Disney Part 5-California Adventure

We all decided this was the best park of the three we went to.  It was less crowded and had more exciting rides for the thrill seekers in the family with plenty of good ‘sort of exciting’ rides for the the less adventurous.  My favorite thing about this park is how much they have recreated many of our favorite movies like Cars and Bugs Life.  You felt like you were walking into the movie screen.  This park had all the next generation of Disney and our kids were excited to see the movies they love come to life.

First ride of the day for Liberty was, you guessed it, CA Adventure’s version of the Tea cups! 

That cute smile disappeared when we passed by Ursula on the Little Mermaid ride.  This was her face then.

Sorry it’s blurry, I was laughing really hard.

Meeting Goofy

Waiting in line to ride the Ferris wheel from Hell Heck. 

This was Levi’s face before we started moving.  This was also Reagan’s face before starting.  His did not change.


This was Levi’s face after we started moving.

I hate Ferris wheels; the regular, hardly move at all, Ferris wheels.  This was the Ferris wheel to beat all Ferris Wheels.  It is huge, and the cars rock and slide all over.  I didn’t know that when I agreed reluctantly to go on it “as a family”. If you look closely, you’ll notice my foot there in the picture.  I was bracing myself because there was nothing to hold onto and I wanted to throw up.  Even Levi, who went on almost all the big rides, couldn’t handle this one.  I breathed a sigh of relief when we finally got back to the bottom, only to be swung up and around a second time!  Rock, Liberty and Cade had a blast.  Cade grinned from ear to ear and kept saying, “This is the coolest ride ever!!” while the rest of us wanted to hurl and couldn’t even open our eyes.  I’m pretty sure I will never go on a Ferris wheel again.  That was enough for a lifetime. 

This will give you an idea of what the cars did.

It was beautiful at night, though.

Next stop was Radiator Springs from the movie Cars.  It was so fun to walk down the street and see all the places from the movie.

The Cozy Cone

Luigi’s Tires

The town hall/police department

The Radiator

And the Ride
Everyone loved zooming around the red rock hills and seeing all the characters from Cars.  Well, everyone but Liberty. This was the picture from the one drop on the ride.

Libby was holding on for dear life.  So was Reagan. Yeah, so was I.

On our way out of Radiator Springs we ran into this guy

The fastest, biggest, craziest ride was California Screamin, which only Cade and Rock were brave enough to do.  Here is the picture from that ride.

The scariest ride was the Tower of Terror and here is the picture from that one.

Cade knew when the camera was shooting, so he posed for this one. 

One of the neatest things at the park was the Wilderness Explorer playground.  It was a huge, kid size ropes course/log jungle gym in the middle of a forest.  Levi wanted to go back several times.  This zip line was pretty fun.

I took Liberty to lunch at Ariel’s Grotto to try one last time to meet Sleeping Beauty.  We had a fun lunch and got to hug a lot of princesses, but no Sleeping Beauty.  When she asked the waiter where she was, he told her that he’d tried to wake her up that day, but she just wouldn’t wake up.  Her beauty sleep was too important.  Liberty was totally ok with that.  Never a tear or a whine.  I love my laid back little girl.

We headed back to the hotel at 8:00 that night after the parade and water show, put all the kids to bed and sighed with relief.  It had been fun, but we were worn out and ready to go home. 

I’m so grateful we could give them this fun trip. 

And one last funny one I couldn’t resist putting in.

You would think that once we started on our 14 hour journey home, there would be nothing exciting left to report except the occasional brawl in the back seat or ear splitting toilet flushes.  But you’d be wrong.   After driving almost 900 miles safely, we hit a snowstorm in Idaho and slid out of control two exits from home.  We slammed into a cement barrier, spun around almost 360 degrees and came to a stop perpendicular to traffic.  Luckily there were very few people on the road at 2:30 AM so no one hit us.   The bumper did what bumpers are supposed to do, and we were able to drive home ok, though all the kids were now wide awake and freaked out.  Rock and I were pretty freaked out too.  But nobody was hurt and we are very grateful the only damage was to the car.  We’re also grateful for insurance! 

The kids ended their epic California vacation (in 70 degree weather) with a snow day here at home in 14 degree weather.  Not bad for as weeks go.

Disney Part 4-Legoland

We took it slower on day four of the trip.  The kids thoroughly enjoyed their breakfasts at the hotel and this day was no exception. 

We took some pictures of the palm tree lined streets outside the hotel on our way out of town.

And then we headed down to Carlsbad to Legoland.  The kids loved it, but I was right about them liking the other parks more.  They’re favorite thing about Legoland was getting to see the studio where they made The Lego Movie. Since I didn’t even go in that one, and Rock doesn’t ever take pictures, I don’t have anything to show you.  But here are the other picture highlights from that day.

One of the “lands” in Legoland is “Miniland”.  It’s a Lego reproduction of many of the famous buildings in the world.  Very cool.

They did have a statue of Liberty out in the “harbor” but I couldn’t get a good shot. 

If you look closely you can even see Jefferson!

He really was happy to be here.

At every park we found some version of the tea cups!  Libby loved it!  Here are the Lego tea cups.

Believe it or not, she did meet a few girls at Legoland.

When I tried to get her to stand next to this guy who was twice as big as her, she wouldn’t do it.  Can’t say that I blame her.

Cade had decided by this point that he wanted to go on only the biggest, scariest rides.  So he and Rock went on the X Factor.  If you listen closely you can hear Rock holler as they drop.

While Rock and the boys went on another “dark, loud and scary” ride, Liberty and I rode these cute little airplanes.  She would giggle with glee every time they swooped around the corner.  We went on this ride 3 times in a row!

 
Christmas was in process at Legoland too.

Star Wars Lane

Levi and Liberty loved got their Legoland License.

Legoland closed at 5:00 that day, which was just perfect for us after our exhausting day at Disneyland the day before.  We went to dinner with Aunt Kathy and Uncle Carl at the Oceanside Pier.  Waaaaay out at the end of the pier is a Ruby’s Diner which is where we ate.  It was a fabulous place to end our day.  I only wish I’d thought to get pictures with Aunt K and Uncle C! 

 

This was the first time in Liberty’s memory to see the ocean.

As we walked out onto the pier further and further away from the sand, Levi would only walk on the middle of the planks.  I had to explain to him how thick the planks underneath him really were before he would rest easy and walk on the cracks.  And for those who are wondering if Reagan freaked out way up high out over the water, you’ll be glad to know he did not.  

Stay tuned for Day 5!