After a short walk from the hotel, we found ourselves outside Disneyland!
High-fiving our way down Main Street!
One thing I knew to expect was to be completely underwhelmed by Sleeping Beauty Castle.
Sleeping Beauty Castle
Pretty but tiny! According to Wikipedia, Sleeping Beauty Castle is 77 feet tall and Cinderella Castle in Walt Disney World is 189 feet tall.
It doesn’t quite have the same presence in the pictures like Cinderella Castle. LOL
Mike posing with the Matterhorn behind him while we wait to buy a PhotoPass+ card. (The PhotoPass+ card allowed us to get all our ride photos.)
Despite the lack of pictures early in the game, Rachel did in fact join us! LOL
Look who we found!!!!!!! LOL
Awww!!!! Look how pretty!!!!!!
Remember THIS?
Remember that one time we found Tink in Florida?!?!
Rachel decided to join the family for some pictures. 🙂
One last picture before heading off to go on some rides!
The plan was for Rachel and me to take Ian on Space Mountain while Mike and Matthew kept themselves busy on a more tame ride.
Space Mountain!!!
I wish you could see his face! The two kids in front crack me up though. LOL
Rachel being a ham! LOL
Ian’s reaction to Space Mountain? Two thumbs up!
Mike and Matthew went on Autopia while we were on Space Mountain. I walked over to watch the ride at the perfect time to catch them driving by (red car)!
Next up: Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters
Star Tours – The Adventure Continues
After an unexpectedly wild ride on Star Tours, Mike needed a break so we walked over to Mattherhorn Bobsleds. On our way, we ran into this guy:
Peter Pan!
Rachel and I took Ian AND Matthew on Matterhorn Bobsleds. I still can’t believe Matthew rode it. It wasn’t particularly scary but he was definitely a little gun-shy after his Legoland “I’m going to die experience”. LOL
After Matterhorn, we decided to go on a nice easy ride. “it’s a small world” was just what the doctor ordered!
“The happiest cruise that ever sailed!”
After that, we headed to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad which Matthew refused to ride.
Mid-ride selfies!
Next was Pirates of the Caribbean. Pirates had a super long ride, most of it was outdoors and it was hot, and we were all getting tired. This was probably the worst wait we dealt with during our time at Disneyland.
Celebrity sighting! We saw Johnny Depp!!! Ok, not really. LOL
We took a lunch break at this point. We kind of hoped to eat at the Blue Bayou restaurant as it oversees the Pirates ride but they didn’t have an opening until 2-3pmish. Instead, we went to the River Belle Terrace. The food was okay. Ian didn’t really like his food and ended up eating about half of my food.
Mike took Matthew to the bathroom and I took these pictures of Ian without him knowing. Poor buddy was so tired.
Tired boy
Not sure what this was about. LOL
After lunch, we went back to the hotel for naps.
I got myself a Dole Whip on our way out of the park. 🙂
The first order of business after nap time was to go to see Mickey in his house in Toontown. We wanted to say “hi” but we also wanted to take a picture to send to Courtney on her birthday (the next day).
The first time we met Mickey (in Magic Kingdom/Disney World), Matthew was over-the-moon about Mickey. This trip, Ian was all smiles for Mickey. 🙂
After that, we headed over to California Adventure to check out Cars Land, Tower of Terror, and see World of Color.
The rides in Cars Land had ridiculously long lines so mostly we just walked around and checked it out. We planned to make Cars Land our first priority for the next day.
We decided to ride California Screamin’ at this point because it only had something like a 15 minute wait. Ian was balking at the idea of riding it because it had a loop and went upside down. I knew he’d be fine on the ride since going on a loop/upside down is no big deal compared to the big drops. I told him I’d give him $5 if he’d ride it and he accepted. He was super nervous but he did it!
Waiting in line. Nervous and excited.
There we are! Rachel is waving from the 3rd to last row. Me and Ian were directly in front of her (4th row from the last).
Big smiles as we pulled into the station. He loved it! 🙂
He did it!!!
After that, Mr. Brave was ready to ride Tower of Terror. He was really nervous for this one and wasn’t remotely interested in riding it a second time. LOL
Waiting for our elevator to arrive
Ride photos rock. The range of expressions is always entertaining. LOL Ian looks like he’s mildly bored. The guy in the front row on the other side looks absolutely terrified. LOL
After that, we pretty much focused on dinner, a little shopping, and staking spots to watch World of Color.
Mickey’s Fun Wheel looked really cool all lit up. In this video, you can hear the Disneyland fireworks going off behind us. Have I mentioned how close the two park are to each other? LOL
http://youtu.be/_atoXfjHwWw
World of Color is a light and water show in Paradise Bay in California Adventure. We were off to the side so we didn’t have a straight-on view of the projections and I don’t think they video’d so great. They were more clear in person. I think the boys were just “eh” on it but I really liked the show. I’m a pretty big Disney nerd and love the music so it was right up my alley. 🙂
http://youtu.be/2416I5fq580
http://youtu.be/KEVOcbbQwwU
http://youtu.be/1MaHNUnyMoA
http://youtu.be/TVaVpG31Zik
http://youtu.be/YT_hEudsmHo
After the show was over, we shuffled out of the park and went back to our hotel room. From the hotel balcony, I took this picture looking back towards the Disneyland pedestrian entrance and California Adventure. On the far left, the building with blue lights and white letters is the Tower of Terror. And in the middle of the picture, you can see Mickey’s Fun Wheel lit up purple and pink.
After that it was time for bed because we had another full day of Disneyland ahead of us!
Really enjoying your blog, Amanda.