House of Estrogen

SoCal Day 8: California Adventure and Mickey's Halloween Party

Our next morning at California Adventure was a bit more relaxed. We were mostly trying to knock out a few rides we had missed the day before. We rode Soarin' which is always a favorite. It was probably our last time to ride it as "Soarin' Over California" too as Soarin' is getting ready to undergo major renovations both at Disneyland and Epcot to become "Soarin' Over the World".

 We got warm hugs from Olaf,

and Nina and I went on Tower of Terror.

We were dying to try out the snacks at the Cozy Cone Motel, so we headed over to Carsland.

The Cozy Cone is just too cute. Each cone sells a different snack... Popcone, Cone Queso, Ice Cream Cones, Cone-Coctions, Cones, cones, cones! We tried just about everything.

Elise and J.C. got bread cones filled with chili or barbeque. Addison and Nina got ice cream cones. I got a cone full of mini churros with Mexican chocolate dipping sauce. Delish!

Carsland is all about the details... love it.

Despite all of J.C.'s protests about not wanting to get wet, we convinced him to go on Grizzly River Run which was a blast. Then we had lunch at Smokejumpers Grill and went back to the condo for our usual afternoon siestas.

(Disney Photopass stock photo)

For the evening, we had purchased tickets to Mickey's Halloween Party at Disneyland. The Halloween Party is a separate ticketed event. The park closes at 6:00 to anyone who doesn't have a Halloween party wristband. I had always wondered how they actually enforce that, but they do it quite well. They are checking for wristbands everywhere you go... before you get on a ride, before you get in a trick-or-treat line, entering or exiting different areas of the park. They definitely manage to lock it down to just party guests and escort anyone out who doesn't leave on their own.

I was pretty sure I couldn't convince the family to go entirely in costume, but they were all completely onboard when I suggested that we wear super hero t-shirts to go along with Addie's Wonder Woman costume. I think we turned out rather festive looking even if a t-shirt is a bit of a costume cheat. We were certainly a lot cooler and more comfortable than some of the people we saw walking around in full-on furry or leather costumes in 90 degree heat.  People watching is half the fun of the Halloween Party. Guests go all out with their costumes.

Our first stop was the Little Red Wagon for their famous corn dogs. Holy awesome hand-dipped corn dog, Batman! Excellent dinner! We enjoyed people watching while waiting for the sun to go down, so it would start cooling off.

There is an overlap from 3:00-6:00 when party goers are allowed in the park and non-party-goers haven't left yet. It is very crowded during that time, but as soon as you start approaching 6:00, ride lines drop dramatically. We rode Star Tours and Astro Orbiter.

The Halloween Party was a bit of a mixed experience for us. The kids loved the trick-or-treating. It was fun seeing both party-goers and characters in costumes. The decorations were great, and the short lines for rides were a real treat. On the downside, the party specific things like trick-or-treating, meeting the villains (who are rarely seen in the parks), and meeting the characters in costume all had very long lines.  It was a strange mix of crowded and not crowded. If you wanted to meet Malicifent or Cruella de Vil, your wait was well over an hour, yet if you wanted to ride Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy, your wait might be just 10 minutes. The Halloween Party is definitely a great way to ride lots of the popular rides that usually have long waits. The main goal for us though was the more Halloween-specific activities, and those were all more crowded than I had anticipated.

The castle looked appropriately creepy and Halloweeny. The lights and sounds on Main Street were fun, and the Halloween fireworks show is neat.

Rivers of America was spooky as well with fog and special lighting.

(Disney Photopass stock photo)

It was all good. Everyone had a good time. Nina and I rode Haunted Mansion Holiday (Haunted Mansion at Disneyland gets redone this time of year with a Holiday overlay.). I think Addie rode the Winnie the Pooh ride 3 times in a row with no wait, and how cute is Pooh in his bee Hallloween costume?

