California Adventure Brain Dump
I was thinking I should make notes about what we did today, so I decided to do it here so you can see what we were up to... Forgive the rambling - I'm just trying to capture it all right now.
DCA opened at 10am this morning, but we were allowed in a little early to get passes for World Of Color, the new nighttime spectacular water show. We then headed over to Soarin' over California, where we discovered not only is Luke 40" tall, but that they'll measure him one, two, or even three times each pass through the line! David took Emmett and Luke while I played with Henry. Meanwhile, Oma and Andrea made it to the park and got their WOC passes as well. I had "baby swap" passes to go on Soarin' without waiting, and Emmett sweetly gave up a second time on the ride so Andrea and Oma could go with me (and Luke) and our party would be all together. The line for Soarin' was short, but riding twice using the baby-swap passes is time consuming. Everyone loved Soarin' - it's like an IMAX movie but you're suspended in front of the screen and they move your seats around a bit. Tame for the kids, but really nice visuals and it ends on Main Street at night with the fireworks!
Next we went to Toy Story Mania where there was already a 20-30 minute line. Henry had fallen asleep so we got a baby-swap pass and left David with Henry. Toy Story Mania is a 3-D interactive video game where you get to play all sorts of midway games like throwing darts at balloons, shooting and breaking plates, etc. You have a gun/launcher mounted on your car that you can aim and it keeps track of your points. It's a really fun game - everyone had a great time, from Luke all the way up to Oma. Since Luke got to ride Soarin' twice, this time Emmett got to return with David on the baby-swap. Luke didn't protest at all!
Henry went on the carousel after waking up, and then Oma stayed on the carousel with the boys while David, Andrea, and I went on California Screamin'. That is one fun coaster! It uses some kind of induction launch all the way up the first hill so as you crest it you feel some serious negative Gs. There's a loop in there too, and otherwise it's just a really fast, really nice coaster. I must be getting older because by the end of it I was getting a little queasy and was happy it wasn't longer!
After that it was 12:30 already, time to eat and get out of the heat. We had lunch in the park (Mexican - pretty good food) and went to check out our room. When I checked in they told me they had bumped us into a suite and it's really nice. Plenty of space and there's a patio with a table and chairs overlooking the park - views of Grizzly Peak and the Tower of Terror ride! Luke fell asleep for a while and we all rested in the room until about 3pm.
Back in the park, the boys played in the Redwood Creek Challenge area - it's like a super-cool playground. Emmett went on the zip-line twice and even tried the rock climbing wall after discovering that you pretty much work yourself sideways across the rock (he didn't want to go up). Luke had a great time scampering around (and up and down). Henry loved this one slide, climbing up and coming down over and over, always demanding that I get ready to take his picture before he was willing to go up again.
Next we went to A Bug's Land, where the kids rode the Chew Chew Train, bumper cars, some flying buckets thing, and a mini Tea Party like ride. They also played in some fun fountains.
David, Andrea, and I left the kids with Oma again to try the Tower of Terror. I knew it was a "freefall" type ride, but it was quite a bit more than that. At the very top, you are looking out over Disneyland - an awesome view that you only get to look at for a few seconds. Then you go through the drop sequence - up and down, all in pitch blackness! The ride goes down faster than freefall, so you are immediately up out of your seat being pulled by the seatbelt. When you're not accelerating downward fast, the ride is moving upward at a constant speed so it's tough to tell if you're stopped, falling normally, or what in the heck is going on. Only when you find yourself looking out over Disneyland again do you realize that you're back at the top and getting ready to drop again! It's a fun ride!
After Tower of Terror, we found that the parade was passing by - the kids had actually just watched it, but as we left a Bugs Land (and picked up some ice cream), we found it going by again so we stopped to watch. It was a nice parade. The kids all enjoy watching the performers and the music is fun. I was holding Henry, and he kept dancing to the music (he makes little fists and pumps his arms up and down). At the end of the parade they put on bubble machines and the kids had a great time running around popping the bubbles. Such a simple, great idea.
Next we went to dinner. It was nice to eat at a sit-down restaurant and relax, but the room we were in had a large group at another table that was making a huge amount of noise. The room was tiled with all hard surfaces, which didn't help at all. The food was good, though, and DCA serves wine.
We had time before WOC so we went back to Toy Story Mania. This time Henry was awake so he went too, but he was a bit freaked out by the ride - it's loud of course, and I'm sure it's confusing to Henry. He was with David who held him for the rest of the ride and still had the highest score! After that, I bought the kids some glowing stuff and Henry rode the carousel again with David, and we went to get a spot to watch World of Color.
World of Color was a great show - amazing fountains, fire that we could feel the heat from even though we were way back from the flames (what must it feel like up close?), good music, projected animations, just good stuff. More than once I wondered how on earth they do that. The show tonight featured a special ending with Tron, because the movie is coming out soon. That probably would have been cooler if I were up on my Tron trivia. David held Henry for the whole show, and I held Luke. David had Henry on his shoulders until he realized that Henry was upset (breathing like a kid does when they're sobbing or close to it). He brought Henry down, and Henry put his head right down and went to sleep.
We got back to the hotel really quickly because it's right here practically in the park - Emmett declared WOC to be the coolest thing he's ever seen, Luke wondered what else we could have been doing with that time (nothing - the rest of the park was closed). I'll have to ask Luke again tomorrow what he thought of the show. The boys went to bed pretty easily, and tomorrow we'll get up and do it all over again!
