California Trip Day Ten – More Disneyland and California Adventure

Today was another full day. We had tons of fun and the kids did really well. I thought we were pushing our luck with expecting the kids to be good for two days of heat and crowds and lots of walking, but we made it through with just a bit of whining and no meltdowns. That is better than I ever imagined. Our best trick of the day was to put a Ziploc bag full of Jolly Ranchers in each of our backpacks. Candy makes kids happy.

Here is the day in review (same DISCLAIMER as last time . . . more information than anyone else in the world wants or needs to know; we just want to be able to remember what we did):

We got an early start and were first in line when the park opened. It was fun to see a completely empty park in front of us and 2,000 people lined up behind us. It pays to get up early.

We spent the morning in Disneyland and then headed over to California Adventure. We had fun trying out all the new rides. We did a little better with the divide and conquer thing so that Elise and Abby could have fun too.

Since we had already seen Aladdin, met the princesses, and gone to Jedi Training, today was all about the rides. We managed to hit quite a few and things worked out so we didn’t have to stand in any super long lines. I kept a little ride tally. It pretty much sums up the day.

Ben: Peter Pan, Matterhorn Bobsleds (3x), Indiana Jones (2x), Jungle Cruise, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Space Mountain (2x), Monsters Inc., Toy Story Mania, Soarin’ Over California (2x), Grizzly River Run (2x), California Screamin’ (6x) . . . (this was by far Ben’s favorite ride; his sisters were too short to ride, so they were nice and donated their FASTPASSES so Ben could ride lots of times), Mickey’s Fun Wheel, Tuck and Roll’s Drive ‘Em Buggies, Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters

Emily: Peter Pan, Matterhorn Bobsleds (3x), Indiana Jones (2x), Jungle Cruise, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Space Mountain (2x) . . . (this was Emily’s favorite ride; she surprised me with how much she loved all the big roller coaster rides), Monsters Inc., Toy Story Mania, Soarin’ Over California (2x), Grizzly River Run (2x), King Triton’s Carousel (3x), Mickey’s Fun Wheel, Tuck and Roll’s Drive ‘Em Buggies, Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters

Elise: Peter Pan (2x), Matterhorn Bobsleds, Winnie the Pooh (2x), Jungle Cruise, Monsters Inc., Toy Story Mania, Soarin’ Over California (2x), Grizzly River Run (2x), King Triton’s Carousel (3x), Mickey’s Fun Wheel . . . (she begged to ride this one and then HATED it), Tuck and Roll’s Drive ‘Em Buggies, Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters

Abby: Peter Pan (2x), Winnie the Pooh (2x), Jungle Cruise, Monsters Inc., Toy Story Mania, King Triton’s Carousel (8x) . . . (she would have been happy to stay on this one all day), Mickey’s Fun Wheel, Heimlich’s Chew Chew Train, Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters

Nate: Peter Pan, Matterhorn Bobsleds, Winnie the Pooh, Indiana Jones, Jungle Cruise, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Space Mountain (2x), Monsters Inc., Toy Story Mania, Soarin’ Over California, California Screamin’ (5x), Mickey’s Fun Wheel, King Triton’s Carousel (7x), Grizzly River Run (Nate loved this ride; same concept as Rattlesnake Rapids, but lots better execution), Tuck and Roll’s Drive ‘Em Buggies, Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters

Malinda: Peter Pan (2x), Matterhorn Bobsleds (2x), Indiana Jones, Jungle Cruise, Winnie the Pooh, Monsters Inc., Toy Story Mania (this might have been my favorite ride of the day; it was a really cool ride and I loved that the whole family could go together), Grizzly River Run, California Screamin’, King Triton’s Carousel, Soarin’ Over California, Heimlich’s Chew Chew Train, Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters

I certainly learned my lesson from the Saturday night Fantasmic debacle. We took a blanket and I sat on the pavement for four hours before the show started to save our spot. I was more than happy to be done with walking for the day. We ate dinner and then Nate took the kids to the shooting gallery. He thought they would love it, but it was a bit too tricky. The girls came back to play cards with me while Nate and Ben ran over to California Adventure for three more rides on California Screamin’.

It was great to have a front row seat. We didn’t really get the plot/point of the show, but the special effects were great and I thought the fireworks were even better from that vantage point (probably just because we could sit down the whole time). We skipped the big exit crowds and got in one more family ride on Buzz Lightyear before heading home. It was a great day!