Am I glad we went to the Halloween Party? Definitely.  Would I go again?  Not sure.  I think you have to go with the right expectations. You are not going to meet every villain. You may not meet any villains unless you are willing to spend a lot of your evening in line. You are not going to see every character in costume. You are going to have to battle bigger crowds at times than you feel like you should given the price you paid for the ticket.

We ended the night with this lovely photo of me on Splash Mountain (which was walk-on... no line at all). Nice.  This was another one that Addie had begged to go on but then came off declaring she would never ride it again.

It was a fun night. It definitely didn't quite live up to expectations, but it was fun regardless.

Day 8 Favorites:

Addison: Grizzly River Run and Trick or Treating

Nina: Grizzly River Run and Star Tours

Elise: Star Tours, Trick or Treating, and Splash Mountain

Ann: Grizzly River Run

J.C.: Star Tours

SoCal Day 7: Disney California Adventure

This day was the Disney day I was most looking forward to. I must have reworked our Ridemax plans twenty times to get the "just right" itinerary.  We got there for rope drop and carefully positioned ourselves to the far right to utilize the "wide right technique" which purportedly puts you in the right place to beat the crowds to the front of the line for Radiator Springs Racers. We were in the correct spot. We were pumped and ready. Then the crowd grew, and grew, and grew. We started questioning our sanity. Were we really up to the rope drop race to Radiator Springs?  Just before the rope dropped, we decided we weren't cut out for it. Instead, JC and the girls headed straight to Toy Story Midway Mania while I gave up our prized right-hand side position to head left to get Radiator Springs Racers fastpasses. (The fastpasses aren't located near the ride, so it is a completely different strategy if you are heading there.)  The line wasn't bad for fastpasses, so I started toward the others, assuming they had probably already ridden the ride. I texted JC to let him know I was on the way, and he told me that Toy Story Midway Mania had a delayed opening and they were still in line. What?  Doesn't he know the first rule of getting to the parks early?  Don't waste time in line! I got over there, and the ride was still closed. JC, Elise, and Nina headed over to California Screamin' while Addie and I decided to go meet Donald.

I then got another text from J.C. that California Screamin' had a delayed opening as well. WHAT? How is a rabid planner supposed to handle all these ride closures? They went back over to Toy Story which by now was open. They walked right on with no line at all and then went back over to California Screamin' which had no line either. I guess the delayed openings scared people off and worked to our advantage. Whew!

Addie and I hopped in line for Toy Story and had a blast. I love this ride.

 

Nina was feeling a bit queasy after California Screamin', so JC and Elise went on it again while Addie and Nina posed for their own California Screamin' picture!

I don't know that Nina was thrilled with Addie's suggestion of the carousel, but she was a good sport and went on it anyway.  It was certainly more tame than the roller coaster! We went on Ariel's Undersea Adventure too.

By now, it was getting close to our fastpass time for Radiator Springs Racers. We left Paradise Pier and headed over to Carsland.

Carsland is just beyond amazing. Disney totally outdid themselves on this section of the park. I had been super excited to see Carsland, and it lived up to my every expectation. The details and theming are just perfection.

(Disney Photopass stock photo)

(Disney Photopass stock photo)

You feel like you're right there in the Radiator Springs, like you've been transported into the movie.

Radiator Springs Racers lived up to all the hype and expectations. People have called it the best themed ride at any Disney park, and that's the best way to describe it. So.Much.Fun! If you are contemplating a trip to Disneyland, it is worth it for Carsland and Radiator Springs Racers alone!

We visited Mater's Petting Zoo, and Elise and Addie went on Mater's Junkyard Jamboree.

 
They said it reminded them of the teacups? After that, we left Carsland and headed over to Pacific Wharf for lunch at Cocina Cucamonga. It was really good. Disneyland beats Disney World hands down when it comes to quick service food.

