California Adventure

Wednesday Feb. 23, 2011- If we could do it again we would choose to spend another day in California Adventure. I don't think I really thought much about CA Adventure when I was busy planning out our routes through Disneyland. I don't think we really knew what to expect here. I thought there wouldn't be a ton for the kids to do and that CA Adventure was mostly bigger rides for bigger kids and adults, but I was pleasantly surprised to see how much there was for them to do! We didn't even go into the Back Lot because there just wasn't time, although I would have liked to have seen some of the shows. We started out going directly to Soarin' Over California to get a Fast Pass and then we saw Lightening McQueen and Mater. Then we wandered around and rode on the Grizzly River Rapids and came across the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail. I didn't even plan on stopping here but it turned out to be a favorite spot! The kids loved to explore all the hidden caves and climb on the rope trails and the rock walls. Leo went down the slides about a millions times! Max and Carly liked the tire swing too even though we had to wait a LONG time to ride on it! I think the reason we liked the Redwood Creek Challenge Course so much was because we had been going and going for four days now and it was nice to just be able to sit and play. To not have to worry about waiting in line or think about where we were going next. We could relax, the kids could explore. It was like a little haven inside all the madness that is Disneyland.
After we left the challenge course we rode on Roarin' Over California and it was fun, but when I asked the kids if they wanted to ride it again they said not really, so we moved on. Leo had fallen asleep in the stroller so Joey took him to get Fast Passes for California Screamin'. I took Max, Carly, and Gus to Bug's Land. We went to see It's Tough to be a Bug and I really liked it. There were spots in the show where the 3D bugs come out at you and the poisonous bug sprayed the audience with its "poison". Then the moles tunneled under the seats and it felt like they were crawling under your bum. The actual rides in Bug's Land were too little for us. So, we rode on the Ladybug Boogie and then Joey had found us and we moved on to the Paradise Pier. We walked right on to California Screamin'. Gus and Leo were too small so Joey took Max and Carly first and I took Gus and Leo on King Triton's Carosel that was right next to the roller coaster. Then we switched and I got to ride California Screamin'. It was awesome! You got shot out at the beginning and then there were two loops and ups and downs. Even Max wanted to go again and he doesn't usually like the big roller coasters. Even Joey said, "I really liked that one, it made me giggle!" I think by the end of the night we Joey and I had ridden it three times and Carly and Max five times. At one point Kevin and Stacy came there and we rode once with Madi and Cooper too. We also rode the ferris wheel on the swinging cart which was trippy. I don't know if we liked the extra swinging or not. I think we would ride the regular car next time. The Tou Story Mania was always over an hour wait so we never did get into that one. As it got dark we got some fried turkey legs and a chimichunga for dinner and found a place to sit. Again, we didn't plan ahead for the World of Color show so we saw it from the side that night. It was really cool. They show scenes from different Disney shows on a wall of water and play music along with it. The fountain lights change colors to so it looks like the spouts of water are colored. We liked it enough to actually reserve a seat for tomorrow night. Before the show started we went to ride on all the smaller rides on the other side of the pier like Jumpin' Jellyfish and Orange Stinger. And because it was so close to show time we didn't have to wait in lines for very long.