DCA opened at 10am this morning, but we were allowed in a little early to get passes for World Of Color, the new nighttime spectacular water show. We then headed over to Soarin' over California, where we discovered not only is Luke 40" tall, but that they'll measure him one, two, or even three times each pass through the line! David took Emmett and Luke while I played with Henry. Meanwhile, Oma and Andrea made it to the park and got their WOC passes as well. I had "baby swap" passes to go on Soarin' without waiting, and Emmett sweetly gave up a second time on the ride so Andrea and Oma could go with me (and Luke) and our party would be all together. The line for Soarin' was short, but riding twice using the baby-swap passes is time consuming. Everyone loved Soarin' - it's like an IMAX movie but you're suspended in front of the screen and they move your seats around a bit. Tame for the kids, but really nice visuals and it ends on Main Street at night with the fireworks!
Next we went to Toy Story Mania where there was already a 20-30 minute line. Henry had fallen asleep so we got a baby-swap pass and left David with Henry. Toy Story Mania is a 3-D interactive video game where you get to play all sorts of midway games like throwing darts at balloons, shooting and breaking plates, etc. You have a gun/launcher mounted on your car that you can aim and it keeps track of your points. It's a really fun game - everyone had a great time, from Luke all the way up to Oma. Since Luke got to ride Soarin' twice, this time Emmett got to return with David on the baby-swap. Luke didn't protest at all!
Henry went on the carousel after waking up, and then Oma stayed on the carousel with the boys while David, Andrea, and I went on California Screamin'. That is one fun coaster! It uses some kind of induction launch all the way up the first hill so as you crest it you feel some serious negative Gs. There's a loop in there too, and otherwise it's just a really fast, really nice coaster. I must be getting older because by the end of it I was getting a little queasy and was happy it wasn't longer!
After that it was 12:30 already, time to eat and get out of the heat. We had lunch in the park (Mexican - pretty good food) and went to check out our room. When I checked in they told me they had bumped us into a suite and it's really nice. Plenty of space and there's a patio with a table and chairs overlooking the park - views of Grizzly Peak and the Tower of Terror ride! Luke fell asleep for a while and we all rested in the room until about 3pm.
Back in the park, the boys played in the Redwood Creek Challenge area - it's like a super-cool playground. Emmett went on the zip-line twice and even tried the rock climbing wall after discovering that you pretty much work yourself sideways across the rock (he didn't want to go up). Luke had a great time scampering around (and up and down). Henry loved this one slide, climbing up and coming down over and over, always demanding that I get ready to take his picture before he was willing to go up again.
Next we went to A Bug's Land, where the kids rode the Chew Chew Train, bumper cars, some flying buckets thing, and a mini Tea Party like ride. They also played in some fun fountains.
David, Andrea, and I left the kids with Oma again to try the Tower of Terror. I knew it was a "freefall" type ride, but it was quite a bit more than that. At the very top, you are looking out over Disneyland - an awesome view that you only get to look at for a few seconds. Then you go through the drop sequence - up and down, all in pitch blackness! The ride goes down faster than freefall, so you are immediately up out of your seat being pulled by the seatbelt. When you're not accelerating downward fast, the ride is moving upward at a constant speed so it's tough to tell if you're stopped, falling normally, or what in the heck is going on. Only when you find yourself looking out over Disneyland again do you realize that you're back at the top and getting ready to drop again! It's a fun ride!
After Tower of Terror, we found that the parade was passing by - the kids had actually just watched it, but as we left a Bugs Land (and picked up some ice cream), we found it going by again so we stopped to watch. It was a nice parade. The kids all enjoy watching the performers and the music is fun. I was holding Henry, and he kept dancing to the music (he makes little fists and pumps his arms up and down). At the end of the parade they put on bubble machines and the kids had a great time running around popping the bubbles. Such a simple, great idea.
Next we went to dinner. It was nice to eat at a sit-down restaurant and relax, but the room we were in had a large group at another table that was making a huge amount of noise. The room was tiled with all hard surfaces, which didn't help at all. The food was good, though, and DCA serves wine.
We had time before WOC so we went back to Toy Story Mania. This time Henry was awake so he went too, but he was a bit freaked out by the ride - it's loud of course, and I'm sure it's confusing to Henry. He was with David who held him for the rest of the ride and still had the highest score! After that, I bought the kids some glowing stuff and Henry rode the carousel again with David, and we went to get a spot to watch World of Color.
World of Color was a great show - amazing fountains, fire that we could feel the heat from even though we were way back from the flames (what must it feel like up close?), good music, projected animations, just good stuff. More than once I wondered how on earth they do that. The show tonight featured a special ending with Tron, because the movie is coming out soon. That probably would have been cooler if I were up on my Tron trivia. David held Henry for the whole show, and I held Luke. David had Henry on his shoulders until he realized that Henry was upset (breathing like a kid does when they're sobbing or close to it). He brought Henry down, and Henry put his head right down and went to sleep.
We got back to the hotel really quickly because it's right here practically in the park - Emmett declared WOC to be the coolest thing he's ever seen, Luke wondered what else we could have been doing with that time (nothing - the rest of the park was closed). I'll have to ask Luke again tomorrow what he thought of the show. The boys went to bed pretty easily, and tomorrow we'll get up and do it all over again!
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