Waiting for Brett to find the tickets...
Beautiful hibiscus in the motel gardens.
As we're heading down, Shaun realises that it is hot and decides to stop and buy some shorts froma little souvenir shop. This requires getting socks too and trying them on in the next door hotel bathroom as this little shop doesn't have a change room.
Then it's across the road and into California Adventure. I didn't go here last time (besides a quick walk through first thing when I went in there by mistake instead of Disneyland).
It's a great park, divided into a few sections. We walk through Buena Vista to Cars Land.
Brett and I went on Mater's Junkyard Jambouree - hilarious ride that swings you around, quite rapidly at times. As we were walking onto it, there were a few littlies in tears coming off from their ride. We had a hoot, though.
Through A Bug's Land - very cute, everything is oversized so you feel the size of bugs - the toilet block is a tissue box.
We had noticed as we drove by yesterday that Brett and Shaun's favourite ride - Tower of Terror - was covered in scaffolding and hessian and they were worried it was closed. Then our waitress yesterday told us it had closed down and was being replaced, so they were pretty disappointed. Today, they rounded the corner and it was open and the waitress was wrong and they were so excited and happy!
The queue is pretty long and we are meeting Richard, Virginia and Alex soon so we can't wait in line yet, instead we head down to Paradise Pier and the boys hop onto California Screamin' - an extremely fast rollercoaster that I am NOT going to do.
Here they are, ready for takeoff. It was funny watching people while waiting for their carriage to come through. Lots of people screaming.
We've still got time so Brett and Raff go in the Ferris wheel while Shaun and I play some sideshow games. I won the mouse from Dumbo!
Now to the section of the day where we spend a lot of time standing in queues and a short amount of time on actual rides - but they were fantastic and so worth it! Richard, Virginia and Alex join us and we head to the Tower of Terror to get a fast pass (ticket that gives you a set time to return so you don't have to wait in line. Today there are no fast passes so we have to queue. And we queue for just over an hour. It's set as an old hotel, you enter the dusty old foyer...
..they tell the story of a night when people were in the lift and something went wrong. When you eventually get into the lift, you strap in, then the lift rises up, doors open, more of the story and then the lift rises, drops a long way, up and down, sometimes going right up and it's open so you can see how high up you are, then drops and so on. It's very quick and very scary and very fun!
Time for lunch and we all head for the hotdog stand. There are a few characters roaming around - all with minders to monitor and protect them. I saw Sully in the distance and the Incredibles. There were also trams that cruised around, this one had guys in there singing Disney songs.
They had portobello cheese dogs for those of us who don't eat hotdogs...
Delicious - mushrooms, peppers and cheese.
Our next stop was to Grizzly Peak for the Grizzly River Run - this was fabulous too - we all hopped in, it swung around and raced down the Rapids, there were a couple of drops, water splashed in and we all got wet - I think I copped the most. Thankfully it's a hot day so it's okay.
Next is Soarin' Around the World - another long queue, but and we chat and it's not too bad. And there's things to read and look at once you get inside.
This ride is amazing - we are strapped into seats in a row and the row lifts so it's like you're flying and there's a massive screen that projects scenes and it's like you're flying over the Pyramids, Great Wall, Greenland, elephants in Africa (and you can smell the dirt), Taj Mahal, iconic places all over the world - the Harbour Bridge, fantastic.
All the boys want to do the California Screamin' again some we go down there - they ride, Virginia and I sit and chat and wait. Richard, Virginia and Alex head off after that, they have to get the shuttle to the car park and then drive an hour to get home. It was great having them with us, great fun.
Next it's a wander around, it's starting to get dark. Raff and Shaun get corn dogs and I get a corn on the cob and we sit for a bit.
Our last ride is Radiator Springs Racers. This is another very long queue - an hour - we have spent a lot of time in queues and we are getting a bit over it and are hoping it's worth it - none of us have been on this ride so we don't know. Finally, we get to the little car and we're off.
It starts off gently, riding around through the world of Cars, with some of the cars talking to us, riding through, into a garage and so on, they're getting us ready for the race. Then we line up with a car with other riders and then the two cars take off. The race itself is brilliant - it's so fast and the cars swerve up and down on tracks. Hilarious and so much fun.
We had thought about having an earlish night tonight but by the time we come off this ride, it's time for the World of Color light show so we decide we may as well go and have a look. It's pretty speccy - projections on water and fire on the lake, projections of snippets of many Disney stories. It's great and a perfect finish to the day.
Time to pop into the gift shop for a browse before we leave the park, walk ten minutes down the road and home.
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