After lunch, we saw the Aladdin show which was wonderful. Then, I headed off to get Anna and Elsa fastpasses and nighttime Radiator Springs Racers fastpasses while J.C. and the girls went to Tower of Terror.  We described Tower of Terror to Addie in great length, telling her again and again that it has "terror" in the name for a reason. We told her it was scary and that she probably wouldn't like it. She still wanted to go though. I have no idea why. She isn't terribly daring when it comes to rides. For whatever reason though, she really wanted to go on Tower of Terror.

It went about as badly as we had predicted. She spent almost the entire ride with her head tucked under Nina's armpit, nearly in tears. She came out and said, "I'm never, ever going on that ever again." We resisted the urge to say, "We told you so." It was so tempting though!

We then met up with Sully and rode Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue which was a cute ride.

At this point, it was crazy hot, and we made our usual family split. Nina and J.C. went back to the condo for naps. The rest of us soldiered on. Fortunately, the wait for Anna and Elsa was air conditioned. Even though we had fastpasses, we still had to wait quite a while. We couldn't complain though. The A/C was a welcome respite. Addie was so excited to meet Anna and Elsa - definitely a high point in the trip for her.

The heat was getting to us as well, so we stopped by Clarabelle's for hand dipped ice cream on our way out of the park. Yum!

 
Then we said hi to Oswald, got autographs and went back to join the others for naps.

 

When we came back in the evening, we had dinner in Downtown Disney at one of my favorite spots, Earl of Sandwich, and then we wandered around Downtown Disney a bit. Elise was pretty psyched to find Lego Hulk.

I had spent much of the day periodically calling the Ask Otto hotline to find out the fastpass return time for Radiator Springs Racers. My goal was to get a fastpass return time just after dark. I succeeded in that quest, so Radiator Springs Racers was our main goal for the evening. If I thought Carsland was neat during the day, it is absolutely spectacular at night. I loved it!  I wish we had gotten there at dusk to see all the lights turning on, but we'll have to try for that another time.

(Disney Photopass stock photo)

(Disney Photopass stock photo)

Radiator Springs Racers almost feels like a completely different ride at night... an even better ride than it was during the day. Wow. Loved it.

Riding the Racers after dark was really our only goal for the evening. We ended up heading back over to Paradise Pier where we rode the Golden Zephyr

 

and the Silly Symphony Swings. Poor Addie looked like she was going to puke through the whole ride. I kept watching her, just sure she was going to hurl any second. When the ride finally came to a stop, she was looking a bit green. I don't think I'll take her on one of those swing rides again any time soon. This picture was taken before the ride, not after. She definitely didn't have a smile on her face after.

It was approaching bedtime for J.C. and Nina (are you sensing a pattern here?), so they went on back. The rest of us decided to stay for the World of Color show.

(Disney Photopass stock photo)

As a slight aside, in the above picture of the ferris wheel, do you see how the cars of the ferris wheel are on individual tracks within the wheel? In preparing for our trip, I've seen this referred to as "Mickey's Death Wheel", "Mickey's Wheel of Terror", "Mickey's Wheel of Doom", etc.  It actually has barf bag dispensers in each car!  It is supposed to be completely unnerving and terrifying. We did not choose to attempt it. It looks like such a pretty ride, but apparently it is evil. Given that Addie and Nina had already gotten a bit nauseous on calmer rides earlier in the day, I'm pretty sure at least one of them would have lost her dinner if we attempted the Wheel of Death.

Anyway, World of Color was... well... colorful.

(Disney Photopass stock photo)

We weren't that excited by it, so we bought some popcorn, and headed back to the condo before it ended to beat the crowds.

(Disney Photopass stock photo)

Radiator Springs Racers was enough nighttime fun for us. We had a blast that day, even if World of Color was a bit of a disappointment.

SoCal Day 7 Disney California Adventure Favorites:

Addison: Radiator Springs Racers

Nina: California Screamin', Aladdin, and Radiator Springs Racers at night

Elise: California Screamin' and Aladdin

Ann: Radiator Springs Racers at night

J.C.: California Screamin'

 

 

 

SoCal Picture A Day: Day 7