Another Ninth Birthday in Disney - Day 3!

Hello Again!

Day 3 - California Adventure
This was our only day in CA so there was a lot to tick off our to-do lists. We got to the park at opening and Jamie took the kids back to Carsland to get in the standby line while I waited to get RSR Fastpasses. The FP line stretched back to Bug's Land but moved pretty fast and I got our return window for 10:30 to 11:30. Then I hopped in the RSR single rider line, figuring we'd get on the ride around the same time. Well, I actually got on long before they did, lol! They even saw me from standby as I passed by and thought I was going to join them... are they crazy? The ride was awesome as usual and the rest of the family loved it as well. I was nervous because the Princess can be unpredictable when it comes to fast rides but she was all about it, so we were relieved! Next we went to Luigi's Rollicking Roadsters. This had just opened up to replace the old ride that was there (I had never done it but it looked like floating tires on an air hockey table?) and this was very cute. The queue is themed so well and watching this attraction in really entertaining. Guests sit two at a time in a car and the cars "dance" to one of four songs that last maybe 90 seconds. If you ever grew up in or visited a typical Italian-American home any time after the 1950's you'd recognize some of the songs! Some of the movement can be a little jerky but it's not anything like a roller coaster. We had fun on it. After this, we took a snack break and got the banana foster french toast at Flo's. This is so delicious, I highly recommend!!!

The guys wanted to meet Mater and Lightning McQueen, so I went back to get more RSR fast passes (return time was already to 6 p.m. at 11 a.m!) and met up with them. Because we hadn't had enough sugar already, I got the Princess a churro and we got in the FP line for RSR again. We rode this three times and got the Luigi scene each time. I don't even remember what the other choice is!

We decided to venture toward Soarin' since I wanted to ride it before it changed, plus Jamie and the kids haven't done this yet, even at EPCOT. His dad is a pilot and his grandfather flew planes in WWII so Jamie was very interested in this and all of them really loved the ride. We got Fastpasses to do it again and then had lunch at Smokejumpers Grill next door. We all really enjoyed our meals - kids got the usual kid meals, I got onion rings and the grilled chicken sandwich made "California Style" -which just means add avocado - and Jamie had a veggie burger Cali Syle with fries. He fell in love with the toppings bar. So easy to please sometimes! This lunch was delicious and probably my favorite counter service of the trip. We took our time eating since we'd been going pretty hard the past two days and still getting used to the time difference. We rode Soarin' with our fast passes, then I got World of Color Fastpasses and then we went over to Hollywoodland to do some serious character meeting.

First up was the queue for Captain America and Spiderman. I was bummed that Thor was no longer in Disneyland at all - he's not in Civil War (which also makes me sad!) so with no movie to promote he got kicked back to Asgard. I don't like to complain about lines and waiting. It's Disney - waiting is part and parcel of your experience. That said, the wait for these two was rough for us. It's located where the Mike & Sully meet used to be - they changed the facade to a police station - and the queue is in direct sun with really not much else to look at other than the street. There were 15 or so families in line and we heard the wait would be 40 minutes. The Dude and his dad are so glad I love them! After about 15 minutes I was ready to get out and go over to Tower of Terror, which is what I really should have done in hindsight. The guys doing Cap and Spidey were really great, and they spent a good amount of time with each group doing autographs, talking with them, and posing for photos. But they would get through maybe 5 groups before taking a break. Their breaks were so frequent I think they took at least 3 of them before we got to the front of the line. I am all for Disney treating employees very humanely especially when it's hot and they've been on their feet for a long time, but these breaks seemed so frequent - and they only lasted about 3 minutes!

Once we were done with Cap and Spidey, the kids saw the Zootopia characters out and wanted to meet them next. Well, they had already cut the line and we would need to wait in the pre-line line next to the Hyperion for 20 minutes before their next appearance. UGH! This was frustrating for me, so I went for a walk to Starbucks! After getting a cold beverage and a cake pop, I was in a better mood and the kids were almost at the front of the character line anyway. I still haven't seen Zootopia, but I assume this was worth the wait for them.

We all wanted to meet Olaf, but the line was another 45 minutes and it was getting close to 5 and we didn't want to wait that long. The kids were ok with missing him, so we went to do Turtle Talk with Crush instead. The kids sat in front and talked with Crush while Jamie and I sat in the theatre seats and relaxed! I remember liking the EPCOT version of this better but aren't they the same? It's been a number of years since I've seen TT to be sure. This guy didn't really have the Crush voice nailed, so that probably made the difference. After that we rode Mike and Sully to the Rescue, and then we headed over to Paradise Pier to kill some time before our RSR fastpasses. I took The Princess on Mickey's Fun Wheel while Jamie and the Dude went on Goofy's Sky School. We wanted to go on Toy Story Midway Mania but the wait had been at 45 minutes all day so we will save visiting Grandma's basement for another trip ;)

After our last race around Radiator Springs, we knew we needed to get dinner before then having to stand and wait for World of Color. We ended up at Boardwalk Pizza and Pasta. We had a decent meal there, I had a salad that was freshly made and not prepackaged which was a refreshing change. Then we got in the queue for World of Color. What a mess this is!!!! I don't have enough time now to write about all my feelings but I will mention it in my wrap-up post. All in all we liked the show, I thought it was very well done and ultimately enjoyed it. We went back to the hotel since CA had closed during the show and watched some of the fireworks on our walk back.