took this picture of where the World of color is going...
Toy Story was great...we all enjoyed the ride, as always...it pretty much rode the same way the WDW ride did...
Once we were done there, we re-grouped (for the moment) to see what was next. Karen, Ry, Amanda, and Bella went to ride the ferris wheel, while Claire and I ran over to Grizzly River. It was the longest line we would wait on all day (45 minutes) and it was well worth it. While we were in line, Claire explained to me that she liked these sorts of rides because you always make new friends...sure enough by the time we got off, we had a nice conversation with another Dad who had his daughter and son with him...of COURSE, Claire had an "I told you so" waiting for when we got off...
The others saw us on the ride and waited for us on the exit...the girls were hungry for a snack, so Karen took them to eat something and then Ry, Amanda and myself went to TOT so that I can see how the DL version compared. It was much shorter, the car never leaves the shaft, but the thrill is definitely still there. That ride is a classic to me and the fact that we had a creepy as hell cast member seat us, that adds to the attraction a ton...
Me and Bro in line for TOT
After TOT, it was decision making time...we were hungry, it was getting dark, we had a limited amount of time left...Ryan and Amanda decided to call it a night. The rest of us hurried back in to the DL to catch the fireworks...normally, I can take or leave fireworks, but Disney does it right. Starting with Tink, the fireworks themselves...the addition of Dumbo (which was incredible to see, it was the topic of the "how did they do that" conversation for the rest of the trip)...and it was a bit of a disappointment for me. I can not take good pictures of fireworks, so I have none.
To wrap your brain around it, here is someone else's brief video of Dumbo...
After the fireworks, we hit up Autotopia, which was awesome. The track seemed much longer than WDW and I do not remember an off-road portion...I may have imagined the off-road bit, at that point I was prett punch drunk. We ended the night at It's a Small World...
I still am a sucker for this ride. Before we got there, I was not sure where I stood on the additions of the new characters from the Disney movies. Some worked, and seemed to blend in with their home countries and some looked like they were just shoved in there...like Ariel. It was pretty blatant. About the best picture I took from the inside was of Woody and Jessie...
At this point, we were cashed...it was time to make our way back to Hollywood...some final thoughts...
--Disneyland and California Adventures in 1 day is a tall order...I wished we had an extra day to hit everything...
--It is impossible not to drink in the history of the place right when you enter...
--Even tho some of the rides are shorter, they do make up for it with the theming, the architecture, etc...the houses that hold POTC and HM were just awesome to look at...
--Churros are incredible...
--I would love to get back once Little Mermaid is done and the World of Color is ready...
--Even though we probably won't get back for a proper DL visit, it would be hard to not sneak a day in...and then complain about not having enough time...
--It makes me miss Disney World and be terribly jealous of guys like Lou Mongello
Well, that is it...next post should be the review of the Chicago Half Marathon...and then the official unveiling of our race before the Disney Marathon and then my tentative running schedule for marathon training...
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