We made it! Back in January we tried to take the family to Disney's California Adventure Park, but our oldest daughter got very sick and we spent out OC day-cay sitting around the timeshare nursing her, instead of tromping around the happiest place on earth. We had another opportunity to be in Orange County in May, so we took advantage of being in the neighborhood and went to D-land!
One of the main reasons we wanted to go was to see Cars Land. It did not disappoint. It felt just like you were on the set of the movie. Everything was laid out identically to how the movie portrayed Radiator Springs. It was definitely the highlight for all of us. We also got to go with Sa-Mm and cousin Trinny, which made it even more fun, having a buddy with us. Koko, who also lives nearby, has a season pass and she hung out with us for a couple of hours too, allowing us all to go on the Radiator Racers while she watched the younger kiddos. Whoo-hoo!
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| Look Ma, I'm in Radiator Springs! |
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| We had fun shopping in the Cars Land shops |
Our son bravely faced all the rides, even California Screaming, the only upside-down roller coaster in the park. I sat next to him and worried the whole time that he was scared, because at the beginning I'm pretty sure I heard him whimpering. It took off really fast at the beginning, and by the time I got to check in with him at the end, he was laughing and asking if he could ride it again. Other favorites for him was the Radiator Racers and the Tractor Ride in Cars Land. And, I got a big kick out of his reaction to Soaring over California, where it simulates you riding in an airplane over scenes of California projected onto a huge IMAX type of screen. He kept saying, "We're not actually flying!" "We're not really going anywhere!" I think you were trying to wrap your brain around the fact that it totally felt like we were flying, but you saw that the seats we were in just moved up and down. Fun!
Our two year old had a mixed experience. She was really excited about the little kid rides in the "A Bug's Life" section. Her first ride was on Tuck and Roll's Bumper Cars. As soon as we got belted in, the speaker in the car (whose volume was rather loud) started making all of these bug noises, and it totally freaked my daughter out. She spent the whole ride cowering and asking to get out. Poor thing. It took her almost the whole day to warm up to going on any other rides. We basically forced her to go on King Triton's Carousel, which she now claims was her favorite ride. I think her favorite thing was while we stood in line for a Toy Story ride, there was a giant mechanical Mr. Potato Head who had these digital eyes and he talked to everyone in line. She was totally mesmerized and kept getting out of line so she could go and stare at it.
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| Chilling with Mama while the other kids go on a ride |
The baby was totally chill and enjoyed the day from her seat in the BOB stroller. Love that ride! She napped in the Ergo carrier too. Not sure what her favorite was, but I was thrilled that she was so easy to manage and kept up with her nap routines as usual.
We ended up leaving the park at 9pm, after 11 hours of fun and being on the go. We barely stopped to eat, trying to cram everything into the day.
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| Riding the really tall ferris wheel |
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| Bundled up, getting cozy and finishing dinner after a full day |
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| Within 5 minute of being in the car, this is what our kids looked like! |
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