California Adventure Park

Changing It Up

We alternated our time between Disneyland Park and the Disney California Adventure Park across the way, both are pretty neat places to visit.  The Cars town was just being built when Ted and I were last there and it was fun to see it all completed.

It was definitely a ride to Fastpass, the line-ups were crazy but the ride itself was pretty amazing, and the whole town of Radiator Springs was well done.

DJ car in the street for dance party time!

Cars characters aren't too scary so we got all three grandkids in this photo!

Mater ride at night multiple times was a definite hit, I think I can still hear the music.....

Paradise Pier

We stayed for the late evening showing of the World of Color, which is a water and light/animation show on the water in front of the Mickey ferris wheel.

There's so much to see and do, and we were able to fit in not just rides but a few other things like the live theatre production of Frozen.  It was amazing, Disney has so many ways to entertain.  Ruby and Jen took several sketch classes at the Animation theatre, and Ted and I even sketched Mickey as well.


Ted and I took a couple of hours to chill out at the Golden Valley winery on-site, it was a good way to relax and recharge mid-day.

A five day Disney pass to these two parks sounds like a lot of time but there's still things to do and see!

Scary and Sweet

There are different rides for every personality type, today we've been on both scary rides like the Matterhorn, (Miles was terrified poor guy), Indiana Jones, and Splash Mountain (Bennett got the most wet).  We also had fun on the sweet classics like the Carousel, and the teacups.

The walk up the Treehouse began innocently enough, but there was a gorilla in the little hut at the top so everything began to go sideways and it was a quick trip down again!

Favourite ride of Miles has to be a Carousel - his face just lights up  :)

Plus of course we ran into a few favorite characters on Main Street, some of us were a little more willing to meet them than the youngest of our group.

While we were there the oldest two kids learned to drive at Autopia and got their first driver's licenses.  Ruby was pretty excited to drive her first car.

Blue Bayou Restaurant

Pirates of the Caribbean is one of my favourite things to go on, and the Blue Bayou Restaurant located within that ride was on the top of my list to go to for lunch.  We were able to get a table right on the edge of the lagoon, and the glow ice cubes in the drinks were beautiful, as was the lighting throughout the place.  

Disneyland 2017

Howard Johnson Waterpark and Hotel

We've just arrived and checked in, time to settle in for the week.  It's nice to come back to familiar turf, can't wait for the others to get here and liven things up a little!

Miles is going to love Pirates Cove here at the Howard Johnson 😄

Ted's snack shack

Tomorrow we will go over and get our first glimpse of Mickey and the gang!