Possibly our last "Family" vacation Entry Three

[JRocker]

The family chose this day to rebel against dear old dad; we slept in.
Once everyone else got motivated, we hoofed it on over to Disneyland to do a couple of things before California Adventure opened up.
Taking advantage of half the park being in line for Nemo, we easily did Snow White, Peter Pan, another round of Space Mountain, and another trip with the Pirates in about an hour. Then it was off to California Adventure.

Now I have heard a lot of negative things about CA and was prepared for the worse, even though I just couldn't bring myself to believe most of the negative reports.

When we walked into the park, I heard the Beach Boys music, which for me is how I picture my entry into heaven . I am a huge Beach Boys fan, so if you were there and saw a chubby bald guy skipping along and singing like a fool....well, that was me.

First things first, we headed over to the Backlot area. My oldest was dead set on hitting the Tower of Terror first, so we rode Monsters Inc.

Monsters Inc. is very well done from start to finish. I think we rode this one about three times, and the line was never longer than ten minutes.

Of course, we had to go see Crush. I could be wrong, since I am old and my memory is not so good, but it seemed like the theatre for Crush had a bit more seating than the one at the World. My wife made the comment that she could sit in this attraction all day long. So far, I have to say that Disney is doing a great job in selecting the people for playing Crush at these attractions.

We snagged a Churro on the way over to the Tower. I guess I'm just too sour to appreciate these little snacks...I'll stick with the Mickey bars from now on.

We thoroughly enjoyed the Tower. I believe we had to ride this thing like seven times before our trip was done. ------the kids rode the one in WDW six times in a row last year---
The ride was great, though it did seem a little short, possibly because they don't do the bit where the car goes into the hotel horizontally.

Overall, I thought the Backlot reminded me a lot of MGM over in Florida. Since I like MGM....well I guess I like the Backlot also.

We headed on over to Soarin, my wife loves this ride. The wait was nowhere near as long as the wait in WDW, which is great. I might note that the wait for almost every ride at the resort was tolerable, especially in comparison to WDW this time of year.

Paradise Pier was our next stop for fun. This area, more than any other in CA, felt the most like you were not in a Disney park. My daughter suggested, and I personally agree, that maybe they should have Disney tunes done on the organ instead of old 50's and 60's hits.

Screamin was down, so we went over to the Maliboomer and had a "blast" there. Afterwards we bribed my wife into getting on the ferris wheel. We had a blast riding on one of the cars that moves. My wife has a huge fear of ferris wheels, and how we got her on there I'll never know.....but my daughter posted her reaction to the ride on youtube.

We rode the other carnival rides at the pier and then saw that Screamin was running and headed over there. The wait was about 15 minutes, and well worth it. We hit this one a few times during our trip.

For lunch, we hiked over to McDonalds on Harbor, then headed over and wasted some time in Downtown Disney.

At the end of the day at CA we only lacked the Aladdin show, MuppetVision, and Grizzly River. If we hadn't wasted time at lunch we could have very easily finished this park in one day. As it was, we even left before closing to eat dinner at the Mexican restaurant in DTD.

After eating dinner we rode the monorail over to Disneyland and piddled around there till closing. One piece of advice....don't do Storybook Land after dark, not much to see.

Our next two days were spent away from the parks. We went down to San Diego to see the zoo, and spent a couple of hours over at Sea World. And of course we spent an entire day at a couple of those awesome California beaches.

[disneydrmr]

So far, I have to say that Disney is doing a great job in selecting the people for playing Crush at these attractions.

What do you mean the people PLAYING Crush???? Why can't Crush play himself???

I can't believe how much you got done before lunch... I was reading all the stuff you were doing, then got to the line about you having lunch and almost fell off my chair! You really move thru the parks - don't you!? Thanks for sharing - sounds like a blast was had by all!

[JRocker]

Well, I guess I should clarify our version of "lunch" when we are at the parks.

around noonish we grab a snack to hold us over till sometime after 3 o'clock. That way we miss the rush for food. Even then we eat light and then pig out for a late dinner.

So I guess lunch isn't really...lunch

[TINKERBELL_82]

Sounds like you got a lot done!! I do have a question though. When you say the TOT does not do the horizontal bit, do you mean it skips the whole hallway scene??

[JRocker]

The elevator stops at the hallway and the ghostly family appears and then the whole lightening thing happens and it goes dark with the window at the end of the hall moving back and forth and coming towards you.
But, the part where you move forward into the mirrors and then come face to face with the concrete wall is not on this ride.
It's not a 'bad' thing, although I did kinda miss it, but it does seem to shorten the ride.
There are a couple of visual additions to this ride that WDW doesn't have, which is cool.
Oh, and the one thing you will very rarely see at the WDW Tower.....a 13 minute posted wait time

[BronxTigger]

Thanks for sharing. You got a lot done. Screamin' is the big white roller coaster in the back, right? When we went in 2002 we rode on that about 10 times in one day. LOVED IT. It's like RnR meets....something else. I love the strong start over the water.

Anyways; I'm glad you also went to some other things like the beach and Sea World. One day, I'm going to go back to Sea World. I was there in 97 on a school trip but don't remember it much.

[Lizzie]

Sounds like another great day. I think I am the only person who likes the pier area at CA.

[ChipnDaleGal]

Sounds like a wonderful day at DCA! After reading your report all I can think about is riding Screamin' again - such a fun ride! Thanks for the great report!